Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django for GBA

 

About two years ago, before I started with Japanese games, I played Boktai 2 for GBA. I played the European version that has English text.

Action/RPGs or RPGs isn't my favorite type of game. They take too long, and after a while I forget the story. It also takes time to learn how to equip spells and everything else with the gameplay. And I also think the games are just too long for me...

None the less, I wanted to try out this game for the interesting feature of solar detection. The cart has a little solar detector, similar to a calculator. It will detect how strong the sunlight is. You need the sunlight to charge the energy that is used for magic.

I played it during the summer two years ago. A nice side effect is that I got a lot of sun that summer. But then there was a week or two of cloudy weather and I had to stop playing and then I forgot about the game. You can play when it is cloudy but the sun is a lot weaker making it longer to recharge. If it is really cloudy you can't play and obviously you only play during the day. Technically you can play, but you can't recharge your character's energy. And some puzzle require the sun energy.

One of few action/rpgs I have played is Diablo, so I think I can say this game is like Diablo. Or should I say Landstalker? You go around slashing your enemies. You equip spells and talk to people. Every now and then there is a puzzle you need to solve. Sometimes the puzzle makes use of the sun in clever ways. For example, sometimes the sun will shine through a window in a house your character is inside. You may need to cover the detector with your hand to have items move around on the screen.

The reason I picked out the game today is because I bought a UV light for retrobrighting a while ago. It is 15W low energy which is maybe 50W "normal" energy. It brings up the Sun energy a couple of levels, not as much as I thought actually. I suppose stronger UV light would be good for my retrobrighting. Unfortunately my eyes are sensitive to this UV light for some reason.

Well, if you enjoy these kind of games I think it is well worth trying, but unless you have a UV lamp you need to have a period of sunlight.