any of 'em, though, can trace their lineage back to 1959, as Kitarou here can. The story

of the kinda creepy-lookin' kid - who's actually a couple centuries old - and his stable of

traditional Japanese monsters has been adapted into animation in five different decades.

Think about that. That's a heck of a lot of history. So it feels almost sacrilegious that

such a storied name would be stuck on what may be the most blatant copy of Pokemon I've

ever laid eyes on. From the menus to the battle layout... I mean, seriously now. Satoshi Tajiri

could've brought a fairly convincing lawsuit against these jokers, had he not been DROWNING

IN MONEY at the time.

To be fair, we're talking about a copy of the game that changed the world of handheld

gaming, so it shouldn't be all that shocking. And there are a number of differences... like

Kitarou's significantly decreased list of summonable monsters. And... um, the items

have different names. And there's a Tokimeki Memorial reference which I'm fairly certain

no Pokemon game ever had! And that's about it. The random battles with the back of your

character - be it Kitarou or one of his subordinates - are alarmingly familiar, with the only major

difference being the inclusion of what is effectively an MP bar. Each fighter is outfitted

with a basic attack as well as some special tricks, which may include remote-controlled

sandals. I don't make this up. And, in true Pokemon style, these attacks are animated

as minimally as possible so as to not get in the way of the number-crunching. Rather

than trying to coerce or trap monsters that have been pummeled into bloody oblivion, though,

you're forced to negotiate and/or bribe them a la Shin Megami Tensei, if'n you want to

increase your monster-totin' arsenal.

That said, if you copy Pokemon as directly as possible, you're still left with... well,

a sound (if uninspired) RPG. At least it manages to have a plot that spans past "wanting to

be the very best like no one ever was," with some troublesome demons standing in the way

of a local construction project. And they're not Diglett, trust me, we've been through

this before. All the familiar cast appear, from Rat Man to that piece of cloth folks

fly around on to that chunk of wall with eyes... 'course, the series never got a US release,

not in any decade, so that's probably not worth all that much. If you're familiar with

other Youkai-centric titles, say, Pocky & Rocky or Legend of the Mystical Ninja (the first

stage, at least) you'll probably get a couple of the concepts... and then wonder where your

damn Bulbasaur is.