Toro Inoue (Sony Cat)

About

Toro Inoue, sometimes known as Sony Cat, is a "Pokepi" or pocket person featured as a lead in the Doko Demo Issyo video game series. After first being featured in the video game in 2004, Toro has become the unofficial Sony PlayStation mascot in Japan. Toro is depicted as a bipedal, white cat-inspired mascot that's often featured in fan art and GIF memes on the internet, and he is known for his expressive face and cute personality.

Origin

The video game Doko Demo Issyo was developed by Bomber Express and released by Sony for the PlayStation on July 22nd, 1999. The game allows the player to interact with one of five "Pokepi" or pocket people, including a white bobcat named Inoue Toro. The phrase "Pokepi" is a reference to the game's portability with the help of the handheld PocketStation device.

Toro featured most prominently in the marketing for the original 1999 Doko Demo Issyo game (two 1999 Japanese advertisements for the game shown below).^[1][2]

Spread

Over the following years, Inoue Toro's popularity led to the mascot being cameoed or featured in over 30 other Sony PlayStation games as well. For example, a trailer for PlayStation's 2012 All-Star Battle Royale^[3] features Toro (seen below).

Inoue Toro often features alongside his friend Kuro, a black stray cat that co-hosts a weekly news program with Toro. In contrast to Toro's typically innocent and curious personality, Kuro is depicted as a mature and humorously sleazy character as a result of his street upbringing.

An April 28th, 2023, YouTube^[4] video by dodgykebaab outlines Inoue Toro's video game history and popularity as a mascot in the nation of Japan (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References