is an Role Playing Game exclusively for the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

, which was released on March 4, 2010 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Developed by Namco Tales Studio

Namco Tales Studio

, formerly , was a Japanese video game development company founded in 1986. The company was renamed in 2003 when Telenet Japan sold part of its stake and made Namco the majority shareholder. Namco Tales Studio continues to be the primary developer of the Tales RPG series, as they had been since the...

 and published by Namco Bandai

Namco Bandai Games

is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan which is the product of a merger between the video game development divisions of Bandai and Namco. Namco Bandai Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings and specializes in production and sales of...

, The game is based on the popular Sgt. Frog

Sgt. Frog

Sgt. Frog, known in Japan as , is a manga series by Mine Yoshizaki. It was later serialized into a TV anime series directed by Junichi Sato. Both the anime and manga are comedies that follow the attempts of a platoon of frog-like alien invaders to conquer Earth...

 franchise with game play elements from the Tales series Games, considering it as a spin-off of the main series and sometimes calling it Tales of Keroro by some fans.

Gameplay

Out of battle, Keroro RPG has similar gameplay to other titles in the Tales series. The player visits various towns throughout the game, in which they can talk to various NPCs, buy items, and progress the story. The player also goes to dungeons, which contain various enemies, treasures, and puzzles. After battles, the player acquires gold to buy various things, and experience points, which goes toward leveling up the party. When traveling between towns and dungeons, the player travels through the field map, which sometime contains no enemies.

Battle system

Unlike the other Keroro Games, Keroro RPG uses the "Linear Motion Battle System", or LMBS. Like previous Tales games, Keroro RPG uses 2D sprites with combat taking place on a single two-dimensional line, and is completely real-time, with the player controlling one person and the others being controlled by A.I. if another person isn't controlling them. Similar to Tales of Hearts

Tales of Hearts

is the eleventh mothership title in the Tales series exclusively for the Nintendo DS, which was released on December 18, 2008 in Japan. Tales of Hearts characteristic genre name is...

, only three party members are on the battlefield.

Every party member also has a "Combination Gauge", or CG. Through any kind of actions, like skills, jumps, backsteps or even basic attacks, the gauge is increased. This gauge is consumed when the player calls a non-battle party member to battle to perform one of that character's attacks, or commands a battle party to do a move, this is called a "Connect Command". The player is also able to use unison attacks, by using a certain skill with the currently-controlled character and having another party member use another certain attack. The player also has the option of calling in characters from previous Namco-Bandai games to use an attack.

Characters

Only the Keroro Platoon is playable in the game but it also introduces some exclusive characters not appearing in the Anime or Manga itself.

Development

Keroro RPG: Kishi to Musha to Densetsu no Kaizoku was officially revealed in Famitsu

Famitsu

is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...

 as the mysterious K-Project by Namco-Bandai in 2009. It was revealed that Namco Tales Studio

Namco Tales Studio

, formerly , was a Japanese video game development company founded in 1986. The company was renamed in 2003 when Telenet Japan sold part of its stake and made Namco the majority shareholder. Namco Tales Studio continues to be the primary developer of the Tales RPG series, as they had been since the...

will do the gameplay mechanics just like the previous Tales series.

Reception

Famitsu Rated the game 32 out of 40 (9/8/7/8), saying "Basically it's Tales of Keroro," one reviewer wrote, "The took the charm of the [anime] series and built the Tales system around it, creating a very orthodox but still well-made game. The battles are a little tough, but the combos are fun enough that you don't mind trying as often as it takes. It's also nice how you can change the difficulty level at any time." On the negative side, "the menu controls are a little annoying, and the field map seems a tad unfinished [...] The battles are so well done that it's a shame the story is so obviously a series of fetch quests."

External links

• Official site