"Nya?"
— Toro
Toro Inoue (井上トロ), also known as the Sony Cat in English, is the official mascot for PlayStation in Japan, and a playable character in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.[1] Toro's in-game rival is Heihachi Mishima.
Biography
NYA?
Adopted by a kindly sushi store owner, this once-abandoned cat is on a quest to become more human. Toro has the ability to assume any of a variety of roles instantly, adapting as the situation requires. An unabashed fan of games, Toro is thrilled to finally meet so many of his heroes.[2]
THE LEGACY OF TORO INOUE:
- Doko Demo Issyo (PS1)
- Toro and the Shooting Star (PS2)
- Mainichi Issho (PS3)
- Weekly Toro Station (PS3)
- Toro's Friend Network (PSVita)
Arcade
Opening
One day, Kuro informs Toro that there is going to be a fighting tournament. Seeking to become more human, Toro agrees to enter the tournament.
Transcript
Kuro: There is a gathering of mighty warriors happening!
Toro: What?
Kuro: It's close! And everyone will be there!
Toro: You don't mean...
Kuro: Yes! All of our favorites!
Toro: Perhaps I can go there to meet them! If I can learn to fight like them, I might become human.
Kuro: And maybe there will be some pretty ladies there!
Toro: Kuro! We must be respectful around such legendary humans! And we should also not be late! Let's go!
Rival
Name: Heihachi Mishima 
Reason: Toro and Kuro encounter Heihachi while he is busy training. Heihachi tells them to leave, but Toro and Kuro are eager to catch up with Heihachi, even asking why he looks young. Heihachi, angered by the cats' persistence and seeing that telling them to leave did nothing, refuses to answer and "makes himself clear" by challenging both of them to a fight.
Transcript
Kuro: If these humans only want to fight you, we should at least bet on the outcome!
Toro: I'm here to meet these people so I can learn to be like - look!
Kuro: Ah! Heihachi! I had a feeling he was around here somewhere.
Toro: It is Heihachi, but... he looks different.
Heihachi: Move along, kitties. This is no place for you.
Toro: Heihachi! Is it really you?
Kuro: You look different!
Heihachi: Such impertinence!
Toro: We just want to ask you some questions, Heihachi-san.
Kuro: Why are you so young?
Heihachi: These matters don't concern you. I already told you once to leave, but it seems I haven't made myself clear!
(Both Toro and Heihachi are showing off some moves before the fight starts.)
Ending
Kuro and Toro found the "tournament" as an exciting experience where they've got to meet many new people (the other All-Stars), however, Kuro sees in Toro's face that he became sad when he got home. After asking Toro what's the matter, he answered: "Even after all of that, I'm still not a human" to which Kuro responds by telling him all the humans wanted to do was fight, and he needed a better way to become human. After a short laugh, they talk about Toro's new power from Polygon Man, which, as described by Toro, "suits me very well, don't you think?"
Transcript
Kuro: That was a great adventure!
Toro: Yes. It was very exciting, and we got to meet so many new people.
Kuro: So what's the matter?
Toro: Even after all of that, I'm still not a human.
Kuro: All those humans wanted to do is fight you! You'll have to find a better way to become a human, Toro.
Toro: I guess you're right, Kuro. I will just keep learning new words.
Kuro: That's the spirit, Toro. And besides, even if you're not human... look how much you've learned!
Toro: That's true! This new power suits me very well, don't you think?
Quotes and Taunts
Taunts
Don't Make Me Giggle: Toro moves his paw from his chin to his side while shaking his head.
98, 99... 100: Toro puts an arm behind his back and does a one-armed push-up, then jumps up for joy.
Too Love-able to Lose: Toro puts his paws up to his face and meows.
Quotes
(Toro can only make cat sounds.)
Intros and Outros
Introduction
- I'm Too Cute to Lose: Toro waves and bows.
- Kitty 'shups: Toro struggles to do some push ups.
- Dance Battle Time: Toro dances around and then puts his paw in the air.
- Ready For the Ring: Toro tightens his headband and gets into a fighting stance.
Winning Screen
- Purrrrfect: Toro jumps for joy.
- Kitty Got Skills: Toro puts on a happy face and waves his arms in joy.
- Cat Wins: Toro spins around with his arms stretched out joyfully.
- Weee: Toro is slouched in joy, then stands on one foot and puts his paws together.
Losing Screen
- If using Purrrrfect: Frowns and crosses his arms.
- If using Kitty Got Skills: Stomps petulantly with his eyes shut.
- If using Cat Wins: Holds his hands on his eyes and cries.
