Early Game Thoughts:
This is a nice fan game with some unique characters but ultimately serves as a prequel narrative to the original. I think you have to be a fan of the OG to really appreciate what this game is going for but as a huge fan of the original I can absolutely say this was a fun time. The character writing and emotional value initially wasn't as strong as Undertale's but as a fan game this was never trying to one up the original. My best way to say how I felt about the game early on is it kinda felt like good DLC for a fantastic game, as in this game doesn't quite live up to the game it's attached to when viewed as a standalone game but when viewed as an extra it absolutely adds onto the overall experience.

Neutral Route:
Unlike Undertale where I honestly think you can just do Pacifist and Genocide, this game genuinely makes Neutral worthwhile since there's a noteworthy story segment exclusive to it. I was actually shocked at the entire ending sequence of the neutral route and looking back it is 100% necessary. The plot twists and emotional value this story holds genuinely feels essential to the lore and narrative of the game. Do not play pacifist without doing a neutral run first, I genuinely mean that. Despite how crazy neutral's ending is, the game makes it out to not be the true ending, which is kind of a good thing. The game WANTS you to play neutral and then pacifist. I'm not even sure I'd consider this an ending cause it really does just feel like its intent is to set up other paths. Admittedly this route is carried by an original Undertale character which is one of a few reasons why I think you have to be a fan of the original to truly appreciate what this game is going for.

Pacifist Route:
Again, I heavily recommend neutral before this route, because you'll be left with some questions and general confusion on why some characters are absent or seemingly not important when they should've been. Pacifist in general though offers some nice character development and backstory that adds to the lore nicely. I have mixed feelings on something after the final boss, which I think many people agree with me on, but otherwise I do think this game for the most part is a great fan made prequel to Undertale. Def the best fan game of an indie title I've ever played, although admittedly I haven't played many. If I could change anything about the game it would merely be to add an Asgore boss fight where the protag loses as an end to the game. I'd prefer a bitter sweet ending like that than the way the ending was actually handled TBH.

Neutral+Pacifist Final Thoughts:
Ceroba is my favorite new character, followed by Starlo. I didn't get super attached to anyone else TBH but Martlet had some nice moments. The cast isn't as strong as Undertale's, but again this isn't trying to one up the original. It's just a really nice extra. One thing I think it does as good as Undertale though is the battles. Some backgrounds like Starlo's fight and ESPECALLY both final bosses so far look really freaking good. The combat has some really nice diversity throughout too. It really is just more Undertale in that regard.

Genocide Route:
Honestly I didn't care much for this playthrough except for the ending which was certainly neat to see play out.

Flawed Pacifist:
Ok hang on I'm writing this part 9 days later on the 13th. I just learned something almost similar to what I wanted for Pacifist does actually exist. I don't like that you have to kill exactly one enemy for that to be the case but I am glad to see the story scenario I envisioned is actually somewhat here. Again, I do not like that a kill is forced for this, but it is genuinely the ending I wanted so yay!

The single player is not fun but I have very fond memories of co-op multiplayer both in person and online. I am actually sad this game will be losing part of what makes it special to me. I decided to play this again on the last day before the 3DS wifi shut down. I found a few players named Not Link, Starkido, and GonnaPoo. I helped them beat some late game levels and it was just as fun as I remember. Thank y'all for making the last day fun. I will genuinely miss this game and it's really unfortunate many will never get to experience the game as intended since the single player sucks. Thank you Triforce Heroes for the many hours of co-op fun.

Main Story: April 22nd.
100%: April 30th (176 hour play time).

This is one of my absolute favorite games of all time and that's mainly due to the fact that DQ4 is in my top 5 games and I'm a huge monster tamer fan. Getting a combination of both with my favorite mainline character Psaro as the protagonist is just the perfect game to market towards me. I enjoy every moment of 100%ing this game over a nearly half a year period. I truly took my time with this game like none other.

Story & Characters:
Let's start with the flaws. Despite having dark plotlines this game was noticably always in an uplifting mood. That's not necessarily bad, heck most of my favorite games are like that, but I do wish this game put greater emphasis on emotional value of characters. That's a quality that made me fall in love with DQ4. This game is a nice add on to DQ4's narrative though. It's wonderful to see events transpire from a different point of view, getting to explore Nadiria further, and the new lore fleshes out the world's backstory nicely. I do wish the Chosen showed up more potentially in boss battles against the player. Dragon Quest isn't used to anti heroes or antagonists in the protagonist role and it does kind of show. I definitely prefer Psaro and Rose in DQ4 than this game in all honesty but that's not to say I dislike them here. There's just something a little off about them to me compared to how I interpreted them in the original game. The new characters like Ludo, Dolph, Randolfo, and Azabel are all super cool and interesting though. Ludo is my favorite amongst them. The family dynamic between some of the cast was awkward in a good realistic way despite the fact they're a crazy demon lord family that mostly hate each other. It was also neat to see Toilen from DQ5 in this game but much younger and with an entirely unique design this time around. Healie also got a human form redesign and he's honestly cute. I actually wish he was a party member that accompanied Psaro more often because of how great his design is.

