A New Way to End Friendships: A Dokapon Kingdom Connect Review

By Al

Players: 1-4
Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Dokapon Kingdom Connect is the latest entry in the RPG/Board Game hybrid series, Dokapon. The series has roots back on the Super Famicom in Japan, but it saw its first US release on the PS2 in 2007 and the Wii later in 2008. Connect is a remake of that PS2/Wii game, and this time around it's a Nintendo Switch exclusive and released by way of Idea Factory International. Mixing a Board Game with RPG mechanics isn't something you see too often and I was excited to pick this one up as I have fond, yet fuzzy, memories of playing the Wii version many years ago. Let's dive into this one and see if this game is worth ending a few friendships over!

Believe it or not, this game has something of a story. If you choose to tackle the Story Mode you'll learn that the players are dropped into the titular Dokapon Kingdom. The Kingdom is currently plagued with hordes of monsters, making it impossible for the Kingdom to make any money. Unfortunately the king loves money so he tasks the players to cross through his Kingdom, liberate a few towns here and there, make lots of money, and maybe end the monster threats if they have time after rescuing said money. The player who amasses the most money by the end will win his daughter's hand in marriage. Don't worry about that last point though, Princess Penny is a willing participant in this arrangement and you'll be taking the place of the King whether you end up marrying her or not. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself, but only one can win and there's about four of you competing for this winner-takes-all prize. There's a bit more to tell regarding Story Mode as it's actually a quite long experience, complete with several twists, turns, and chapter breaks, but experiencing it yourself is the best way to see it all. While not the main purpose of the game, you can probably choose to play this as a straight RPG (with Board Game mechanics of course) as it offers a full gameplay experience that takes about as long to complete as any other RPG.

It really is all about money.

The sprawling world map.

Dokapon Kingdom takes place on a large world map broken up into several continents, each with several landable spaces. Towns, shops, special buildings, and more make up the world and you use a spinner (a la The Game of Life) to see how many spaces you move on each turn. You can move in any direction, including looping yourself into circles, but you must complete your full movement and end your movement on a space that isn't somehow blocked off. Movement can be augmented by items and spells, and the turn order is set randomly at the start of each game. If you find yourself landing on a space that isn't a town, building, shop, etc., you'll get into a random battle with an enemy determined by which continent you are on. Every area has enemies that scale higher than the one before it so be careful when it comes to moving ahead too quickly or you'll find yourself in an early grave. The game moves onto a new day after every character has taken their turn, and a progress report is shown at the end of every week. Don't forget that our goal is to make money, and there's a quite a few ways you can do that. Besides simply acquiring money from treasure spaces, defeating enemies, selling loot, or from your weekly salary, the biggest ways to gain money are through liberating towns, stealing from other players, or completing milestone tasks, such as defeating an especially strong boss-type enemy.

A somewhat light prank.

You'll be doing a lot of this.

Battles are a big part of any RPG and Dokapon Kingdom Connect is no different. Nearly every encounter is decided with a rocks-paper-scissors style triangle. You play roshambo (the rocks-paper-scissors name the game uses) when you encounter a character, steal from a shop, or in other unique cases. Speaking of characters, you encounter several throughout the game and they are quite the quirky bunch. Even when you're not playing the game directly, the same triple choice mechanic can be seen everywhere. Battle has two stages, attack and defend, with attacks come in the form of Strikes, Attacks, and Magic, each of which is strong or weak against the three defensive moves: Counter, Defend, and Magic Defend. This may seem like an overly simple system, but there's a surprising amount of depth to it. Your stats improve with each level you gain, with experience being granted from defeating enemies, and even more stat changes can be achieved by properly equipping your character. It is possible to both simply brute force weaker enemies, and to win near impossible battles with a bit of luck and good RNG. If a battle isn't concluded in a single series of attack/defend then the battle moves into the next day. Battles can also be interrupted by other players in the form of items or spells, and even attacking the already tangled up player while they're busy with a monster. You are sent back the castle upon death and can be revived by spending a crap ton of money or simply waiting out the turn penalty. The worst enemy of any game of Dokapon Kingdom is really the other players, so always watch your back.

An example of a battle screen.

So much roshambo.

There's going to be a bit more monopoly comparisons in a bit, but the first comes in the form of managing towns you liberate from invading monsters. All town spaces start with monsters controlling them and you gain control of the town once you defeat them. This means that their income is added to your total assets, and you're able to collect taxes from towns by landing on certain spaces. You can also heal at towns, and it's free if it's a town you control. You can invest in towns to raise their level, and their income, and further add to your asset total. This feels very much like the system of properties, hotels, and rent found in Monopoly and is quite an intuitive system. Monsters can randomly retake towns though, and players who turn to Darklings can take control of towns by way of monster spawns, so be sure to guard them with your life as they are often the deciding factor on which player has the most money by the end of the game.

