How to Save the Cats at the Gardens in Mineko’s Night Market

The first place you can head to in order to get crafting materials in Mineko’s Night Market is the Village Gardens, but you need to save its cats from agents before getting free use of it. Now, there are only five cats in captivity. You also have three “lives” and only get caught if Mineko gets caught in an agent’s flashlight. However, it still might be a bit tricky to get all five, then the artifact in the treehouse. Here’s the easy way to get through it.

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How to save all 5 cats in the Village Gardens in Mineko’s Night Market 

To enter the Gardens, first wait for the two agents at the entrance to start talking. Their flashlights will face each other, allowing Mineko to dash inside. Make sure you actually run, rather than walk. 

Go immediately to the right. There will be two agents with flashlights facing a cat in a black cage, while a third agent with no flashlight is reading a fashion magazine. When the two with flashlights turn left, quickly dash up and free the cat. Then run to the right and choose to grab the fashion magazine on the ground.

Head north a bit. You’ll see three agents with flashlights and a radio near them go to it and change the station to Classic Rock. All of them will fall asleep. You can then rescue the cat at your leisure.

Go north. There’s a bridge with an agent moving left and right, as well as a path to the right with two agents. I find this is the spot where it is easiest to get caught. Go for the bridge each time. When the agent on the left is facing the rock, dash up, cross the bridge, rescue the white cat, go back over the bridge, and dash south once the agent is facing the rock again.

Head east. This cat is one of the easiest to rescue, I’ve found. The three agents will move in a circle, but occasionally pause. When the one with the ponytail is in the bottom right corner, they will all pause from a second. You can run north, rescue the cat, run south, and be safe.

This last cat is one of the easiest ones to save. Remember that fashion magazine you grabbed earlier? Leave it on the tree stump with the ramune bottle on it. Run down a bit. The agent will go read it, letting you free the cat.

Okay, final step! You need to get the artifact to force the agents to leave. Go to the box to the right of the teahouse. Choose to cut the power, then quickly run south. The agent will head over to restore power. Dash up to the table that person was guarding and grab the artifact. Doing so will finish this section and clear out the Village Gardens in Mineko’s Night Market so you can get flowers and cat hairballs.

Mineko’s Night Market is available on the Nintendo Switch and PC. It will be on the PS4, PS5, and Xbox One on October 26, 2023.