Exploration & Season Changing:
This game is split up into regions that you can fast travel between. Early game typically has smaller areas and you unlock larger areas as you progress. Every area has its own distinct climate and season cycle. The human world now known as Terrestria has a typical Earth season cycle but the Circles of Nadiria are all so unique and interesting. One moment you're in a green poison swamp with acid rain and the next thing you know the season changes with a blood moon overhead. New parts of the map open up in some seasons like being able to ride large flowers through the air in spring, climbing vines in summer, or walking across water/honey in winter. Honey? Well yes one of the underworlds is food themed which is honestly really cool. The Circle of Indulgance is probably my favorite setting in game because of all the tasty looking food everywhere. The Circle of Caprice is hard competition though because I love the waterfalls coming from magic in the sky and the constellations in the night sky with shooting stars. Some areas in the game simply look nothing short of beautiful but there are some kind of ugly areas too TBH. One such area is the Circle of Temper especially during winter. I don't know why but winger tends to be the ugliest season in terms of textures in game. Spring almost always look beautiful everywhere though thankfully. I don't really care about graphics that much and I do think the good areas outweigh the bad but still it is a flaw worth mentioning.

Monsters, Taming, Fusing, & DLC:
Having over 520 monsters to collect even with some being recolors is very impressive. The fusion system that is akin to Shin Megami Tensei is quite fun to mess around with but it can make obtaining every monster the game has to offer a big time sink. The Mole Hole DLC helps save hours for sure but unfortunately it is a paid DLC mode. I do think it could've been free in base game along with multiple day one DLC. Regardless, I do think I got my money's worth out of all three DLC packs. I also managed to get a hold of a code for the McChallenge event which was fun and got me some very rare monsters that not many players have. Those monsters are rather low ranked though so after I beat the main story I dropped them in favor of more powerful monsters. This game has most mainline final bosses and some side villains but it's definitely easy to tell they didn't go as crazy as the Joker games which were full of other spin-off representation and some unique monster ideas. I would've loved to use the Rocket Slime tanks, the Realm of the Mighty, Gomechan, and other crazy monsters those games had again. That is one way in which I think Joker 3 is better than The Dark Prince. Still, most mainline games including 11 now are represented well. Only DQ10 felt a little lacking in The Dark Prince to me since it only has 3 bosses that are all from Version 1 but I'm not that upset by it since I know not many western fans have actually played 10. The Dark Prince's roster size took me 175ish hours to get em all so there's definitely not a lack of content. It's honestly kind of crazy that DQM2 remake on 3DS has even more monsters (600).

Joker 3 VS The Dark Prince:
Joker 3 has so many crazy monsters, new variation concepts, let you actually ride all the monsters, had a much cooler setting, and more too. A part of me wants to say Joker 3 is objectively a better Dragon Quest Monsters game but something about The Dark Prince does make me like it more. Besides the fact it's connected to DQ4 with Psaro as the protag (absolutely massive pro), I think being able to play it on my TV instead of only on a handheld system is a huge plus. No other DQM has that advantage. Handheld gaming is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I like to just lay on my bed with my TV nearby and chill that way. The seasons changing every few minutes to change what parts of the map you can explore and what monsters spawn is also a pretty big pro, especially when the changing is in real time and has a noticable impact on the map. At the end of the day exploring space with sci-fi elements and exploring the underworld with delicious treats are both fun. I love both games a lot, they're equally amongst my favorite monster tamers of all time, heck within my top 25 favorite games of all time too.

Conclusion:
The Dark Prince is a fantastic game that was well worth the decade long wait. It has flaws but so does every game really. In my eyes this game was a blast and a 10/10 experience which I don't say often. I would highly recommend it to fans of DQ4, monster tamers in general, and those simply looking for a calm turn based RPG that can help relieve stress. I love you DQM3 and I hope many more people try this game and enjoy it the way I have.

Demon Slayer is an anime I mildly like but not super ultra crazy about. Skipped the arena fighter cause it looked basic and I have arena fighters for anime I care about more. A board game though? Not many anime try having actually unique games like this and that's what made this appealing to me. I love games like Mario Party and Itadaki Street so this was a fun surprise. This isn't as good as Mario Party Superstars but I do think I like this more than Super Mario Party. Considering this is a first attempt for a series going up against one of the big OGs of the genre I think that's pretty impressive actually. I do think requiring the Joycons to play holds it back though. That's a similar problem Super Mario Party had.

Simple yet fun concept. Too bad there's an ad shoved in your face every 30 seconds. In the middle of a match about to kill someone? BOOM! The game asks you if you wanna watch an ad for a power up? Click yes? 30 second unstoppable ad and when you get back to the game you're either already dead, for because the controls don't match the direction you were going before, or if you do survive you have a near pointless power up that runs out faster than the ad did. Click no? 30 second ad that lets you skip 10 seconds in but you have to click a tiny X three times or else or takes you to the app story when you miss and lose all your game progress. It's actually basically unplayable as is.