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.
