Scribblenauts is an odd title for me. I love the concept and the execution of the concept but from the (admittedly very) little I've played of the game so far, I'm coming away just a tad bit underwhelmed. This is a game that I ran out and bought right away expecting to use thousands of words to solve the myriad of puzzles the developers threw against me. While I liked the idea of messing around typing in a variety of words and seeing what happened, I knew that it wouldn't be enough to entertain me. The ability to use my word knowledge to solve puzzles was the biggest reason I bought the game. Scribblenauts, so far, has failed to do that for me.

Admit it. There are games out there that only had one outing and disappeared forever yet you wish someone would make a sequel out of it. Psychonauts, Vagrant Story, and Eternal Darkness spring to mind for many. So for this feature, I want to create what would be my ideal sequel for the game in question. I'll detail the story and gameplay for the sequel as long as which platform it deserves to be on. For the first entry of this new feature, I'll be taking a look at the long-rumored Metroid sequel, Metroid Dread.

It's Wednesday. I'm bored. I'm browsing around IGN and happen to take a look at the release date list for the DS to find out when Scribblenauts is supposed to come out. As I scroll down, I start seeing games that I had no idea came out in either August or September. Seriously, did anyone realize that these games were coming out this soon?

Now that you've created your character, chosen your region, and picked your starting Pokemon, it's time to explore your town. As I stated before, each starting town will have a Pokemon Center, a Pokemart, a Training Hall, and a Job Center. The town will also contain a port and an apartment complex where all trainers will have their own room. I'll go over each place of interest, starting with the apartment complex.



Battles should be as dynamic and exciting as the anime. It's boring watching one Pokemon hit the other until one falls down. One would think that this would mean to take direct control of the Pokemon, but I think you should be in the trainer's shoes at all time. Instead of just standing back and ordering moves, the player would also have limited control on how the Pokemon used the environment. Five unique commands would be available: Dodge, Counter, Environment, Distance and Defend.

Dodge, Counter and Defend would do exactly what they say while Environment would tell the Pokemon to use their surroundings in battle. Distance tells the Pokemon to get away from its opponent since some attacks will have shorter ranges than others. These commands would be done on the fly during battle forcing the trainer to watch very closely. They are not something that is done immediately though. If you select Dodge after every attack by your opponent, you will quickly run out of your Pokemon's stamina gauge, which refills after every battle.

The Commands are also limited by how well your Pokemon has been trained and in what areas it was trained in. So if you tell your Pokemon to dodge and it hasn't been trained in that area, it will be much slower than a Pokemon that has. Speed has a lot to do with the Commands. Even if you trained your Pokemon in speed and choose dodge, the attack will still hit if the other trainers Pokemon is faster. That's not to say that the Commands will work 100% of the time. They are a tool that can be improved but not perfected.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, experience would be divided into 2 categories: Training and Battle. Battle is exactly like every other Pokemon game where beating other Pokemon raises your level and allows you to learn new moves and maybe evolve. Training experience is paramount to being able to level though. A completely new feature for Pokemon World is the ability to train your Pokemon. Just like in the anime, you have to interact and work with your Pokemon in order to make them mature as battlers. By buying toys and tools for them to train with, you earn experience points that measure how much they're able to develop.

Let's put this in practical terms. If you decide to completely ignore the training aspect of Pokemon World, your Pokemon will never grow stronger than level 15. Only by training with it will your Pokemon unlock the ability to grow to levels beyond 15. The level cap for the game would be 90 with levels being unlocked in increments of 15 (so 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90). Besides opening up levels, the training would have the added bonus of increasing stats, increasing Command response time, and increasing the chances of a Final Attack. The Final Attack is when your Pokemon is attacked and should have fainted but instead has 1 HP left. It will be able to attack one more time, doubling the power of the final chosen move. The chances of it happening is directly related to how much of a bond you have with that Pokemon.

The stats of your Pokemon go up a preset amount with Battle experience but training the Pokemon allows you to increase whichever stats you prefer. Each statistic takes roughly the same amount of time to train with the exception of the bond, which takes twice the amount of effort to increase. You will reach the quotas of Training experience long before you have to increase each stat so only those who want to will spend endless amounts of time training their Pokemon.

