Amazing Island

Infobox VG| title = Amazing Island


developer = Hitmaker/Ancient
publisher = Sega
designer =
engine =
released = August 25, 2004
genre = Party
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: Everyone (E)
platforms = Nintendo GameCube
media = 1 × GameCube Optical Disc
requirements =
input =

"Amazing Island" is a video game developed by Hitmaker/Ancient and published by Sega for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on August 25, 2004.

toryline

A mysterious painter created a book with a mystical island called Amazing Island 1000 years before the game's present time and it was created through the painter's imagination. The book was a well-known one, but time passed by and it was forgotten. A tribe of people called Maboo thrived there. The Maboo, humans, and Monsters lived together in harmony, until about 100 years ago, humans left because the story was forgotten, and an evil race of demonic monsters known as Evilings started to appear and put curses on the Maboo, decreasing their population until there were hardly any left. When the Evilings took over the Island, they all merged together to create the Black Evil and the island was headed towards its doom until a Hero from the human world (Amazing Island takes place in the Dream world inside the book) came and destroyed the Black Evil. The island was at peace for some time until the Black Evil came back and started wreaking havoc once again. The Maboo were unable to fight back, because they couldn't fight. Only a human with all eight artifacts called Vision Orbs could stop the Black Evil. Calling for help, one of the Maboos (named Lagu) gave an eleven year old child from the human world a Monster Card so they could go to their world to help save them once and for all.

Gameplay

Amazing Island is a minigame collection with a well developed avatar creator. Your character is a Boy or Girl and their monster partner. By completing courses they gain Vision Orbs, which drives off the Black Evil, restores portions of the Island, and gain new abilities and items to customize their monster partner. The further in game, the more difficult the challenges are until the Black Evil itself is confronted. Upon purging the whole Island of Evil the villagers and the player hold a celebration.

Courses

Courses were challenges that were originally for fun, until the Black Evil and the Evilings took over the island. In a course the player merges with their monster partner and competes in the events. Acquiring 700 points will award them a bronze chest with a random Potion and advance them to the next game. 1000 points will award a silver chest with a monster Pattern, Voice, Eye, or Accessory. 1800 points will grant a (preset) Monster Card. In addition the player will always receive money equal to half the number of points they scored. Retrying a course, due to failure or by their own choice, will cost the character one Chance Star. When Chance Stars reach zero the player is removed from the Course and has to start over. (Chance Stars are restored whenever the player leaves a Course.) One potion to boost the players stats may be used per event attempt. Later courses have forks in the road to allow the player a choice in the path with different games and awards.

Completing a course will award the player with a monster Frame. However the first time a course is completed the player will face off an Eviling in a game of "Eviling Volly". If the player wins "Eviling Volly" they will be awarded a Vision Orb.

Any event completed by the player can be access in Practice Mode. The game is exactly the same except that the player has direct access to it, doesn't cost Chance Stars, and only awards money.

Monster Customization

Any time the player visits the Hall of Life they can customize an existing or create a new monster. Creating a new monster costs nothing and will grant the player an additional Chance Star.

A new monster is created by talking to Folu. He will let you choose a Frame which acts as a skeleton for various body types e.g. dragon, hamster, giant, hero. Then the player can draw limbs and body part and choose how thick or thin they are to be. New frames are gathered from completed Courses and more advance drawing tools such as a Stamp or Resize are gained from Vision Orbs.

Next the player will talk to Chinto to customize their monster. Patterns are textures that drawn on the body that can range from materials e.g. Glass, Rock, Lava; skins e.g. Dog, Cow, Parrot; or outfits e.g. Ninja, Santa, Cute Robot. Eyes are the type of eyes the monster will have. Voices are the sounds the monster will make. Accessories are various objects from horns, to wings, to weapons, to jewelry that can be placed anywhere on the monster. In addition to the basic choices each monster component except for the eyes has variation. E.g. Not only can the player choose a Dragon pattern, but a Red, Blue, Green, or Yellow one as well. More component variations and tools can be gained from Vision Orbs. New monster components can be bought from Shops or found in silver chests from Courses and imported from Monster Cards. (See below.)

Finally the player names their monster and takes their Foto. (A Foto is a card that is a the monster's link between the human world and Amazing Island.) If they wish to save their monster or change between saved and preset monsters, the player can talk to the Elder. Preset monsters are fully designed ones from monster cards acquired in gold chests. The player cannot modify these monsters at all, but they do not take space on the Nintendo GameCube memory card.

If the player does not want to design an entire monster from scratch they can take a random five question personality quiz from Folu to have one auto generated. Although the body is permanent (though at a certain point in the game you can edit the final product) an auto generated monster can still have its accessories customized.

There are at least 18 Frames, 30 patterns, 20 voices, and 150 accessories.

Every aspect of a monster; frame, accessories, actual drawn body shape and thickness, affects its stats. They are Speed, Mental, Power, Stamina, Weight, Element, and Class. Various events rely on different stats e.g. races will use Speed, while fights Power. Monsters in their element e.g. Fire in a Spin (lava) stage will gain an advantage. Finally the higher the class the better the monster.

Monster Cards

By talking to the Elder and using the GBA-Link a player can upload up to three monsters to a Game Boy Advance and play Monster Cards. Monster Cards is a simple turn based battle card game. There are eight Monster Cards levels, where the player fights through a gauntlet of other monster cards. The higher the course the more enemy cards fought.

In Monster Cards a monster's statistics are used in typical RPG fashion. Speed is the ability to hit and dodge attacks, Mental affects Magic Points, etc. Here elemental advantage is cyclic going Water beats Fire beats Wind beats Earth.

On completing a Monster Cards level, the player is awarded a bronze, silver or gold chest. Silver and gold chests as usual give monster components and (preset) Monster Card respectively (and exclusively gained from Monster Cards.) Bronze chests however give Skills cards. These have a one time use to teach a monster an ability for the Monster Cards game. Up to eight chests can be held and be deleted at any time. Chests must be uploaded to the Amazing Island by the Elder in order to be opened and used by the player. If the player already has the item from a chest, its contents will be a random Potion.

Multiplayer

Amazing Island offers multiplayer options where two to four players can complete on the Courses or link up in Monster Cards.

In the main game players can compete an entire Course or specific event. They also have the option to use multiple memory cards to import their own monsters and cross reference new high scores between saved data files. While playing, events are automatically completed either simultaneously or in turns depending on appropriateness. Like Practice Mode only money is awarded in the events.

In monster Cards, up to four Game Boy Advances can link up to battle each other. If arranged close together all four screens form an entire battle view. The last survivor will be awarded a chest.

Reception

The game received mostly modest reviews. IGN gave it a 6.7 "passable" rating. Game Spot gave it a 6.5 "fair" review. DL Game Reviews gave the game a 2/10, saying it was "very bad."