Chew Chew Mimic - Dreamcast Edition Now Available for Pre-Order from Orc Face Games

Chew Chew Mimic, one of the latest efforts from renowned UK-based developer Lowtek Games, has taken a step closer to reaching the Dreamcast with pre-orders opening on the Orc Face Games website over the Easter weekend. For the princely sum of £15 (inclusive of shipping until the end of April), you can pick up a physical copy of the game, which comprises a professionally pressed disc and eight page full-colour manual enclosed within a sealed jewel case. Fortunately for the those who have long since switched their disc drive for an optical disc emulator, a complementary digital version is included too, to be accessed via a QR code on the manual. Also of significance is that those pre-ordering will not have a lengthy wait either, as Orc Face have informed us that they are aiming to have copies out the door by the end of May 2025.

So what is Chew Chew Mimic all about? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a bright and breezy puzzle game where the player is tasked with placing tiles in a formation that will allow one of four knights to reach the end of each of the 100 levels. Following on from the likes of Flea! and Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, the game maintains numerous signature Lowtek elements, including a distinctive art style, pun-heavy cutscenes, and a chiptune soundtrack from composer Tuï. The story goes that the game, which takes inspiration from a certain cat-and-mouse (and spaceship) Dreamcast classic, was first conceived by retro gaming YouTube personality John Riggs (who previously also brought us Yeah Yeah Beebis II) and Alastair Low after a couple of fateful encounters at gaming conventions. 

Right from the off, although being primarily developed for the NES, Chew Chew Mimic was touted for a Dreamcast release. Indeed, when we first got wind of the project in 2023, it was looking likely that a version for our beloved Sega console would be made available simultaneously with, or at least soon after, the NES version, as arrangements had been made with prolific Dreamcast publisher Wave Game Studios. Alas, versions for the NES, Evercade and Playdate came and went, whereas the DC edition entered a state of limbo when Wave seemed to enter an indefinite publishing hiatus as the months of 2023 rolled by with little progress. Thankfully though Orc Face Games, founded in 2024 by HarleQuest’s lead developer Ross Kilgariff, has picked up the thread, and will now be ensuring that Chew Chew Mimic isn’t added to the Dreamcast’s voluminous directory of cancelled indie titles.

Of course, opinions and interest in NES (or Neo Geo, or Mega Drive, or Game Boy, or…) ports diverge substantially in the Dreamcast scene. No doubt, there are plenty of folks who feel that games like this don’t belong on Sega’s swansong console, or that the value proposition just isn’t enticing enough to warrant attention. Others will point to the likes of Bangai-O, Worms World Party or Dee Dee Planet and contend that good (even iconic) games that don’t come close to stretching the consoles’ technical architecture have always been present. Both stances (and indeed many others in between) can be perfectly valid, and here at the Junkyard we generally look to respect all sections of the community by serving up a diverse platter of content. 

Personally, as a frugal and tight-fisted type, I’m typically only willing to shell out for a NES port on the Dreamcast if the game has been well designed, and if the product is reasonably priced. In this instance, both those boxes appear to have been checked and so, my pre-order has been placed.15 quid in this economy seems eminently reasonable, and the quality of the likes of Flea! and Tapeworm Disco Puzzle assure me that I will more than likely gain at least a dozen hours of  enjoyment from Chew Chew Mimic. Another element that helped ease open my wallet was the thought that my pennies would be helping to sustain a publisher that has demonstrated a commitment to supporting the Dreamcast development scene (through the likes of the DreamDisc ’24 game jam), and the knowledge that Orc Face are capable of producing a solid physical product as shown by their inaugural DC release, The Storied Sword.

Photo of the physical edition of The Storied Sword, pinched from Orc Face social media.

Anyway, there you have it. The signs are looking good for Chew Chew Mimic, but once we get our grubby mitts on it, if there are any bits that we’re less keen on, then we’ll also be frank about that in a future review. 

Does Chew Chew Mimic on the Dreamcast take your fancy? Let us know in the comments below.