The first entry in the Medarot series, now translated thanks to the work of fans, one of the many creature collection RPGs that tried to challenge Pokémon back in the day. For that reason I'll bring up the latter at times for the sake of comparison.
First of all, there's the gameplay. The player can bring up to 3 medarot to battles which are fought in a system similar to ATB, only that the legs currently equipped interact with the terrain to alter certain attributes including speed.
On that note, every piece of the medarot can be swapped for a different one and they are divided into 4 parts in total, the only restriction being the gender of the tinpet (frame) of which you can obtain a total of 9. Individual skills have a base value depending on the medal and increase with use overtime as well so there's a very high degree of customization.
This title also innovated upon the monster catching formula by having multiple endings, although the most important change is what girl you end up with. You can end up all alone too so you better do some side quests. That's kind of mundane if you consider all the crazy stuff that happens during the actual plot.
The final positive aspect I want to mention is the music, the main battle theme in particular is extremely catchy and seared into my brain.
However, that brings me to the first issue I had with Medarot, meaning the frequency rate of random encounters. It's way too high in some sections, a common problem for RPGs at the time. The upside is that all your medarot fully heal after battle, but it still gets tedious to fight the same NPCs over and over.
Second, the structure to the story usually consists on an NPC simply telling you where to go next and there are several missables sprinkled through the game, including some really useful items.
And finally, there's no starter selection, you always get the medarot in the box cover. Each version also has some exclusive parts and there's also a third game that's like a parts expansion, but come on. Picking your starter is an iconic aspect of the genre. It generates free word-of-mouth marketing too, but I digress.
In summary, Medarot innovated in some interesting ways upon the monster catching formula first introduced by Pokémon. However, it still suffers from shortcomings that plagued other RPGs at the time of its release. I think it's a good game, but I would recommend the remake of the second game on the Gameboy Advance to start out instead.
First of all, there's the gameplay. The player can bring up to 3 medarot to battles which are fought in a system similar to ATB, only that the legs currently equipped interact with the terrain to alter certain attributes including speed.
On that note, every piece of the medarot can be swapped for a different one and they are divided into 4 parts in total, the only restriction being the gender of the tinpet (frame) of which you can obtain a total of 9. Individual skills have a base value depending on the medal and increase with use overtime as well so there's a very high degree of customization.
This title also innovated upon the monster catching formula by having multiple endings, although the most important change is what girl you end up with. You can end up all alone too so you better do some side quests. That's kind of mundane if you consider all the crazy stuff that happens during the actual plot.
The final positive aspect I want to mention is the music, the main battle theme in particular is extremely catchy and seared into my brain.
However, that brings me to the first issue I had with Medarot, meaning the frequency rate of random encounters. It's way too high in some sections, a common problem for RPGs at the time. The upside is that all your medarot fully heal after battle, but it still gets tedious to fight the same NPCs over and over.
Second, the structure to the story usually consists on an NPC simply telling you where to go next and there are several missables sprinkled through the game, including some really useful items.
And finally, there's no starter selection, you always get the medarot in the box cover. Each version also has some exclusive parts and there's also a third game that's like a parts expansion, but come on. Picking your starter is an iconic aspect of the genre. It generates free word-of-mouth marketing too, but I digress.
In summary, Medarot innovated in some interesting ways upon the monster catching formula first introduced by Pokémon. However, it still suffers from shortcomings that plagued other RPGs at the time of its release. I think it's a good game, but I would recommend the remake of the second game on the Gameboy Advance to start out instead.