Maus

(You think you're the big cheese?)

Maus, Chapter 2

Maus (JP: マウス) (plural Maice) is a Darkner enemy in the Cyber World that is encountered in Cyber City and Queen's Mansion. They are computer mouse Darkners that are often provoked to attack when Kris interacts with cheese.

Profile

Appearance

A Maus is a tiny Darkner which appears to be a cross between a computer mouse and its namesake rodent. It has a white body, circular purple ears, a long purple tail resembling a wire, and a purple face separated into two halves by a single line, with tiny black eyes and a small black nose.

Personality

Maice are shown to possess a fondness for cheese, similar to cartoon mice. They are aware of people's varied reactions to them, as seen when Noelle either expresses her fear of them or compliments them, depending on how far the story has progressed. They appear to have a predator-prey relationship with Tasques, much like with real-world cats and mice.

Etymology

"Maus" and "Maice" are alternate phonetic spellings of the words "mouse" and "mice" respectively. This connects to the enemy's computer mouse nature. "Maus" is also German for "mouse", which may be an unintentional coincidence, as the plural German word is "Mäuse".

Main story

Chapter 2

Multiple Maice are encountered and fought in a room in Cyber City, while Noelle is in the party. They are the key component of multiple Annoying Mouse Room puzzles. After one of these, Kris discovers a single piece of cheese. If they touch the cheese, a Maus attacks the party, scaring Noelle. Following the single piece of cheese is a labyrinth made of cheese. If Kris bumps into any of the cheese, Maice attack the party. After the encounter, the cheese labyrinth crumbles.

In the kitchen of Queen's Mansion, three Swatchlings can be seen panicking about the presence of Maice. These Maice can be found on the left side of the room, presumably having been lured in by cheese. Once seen by the party, the Maice begin rapidly spinning and form a Mauswheel, which the party must then fight.

If recruited, Maus contributes to the Thrash Machine during the GIGA Queen battle.

Chapter 3

A single Maus, likely the computer mouse for Asriel's computer, can be seen at Ramb's stand in the Green Room.

Chapter 4

If Shuttah is recruited, a Maus is a part of its "wildlife fashion shoot" at the entrance to Ralsei's castle. It can also be seen walking around the enclosure in Lancer's room.

In Mike's room, after saving a Maus from a cat statue, it turns into a hand that can be controlled with the mouse to move things from far away. On the Nintendo Switch 2 version, there are two Maice instead of one.

Chapter 5

A Maus appears in Castle Town, in the newly built church, where it can be seen praying for "Good cheeses".

In battle

Appears with

• Poppup
• Tasque

Attacks

• A cursor follows the SOUL with a gray trail, catching up with a bit of a delay.
• Tunnels appear around the bullet board. Eyes indicate which tunnels mice run out from. If there is only one Maus in battle, the mice and tunnels are bigger, though the mice struggle to get out for a second.

Available ACTs

The targeted Maus moves back and forth, with a cage situated above. [MENU] must be pressed to lower the cage and trap the Maus. If successful, this increases MERCY by 100%.

All enemies back and forth, with a cage situated above. [MENU] must be pressed to lower the cage and trap the enemies. If successful, this increases MERCY by 100% for each enemy caught.

All enemies back and forth, with a cage situated above. [MENU] must be pressed to lower the cage and trap the enemies. If successful, this increases MERCY by 100% for each enemy caught.

Inflicts TIRED on all enemies.

Replaces Fear once Noelle becomes immune to mice. Increases all enemies' MERCY by 100%.

Replaces the targeted Maus with a Tasque.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Strategy

In addition to ACTs, several conditions allow for Maus to be spared:

• Sparing (when its name is not yellow) increases mercy by 25% for one Maus.
• Using SoftVoice on Tasque while Maus is also present increases mercy by 50% for all Maice.

