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Monster Rancher DS has a surprising developer
We've been keeping a close eye on Monster Rancher DS (or, to use the more exciting! Japanese name, Kaite, Shabette, Hajimeyou! Monster Farm DS). Now we have more reason to be excited, we think. Who has Tecmo "farmed" (heh, heh) the development of this title out to?Cing, for some reason! Cing, who is responsible for Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk, both of which were fairly well-received and high-profile. We aren't sure how their adventure-game development skills will transfer into monster-training, but we're optimistic. Cing at least knows a lot about making good use of DS features. What do you think about the news? Is there another DS-centric developer you'd rather see on the Ranch?
DS Daily: Cartridge rancher
Yesterday we mentioned that Monster Rancher was going to be ranchin' up some monsters on the DS. One of the most notable features of the new version is that it uses GBA games to generate monsters, in the same way that previous Monster Ranchers used CDs, or the Barcode Battler used dog food labels, or Treasure Gaust uses magnetic fields. There have been a few games that give GBA bonuses, like Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, which rewarded Aria of Sorrow owners with an extra item, but this is different. To some extent, your success in Rancher is contingent on your GBA game ownership.How does that strike you? Is it cool to be rewarded for having access to a nice GBA collection, or do you feel like you're being punished for not buying enough cartridges? Or has this news got you out searching for cheapo cartridges?
Monster Rancher DS sneaks past the Ninja Gaiden hype
With the whole gaming press freaking out about the new Ninja Gaiden game, another Tecmo franchise announcement has gone virtually ignored. And, like Ninja Gaiden, it uses the DS's unique features in surprising and possibly inappropriate ways.Monster Rancher DS goes back to the Playstation-era art style of Ranchers 1 and 2. Like other games in the series, it makes use of data on other media to generate creatures. However, instead of random CDs like in the previous version, this one makes use of the GBA slot. Shapes drawn with the stylus also figure into the gameplay in ... some way.We've rounded up some screens after the break. Get it-- "rounded up" because it's a "ranch" game, and... we're sorry.
