Presidential pets have been in the spotlight for decades, with George W. Bush’s Scottish Terrier Barney and Barack Obama’s Portuguese Water Dog Bo getting significant attention for their antics around the White House, but let us not forget about some U.S. presidents’ more apathetic pets: their cats. Though Socks has been dead for years, it looks like Bill Clinton’s feline friend could live on in a long-lost Super Nintendo game.
Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill was originally planned for release on the Super Nintendo back when President Clinton had just taken office. The game tasked the cat with fighting through the White House “battling all sorts of enemies, including Dobermans, protesters, and satirical versions of famous political figures,” according to new publisher Second Dimension. The game was even reviewed by some outlets before it lost its original publisher and was canceled.
Collector Tom Curtin, who had purchased an unfinished copy of the game, turned to Second Dimension and a small team of developers, including “two experts in releasing previously unreleased games” to make Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill a reality. The team now says the game is “100 percent complete” and many of its bugs have already been addressed.
On Kickstarter, Second Dimension is currently asking for $30,000 to release the game by July 2017, and promises a digital copy for $20 backers and a physical cartridge for $40 backers. Higher payment tiers also included a branded cardboard box and the game’s manual, complete with the artwork found on the original canceled version.
While there likely aren’t thousands of people clamoring to get their hands on Socks the Cat, releasing the game for collectors and historians to see is certainly welcome. Now if only Nintendo will officially release Star Fox 2. Small, four-legged creatures just can’t catch a break.
