Arle no Bouken: Mahou no Jewel is a role playing game developed and published by Compile for the Game Boy Color; it was released on March 31, 2000. The game revolves around the collection of cards, each of which contains a monster. Madou Monogatari/Puyo Puyo protagonist Arle Nadja and her usual foes, such as Skeleton T and Schezo Wegey, use these monsters to assist them in battle.
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Game Review - originally written by (wraith)
For a Gameboy game, this looks and sounds great. Which is saying alot, given that most Gameboy games are lacking both musically and visually. The sprites look really neat, and character portaits displayed alongside the text are well-done, and make for a nice touch. Sadly though, there is a lot of dialog, and since none of the translations translate very much of the dialog, it’s hard to say anything else about this game. Hell, for all I know, this might be more of an RPG than an adventure game. I never made it far enough in to encounter anything hostile. But what I’ve seen of this looks really nice, and it is a Compile game… so I hope it (the translation) gets finished someday.
For a Gameboy game, this looks and sounds great. Which is saying alot, given that most Gameboy games are lacking both musically and visually. The sprites look really neat, and character portaits displayed alongside the text are well-done, and make for a nice touch. Sadly though, there is a lot of dialog, and since none of the translations translate very much of the dialog, it’s hard to say anything else about this game. Hell, for all I know, this might be more of an RPG than an adventure game. I never made it far enough in to encounter anything hostile. But what I’ve seen of this looks really nice, and it is a Compile game… so I hope it (the translation) gets finished someday.
Very good game, if not for the abysmal overall speed of the game and the high encounter rate.
This is a monster collecting game, not a pokemon clone because you don’t really catch but get a chance to get a monster after battle. Your monster can’t level up but you can equip them with jewels that will alter their stat, and if you alter a certain stat of a certain monster, it will evolve into a higher level monster with a different skill set and sprite.
Outside of battle, the game is structured like 2D Zelda, even the dungeon. You will get progress blocked until you get a certain item in a dungeon, that item can be used on the overworld map to obtain optional items and progress further.
All the dungeons are called labyrinth, and my god it's true to it's name. It's very confusing to navigate and the high encounter rate doesn't help at all, not to mention how slow the battle is. One battle can last for more than a minute, so fast foward is your friend. Although after a few level up, battling isn't worth it anymore because of how little experience you get, so if you have a good monster already, you can just run away from all encounters. Thankfully there are no encounter on the overworld.
The worst part of this game is the confusing map and samey environment, topped with no ingame map. Expect to be lost all the time unless you have a very strong memory or a guide.
This is a monster collecting game, not a pokemon clone because you don’t really catch but get a chance to get a monster after battle. Your monster can’t level up but you can equip them with jewels that will alter their stat, and if you alter a certain stat of a certain monster, it will evolve into a higher level monster with a different skill set and sprite.
Outside of battle, the game is structured like 2D Zelda, even the dungeon. You will get progress blocked until you get a certain item in a dungeon, that item can be used on the overworld map to obtain optional items and progress further.
All the dungeons are called labyrinth, and my god it's true to it's name. It's very confusing to navigate and the high encounter rate doesn't help at all, not to mention how slow the battle is. One battle can last for more than a minute, so fast foward is your friend. Although after a few level up, battling isn't worth it anymore because of how little experience you get, so if you have a good monster already, you can just run away from all encounters. Thankfully there are no encounter on the overworld.
The worst part of this game is the confusing map and samey environment, topped with no ingame map. Expect to be lost all the time unless you have a very strong memory or a guide.