Quotes

• (Tired of being pushed around.) [Neutral]
• (You think you're the big cheese?) [Neutral]
• (Left, right, right, left...) [Neutral]
• (Catch me, catch me!) (Hee hee hee...) [Neutral]
• (I can't help it, I'm a scary guy.) [Fear]
• (I can't help it, I'm a cutey guy.) [Compliment]
• (Are you going to take me home?) [Unused]
• (Just take good care of me!) [Unused]

Flavor text

Any encounter

• It's just a little mouse living in a little house. [Check]
• Maus is clicking and squeaking. [Neutral]
• Maus is thinking about overly elaborate machines. [Neutral]
• Maus keeps running between your feet. [Neutral]
• Maus is keenly aware of the fear it invokes. [Neutral]
• Maus would like to go to its favorite bistro in this marvelous city. [Neutral]
• Smells like wood shavings. [Neutral]
• Press [(MENU)] To Trap!!! [TrapOne]
• Press [(MENU)] to trap all the enemies! [TrapAll]
• Didn't catch anything... [TrapOne/TrapAll, caught no enemies]
• Caught the enemy! [TrapOne/TrapAll, caught one enemy]
• Caught <number> enemies! [TrapOne/TrapAll, caught multiple enemies]
• [Upgrade]
  • [Susie] There's only one solution for a mouse!!
  • [Susie] Here, kitty kitty!!
  • [Ralsei] ...don't we just have to fight the cat now?
  • [Susie] Huh?
  • (I'll work with who I have to.) [When Upgrade is used on another Maus]
• Susie got on all fours and chased the mouse around the room like an animal!! [S-Action]
  • Susie chased on all fours!! [Shortened]
• [R-Action #1]
  • Ralsei started putting peanut butter on a spoon and put it in a trap!!
  • Susie was captured!!
  • [Ralsei] Susie!!!
  • [Susie] The hell you blaming ME for!! YOU made the trap!!
• Ralsei sang a song about mice!! [R-Action #2+]
  • Ralsei sang a mouse song!! [Shortened]
• Maus's clicking sounds more like splat noises. [Tired]
• Maus is squeaking cheerfully. [Spare conditions met]

Cyber World

• Maus blocked the way! [Encounter]
• Maice blocked the way! [Encounter with another Maus or with other Maice]
• Poppup and Maus appeared. [Encounter with Poppup]
• Werewire and Maus swung down like stringed superheroes! [Encounter with other Werewires; unused]
• Swatchling and vermin appeared! [Encounter with other Swatchlings; unused]
• [Fear #1]
  • [Noelle] Th-the way it moves is just so... so scary!
  • [Noelle] It's disgusting!
  • Maus was rejected... everyone felt TIRED.
• [Fear #2+]
  • Noelle reacted in fear!
  • The enemies felt dejected and TIRED...
• [Compliment]
  • Noelle complimented the enemies!
  • [Noelle] They're... kind of cute, right...?
• Noelle screamed quietly! [N-Action, when Noelle is afraid of mice]
• Noelle cheered brightly! [N-Action, when Noelle is not afraid of mice]

Ch2 All Stars

• Round Three! [Encounter with other Tasques]

Gallery

• 
  A horde of Maice on a Poppup ad
• 
  A Maus transformed into a hand cursor in Mike's room

Trivia

• The red cage used for TrapOne and TrapAll, as well as flavor text mentioning "overly elaborate machines", may be referencing the board game Mouse Trap, where the titular mousetrap (a red cage) is triggered by a Rube Goldberg machine.
• The "cat and mouse cartoons" mentioned in the recruits screen description may be a reference to Tom and Jerry.
• The flavor text mentioning a bistro in the city may be a reference to the movie Ratatouille, in which a rat opens a bistro in Paris.

Version history

Game edition	Version tag	Changes
Chapter 1&2 Demo	v1.12	It was originally possible to soft-lock the game by using Susie's Upgrade X-ACT on the same turn as another enemy was spared, causing the text box to erroneously display both the battle flavor text and a message about sparing Tasque while it is not yellow. The battle would continue as normal, but once all enemies were either spared or pacified, the soft-lock would trigger.