We've covered some classic franchises here on Strange Anime License Friday.
I don't think any of 'em, though, can trace their lineage back to 1959, as Kitarou here
can.
The story of the kinda creepy-lookin' kid - who's actually a couple centuries old - and
his stable of traditional Japanese monsters has been adapted into animation in five different
decades.
Think about that.
That's a heck of a lot of history.
So it feels almost sacrilegious that such a storied name would be stuck on what may
be the most blatant copy of Pokemon I've ever laid eyes on.
From the menus to the battle layout...
I mean, seriously now.
Satoshi Tajiri could've brought a fairly convincing lawsuit against these jokers, had he not been
DROWNING IN MONEY at the time.
To be fair, we're talking about a copy of the game that changed the world of handheld
gaming, so it shouldn't be all that shocking.
And there are a number of differences...
like Kitarou's significantly decreased list of summonable monsters.
And... um, the items have different names.
And there's a Tokimeki Memorial reference which I'm fairly certain no Pokemon game ever
had!
And that's about it.
The random battles with the back of your character - be it Kitarou or one of his subordinates
- are alarmingly familiar, with the only major difference being the inclusion of what is
effectively an MP bar.
Each fighter is outfitted with a basic attack as well as some special tricks, which may
include remote-controlled sandals.
I don't make this up.
And, in true Pokemon style, these attacks are animated as minimally as possible so as
to not get in the way of the number-crunching.
Rather than trying to coerce or trap monsters that have been pummeled into bloody oblivion,
though, you're forced to negotiate and/or bribe them a la Shin Megami Tensei, if'n you
want to increase your monster-totin' arsenal.
That said, if you copy Pokemon as directly as possible, you're still left with... well,
a sound (if uninspired) RPG.
At least it manages to have a plot that spans past "wanting to be the very best like no
one ever was," with some troublesome demons standing in the way of a local construction
project.
And they're not Diglett, trust me, we've been through this before.
All the familiar cast appear, from Rat Man to that piece of cloth folks fly around on
to that chunk of wall with eyes...
'course, the series never got a US release, not in any decade, so that's probably not
worth all that much.
If you're familiar with other Youkai-centric titles, say, Pocky & Rocky or Legend of the
Mystical Ninja (the first stage, at least) you'll probably get a couple of the concepts...
and then wonder where your damn Bulbasaur is.