Monkey Puncher

"An underrated game"

The Game

Taito's Monkey Puncher is a very unique RPG in which you have to train a monkey to fight for you in a boxing match. This game hasn't gotten much attention in the United States of America and many gamers are missing out on a great title. This game falls under a separate category than the usual RPGs because it contains strands of strategy in it too.

Gameplay

The game is remarkably fun due to it's simple interface and originality. The game is not hard once you get the hang of how to train your monkeys and there are very little learning curves in the game. The game extremely easy to control as it only consists of tapping the buttons in the correct rhythm to train your monkeys. This game can be linked up with another Game Boy Color for trading and sparring with other trainers and monkeys.

The Story

You play as either a boy (Kenta) or girl (Sumire) in this game but they both have the same story line. So here is the story line if you pick Kenta. Kenta and Sumire lives in a house by the riverbank and their mother died when they were little. They lived with their father, who was a famous monkey trainer until one day, Sumire and her father got kidnapped by the Saru Group. The Saru group, a gangster group, illegally controlled the Monkey Puncher Association and wanted Kenta's father to become one of their group members by using mind control. Now Kenta has to rescue his sister and father from the Saru group but the only way to rescue them is to face the group at the Monkey 1 Grand Prix Tournament. Kenta has decided to become a monkey trainer and is training hard to rescue his family. One day, a mysterious man visits Kenta at his apartment and describes himself as an old friend of his father. His name is Fred and was a monkey trainer just like his father. He was once his father's rival but now he wants to offer help to Kenta to rescue him. He gives Kenta his first monkey puncher, Freddy. He gives a book of instructions to Kenta telling him how to become a successful monkey trainer and leaves Kenta to his training.

Sound

The sound in this game is fair but not great. You can't really get much sound out of a Game Boy Color any ways. There isn't much background music and when there is, you rarely notice it. The sound effects of the game are ok but when you are training and your monkey and it does like 100 consecutive punches, there are 100 beeps. The sound is not important to the game so it is better to leave it off after you get tired of it.

Graphics

This game has nice graphics for the Game Boy Color. The animation is smooth and the characters are detailed. The background is a little hazy but that's the only part that has a problem.

Replay Value

The fun never ends with Monkey Puncher. The single player experience is great with many surprising challenges along the way. This game offers a wide assortment of items to collect and they never seem to stop(I've played this game for a total probably more than 100 hours but I still haven't got all the items yet)! Then after you think you've collected all the items, you'll have to see which items to merge together to make an new item. It is even better if you know someone else that has Monkey Puncher. You can trade items to them and even let your monkeys' duke it out with each other to see who is The King of the Ring.

Value

This game should definitely be a buy on anyone's list. It will provide hours of fun and you can play it anywhere. For those that are uncertain about this game, it is worth that 5 dollars to rent it and try it out. Trust me.

Rating

Gameplay: 8.8
Sound: 5.5
Graphics 8.2
Replay Value: 9.4

Overall Rating: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/02, Updated 01/20/02