Buttons (Fat Cat)

Buttons are interactive objects first introduced in level 4 of Fat Cat. A letter and certain colour distinguish the different buttons from each other. The player can have the owl press them in order to activate certain abilities for the owl or cat that will help give the player an advantage to pass the finish line.

M Button
When the player uses the owl to press the button, all nearby bullets will be attracted towards it. After waiting until the blue bar at the bottom right hand corner of the screen becomes empty, the owl will release all the energy from the attracted bullets, which can defeat enemies quickly.

It is important to avoid touching the bullets with the cat while the owl draws them towards itself. Once the powerful energy from the attracted bullets is released, however, they will not cause any harm to the cat.

X Button
Pressing this button will change all the enemies visible on screen into food, which the cat can pick up, as well as coins which both the owl and the cat can pick up for some extra points.

The player should wait until as many enemies are visible on screen as they can before pressing the X button, since an enemy not visible on the screen will not be affected by the powers of the X button and can still hurt the cat.

A reason why the X button no longer shows up after its introduction in level 4 is probably to make the game more challenging for players, as it involves little skill on using it, unlike its other similar kinds of buttons.

N Button
Once the owl presses this button, a green smokey-like substance will begin to trail out of it. The owl can then travel over enemies to defeat them almost instantly as opposed to using its regular bullet attack.

This button is used quite frequently throughout levels, and its usage is especially stressed in level 18, where there are many stationary enemies positioned all over the screen that the owl must defeat using the N button.

S Button
Pressing this button with the owl will activate a shield for the cat, which protects it temporarily from nearby enemies as well as hazards. The amount of time the player can use the shield for is indicated at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. As soon as the blue bar is completely empty, the shield disappears.

Although the cat can use the shield to defend itself from enemies, it can also defeat them, too, if it stays over one for a long period of time. The player must be aware, however, of the time left that the cat can use the shield for, otherwise it may disappear when the cat is still positioned over an enemy. If another S button appears while the cat is currently using one, the S button will reset the shield bar so that the cat can use it for a longer amount of time.

A use for the S button is frequently stressed in level 10, where the owl must repeatedly drag the cat through many obstacles created in the level in order to speed up time. The player has to frequently press the S button to activate the shield, then drag the cat through the level in order to successfully make it to the finish line.