I believe that's all I have for you guys today. Next time I will reveal what you can do once you conquer all the gyms and enter the Pokemon League. Once again this will be quite different from the regular games.

Now that you've created your character, chosen your region, and picked your starting Pokemon, it's time to explore your town. As I stated before, each starting town will have a Pokemon Center, a Pokemart, a Training Hall, and a Job Center. The town will also contain a port and an apartment complex where all trainers will have their own room. I'll go over each place of interest, starting with the apartment complex.



Every trainer will live in the massive Pokemon Towers in their home town. Much like Final Fantasy 11's houses, once you enter the Towers you will be immediately taken to your room. There you can customize what your house looks like and decorate it with dolls, posters, rugs, badges, and trophies. The room also contains a small kitchen where you can take various ingredients to make Pokefood. The final item in your room is your PC. From there you can organize your captured Pokemon, check news sites for rare Pokemon sitings, send messages to friends, look for news of upcoming tournaments, shop from Pokemarts you've already visited, and see if any NPC trainers have sent you battle requests.

The docks are where trainers arrive and can travel to new regions in the Pokemon World. It can provide a major strategic coup early on if your willing to part with 1000 Pokedollars, which is all the money your parents lend you to become a trainer. It may seem like a lot, but let's say you choose Shinx as your starter in Sinnoh. The first gym leader is Roark, a Rock-type gym leader, which would be especially hard to overcome with an Electric type like Shinx. However the first Johto gym leader is Falkner, a Flying-type gym leader, which has a natural weakness to Shinx. It's strategies like these that make the docks a must in Pokemon World.

The Pokemon Center and the Pokemart fill the exact same roles that they do in every game. The Center has remained exactly the same but the Pokemart has expanded its inventory quite a bit. Besides the usual Pokeballs, Potions, Repels, and Antidotes, the Pokemart also sells various training tools and toys. Training, which is different from leveling in Pokemon World, is essential to making your Pokemon stronger. The tools and toys help your Pokemon train faster and in more specific ways. Pokefood is also sold and is essential to keeping your Pokemon healthy. Store bought food works well enough but special perks might reveal themselves to trainers who fancy themselves chefs. The Poketch is also sold here though it is quite expensive. It has many of the same features from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum along with some of the features of your PC such as battle requests, messages from friends, and news of upcoming tournaments.

The Training Hall is exactly that. Various Pokemon teachers give you lessons on the new mechanics of the game as well as the ones that everyone knows like catching Pokemon and how Pokemon types work. It'd be something the more experienced Pokemon fan would skip except that it is filled with NPCs who want to give new trainers a bit of a challenge. They could either want to battle with you or send you on a quest which would gain you level experience, items or money, and training experience. The quests would be pulled directly from the show. Let's say someone's Pokemon has run off. It's your job to go and find him, but when you do, it doesn't want to come along. You have to make it faint in order to bring it back. Another quest could be capture a certain Pokemon for the NPC.

These quest givers wouldn't only be in the Training Hall either. They would be spread all over the town as well as the rest of the world. Much like WoW, they would provide story tidbits as well as an excellent way to get better items. In order to differentiate between Quest Givers and Battlers, a Pokeball icon would be above a Battlers head while a Pokedex would be above the Quest Givers.

Finally, the Job Center. Before you can head out into the world, you have to choose what kind of Pokemon Trainer you will be. The immediate effect of this will be how you play through the game and what your story will be. There are 6 different jobs in Pokemon World: Classic Trainer, Breeder, Ranger, Photographer, Coordinator, and Team Rocket. The Classic Trainer is just that. You work your way through the gyms and eventually the Elite Four. The Breeder focuses mainly on the raising aspect of Pokemon. They are trained heavily rather than focusing on leveling. The Breeder's League looks at how well the Pokemon react and respond to the breeder during battle. The quests also take on more breeder-like qualities.

