Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Five reasons I would've paid full price for the Switch version of Dandy Dungeon if Onion Games had forced me to do so

I downloaded and started playing Onion Games' Dandy Dungeon the second it hit the Apple App Store in early 2017. (OK, so maybe it wasn't the exact second. I certainly bought it that same day, though.)

Why? Because Yoshiro Kimura--of Chulip, Little King's Story, and Moon: Remix RPG Adventure fame--not only had a hand in designing it, but served as its director, too.

Also, Kazuyuki Kurashima acted as Dandy Dungeon's art director, and Keiichi Sugiyama handled its music and sound design.

If those names don't mean anything to you, Kurashima previously crafted the character designs for games like Freshly-Pickled Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and UFO: A Day in the Life, while Sugiyama worked on such classics as Daytona USA 2001 and Rez.

Sadly, although I adored most of the handful of hours I put into the mobile version of this roguelike puzzler, some of its "free to play" elements eventually got on my nerves.

Fast forward to a few months ago when word started spreading that Dandy Dungeon was Switch-bound. Despite my mixed reaction to the original release, I couldn't help but get excited about the prospect of giving it a second chance on what's currently my go-to game system.

Thankfully, those murmurings proved to be true for a change, and Dandy Dungeon is now due to hit the Nintendo Switch eShop on June 27. (Heads up: if you pre-purchase it before that date, you'll only pay $17.50, or 30 percent less than the usual price of $24.99.)

As you've hopefully gathered from this post's headline, I won't be paying anything for it. That's because the folks at Onion Games kindly gave me a free copy.

That's awesome, of course, but even so I'm here to say I would've paid full price for this Dandy Dungeon Switch port if the company had snubbed my request. Why? Here are five reasons:

It's deliciously simple--Dandy Dungeon's gameplay basically consists of being sent into dungeons made up of five-square-by-five-square rooms and then drawing a single line that takes the digital representation of the game's protagonist, Yamada-kun, from their entrances to their exits. There's a bit more to it than that, but only a bit. Such straightforward simplicity may sound boring, but it's not. Helping matters immensely: each room of each dungeon is randomly generated--or at least they seem to be randomly generated. Also, you can finish one in seconds at best or minutes at most.

It's crammed full of content--I can't tell you how much, sadly. That said, I've put just over 20 hours into this iteration of Dandy Dungeon so far, and I have a feeling I've got at least that much more to go before I hit its end credits. (Assuming it has a credit roll, of course.) Granted, some--maybe even a good chunk--of that time has been spent grinding, but I'd argue that grinding in Dandy Dungeon rarely, if ever, feels annoying. On the contrary, it's often surprisingly gratifying, as every trip through a particular dungeon leaves you a tad wiser about its (and your) strengths and weaknesses.

It's cute as a button--Kurashima-san sure knows how to make sprites adorable, doesn't he? That was true in Super Mario RPG, it was true in LIVE A LIVE, and it's true in Dandy Dungeon as well. And the sprites here aren't just statically cute, either--they bounce and lunge and wiggle in ways that'll put a stupid, sappy grin on your face, too.

It's completely bonkers--If you've ever played any of Kimura's other joints, like one of my favorite games of 2018, Black Bird, you know they tend to be bizarre. Dandy Dungeon is no exception. You may have already heard the game's story, which focuses on a 36-year-old guy who hates his job, loves his much younger neighbor, and turns to both for inspiration as he makes his own RPG. At home. In his underwear. That's just the start of Dandy Dungeon's journey to Weirdo Land, however. Its enemies, bosses, even its armor and weapons regularly qualify as eyebrow-raising--though rarely in a scandalous way.

Its soundtrack is subtly incredible--Those of you who played and loved Black Bird might approach Dandy Dungeon expecting a similarly "out there" soundtrack. That's not exactly what you'll get, but don't let that stop you from looking forward to it anyway. What's so subtle about this game's music, you ask? Mainly, it's that most of Dandy Dungeon's tunes are wink-wink-nudge-nudge riffs on classic Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy tracks. They're great and all, but they're unlikely to blow you away. As for what will: the handful of fully original compositions, like the Middle Eastern-esque one that plays whenever a rare monster appears on a stage.

See also: 'Onion Games' Black Bird is the dark Fantasy Zone clone I didn't know I wanted or needed'

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