Garakutale

Garakutale (ガラクテイル) is an adventure game that aims to be played entirely through the Nintendo DS's touch screen. Its narrative and style of presentation are mainly directed towards the younger audience; the majority of the script is written in katakana or hiragana and the visuals are bright and colorful. Largely staying true to the adventure RPG genre, Garakutale offers a battle system that shares similarities with the Pokemon series. Like the latter franchise, the game encourages the player to collect various allies to help them in their journey.

The game's title is a portmanteau of the words "garakuta" and "tale". Garakuta is a Japanese word for any object that fails to perform its intended function or is damaged to the point where it's incapable of being resold. These objects are sometimes too big to be conveniently tossed with Japan's garbage sorting system, so garakuta may be seen laying along the sidewalk next to waste disposal units. Garakuta may be salvageable and efforts to reuse these objects as tools have been made by collectors or environmentalist groups. It often serves as an alternative translation of the word "junk" in English, but "junk" in Japanese may be used for discarded items that have actually reached disposal centers.

Plot
On his tenth birthday, Rocco and his father board a boat to journey to their new home. Promising his son a birthday party with his mother at their destination, Rocco's father gives his son a present in advance. It looks to be a black-cased fountain pen with gold lining. Before his father can explain what it is, the boat is heavily rocked by a giant squid and Rocco is thrown overboard. Rocco washes up alone on a deserted island with his father's present in his hand.

As he wonders if he has met his end, an alarm clock with two legs runs past him. Rocco is desperate to find some answers on his surroundings so he chases the strange mechanism. Falling down a pit and landing in a place called Garakutaran, the boy begins his adventure in the magical, new world. Within this kingdom of fairy tales, Rocco helps the local beings called Garakuta all the while hoping to reunite with his family.

Gameplay
The game is split into three basic stages: story cutscenes, exploration, and battles. Due to their capricious nature, battles may overlap into the exploration or story sections of the game.

Story
Special cutscenes are acted out like digital comic books. Dialogue, sound effects, and music accompanies each panel in the dual screen and the graphics may feature limited animation. Sequences proceed as though they are pages of a book and the length of each cutscene is determined by the number of "pages" that is listed at the bottom of the touch screen. The player can proceed through each frame by tapping the highlighted comic book icon in the middle of the touch screen. If the player has missed a line of dialogue or animation, they can always perform a backwards (right arrow icon) or forwards (left arrow icon) page skip.

The comics follow the Japanese reading format so the comic pages read from right to left, a contrast to the left and right reading of the game's dialogue. Text speed is fixed throughout the entire game and the text boxes require the player's touch to move forward. There is no automated method for proceeding through text.

Exploration
During this mode, the dual screen serves as the player's world map. The touch screen depicts the location highlighted on the map through a first person perspective. After a certain part of the story, the player can tap the map icon on the touch screen to bring the world map to their attention. If they so desire, they can instantly hop between any location by tapping a highlighted dot on the map. Significant chapter conclusions, however, will prevent this option from being available.

To investigate an area, simply touch the bottom screen on whatever captures the player's interest. Within the upper right hand corner of the screen, there is a counter for Rocco's Garakuta Points (GP). GP is needed for observations and an allotted amount is sometimes needed to proceed with the story; if Rocco ever runs out of points, a game over sequence will occur. An important note to keep in mind is most Garakuta used for battles will also need GP to function. Fortunately, there are plenty of options available to replenish GP at the player's convenience.

Here is a short list of notes the player might want to keep in check whilst exploring.