The Ranger is a protector of Pokemon and nature. Rather than capturing and using many Pokemon, a Ranger has one partner and uses the capture styler to temporarily use wild Pokemon to do what they ask. The Rangers would be tasked with solving a different mystery in each region before entering the Ranger League to test their control of wild Pokemon. The Photographer, on the other hand, prefers to capture pictures of Pokemon rather than the Pokemon themselves. The Photographer only goes after the rarest of Pokemon making a strong team necessary in order to reach those harsh places. They also earn the most money as they can sell the photos they've taken. Their goal is to take a picture of every rare Pokemon in each region.

The Coordinator focuses on the style of their Pokemon. They are able to pick through hundreds of different moves that can be used during entrances, battles, and exhibitions. This job would play out much like the Coordinators in the anime except that each of the five ribbons would concentrate on a different sort of style. One for coolness, one for cuteness, and so on. Finally, Team Rocket focuses on using Pokemon for profit. As the Team Rocket member travels the world, they are tasked with pulling various jobs for their leaders. The goal is to become one of the top-ranking Team Rocket members in your region in order to capture Legendary Pokemon.

And I think that's enough for today. Whew. That was a lot. Hopefully, I kept your interest because I haven't even gotten into the stories of these jobs or how battles will work in Pokemon World. There's still a lot to cover in this MMO. Let me know what you think!

I've been thinking about this for a very long time. A lot of people have. It's something that Pokemon fans have demanded. That being a Pokemon MMO. There have been many ideas out there on how to do one and while there have been some good ones, I want to present the most complete depiction of what a Pokemon MMO would/could/should be like. The game would be called Pokemon World.

The first part of any MMO is creating your character. The first choice to be made is whether your character would be a boy or a girl. You would then set their age (anywhere from 10 to 15) which would also set their height. The player would then have to choose between dozens of faces, hairstyles, and their respective colors. This is Pokemon so blue, pink, and purple hair wouldn't be out of place. The style of these characters would also match the anime and present that same timeless quality that WoW's graphics have. The final choice that players would have to make in regards to their character's look is what clothes they would wear. Hats, glasses, shirts, gloves, pants, shoes, and backpacks would all be able to be customized from a limited selection. As players progressed through the game, they would find or be able to buy new versions of each of these items.



Once your character is fully customized, you would select a name and then be presented with your second choice. Which region will you begin in? This is extremely important because it decides which starting Pokemon you would be able to choose from. It would also determine which gym leaders you would face and which lands you would be able to unlock. For example, Kanto would contain the Sevii Islands, Hoenn would have the Battle Frontier, and Sinnoh would have the Distortion World. If you so wanted you would be able to travel to a different region by boat, but you would be unable to mix and match the badges. The Kanto Elite Four are only unlocked by the 8 Kanto Gym Badges.

The other big change to selecting your region is that the beginning towns (Pallet Town, New Bark Town, Littleroot Town, and Twinleaf Town) would be more like actual towns than the four house communities that are presented in the games. This is so its a bit harder for starting trainers to crowd around each town's Professor in order to get their first Pokemon. Each town would have a Pokemon Center, a Pokemart, a Training Hall, and a Pokemon Job Center. Each one would have to be visited before you would be able to travel out into the world. You may be curious to what a Pokemon Job Center is, but I'm going to wait to reveal that information until tomorrow.

The final big change in starting out is your starting Pokemon in each region. Kanto will still have Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander but will also include Eevee as a starting choice. Johto still has Chikorita, Totodile, and Cyndaquil along with Larvitar. Hoenn keeps Treecko, Mudkip, and Torchic with Ralts thrown into the mix. Finally, Sinnoh will have Turtwig, Piplup, and Chimchar along with Shinx.

The point in keeping the same starters is so fans could pick and choose their favorites. They could also, if they so choose, pick a more strategic choice in Eevee (who has multiple possibilities in evolution), Larvitar (a strong Rock/Ground Pokemon), Ralts (a psychic Pokemon that has great attack power but low defense) and Shinx (a good electric Pokemon). The reason I picked those four is because they mostly follow the traditional and easy path of leveling them up to their final evolutions with the exception of Eevee.

It's at this point that players would be dropped in the world and ready to play. Tomorrow's Pokemon World post will focus on the opening towns, the importance of the Job Center, and the story of Pokemon World. Let me know what you guys think!

