Katzenwagen

Katzenwagen
Location:	Inkwell Isle Three
Level:	Murine Corps
Hitpoints:	740/777
Gender:	None
Role:	Robotic Cat
Designer(s):	Hanna Abi-Hanna
Forms:	1
Moveset:	Cat Sc-Rat-ch Wraith Wrath
Minions:	Rat Wraiths
Parry Objects:	Ghost Orbs

"Hiss Hiss Me-e-e-eow"
—Katzenwagen Deathscreen

Katzenwagen(lit: “Cat Cart”) is a minor-boss in Cuphead. It is encountered and fought in the level Murine Corps, which is located in Inkwell Isle Three.

Description

Appearance

Katzenwagen, is a mechanical feline that has purple-ish fur, light grayish-blue skin, yellow eyes, salmon paws and inner ears.

Personality

Katzenwagen has no real personality, being an automaton created by Werner, although it is capable of expressing emotion as evidenced by the territorial and angry meowing noises that the Cat makes, and by the final phase death screen.

Battle

Although you can see it peering through the holes of the house, the player(s) battle the cat Katzenwagen right after it smashes Werner's walls and eats him. It attacks by opening its mouth, revealing a grate from which two spectral rats, clad in 1930s style prison scrubs emerge. These ghosts will conjure a pink crystal-like ball and throw it at the player. This ball will release two fire waves travelling along the ground upon exploding, but it's possible to prevent this from happening by parrying the ball, and the split ball will still be pink, so you still have a chance to parry them. In Expert mode, there will be four spectral rats and the ball might not be pink all the time (being blue instead) so you can't prevent it from splitting. The spectral rats can be disabled by shooting at them.

Hitpoints = 34/30

Katzenwagen can also attack by smashing the floor with its paw. As it retracts its paw, wooden boards begin to fall down from above. They will damage the player if they hit. The boards fall from side-to-side, so it's best to keep moving to avoid getting hit. In Expert mode, the wooden boards fall faster. After dealing enough damage, Katzenwagen's face falls off and reveals Werner is still alive and well inside its head and was controlling Katzenwagen, which is actually a machine presumably built by Werner.

Gallery

Katzenwagen eating werner

Katzenwagen looking through the wall to locate Werner

Katzenwagen summoning Rat Wraiths

Katzenwagen's arm

A Rat Wraith

A Rat Wraith defeated

The Rat Wraiths' orbs

Katzenwagen knocked out

Pencil test of Katzenwagen eating Werner

Trivia

• The Rat Wraiths released by Katzenwagen during the fight are spirits of mice prisoners still trapped in the cat's stomach.
• An animation error can be spotted in the third phase when Katzenwagen does its arm attack from the right side of the screen. This makes it seem as if its arm has been disconnected from his hand.
  • A similar error occurs in The Devil’s boss fight when he uses his ram attack.

Inspirations and resemblances

• Katzenwagen greatly resembles Thomas "Tom" Cat, particularly his early incarnations as Jasper.
  • And due to the nature of the battle and inclusion of Katzenwagen, Werner's boss fight is a reference to the iconic Tom and Jerry cartoons.
• The plot twist at the fight is most likely a reference to the Cheshire Cat boss fight from the Sega Genesis game The Adventures of Batman & Robin, as both him and Katzenwagen are mechanical cats and their faces fall off at the end of the battle, revealing that they're robots.
• One of its attacks, known as Cat Sc-Rat-tch, is a reference to an old Nickelodeon show called "Catscratch".