- If using Weee: Toro has his eyes closed and spins his head, possibly from exhaustion.
Result Screen
Winning: Waves his arms for joy.
Losing: Crosses his arms, either with a sad or angry expression.
Victory Music
There Will Be Mochi (Unlocked at rank 4) Meowzers (Unlocked at rank 45)
Costumes
Fighting Toro
The default appearance of Toro. He starts off wearing a headband, a black belt, and wristbands as Justice Toro, goes into a ninja jumpsuit as Torobi the Kat, and wears an afro with yellow horns and a caveman skirt as Oni Toro.
- Default: white headband (Justice), brown jumpsuit (Torobi), red afro and yellow skirt (Oni)
- Green headband (Justice), green jumpsuit (Torobi), green afro and white skirt (Oni)
- Blue headband (Justice), blue jumpsuit (Torobi), blue afro and light blue skirt (Oni)
- Red headband (Justice), red jumpsuit (Torobi), brown afro and red skirt (Oni)
Bistro Toro
Toro wears restaurant-themed clothing in each of his forms. This costume is part of the preorder costume pack. He starts off dressed as a waiter as Justice Toro, turns into a dishwasher as Torobi the Kat, and becomes a chef as Oni Toro.
- Default: dark grey vest and pants (Justice), white head wrap, black shirt and pants (Torobi), white chef's hat and uniform (Oni)
- Green vest and pants (Justice), green head wrap, white shirt and green pants (Torobi), green chef's hat and uniform (Oni)
- Blue vest and pants (Justice, black head wrap, blue shirt and dark blue pants (Torobi), blue chef's hat and uniform (Oni)
- Red vest and pants (Justice), blue head wrap, red shirt and black pants (Torobi), red chef's hat and uniform (Oni)
Melodic Toro
Unlocked at Level 10, Toro wears clothes modeled after musicians. He starts off wearing visors, Hawaiian shirt, and shorts as Justice Toro, turns into a punk rocker as Torobi the Kat, and has an afro and an Elvis suit as Oni Toro.
- Default: blue Hawaiian shirt and pale red shorts (Justice), red mohawk, white tank top, black pants (Torobi), blue afro, white suit and red outlines (Oni)
- Yellow Hawaiian shirt and red shorts (Justice), blue mohawk, red tank top, black pants (Torobi), black afro, black suit (Oni)
- Green Hawaiian shirt and brown shorts (Justice), green mohawk, black tank top, purple pants (Torobi), purple afro, light purple suit and purple outlines (Oni)
- Purple Hawaiian shirt and black shorts (Justice), pink mohawk, green tank top, blue pants (Torobi), brown afro, orange suit and brown outlines (Oni)
Gallery
Videos
Mainichi Issyo
Trivia
- Toro is named after a type of sushi. Inoue is the name of the sushi store owner who adopted him/her while just a kitty.
- In the Japanese Doko Demo Issyo games, Toro speaks in the 3rd person, as not to disclose his/her gender. However in English the character speaks in the first person.
- PlayStation All-Stars, as well as Street Fighter X Tekken, mark Toro and Kuro's first appearances outside Japan, as well as their first appearances in crossover fighting games.
- Before appearing in both games mentioned above, Toro was an unexpected character, as he is barely known outside Japan, despite being created in 1999 and being PlayStation's local mascot in there, he had only a few games made for himself since then; Toro basically grew to be a real mascot rather than an actual video game character, his being actually playable instead of just a cameo is quite surprising. Kuro was even more unexpected due not being a heavy advertised mascot as Toro, he doesn't even get the cameo treatment, he is purely a Doko Demo Issho character.
- Toro's three different "stances" are based around many different fighting games, including Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Virtua Fighter and The King of Fighters.
- His neutral
attack in the air is the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, or Hurricaune Kick, from Street Fighter. - In his Justice stance, his basic attack is similar to Akira Yuki's Dashing Elbow, from Virtua Fighter. While on the ground he can do combos with that are similar to the combos in Tekken. His / + attack is based Ryu's Joudan Sokutogeri. His Justice stance switch attack ( + ) is based on Ryu's Shoryuken. The last two attacks were also two of his special moves in Street Fighter X Tekken.
- His Torobi Stance is based on Mortal Kombat. Toro has a lobster chain to throw in the vein of Scorpion's spear (), a slide move in the vein of Sub-Zero's ( / + on the ground), a parody of Liu Kang's Bicycle Kick ( / + in the air), and a play on Noob Saibot's portals ( + ).
