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[topunknowndsgames]

You are probably the only one who might be able to find this game ?? I’ve spent months looking for it. It’s a cat Nintendo ds game. My stepdad at the time got a ton of rims for an r2 card so I never physically owned the game. It had a very simple art style and was kind of a day to day game. It had a calendar and you’d wash your cat on Sunday. It was in a house setting. That’s all I have to go on and I’ve gone through hundreds of games looking for it because my lil sister is trying to find it

Any other clues you could give? Ideas of approximately how many breeds were available, if the game was 2D or 3D, and about what year it might have been when you played it could all be helpful! Also if you're sure it was a DS game. :P

Sorry for the late response! Hope you see this!

[topunknowndsgames]

Do you know of any games that are similar to 999?

On the DS specifically, check out the Ace Attorney series or Ghost Trick. They're not as bloody or (in my opinion) fantastic as 999, but they're visual novel-style with puzzles.PSP/Vita has Dangan Ronpa which comes fairly close, but has a more overt anime feel to it.You could also check out Ever17 on PC. Written by the same guy as 999, it's a really fun and mindblowing visual novel that explores some interesting concepts.And of course, there's always 999's sequel, VLR on 3DS and Vita. :)

[topunknowndsgames]

Hey guys! I've been getting some nice message lately and I wanted to say thanks for that. I haven't updated in a year but it's still nice to see people enjoying my work. :)

My gaming backlog is big right now, but I might find time to play some old unknown DS games soon so there might be a couple updates in the near future.

Thanks for sticking with me! 

[topunknowndsgames]

Have you played, or at least heard of, Monster Tale, Ivy the Kiwi?, Master of the Monster Lair, Luminous Arc, Nostalgia, Summon Knight: Twin Age, Feel the Magic: XX/XY, Contact, Hotel Dusk, Time Hollow, and/or Trace Memory? I think a lot of those are lesser known. Keep up the kickass blog!

Ivy the Kiwi? is the only one I haven't started playing yet, the others I'm working on sporadically. :)

And thank you!

[topunknowndsgames]

My World My Way

Genre: RPG

Developer: Global A Entertainment

Publisher: Atlus

ESRB: E

Released: February 3, 2009

Info:

Like many Atlus games, My World My Way is a little gem that most likely wouldn't have seen the light of Western shores were it not for them. Luckily for those who have played it, though, it did come across the shores to grace us with a fairly unique RPG with a story and dialogue that is genuinely funny.

My World My Way begins with Princess Elise who has been spoiled rotten her entire life. The one thing she does not have is a man. In order to fix this, her father throws a ball inviting every handsome prince in the land to court her. Fairly quickly, Elise finds her one true love who happens to have a level 99 in Handsomeness. This prince won't marry her so quickly, though, and tells her he is an adventurer, and for her to get with him she'll have to prove her worth in combat as well. Elise, ever the proud lass, takes it upon herself to rid the world of some unnecessary evils to get her man. Along the way she is trailed from a distance by Nero, who makes sure she can handle the tasks she must face.

The battle system in My World My Way is pretty standard. It's in first person view, similar to the older Dragon Quest games, with 3D monster sprites. As you work your way through pre-designed dungeons searching for a boss to defeat, they spring out of nooks in the wall that are visible on the map and predetermined areas, making it possible to avoid the encounters if you don't want to deal with them. Eventually, you find a Slime companion who can take on the attributes and stats of opponents you battle, including what equipment it can handle, creating extra incentive to battle and find stronger monster for it to absorb.

Battling some bugs early in the game.

What sets My World My Way apart from other RPGs, as well as giving it it's title, is the ability Elise has to literally change the world around her. By pouting and whining, this girl gets what she wants. By spending pout points, the number of which can be increased with certain foods prepared before resting (along with other stats!), Elise can do things like strengthen or weaken the monsters in the area, make them drop more money or give more experience, or even change the terrain she is on from a wooded area to a sandy shore, changing the monster selection along with it. In battles, you can choose to spend some Pout Points to ensure a first attack, or escape from battle instantly. With this system it is possible to make the game as easy or as difficult as you wish, and is even necessary if you need a certain item drop from a monster that can only be found in a specific terrain type.

