Pokemon is a massively popular franchise and continues to be the one part of Nintendo that even surpasses Mario. (Debatable I suppose..) Most people like to go with the main Pokemon games, (Red, Diamond, Ruby, Heartgold..etc) but the spinoffs can be pretty fun as well. Anyone remember Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Ranger, or Pokemon Colosseum? I’m not going to say that they’re better than the main games of the series, but they are still very good games in their own right. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon has spawned a whole sub-series of video games, but this is the first one that I’ve played.

From the start, you can tell that this is a very different Pokemon game. There are no humans (Not many humans anyway) to speak of and the Pokemon can speak in perfect English. (Via translator) The main character wakes up as a Charmander and he has no idea what has happened. Is he truly a pokemon? Is this all some kind of misunderstanding!? Well, Charmander has no time to think about such trivial matters as a Pikachu comes on the scene. One thing leads to another and they decide to form a team. They help those who are in need of help and they often do it for a modest reward.

For the most part, that’s the plot, but things get more dangerous as the game goes on. The world starts to turn against the heroes as they retreat into the mountains. Can Charmander prove that he’s a nice pokemon and save the world, Or will they track him down and watch as the planet is destroyed? Either way, you’ll want to see the conclusion!

Well, the story line may not be incredibly hardcore and epic, but considering that we don’t have cut scenes, I’d say that it does a nice job. The storyline was fun and didn’t drag on, this was largely because of the gameplay. The gameplay for this game is still turn based, but there are tactics involved. (Ever play Yu Yu Hakusho Tournament Tactics?) In case you haven’t played the game that I mentioned, you are essentially playing from an overhead perspective. Each move counts as a turn and likewise with an attack. It’s simple enough to learn, but making the most out of each situation can take some experience.

The story mode in itself is decently long, but the game has a Lot of replay value. After you complete the game, there are dozens upon dozens of missions left. (Maybe even Hundreds) One day I may go back and complete them all, but they just kept coming and coming and coming and coming! The missions never get boring, but I’ve always got more games to play, so I just didn’t have time. The mission’s Rank determines how tough it will be, but you probably knew that.

When you aren’t completing missions, you can go and spend your hard-earned cash. I found that it’s best to use the cash for new friend areas, but you can also buy some items. There’s even a bank where you can leave your money. (Because when you lose a mission, any money that you were holding goes Kapoot!) Leveling up to 100 and getting as many allies as you can, will also increase the replay value of this game. That’s one thing I’ve always loved about Pokemon, you get a lot of play time for you money!

This was a solid way to start the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. I am looking forward to the next one and I’m sure that it will be a blast. This is definitely a great game to get and I recommend it to just about anyone. The game is fun and as long as you keep on leveling up, it shouldn’t get to be extremely hard. There is also a certified planet destroyer near the end of the game, so you may want to keep an eye out for that. I wonder which Pokemon game I’ll get next! (Rangers 2, Mystery Dungeon 2, DS Remake 2)

Overall 8/10

The World Championship titles have always been my personal favorite series from the Yugioh franchise. They are always pretty fun and there are many duels to be had. This is one of the few games in the series to actually have a concrete story mode which just makes the game all the better!

The game revolves around a kid named Terry (At least in my version!) who used to be pals with Yusei and the Enforcers. After that, he went on to become one of Sayer’s Arcadia grunts. Terry would never do such a thing willingly so they brainwashed him. Terry’s mind is too strong to be controlled for long so he starts to resist and gains back some of his memories. Will he gain all of his memories back and help the heroes save the day!? Or will he stay a villain forever?

Terry is a pretty solid protagonist and he’s definitely one of the better characters in the game. He isn’t afraid of anybody and he’s a very powerful duelist. He has no equal when it comes to dueling and not even Yusei or Director Goodwin could stop him. In the game Terry is unbeatable and there is literally no duelist who can take him down. Not to mention that Terry also has the best duel runner in the world (As it would seem anyway)

Yusei is a pretty good character, but he is never able to back up his tough talk. His Duel Runner also tends to break down at the worst times. Still, Yusei will never abandon a friend and he’s much more noble than most of today’s main characters. They could certainly learn a thing or two from Yusei.

Jack Atlas is a top notch duelist in his own right as well and he always gives it his all. He’s the only signer who is able to defeat his dark counterpart without Terry’s help. He’s also a pretty solid character and I don’t see why you wouldn’t like him. For the most part, he’s a dependable hero who gets the job done. (Of course none of the heroes were as fast as Terry and ended up missing part of the final battle)

Akiza is another signer and possibly the strongest. In a duel Yusei or Jack could probably defeat Akiza, but in a physical fight, she would definitely win. Akiza has psychic powers and she is very skilled at using them. Akiza has her share of evil moments and definitely does a lot of damage, but in the end she proves that she’s a hero.

Leo and Luna are the final main characters. Leo doesn’t really do anything for the entire battle and he’s way out of his league. He doesn’t get the mark of the signer and he’s not a really good duelist. Luna does all right as well, but her dueling abilities aren’t as good as the other signers. You can blame this on the fact that she’s still a kid.

The Dark Signers make for pretty good antagonists and they’re pretty mysterious. Kallen was definitely the best Dark Signer, but Rex Goodwin was also pretty good. Director Goodwin tricked most of the main cast for the majority of the game which earns him some points. With his sheer muscle power, he could probably have defeated them in a hand to hand fight if it had come down to that.

One thing that I wasn’t crazy about in this game was that they got rid of the traditional championship mode. In the other games, there were tiers where you would beat the other characters on the tier to unlock the next one. It was a very fun way to duel and advance through the rankings. I guess Story Mode was a good replacement, but I still miss that part.

The gameplay is as great as always and you’ll never get tired of dueling. It’s pretty fast paced and you’ll find yourself in a lot of tight situations. The computer’s AI is pretty good as well. This game also features Duel Runner races which are very fun. Once you’ve got a nicely customized Duel Runner, you’ll be ready to tackle anything! There are also turbo duels which are basically a mix of the two. I think it would be fun to control the duel runner while dueling, but maybe for a sequel.

Overall, this is another solid installment to the franchise and I highly recommend it to gamers everywhere. You won’t find this intense action in many games and the cast is easily one of the better ones. I know that I’ll be picking up the sequel at some point (And you can expect a review), but until then at least I have this game to pass the time by. There is always more to do in a Yugioh game and this one has a Lot of replay value. There are many more duelists to beat and races to conquer after all.

Overall 8/10

Achievements
Beat Game

Things to do
Get all cards
Defeat All Duelists
Win All Races