I've recently began taking my DS to work to play on breaks and its actually proven to be quite the stress reliever. It has also helped me begin working through the unbeaten games that I have on the system. The only ones I have left are Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Final Fantasy III, and the latest Densetsu no Stafy game that I picked up in Japan. I know I definitely want a new RPG once I'm done with those games but the trouble I'm having is deciding which one I want between the three awesome ones that have recently been released.


Final Fantasy IV: I'm a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series and while I've already beaten FFIV in the past, the new translation, upgraded visuals, and voice acting make this a very alluring package. It would definitely give me a challenge and I've been craving one for a while now.


Chrono Trigger: What can I say that hasn't already been said of this amazing game. I loved it on the PS1 (the only version I played) and the fact that all points lead to this being the premier version of the game only makes it the more tantalizing. I've also never attempted to get all the endings so I'd definitely get some replay value out of it. The only thing that kind of disappoints me is that they didn't try to update the visuals. That's nothing huge though because the art style is fantastic.


Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen: DQIV is simultaneously the most and least tantalizing of the three. It's the most because I've only ever played one DQ game and that was number 8, which I loved. This would be a completely new experience for me unlike the other 2 games. However, that also makes it the biggest risk. I know a lot of changes were made to the DQ series for the eighth entry to make it more appealing to US gamers. I'm not sure how different it would be to play it.


This really is an agonizingly hard choice to make. Eventually I'll get all three but it will probably quite some time until I can. Can you guys help me at all? Any suggestions to which one I should pick and why?

I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned this before, but this July, I will be going on a trip to Japan in order to celebrate the fact that I have finally graduated from college. It's an extremely generous gift given to me by parents. I will be going on a guided tour across Japan for an awesome 11 day trip. I'll get to visit Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Nagasaki with a free day to do whatever I like in Tokyo and Kyoto. While in Nara I'll get to visit the famous deer park and in Nagasaki, I'll see the museum dedicated to the dropping of the atomic bomb. I also get to visit Mt. Fuji and a place known as the Boiling Hells Hot Springs. One of the nights there will be spent in a traditional Japanese Inn complete with paper walls, sliding doors, futon mats, and a traditional tea ceremony. Since I'm going in July, I will also get to go to a festival that's held in the cities. Finally, one of the coolest parts, is that I'll get to visit one of Japan's volcanoes and, if the conditions are alright, I'll be able to travel inside and see what it's actually like. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to this.

With a free day in Tokyo and a DS that isn't region locked, I'm thinking that I want to pick up some Japanese games while I'm there. I've never imported games before and I think it'll be a really cool experience to actually try out a Japanese game. The question is, which games should I pick up? I have no knowledge of the Japanese language so I'm trying to come up with games that aren't that text heavy but are still a lot of fun. I don't feel like playing next to a translation of whats going on. So far, I've come up with one game that I have to pick up: Jump Ultimate Stars.




Essentially the game is Smash Bros. with Shonen Jump characters. As a big anime fan, I think it'll be awesome to have Luffy from One Piece battling Ichigo from Bleach and Light from Death Note taking on Sasuke from Naruto. There doesn't seem to be too much Japanese text so I really think that this is the game to get while I'm there. Still it's no fun only getting one so any other suggestions?

This title is not a suggestion. It is not a polite request. It is a freaking mandate. If you own a DS, you owe it to yourself to have this game in your library. If you don't, I can't consider you a gamer. It's that simple. Now why am I laying such heavy praise on a game that I haven't played to the end and therefore can't properly review it? Answer: Because it is one of the single best Action RPGs I have ever played.

By now, most of you have heard the story but for those who haven't, here's a quick refresher. You start the game as average Japanese 15 year old Neku, a moody teen who doesn't realize the use of trusting other people, who wakes up one day to discover that he is somehow in the streets of the Shibuya district. He has no idea how he got there or why and has no memory beyond his own name. His cell phone rings indicating his mission. If he doesn't complete it in time, he will be erased. So begins what is called the Reaper's Game.

