RATATAN, the rhythm roguelite designed by Patapon creator Hiroyuki Kotani, reached version 1.0 on 15 October 2026 Japan time on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S, a year after it entered Steam early access, according to Japanese outlets gamebiz and Game*Spark. On Steam, where times follow US Pacific time, the release date is listed as 14 October. The game is developed by Ratata Arts with TVT and published by Game Source Entertainment.
A Patapon successor, finished
Ratata Arts funded the game on Kickstarter. As Game*Spark and the Steam page describe it, the player controls Ratatan, a character who moves and jumps freely across side-scrolling battlefields while leading a crowd of small followers called Cobuns. Attack and defence orders are given by entering commands in rhythm. Between stages, players collect cards called Ratakaruta and combine them into builds, and up to four people can play together online.
According to gamebiz, version 1.0 adds Episodes 3 and 4, with the final world and a powerful final boss, so the story can now be played to its ending. The rival Dark Ratatans, who appeared one by one during early access, now come together, and the update also brings new features and adjustments.
A three-month delay and 100,000 early-access sales
The full release was originally set for 16 July 2026. In June the publisher moved it to 15 October on all platforms; as AUTOMATON reported, the team said it was using the time for final adjustments, improving online stability and fixing bugs based on feedback from the PC version. Early access had begun in September 2025, and by October 2025 Game Source Entertainment said early-access sales had passed 100,000 copies.
In comments published with the launch and reported by Game*Spark, Kotani called finishing the game dramatic and said delivering it to players felt very rewarding. Producer Kazuto Sakajiri thanked the Kickstarter backers and early-access players, and said the team wanted to keep developing the game. The credits also include director Kenei Nakaya, character designer Nelnal and composer Kenmei Adachi.
Mixed recent reviews at launch
Steam’s store page showed “Very Positive” English-language reviews overall (88% of 952) when we checked on 16 October. Reviews from the previous 30 days, a period that includes launch day, were “Mixed” at 43% of 67. The page does not explain the change, and we have not played the 1.0 version. Game*Spark reported a Metacritic score of 76 from eight critic reviews for the Switch 2 version at the time it wrote its launch story.
RATATAN followed a route that is now common for small Japanese teams with a well-known creator: crowdfunding, a year of early access, then a simultaneous launch on PC and three consoles through an Asian publisher. Console players are only now getting the game for the first time, and 1.0 is the test of whether goodwill toward a classic series can carry a new one.