Elise finds an item after battle. On the top screen you can see the overworld map in this area. Each of those circles, excluding the ones with the town, gate, and dungeon, can be changed to different terrain types.

Elise travels from area to area, defeating a boss at the gate after completing a dungeon. Another quirk is your ability to choose the enemy you face. Nero, watching from afar, presents you with the option of giving Elise a difficult battle or an easy one, adding another variable to the mixture of the game. 

Graphics:

Enemies and characters on screen are pretty nicely detailed in 3D, though some enemies may look a bit chunky, and in conversations the speaking characters are shown in large, detailed 2D sprites. The menus and symbols look nice and flow well.

Sound:

While forgettable, most tracks definitely serve their purpose, with calming tracks in town, jaunty tunes played on the world map, and a fast-paced percussion driven BGM during battle. Nothing memorable, or too grating, really.

My World My Way is a really great game that may have turned off potential buyers with its admittedly cutesy cover and promising adventures with a princess. However, it has a solid game system, legitimately hilarious dialogue, and a very interesting gimmick. The story can be a bit lackluster, and the ending is slightly disappointing, but when the journey is this fun who cares what happens at the end?

[topunknowndsgames]

To the Anon asking about games similar to Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded

Phantasy Star 0

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (I've heard Ring of Fates has a better story and characters, but Echoes of Time is smoother and has better playability.)

Solatorobo

And Lunar Knights has that hack-and-slash type gameplay if you don't mind it being in 2D.

[topunknowndsgames]

炎のグラッパー | こうろや

[topunknowndsgames]

Draglade

Genre: Fighting

Developer: Dimps

Publisher: Atlus

ESRB: E10+

Released: December 4, 2007

Info:

Draglade slipped under the radar of many, including myself until recently, simply because there were more urgent games to buy at that time. This is a travesty, since Draglade is the best sidescrolling beat-'em-up/pseudo music game to grace the system. In all honesty though, it's a really great game.

Draglade takes place in a futuristic setting in which people called "Grappers" battle using "G-Cons" a device which absorbs the world's energy source and condenses it into a weaponlike form. Yes, there is a large amount of jargon in this game, but if you don't want to engage yourself in the game world it's playable without learning all the definitions. None of it matters anyway because you're not here for the story, you're here to kick ass.

The game starts with you picking one of four heroes and even selecting their predominant color scheme. Each one specializes in a different kind of weapon; sword, spear, claws, or hammer, and also has his own individual story to play through. Each one generally focuses on rising to the top of the Grapping world to achieve some goal, though. The replay value is high, which is much appreciated since each story takes about 3-5 hours to play through.

A battle between Guy, the claw user, and Hibito, the sword user.

The game is divided into three sections.

Walking through towns to chat with daft townspeople who all get really excited about grapping, finding stores to buy bullets at, and finding the tournament center. 

Tournaments and duels in which you fight in a limited area against sometimes strong opponents.

Travelling from town to town, in a sidescrolling beat-'em-up not unlike a platformer but without the platform jumping.

This freshens things up so you aren't doing one thing at all times.

Within a battle, you have a number of tools at your disposal with which to attack your enemy. You can use your weapon and deal out light-but-fast attacks or heavy-but-slow ones or use bullets. Bullets are basically like your magic in this game and range from streaks of lightning along the ground, to creating status effects, to dropping pans on the opponent's head. Each bullet use costs some energy, so spamming is generally not the only option.

Now, to the system that drew many people to the game; the musical attacks. At the press of a button, you begin the musical attack, which utilizes a short song, created by you, to deal damage to the beat. By pressing Y as each new note sounds, you deal damage and ultimately finish in a combo. It's a neat system and adds further customization, but in all honesty I never needed it in battle and found it sort of gimmicky. Still fun, though!

Testing out the musical attack creator.

Graphics:

Draglade's graphics are a mixed bag. The icons on the bullet skills are nice, the attacks look great, and the character sprites are all very large, detailed, and full of  relatively smooth movements. The backgrounds, however, are subpar and when every building in a town looks the same it can be a little bland.

Sound:

With a full sound editor there are endless possibilities for music in the game. The general BGM is just standard fighting game fare rife with riffs on the electric guitar with nothing spectacular to note.