There are several ways you can get ahead in Dokapon Kingdom. The obvious way is to just play it straight and head towards your goals, taking out any enemies along the way. I actually have tried to play a few games like this but it's not really a viable strategy as most other players, even computer controlled ones, won't be quite so nice to you in return. Stealing and sabotage are the words of the day and you'll find yourself slowly turning to the dark side the very first time a Thief steals an item from you simply by passing across the space you're occupying. You're going to want to get revenge and take that item back - with interest. Besides outright attacking other players, which is done by landing on the same space as them, you can also cast spells or set traps to hinder or harm them. It can be rather hard at times to watch your back while also trying to save the Kingdom, but that's half the fun. Don't worry though, the game has a pretty nice turnaround system where losing players can trade off just about everything they own (meager as it is) and become a Darkling who basically becomes an unstoppable force of nature that quickly levels the playing field. Are you one of those gamers who hates when a blue shell ruins a race in Mario Kart? Well, you're going to have a LOT of fun with Dokapon Kingdom as the board game equivalent of that will happen several times in any one game.

A random early turn.

Learn Chinese with Dokapon Kingdom Connect!

Revenge is a dish best served cold, but not in Dokapon Kingdom. After defeating another player in combat you have the option to rob, rename, graffiti on, and even shave bald any character that is unfortunate enough to be on the losing end. Combined with normal in-game hazards, respawn cooldown periods, and the occasional rampaging Darkling, you'll find yourselves targeting each other more and more as the game goes on. This is probably where Dokapon Kingdom works best as the gameplay loop is really changed, and the experience can be either fun or frustrating depending on how unforgiving each player is feeling that day. The party will undoubtedly show back up at the castle at the end of the game completely different from how they left it, but the ragtag nature of an endgame group of players is truly a site to behold. Move over Monopoly, Dokapon Kingdom is coming to take the crown as the Board Game That Ends The Most Friendships!

There's actually several game modes to tackle. There's a general open game where you can set the number of weeks, players, and more, three challenge modes (where you race to be the first to reach a specific town, defeat a certain enemy, or buy a certain item), and a Story Mode. The Story Mode is where you play through the game's story mentioned above, unlocking many new gameplay options along the way; most important of which are new job classes. These can also be unlocked through the other gameplay modes, but most people will want to tackle the rather long Story Mode first. All modes of gameplay can be a mix of IRL and computer controlled characters. All these gameplay modes, including Story Mode surprisingly, can be played online as well. I was unable to test the online mode in time for this review, which is unfortunate since it is the main selling point of this remake. Even though I wasn't able to get the "Connect" out of Dokapon Kingdom Connect, I had a lot of fun and can't wait to try out online when the game goes live. Oh, and it's probably not going to ruin anyone's experience, but it should be mentioned that you can't mix local and online co-op players. This means you can have two players in person in one place play against two others in another, you need 2-4 separate players each on their own console.

Darklings are frustrating, yet fun.

The game named her "Madoka", not me!

You'd think there wouldn't be a lot to say about controls when it comes to a board game, but there's some interesting things to note here. We've already covered the multiplayer options, but what we didn't mention is that the local co-op games can be controlled with any number of controllers. All four players can share a single controller, they can each have their own, or any combination therein. It's actually a pretty cool feature that lends well if you're playing this on the go and only have the Switch's two joycons to share among a group. This can make things a little weird though as using anything but separate controllers makes it near impossible to hide your options from other players when locked in any sort of duel. Then again, you can just make sure you go second and always win, further cementing ending every friendship this game comes in contact with.

Music in Dokapon Kingdom Connect isn't exactly noteworthy but there are a lot of fun, cheery tracks, moody atmospheric ones, and even decent battle themes. The sound cues are fairly memorable too and I was actually pretty surprised at how well everything came together sound-wise. The game also features voice acting in English for what that's worth. Like most games that have a steady gameplay loop, some sound bites can get a bit repetitive, but you'll probably find yourself repeating them as the game goes on. I mean, hearing a Darkling wish another player death is just too great to not repeat when it's your character that is finally getting that sweet, sweet revenge!

An end of week report.

That long-awaited ending.

I was initially unsure how well Dokapon Kingdom Connect would hold up after all these years, but it really surprised me. It serves as the perfect option for those looking for something different than Mario Party when it comes to a multiplayer game night. The level of customization options also let you alter just about every aspect of the game. It's a really good deal for the price and I can't imagine anyone not having at least some level of fun with it. One could even tackle it as a really unique RPG, focus on just the Story Mode, and I'd still give it a strong recommendation. Grab this one as soon as you can and hope that when you and your friends get into it that you can all still call each other friends the next day!

For More Information on Dokapon Kingdom Connect:
http://ideafintl.com/dokapon-connect/

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Story: B
Gameplay: B
Graphics: B-
Sound: A-
Value: A

OVERALL: B

Pros:
+ The quirky characters, gameplay, and setting are all very charming and unique.
+ The sheer level of variety makes it so that no two games are alike.
+ There are several gameplay options, both single and multiplayer, that are available both as couch co-op and online.
+ Much like the best games of Mario Kart, a character in dead last can turn things around with a few turns.
+ The Story Mode, and the mix of RPG gameplay, are both surprisingly deep.

+/- Rivals Monopoly in its ability to end friendships.

Cons:
- The quick turnabouts in gameplay can be very jarring, especially when it comes from a computer-controlled character.
- Difficulty settings on computer-controlled opponents often fall between far too easy, or far too hard.
- The randomness of events, rolls, and more doesn't actually feel very random most of the time.
- It takes a long time to unlock everything in-game, and few people will probably see all the game has to offer.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Later Losers!