The story is one of the highlights of the game. You are left completely clueless with little to no backstory on what's going on which puts you directly in the shoes of Neku. This isn't your typical RPG plot, besides the loss of memory which is smartly explained later on. You aren't trying to save the world. You are trying to survive. That and what it means to trust someone are the themes that stand out to me with The World Ends With You. It's a more personal tale and I love it for that.

The graphics are some of the best on the system. 2D sprites are vibrant and stand out. The streets are packed with pedestrians at all times. And the backgrounds give the sense that Shibuya is its own world. Cutscenes take the form of character art talking to each other through text bubbles, giving the game a distinctive manga feel. Unlike most games of this type where the art has maybe 5 different forms to convey the emotions, the main characters are given about 10 different emotions to display with sound bites to go with them. The art style is immensely appealing to myself and its a setting where Tetsuya Nomura's character designs really fit. I know some may be off put by the art, but it matches the vibe for the rest of the game. The package really gives you the sense of knowing these characters which is essential to giving full impact for the story.

Speaking of vocals, I have no idea how Square-Enix fit all their sound and music into the cartridge. Sound bites, battle grunts, and at least 20 different songs that are constantly playing in the background. Like the rest of the game, it isn't your typical RPG. Hip hop and techno beats are constantly playing which helps add to the overall urban culture and the feeling of Shibuya. The music is so good in fact that I have hooked my computer's speakers up to my DS and had it play while I did other things.

The battle system is obviously the most talked about part of the game. They sound complicated but do they work? Short answer: yes. With over 300 pins to collect, the action on the bottom screen alone would be a worthy battle system. Tapping, slashing, holding, and circling all cause different attacks to activate with the right pin equipped which makes a highly customizable battle engine. Personally, I like to equip pins that won't conflict with each other, which can be a problem at time. For example, I currently use a pin where I have to slash the enemy with my stylus in order to attack. At the same time I have a pin where I have to slash across Neku in order to send out attack beams. If the enemies get too bunched around you, you can end up inputting the attack you didn't want. Still, with proper planning, this can mostly be avoided.

Once you add in the top screen, a whole new ballgame emerges. As you progress, your partner is given new abilities which make it vital to watch both screens. But because the attainment of these abilities are gradual, you typically have a grasp on paying attention to both at that point. You push the d-pad to either the left or right in order to attack in that direction. Push up to jump and then combo into an attack. Push down to guard. You can also counterattack by pushing in the opposite direction of your already started attack if an enemy comes at you from behind. The hardest thing I found about the top screen was getting the fusion attack to work properly. I can't consciously input the right attacks yet. Fortunately, the placement of the right elements are random which means you'll eventually earn it through endless tapping left or right. Not the most elegant way but I'm still learning.

The customization options is where the game truly shines. 300 pins, 13 different clothing brands with their own styles, the ability to switch between difficulties on the fly, and the ability to adjust your own level. In no other RPG have I gone on such shopping sprees. Every item, no matter what it does or how expensive it is, I buy. The reason is because of the changing fashion preferences in Shibuya. The higher the clothing you wear is ranked, the better attack bonuses you get. The same is true vice versa. However, if your clothing is ranked somewhere in the middle, you can affect the fashion tastes through battle so that your fashion is on top. Each enemy has a different item that they drop depending on the difficulty that you're set at. With four difficulty settings, you can choose what kind of drops you want from the enemies you fight. The level your at can also be adjusted. For example, I am actually level 23, but I'm only set at level 5. The reason is because I have 18 times better chances at getting pin drops which helps rake up the cash so I can buy more clothes. You can also stack up to 4 battles so that you can multiply those pin drops even further.

I could talk about this game for much longer, but I'll stop here with my mandate once again. Buy this game if you have a DS. Even if you don't like RPGs, there's enough action that you will be satiated. In fact, battles are never a chore. Each one is fun and unique and can be entered as little or as often as you want. RPGs were beginning to lose their flavor with me but The World Ends With You completely revitalized it. Never have I been so addicted to a game. I sincerely hope that it becomes a new franchise for Square-Enix. I would buy any manga, anime, or sequel that would come out if the quality is maintained. Buy this game. Love this game. Trust me.