That's the direction the Pocky & Rocky series took, as it first showed up in Japanese arcades in the '80s and then began to be localized for America with its '90s SNES sequels. Pocky & Rocky 2 is ...

After defeating the Stage 1 boss, it will drop its bowl. If you hit it with your close range attack, it will bounce around, and a maneki neko (beckoning cat) will fly out and drop an extra 1-up ...