 * Each touch costs a mandatory 1 GP. If there is nothing in the area the player has touched, an x shaped icon will mark the spot as an negative icon.
 * Some items can only be found by a technique called "Smoothing". After touching a single spot, touch and hold the icon. It will spin rapidly and, if successful, the game zooms in on a section of the screen. The player can then glide their stylus along the screen to see any possible hidden items. Be aware that this technique drains a lot of GP when used, based on how many times the stylus runs across the screen.
 * A question mark icon indicates that something will happen if the player touches the same spot again. For each time the icon appears, a fixed amount of GP will be needed to see what will happen. If Rocco has enough GP, he may witness the event. These events vary from either replenishing Rocco's lost health points (HP) or GP, a random battle, or a purely aesthetic action with no other purpose. Question marks which glow red before their second tap have a higher chance of initiating a random battle.
 * When the player sees a clock icon on the spot they have touched, a Garakuta is likely at that location. Making friends with Garakuta adds a substantial sum to Rocco's GP limit, restores at least one hundred of Rocco's current GP, and may even boost his maximum HP a few digits. As with question mark objects, they will need more than 1 GP to activate. The clock icon may also be used to trigger story scenes.
 * Other Garakuta may also volunteer to help Rocco during his exploration stages. To have them perform their job, access the upper left menu and tap on the desired Garakuta. Rocco will replace his default, Boushi-chan, with the new Garakuta in use. Tap on whatever calls to their interest to proceed.
 * Sometimes Garakuta initiate a Touch Action mini game when they are used. Mini-games encourage full usage of the touch screen, asking the players to trace, spin, or time their stylus's taps at the game's discretion. A few mini-games are optional, but a majority of them are needed to progress through the story. When a player has successfully completed these events during the story, they can revisit them again in the main menu and challenge their nearby friends to mini-game matches.
 * Footstep icons indicate the path to the next destination. They require no GP but they may be barbed by a random battle sequence. For this reason, it might be a wise choice to have Rocco in high health before proceeding.
 * Blue stars are hidden at each area of the game and can only be found by smoothing areas. When found, they add an extra 70 GP to Rocco's limit.
 * The upper right icon on the touch screen is used to save the player's progress. An option to look through Tick-Tock's Secret Diary may help remind the player of the latest story events.

Battles
Battles are turn based duels between Rocco and one opponent. Each participant has their lifebars indicated at the top of the dual screen with Rocco on the left. Like the majority of RPGS, the game ends if Rocco's health drops to zero and Rocco wins if his opponent concedes defeat at zero health.

Rocco's weapons are the various Garakuta whom have agreed to join him during the story or exploration sequences. Each Garakuta can either deal damage to Rocco's opponent, heal the boy's health, defend, or somehow distract the opponent's movements. A few also carry unique traits that may be discovered by the player. If he has the right ingredients, Rocco can also combine key Battle Garakuta to create an Invention. Inventions use the total sum of GP for the Garakuta involved, but they have the potential to be better than a Garakuta. After an invention is used, Rocco is prohibited from reusing the Garakuta involved in the thingamajig for one turn.

Both parties may stagger after performing too many heavy attacks. Should they stagger too much and get hit by a hard attack, they will fall off balance and will not perform any action until they get back to their feet. If the player isn't careful, Rocco may also become dizzied after too many hits and will be unable to act for two turns. To prevent these setbacks on his end, Rocco should switch between defending and attacking. At times, the enemy will charge up for a massive attack and the boy has the choice to either dodge or use one of his Garakuta friends instead. The player is free to choose whatever they think may be best.

Characters

 * Rocco Lorence - the main character whose adventures the player follows. Rocco has no idea why he is repeatedly thrown into the fantasy land, but he obliges to their odd requests to beat back his home-sickness. Since the residents at Garakutaran are a friendly and happy lot, the boy has no trouble becoming attached to them. Hailed as the human hero of their land, Rocco tries his best to live up to the image of their reputed king.


 * Boushi-chan - Or "Little Hat". Boushi-chan is a red hat atop Rocco's head the instant he drifted to the stranded island. She was made as a present for Garakutaran's king so she is in better shape than other Garakuta. Mysteriously, Boushi-chan is the only Garakuta who can function for extended periods of time outside of Garakutaran. She is the one who helps Rocco identify objects and is set as Rocco's default.


 * Gerald Lorence - Called "Papa" by his son, Gerald is a famous inventor of gadgets and machinery. Midway through the game, Rocco learns his father is on the brink of death and bands together with his Garakuta friends to save him.


 * Giant Squid - A science-fiction monstrosity who tussled and destroyed the ship Rocco was sailing on. Since the large monstrosity threatens the life of Rocco's father, the boy and his friends challenge it in the final chapter of the game.

Related Media
A three episode comic adaption was released in the Shōgakkan Sanenensei March and May 2006 issues.