Take the core formula from the original Slime Mori-Mori and throw in the tanks, and you've got Rocket Slime. Off the bat, there are already a ton of quality-of-life improvements, especially regarding the dungeoneering. All the trains cars/cargo floats now have a max capacity of four items (including yourself if you want to make a quick getaway while holding three items), so no more waiting around or meandering about to offload your goods! There's also no time-limit present in the dungeons anymore, so feel free to explore as long as you want while keeping in mind the day-night cycle that can affect enemy spawns. While there are still some instances of needing to carry around Bomb Rocks to blow up barriers or collecting other assorted objects to imitate totems and unlock doors, there's definitely a lot less of the former and the latter is simplified since objects are now located within nearby rooms instead of having to travel across the whole map. I also appreciate that much of the slower-paced platforming from the original has been replaced with movement-oriented obstacles (such as using the Rollerdash to traverse steeper slopes, or using cannons to both destroy sand castles and shoot yourself across fast-moving water), and that unlike the original, all destroyed and interactable hazards stay destroyed for good upon return trips (looking at you, Plob Balloons). The boss fights are every bit as ridiculous as the original: my personal favorite here has to be Pot Belly, who you must defeat by catching the materials he throws out of his magic urn and then chucking them back at him as he romps about. Finally, the transition from the GBA to the DS has not been missed: the visuals have gotten a nice bump with the DS's higher resolution, and there's a satisfying "YEEEEEOWWWCH" cry every time you slam into an enemy with the Elasto Blast. Just considering the basics that made the original so memorable, I can conclude that the sequel absolutely does all that and more.

What really add much more meat to the game, however, are the tank battles. It cannot be understated how much depth this adds to the core loop: in the original, materials sent back to town could only be used to repair the town (for aesthetics and to unlock some mini-games) or were to be sold for money. This time around, materials harvested from dungeons can now be transmuted with the magic urn once you've gained the corresponding recipes to produce more valuable material that you can use as tank ammo. Additionally, kidnapping monsters becomes much more valuable: send back at least 30 of any species, and you'll create a Bronze statue of that species in the art museum, allowing you to recruit that monster as a crew member for your tank. It's much more worthwhile as a result to forage about the dungeons and send back everything you find, knowing that it'll contribute to improving your tank warfare in some fashion. The tank battles themselves are the perfect mix of controlled chaos: you must fire upon enemy tanks in real-time, managing both the upper and lower cannon while fighting off any invaders trying to infiltrate your own tank and stealing ammo/destroying your interior. While most fights aren't particularly difficult, there is an element of strategy from figuring out exactly what to fire and when (ex: should I use shields to block off an entire line of enemy fire, or should I use carefully placed Kaboomamite instead to create a temporary wall of explosions while firing with the top cannon instead?), and if all else fails, you can just infiltrate the enemy tank yourself and blow up all their machines for the kicks. It never gets old engaging in these over-the-top fights, and the materials gained both for the fights and as a result of winning the fights makes the game's centralization around the tank battles that much more rewarding.

I've played hours upon hours of this game, both in my childhood and recently, and the only pertinent complaint that comes to mind is that the game is a bit too easy. In particular, most tank fights can be cheesed by infiltrating the tank via destroying the door/immediately shooting yourself out of the cannon and landing in the opponent's cannon room, and then just guarding the enemy cannon room to prevent anyone from firing at your tank. It doesn't take much more than a pulse to do so, since enemies can take a while to react to your Elastoblast and killing enemies will put them out of commission for a solid minute or two. I think this could have been alleviated if there were more fights that didn't rely on an enemy crew to fire or if there were more solo fights involved (i.e. just you as the only crew member vs someone else). Regardless, Rocket Slime is an incredibly entertaining and cozy experience that is every bit as charming as the original with tons of upgrades, and while there isn't much post-game to be found outside of the Tank Masters Tournament (which does at least have some entertaining tank battle variations, in fairness), I can respect a game that draws itself to a natural close and never outstays its welcome. It's even better if you can find a friend to play against via local multiplayer Wi-Fi so you can really get a taste of how crazy and complex tank engagements can become. Though, maybe don't pull out the Chili Pepper + Vulcan Bullets strategy if you still want to be friends afterwards. I learned that the hard way.