Saban picked up the North American rights to the series in 1991, and produced an English version called Samurai Pizza Cats.

The council is headed by the ambitious prime minister Kitsunezuka Koon-no-Kami, a fox who constantly plots to overthrow the Shogun with the help of his trusted advisor Karasu Gennari-sai, and Karamaru, the leader of an army of ninja crows.

Unknown to the prime minister, council member Inuyama Wanko-no-Kami, the commander of the Palace Guard, learns of his designs on leadership, but is unable to prosecute him for treason because of his plausible deniability.

Instead, Inuyama enlists the services of Yattarou, Pururun and Sukashii, cat ninja who work in the city's pizzeria, with their operator Otama.

Known collectively as the Nyankī (a play on the Japanese word for a cat's meow and the term "Yankee"), they are assigned to stop Koon-no-Kami and his evil henchmen's plans to take over Edoropolis.

The writers were relatively unrestricted in how they produced the dub and chose to make it more blatantly comedic with contemporary pop culture references, meta-jokes, and fourth wall breaks.

Although the game was never officially released in the West, an English fan-translation (with characters' names and places adapted to those from the Samurai Pizza Cats dub) is available via a fan-made ROM patch.

The incidental music was composed by Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Ranma ½, Fate/Stay Night, Mobile Suit Gundam 00).

The opening ("A Time for Beautiful Days" (おっとどっこい日本晴れ, Ottodokkoi Nihonbare)) and ending ("To Be Yourself") songs were composed by Etsuko Yamakawa, Takeshi Ike and Anju Mana and sung by Reina Yazawa and Ai Orikasa.

Starchild Records released the complete series on DVD in Japan on August 8, 2012, as part of a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Tatsunoko Pro.