One of the most infamous facets of these games is the fact that once you die you're unceremoniously stripped of all your experience points, possessions and gold before being dumped back at the start of the game. All of these titles can trace their ancestry back to a crusty old PC game named Rogue, and as a result this entire sub-genre of RPG has been christened 'Roguelike'. For those of you that are interested, the series is actually part of a much older franchise of games coded by Japanese company Chunsoft, who was also responsible for the surprisingly decent Mystery Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer.Īll of these titles share a similar theme: you're given a randomly generated dungeon to explore then descend through a series of levels, fighting enemies and collecting valuable items along the way. Now the popular handheld is playing host to yet another instalment in this long-running lineage.Īs the title might suggest, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (and its blink-and-you-can't-tell-the-difference counterpart, Explorers of Time) shares a particularly strong bond with the preceding DS Mystery Dungeon title, which we reviewed a while back and weren't all that smitten with. The DS has already experienced the likes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, as well as spin-off titles like Pokémon Ranger and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team. If you need convincing further of this fact then you only have to look towards the seemingly endless supply of Pokémon video games. Clearly, this evergreen franchise has considerable stamina and cross-generation appeal.
This is a fad that stubbornly refuses to fade respectfully into rose-tinted obscurity despite the fact that it's now celebrating its 13th glorious year of merchandising mayhem, it still manages to pull in a considerable amount of cash regardless of the fact that the kids that played it back in 1995 will be in their 20s by now.
The same can't be said of card game turned video game and anime-money-spinner Pokémon.
Sadly, they now rank as only distant memories, unlikely to take hold of our lives again in any meaningful manner aside from nostalgic whimsy. These are all iconic crazes that have come and gone over the years, leaving an indelible mark on the consciousness of those lucky enough to have experienced them.
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