As both the celebrated (but, alas unofficial) mascot of Funabashi, Chiba and undisputedly one of the lead characters in the 3DS and Wii U sugoroku game Gotouchi Tetsudou, it perhaps came as no surprise that like Kumamoto’s mascot, Kumamon, Funassyi too would star in his very own 3DS game. What was a surprise is that both Rocket Company and Success announced 3DS games starring the excitable, heavy metal loving pear less than twenty four hours apart from each other.
With this review pertaining to Rocket Company’s product it’s clear that where-as the Medabots developers looked at Bejeweled for, er, inspiration with Kumamon, Funassyi VS Dragons looks to Puzzle & Dragons. The recent demo gives you access to one game mode with ten levels and three total plays. Buying the retail version unlocks these other ‘game modes’ which are just a look at Dragon’s you’ve fought (130 total), photo backgrounds you can use (16) and songs unlocked (32).
The main game itself has five worlds with thirty levels on each world. Each world’s levels are split into three blocks of ten with the first set of ten from the first world need to be cleared to unlock the first set of ten from the second world and so-forth until all thirty are cleared from the first four world which unlocks the fifth world (which is a block of thirty until beaten where it can then be replayed in increments of ten. Every ten levels (from the second set onwards) ends with a boss dragon.
Gameplay takes place on the bottom screen with you moving any coloured piece horizontally or vertically one place at a time with the aim of making a row of three of the same colour. Funassyi then unleashes a move on the top screen against the dragon(s) inflicting as much damage as your move enabled. Four in a row leaves a coloured piece with either a horizontal or vertical arrow where the piece then wipes out the entire row if connected with at least two more pieces of the same colour.
Even more impressive is connecting five pieces of the same colour which leaves a Funassyi special piece which destroys every corresponding coloured piece on the screen of the single colour you choose to place it on. Hitting a Tetris corner piece leaves a bomb that blows up the surrounding areas (nine pieces) when ignited (with at least two more coloured pieces). Other puzzle pieces include hearts (duh!) and shields (where Funassyi rolls on the floor avoiding enemy attack).
The final pieces are CD’s and Cameras which literally unlock the photo backgrounds and songs that can be taken/played from the home screen. If that sounds about it for content within the game then it really is. There really is nada: no multiplayer, no online and no room for DLC. The game can be completed in under 15 hours (although unlocking all the dragons, photos and songs should take slightly longer) and the download size of a mere 576 blocks underlines this lack of content.
Add in the strange mix between Funassyi’s drawing and the pixelated drawing of the dragons with the disappointing soundtrack and lack of storyline and it’s perhaps easy to dismiss Funassyi VS Dragons especially with its full retail price. And whilst Funassyi fans maybe best served waiting for the Success game and puzzle fans are probably best served with Puzzle & Dragons Z or Puyo Puyo Tetris; it’s a shame that many will miss out on an absolutely solid, fun, addictive albeit barebones puzzler.
6.5/10
Review by Bri Bri. For more information on Funassyi VS Dragons go to http://www.rocketcompany.co.jp/funadora/
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