Draglade is a really fun fighting game on the DS, and should definitely be looked into if for some reason you're avoiding the fantastic Bleach endeavors. The music feature is a little lackluster, but it's there for those who want it. With four main characters and plenty to unlock through the story it will keep you busy for a good while.

[topunknowndsgames]

From Custom Robo Arena, fanart of the rambunctious sidekick Liv and store attendant Tanya.

[topunknowndsgames]

Have you heard of Big Bang Mini? Or Dungeon Explorer Warrior of Ancient Arts? Or Magical Starsign? Or Theresia? TELL ME YOU HAVE HEARD OF THERESIA.

All of the above! I've been playing bits of Magical Starsign and Theresia lately.

Theresia was actually suggested a while ago, but with the hiatus I went on for a while it got pushed back. 

[topunknowndsgames]

Oh, woops! I got so caught up with looking for some fan art for tomorrow that I forgot all about the OST!

Here’s Midheart, the town theme from Custom Robo Arena.

[topunknowndsgames]

I have a few suggestions: Jam with the Band, a European import. It's a sequel to a Japan-only game that was going to be brought over to the US with the name Jam with the Band, but was randomly cancelled for no known reason. Another game is Go! Go! Cosmo Cops, another European import. It's like DK: King of Swing except with less shoulder buttons and more holding the DS on the side and using the stylus.

2nd part of the message:

(cont. from last ask) Another is Japanese import Utacchi. It's Pop'n Music for the DS with a different name. There's also that other Chibi Robo game for the DS (not park patrol. This one's Japan only) that was more like the first Chibi Robo game. Also a choice is Soul Bubbles, which is a really soothing puzzle/adventure game about blowing bubbles around. Last is Touch Detective and its sequel, which are really interesting detective games (by interesting, I mean INTERESTING).

3rd part of the message:

OOOOOH WAIT I almost forgot about The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. It only had a limited release, so it's really rare, but it's a VERY fun game that takes the old Wizard of Oz story we all love and spins it around in a vat of stereotypical JRPG madness. The control scheme is awesome and the graphics are so good that they're possibly at the limits of what the system can produce. The sound's also wonderful, but most of the OST isn't on Youtube because the game's so obscure.

Thank you so much for your suggestions!

I have had Jam with the Band/Daigasso!, Soul Bubbles, and the two Touch Detective games on my "to-play" list for a while now. I'll have to move them up the list!

I had never heard of Go! Go! Cosmo Cops or Utacchi before, and a second DS Chibi Robo release is new to me as well! 

As for Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, I remember reading a preview of it and seeing a few ads, but then it disappeared from my radar, so thanks for reminding me.

All these are going straight onto my list. Once again, thank you much for the suggestion, especially for the games I hadn't heard of before! 

[topunknowndsgames]

Custom Robo Arena

Genre:  Action RPG

Developer: Noise

Publisher: Nintendo

ESRB: E10+

Released: March 19, 2007

Info:

The Custom Robo series has only seen two of its five games released outside of Japan. The first in the series to come to America (on the GCN) is actually the fourth in the overall series, making this DS installment the fifth. The main draw of each game is the part collecting and battling of the small robots, and with the addition of the DS games, online battles.

The game begins simply enough, as RPGs tend to do. You wake up after a dream in which you control a robot and battle against a large spaceship-like foe. The battle ends, you get a robot from your dad, you leave to school, etc., etc. As you participate in local tournaments you climb the ranks of the Custom Robo ladder, eventually participating in the largest of tournaments and uncovering a secret evil plot that must be foiled. It's all quite typical, so the story isn't much to pay attention to. It's the battling that counts.

The "overworld/town" where you will enter buildings and find adults really eager to play with you.

Battle in Custom Robo stray away from the 2D plane that the story takes place on, and switch to full 3D. As you jump about one of the playing fields, which are often diverse and interesting, you shoot and tackle your opponent until his little toy cannot move any longer. The battles can be quick and satisfying, but can be longer and more difficult depending on the foe. Robots move smoothly and controls are generally easy to pick up and learn. At the end of a battle you get money to spend on more parts and diorama stages. These stages are where you can pose your robo in just about any way imaginable and are shown to your opponent before a battle. It's a fun little thing to do, especially if you plan on fighting online. 

