MAGIC PENGEL

MAGIC PENGEL: THE QUEST FOR COLOR (2002)

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just about anything your cruel, wicked hands can make using funny, rudimentary drawing tools is available here tightened together with both a charming artstyle and ost (when it isn't complete dead silence, sfx included). apparently ghibli had a hand in this and it shows with the magical design of the game's city hub and its simple but cute cast of citizens. the dialogue they spit out's bone dry unfortunately, but i'm figuring this is more of a case of cleaned up we-don't-give-a-shit machine translation than it is the japanese dev's fault.

anyway you make hideous or cute or both rock-paper-scissor fighting pokemon and battle in of two arenas for four hours--i didn't venture past that much. and it's not as if the gameplay loop isn't funny, but it's less so when grinding is inevitable and the sameyness dulls your excitement. the voice actors sound about as excited as the story writer

but frankly for those four hours, i had a ton of fun. victor frankensteining red limbs and blue teeth and calling it "DENTIST" is fun, and seeing him and an among us melon clobber a bunny earns way too much a smile. it's just i could sense the writing wasn't going to get any better, the location wasn't going to change any time soon, the educated guessing games were running together, and a glitch crippled "DETER" the well dressed corn

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: DENTIST, MELON, DETER, MR. FANCY