- In his Oni stance, he can do a mochi Hadoken with that can be charged, his + attack while on the ground is a reference to the Oniyaki uppercut from The King of Fighters, his + in the air references Akuma's Diving Kick, and his Level 3 Super ( with all 3 Super bars full) is based on the Shun Goku Satsu.
- His neutral
Toro as he appears in SFxT
- The outfit Toro uses in his Justice stance is almost the same as his outfit in Street Fighter X Tekken (both based on Ryu from Street Fighter), although he wears the gi in PS All-Stars compared to SFxT where he wears his boxing gloves.
- In SFxT, the headband Toro used was red and had the PlayStation button icons (Square, Triangle, Cross and Circle) in white in it, while in PS All-Stars it is all in plain color. However, one of Toro's alternate colors makes the headband red. Toro's headband being white in his default costume could reference Ryu's appearance on the Street Fighter Alpha series or Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter.
- Toro (and Kuro) originally spoke in a series of meows. Their finalized dialogue still consists of cat noises, but are more abrupt than the original videos had shown.
- During his rival cutscene against Heihachi, he not only recognizes him, but he also notices he looks a bit different than before. This is because they first appeared together in SFxT, where Heihachi was older in age, while in PS All-Stars he is younger (this is because Heihachi's age constantly changes between each Tekken game and in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, as well as All-Stars, Heihachi is younger).
- This makes Toro one of two characters who actually state the names of their rivals, the other being PaRappa.
- An interesting note is that the names of Toro's supers are emphasized by emoticons.
- Toro is one of only five first-party characters who started on the PlayStation 1, the others being Sweet Tooth, PaRappa, Sir Daniel Fortesque and Spike.
- Toro is the only character whose voice has changed during the Final Release.
- Toro is one of 3 characters to speak a language other than English, the others being Heihachi Mishima and Kat & Dusty.
- Despite Toro Inoue being his full name, only Toro is written on the character select screen.
- Toro and Spike are the only characters whose possible number of kills for each super is three.
- In the game's opening, the headband of his Justice persona glows.
- In Toro's arcade mode cutscenes and picture in the game he is seen without his headband and belt, it is most likely that he wears them so he could have different colors in his costumes.
- It should also be noted that Toro is the only character whose offical art is different from his in-game model, as his art from the website depicts him without his headband and belt, while in-game he wears them.
- Toro technically has 9 costumes since he can switch into 3 different costumes for every costume.
- His main menu background are Toro-shaped confettis.
- Toro's character trailer is the only one to not show his Level 2 Super Move.
- Toro is the only character in the game with more than one expression during his losing results screen.
- Toro is one of the only characters to have the camera focused on him in his announcment trailer.
- Toro (and Kuro) are the only characters that recognize everybody else which they probably meet each other or interact with them.
- He's also one of the characters that don't hold a grudge against the others and actually want to become friends with them. The other being Sackboy.
- Toro is the first character along with Spike (being second to be announced) are the two Japan Studio characters to be announced, the third being Kat & Dusty.
- In Toro's trailer and in the Gamescom 2012 trailer, he first appears with a dark gray headband, but both in the trailer's gameplay footage and in-game, he has no such color.
- Toro is considered by many Japanese fans to be the mascot of Playstation Japan.
Crossovers
- Toro, alongside the other Together Everywhere! characters, have made cameo appearances in Ape Escape: Million Monkeys.
- Toro appears in Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds as a free DLC character.
- Toro (and his friend Kuro) have previously appeared in the crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken, where they were guest characters alongside Cole MacGrath. Funnily enough, a character from Street Fighter X Tekken, Heihachi, appears in PlayStation All-Stars as a playable character, and was announced at the same time as Toro and is his rival in story mode.
- Toro (and Kuro) collaborated with a Vocaloid Hatsune Miku and made their appearance in the Japanese musical game Hatsune Miku Project DIVA F. They're available in the PoPiPo Special Edition DLC pack, in which they star in the "PoPiPo -Toro and Kuro Special Edition-" PV with Miku, as well as separate Toro and Kuro accessory packs.
- Toro (and Kuro), alongside Kulche, Patapon, Echochrome's Figure, Lord Badman and Pipo's Helmet appear in Tokyo Jungle.
- Toro (and Kuro), alongside Kat, Raven, Yunica, Gade, Alias appear in Picotto Knights.
- Toro (and Kuro) appear as a costume in Tales of Graces F.
- Toro (and Kuro) appear White Knight Chronicles II.
- Toro (and Kuro) appear in Phantasy Star Portable 2.
- Toro (and Kuro) appear in Phantasy Star Online 2.
