Monster Rancher DS, known as Monster Farm DS 2: Yomigaeru! Master Breeder Densetsu in Japan, is a life simulation video game developed by Cing and published by UFO Interactive Games for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan on August 7, 2008 and in North America on August 3, 2010. However, the game wasn't released in Europe. This installment is a sequel to Kaite Shabette Hajimeyou!: Monster Farm DS, which didn't get an international release.
Gameplay[]
The game, taking place in the BOMBA region and involves raising, fighting, and breeding monsters. The main character is never seen on-screen, but always talks to his apprentice, Cleo, directly. The player selects his actions and choices through menu options.
Creating Monsters[]
There are two primary methods for creating monsters: drawing pictures in the Magic Field using the touchscreen, and reciting an Incantation using the microphone. Other methods include combining two existing monsters to create a new monster as well as an additional unrevealed method.
New to the combination process is the "-ish" or "modoki" monster, a glitch monster whose purpose is to give you a monster when you attempt combinations that are not in the game, and appear as a light blue untextured version of the normal model, while also shown as the last monster in each monster's entries in the monster encyclopedia, using the ???-subtype normally used by special monsters.
Fighting Monsters[]
The way you make money, and gain ranks, is by having your monster fight in tournaments. In a fight, your monster starts with a fixed amount of guts, which is basically energy to spend on the moves they know. You can control the monster yourself, or let them fight on their own as they do when they get into a battle in the wild.
Moves can be done in one of three ranges. You can move forward or backward on the battlefield to toggle between the ranges. If you get in very close, you can also push the opponent away from you. A major change from the previous games is that you are able to use the touchscreen to move your monster forward or backwards, as well as to order it to attack.
Monsters[]
Various monsters which have been left out of previous games since Monster Rancher 2 will be making a return including Monol and Gali. There are currently 272 monsters known in the game, including the glitch type monsters.
The main breeds are Abyss, Beaclon, Baku, Centaur, Color Pandora, Dragon, Ducken, Durahan, Falco, Gali, Golem, Hare, Henger, Joker, Lesione, Mew, Mocchi, Monol, Naga, Ogyo, Pancho, Phoenix, Piroro, Pixie, Plant, Suezo, Tiger, Xenon, and Zan.
Reception[]
The game received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one six, one seven, and two eights for a total of 29 out of 40.