What would fighting robots be without hundreds of parts to choose from? That answer is nothing, which is why the creator chose to shove a whole spectrum of parts, little guns, big guns, enormous guns, joke guns, high-jump legs, speed legs, pretty bodies, tiny bodies, handsome bodies, huge bodies, it's all here, waiting for you to buy, earn, and discover each part so you can create a balanced fighter with which to decimate the opponent. There are even "illegal" parts that can be bought on the black market very late into the game that deal incredible damage but also are costly to use (Doesn't stop that dang evil organization, though!). 

Battling in one of the three view perspectives.

Graphics:

The 2D graphics on the overworld are large and cutesy, and large character sprites in conversations are stylistic and bright. There is an overall aesthetic of childishness in everything but the battles, but if that can be overlooked, or even embraced, they don't pose a problem at all and give the game a nice charm.

Sound:

Peppy and lighthearted, the BGM of this game is highly reminiscent of a typical shonen anime. It's not super catchy, but nothing that gets too old, really, either.

Custom Robo Arena is a very fun game with a lot of content. The story is a lot longer than expected, even if it can drag on or be a bit immature at times. Wi-Fi battles are generally fun and competitive, without being terribly laggy. Overall, it's a really fun game that not a lot of people picked up despite it having been published by Nintendo itself. Perhaps it was a lack of brand recognition, but whatever the cause of this, there's never a bad time to discover Custom Robo.

[topunknowndsgames]

The lack of updates during this period was a result of end-of-semester business, but posting was resumed right afterwards.

Just as an FYI for those of you who wanted to know why there was a chunk of missing time.

[topunknowndsgames]

Pokémon Black and White (April Fools' Day)

Genre: Monster Raising RPG

Developer: Game Freak

Publisher: Nintendo, The Pokémon Company

ESRB: E

Released: March 6, 2011

Info:

Pokémon Black and White are the fifth games, not including remakes, of the long storied Pokémon series. While they are published by Nintendo, it's actually quite shocking that they are so unknown. They really are fun little games that everyone should try to play.

This game is featured on the Nintendo DS, the second set in the main series to do so. This new upgrade to the system, and with the knowledge the developers gained from Diamond and Pearl, the previous set of games on the system, they were able to create a Pokémon game unlike those that came before. 

This game is revolutionary for the Pokémon series in that it does not allow the player to catch any of the 27 Pokémon created in the previous games. This means old favorites like Pikablu go out the window in favor of new favorites to decimate in battle such as Stunfisk. This new crop of Pokémon allow for a greater diversity in battling and trading.

The story begins with you choosing a Pokémon froma box along with your two friends, Bethany and Cherry. The three Pokémon are each of a different type. Smugleaf is grass type, Pignite the fire type, and Wotter the ...well, the water type. Each of these has an advantage over another, creating a rock-paper-scissors dynamic in battles.

Choosing a starter. This is the Swedish version of the game, which is why the names are different.

Once you have chosen your starter, you set off on a journey to beat all 8 Gym Leaders to collect badges and take on the Elite 4. This isn't all to the story, however, as there is a secret plot by an organization, called Team Plasmo, to try to free all the Pokémon since they believe that the Pokémon are being used as slaves for battles. 

As you continue on your journey collecting Pokémon to battle with, you grow in strength and bear witness to the greatest story yet seen in a Pokémon game.

Graphics:

The graphics, as previously stated, are better than ever before. 3D buildings and moving Pokémon bring the game to vivid life. Plus the addition of changing seasons gives a fresh feel to the game every few weeks.

The changed seasons within the game.

Sound:

Absolutely gorgeous. The speakers crank out heavy rock music to go along with the battles, then will actually make a smooth and pleasant transition to intense opera music in dramatic scenes. Buy this soundtrack immediately.

Pokémon Black and White are some of the best unknown DS games available. If you  own one of these you will be the cool kid on your street and all your friends will wish they could find this rare gem of a game. 

[topunknowndsgames]

I decided to pick up Lost Magic after reading your article and I'm having so much fun even though I've only just beaten the second batch of monsters! Thanks for making this blog! :D

Awesome!

I'm glad my little blog influenced at least one person to try a game they might not have before.

[topunknowndsgames]

Aaron and Lucian, the heroes of Lunar Knights.

By elsevilla.