It's New Year's Eve 2008, and there's a party happening in the old hometown. Friends have gathered, music is playing and the champagne is stocked and ready for midnight. I'm chatting with buddies I don't see nearly enough anymore, with work and life having conspired to move me across the state. It's a great way to draw the year to a close, but my mind is distracted and I'm keeping one eye on the door.
My DS rests in my back pocket, heavy with promise. Waiting.
The door bursts open, bringing a blast of cold December wind and my friend Charles. He unloads his share of the party supplies and our eyes meet across the room.
"Did you bring it?"
I pull out my DS, scarred from use; the top screen is only barely attached to the base. Charles pulls out his newer DS Lite, itself showing signs of wear as well. We both know that we have the same cart in our systems: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker.
Joker is part of the increasingly narrow field of Pok�mon-alikes; games built around the capture and training of monsters wrapped in a JPRG shell. Of this once-popular genre, Dragon Quest Monsters is one of the few Pok�-imitators still kicking. The Monsters series has succeeded based on the strength of the Dragon Quest name as well as its blend of both classic and modern play mechanics.
Joker itself boasts impressive graphics reminiscent of Dragon Quest VIII, offering a fully realized 3D adventure on the humble Nintendo DS. In the main story line, players take control of a young lad as he travels from island to island, capturing monsters and pitting them against other teams in a tournament. It's standard fare for a monster-catching game, but the single-player experience is hardly what has Charles and I staring each other down months after most people have stopped caring.
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