Topic: Monster Tale (DS)

[JonLeung]

Now that Super Metroid has been mapped, I've been wondering about other "Castleroid"/"Metroidvania" games.  Certainly the Metroid games are covered, and the Castlevania games too...well, mostly.  There's still the upside-down castle in Symphony Of The Night and the DS games.

But if you want another DS game to try to map, I say take a look at Monster Tale.  I'd like to think that it's unusual for me to not have heard about such a cool game before its release, but until the Nintendo Week episode Monday before last, I hadn't seen this despite being a couple months old already.

Monster Tale, at first glance, looks like Shantae or Henry Hatsworth (which are both pretty cool already), but I had a chance to start playing it last night and it feels like a cute version of Metroid.  The main character is a girl, who encounters an egg, whereby the baby creature that immediately hatches follows her around.  Getting orbs from stone structures unlocks new abilities, and if that doesn't sound Metroidy enough, the two most recent abilities I unlocked were an extension of my weapon's range (like the Long Beam) and the ability to roll to go through tight spaces (like the Morph Ball).  But while it's kind of like Metroid, it's also considerably different overall, as it is more of a cutesy fantasy world, plus also the raising of the monster who gains abilities too.

I don't make requests often, but I figured that if this game is somehow flying under peoples' radar (well, I hadn't heard of it), that it probably wouldn't hurt to mention it.

[Peardian]

Apparently it's pretty easy to rip, because a sizable amount of it has been ripped on the Spriters Resource already, including full levels.

[JonLeung]

I'm not a fan of maps like those for this game at the Spriters Resource, with the foregrounds and backgrounds separated.  I know there is a use for dissected game assets like that, but I'd like to one day see assembled Monster Tale maps, more typical of the other maps we have here.

Currently playing the game myself, though, I do find it's rather repetitive in its backtracking.  If not for the map indicator showing you where you need to go, it'd be easy to get lost.  Because it feels like when you get a new power, have to go all the way across the currently-traversable world to use your new power to reach a new area, to get a new power and then you have to go all the way to the other side again.  And so far there are already a lot of powers, and only a few bosses (who only guard keys), unlike in the Metroid games where most of the major power-ups have someone guarding them.

But the pacing is just one gripe; the game is just so cute in its graphics (and its animation and music are good, too) - so I'd still be excited for its maps.