gameing

Ah, Fossil Fighters. The greatest game to be released on the Nintendo DS. There is truly nothing like it. Not even Pokémon. If you think Fossil Fighters is a Pokémon clone, keep reading so I can change your mind.

Fossil Fighters

The original Fossil Fighters was released in America in 2009, and was a major component of my childhood. You play as a young boy (known in the comics as "Hero") who has just arrived to Vivosaur Island to become a fossil fighter. Vivosaur Island is shaped like a dinosaur skull and has many different terrains for digging up fossil rocks. You bring your fossil rocks to a machine which allows you to clean the fossil using hammers and drills, but you only have a 90 second time limit to get it as clean as possible! The closer the fossil is to 100% clear, the more points it will acrue when you revive it as a vivosaur, a recreation of the prehistoric animal stored in a dino medal. However, if you damage the fossil too much, or fail to clean it beyond a certain threshold, the fossil will be lost. Each vivosaur has four parts: the head, arm, body, and leg fossils. You only need the head to revive a vivosaur, but finding the other parts makes it stronger by increasing the number of points (and, in turn, leveling it up) and unlocking new skills for it to use in battle.

Speaking of battle, the other half of the gameplay is, in fact, combat! Throughout the game, you face off against other fossil fighters for various reasons. Some of these reasons include attempting trials to raise your hunter rank, fending off the villains of the story, or challenging another hunter over a rare fossil rock you both found. The combat itself is also incredibly interesting. There are five elemental types a vivosaur can have: fire, earth, air, water, and neutral. Every element has one strength and one weakness, except for neutral, which always deals and takes normal damage. Battles occur between two fossil fighters, and each fighter can have a maximum of three vivosaurs in combat. You can carry five dino medals with you at any time, but once in combat, the three that you select are the only ones that can participate in that fight. There are three spots for a vivosaur to start in: the attack zone, or one of two support zones. During the battle, the vivosaur in the attack zone can be moved back into the escape zone, keeping it safe from enemy attacks, while one of your supporting vivosaurs moves to the front, but it must stay there for two turns and cannot use skills. As for skills, you get a set number of fossil points at the start of each battle, and a set number that you gain after each turn. You spend those points on skills, which are usually attacks, but may also be support effects such as raising defense or poisoning the opponent. Each vivosaur may only use one skill per turn, and some status effects can cause your vivosaur to spend fossil points itself or even be unable to use some skills. The first to defeat all three of the opposing vivosaurs wins, and life points and fossil points are reset after every fight.

I could get super into explaining the story, but that would take forever and this is already really long. All you need to know is that you are trying to become a master fossil fighter, and there's an awful lot of villainous activity standing in your way. Also, space aliens.

Fossil Fighters: Champions

As for the other installments, Fossil Fighters: Champions (2011) is even better than the original, although I only discovered and played it a few years ago. They reworked the battle mechanics a bit, so instead of having an escape zone, you actually rotate the field into one of two formations. They also added even more vivosaurs, new types of fossil rocks, and a brand new story in the new Caliosteo Islands. In this game, you are competing in a tournament, in which the champion inherits the entire Park! They are both worth a playthrough, and you don't need to play one to understand the other, so I highly recommend both.

I've decided to include a list of some of my favorite vivosaurs :) In no particular order, they are:

• Zino (i love you, no-accuracy girl)
• Tophis
• Neo
• Elasmo
• Jara
• Coatlus
• Ourano
• Tro
• Nippono

Fossil Fighters: Frontier

I haven't finished the third game, Fossil Fighters: Frontier (2015) for the 3DS, and that's because it's kind of bad. Or, I should say, it's nothing like the first two installments, as it was made by a new developer. The graphics and gameplay are completely different, and I personally don't think it's for the better. Maybe when I get around to finishing it I'll have better things to say.

I'm like barely scratching the surface here. If you truly want to understand you should play the games yourself! They're really super fun for all ages and perfect if you love dinosaurs and rpgs :) I also streamed the original a while ago, if you wanna check that out on the vods channel. But definitely try it yourself for the full experience!