Telefang and Telefang 2: Two underrated Japanese RPG's
Posted: March 23rd, 2008, 5:47 amAll right, since I've been playing these two games a lot in the past months, I felt like making a topic about these games.
Telefang is a Pokémon-like game for the Game Boy Color. It was divided into two versions: Power and Speed. It was only officially released in Japan, sadly. The reception of this game was undeservedly very poor for one reason: someone in China bootlegged this obscure game and called the Power version "Pokémon Diamond," and the Speed version "Pokémon Jade." It was translated VERY badly and had many annoying glitches (for example, you can't save). People thought this was a bad attempt at a Pokémon game when it's actually very fun and was never meant to be a Pokémon game in the first place.
Well, I never actually explained the game itself yet, have I? Basically it plays a bit like Pokémon. It's an RPG, and you get monsters (they're called Denjuu) and use them to fight other Denjuu. They have up to four moves and they gain experience and evolve eventually. You can find Denjuu in the wild -- and get this -- instead of using Poké Balls to get them, you sometimes obtain their phone number (in this game, you get a cell phone to do everything). This part of the game is actually really interesting. You see, you only carry one Denjuu with you at a time -- at the beginning of every battle, you must call the rest. Deciding which Denjuu to call is part of the game -- depending on where you are, they may be so far away that they make take many turns to show up or not show up at all. So you have to be careful on which you choose. This can be fun. Hehe.
Also, despite this game feeling like a Pokémon clone, this has other things that Pokémon doesn't have. First, every battle is either a double battle or triple battle (or a mix, e.g. 2-on-3). Both this and the sequel came out BEFORE Ruby and Sapphire, therefore this had the idea of double battles first! And Pokémon NEVER had triple battles...
Also, unlike Pokémon, there is a LOT less having to train in the same place for hours to level up your Denjuu. This makes it much less tedious and faster paced. The boss fights are fun too, as are the battles against T-Fangers (the Telefang equivalent of trainers -- in the bootleg version, they're called T-Mildew, which is really odd). And running in grass to see coins and hearts (anybody see the Zelda influence here?) is fun too.
Still, the first game has flaws that Pokémon doesn't have. For one, the battle system is too simplified. The typing system is too simple -- every attack is the same type as the Denjuu itself, meaning that depend on the Denjuu you're up against, ALL your attacks may be weak against the opponent. Also, there are NO items to be used in battle whatsoever -- though the sequel improves on this. Thirdly, HP is not really an issue until at the end of the game -- if you stand there when not in battle, you can recover HP. Pressing B repeatedly makes recovering HP even faster. Fourthly, you can always see opponent Denjuu before a battle, and all the stats (even the types). This makes a bit easy to choose what Denjuu you have. Still, it's a fun game.
Now on to Telefang 2. Like the prequel, it was only officially released in Japan, and was also divided into Power and Speed (they have different Denjuu in each version). This sequel improves things from the first game. For example, the battle system is better -- the attack types are separate from the Denjuu types, meaning a Denjuu's moveset is much more versatile. And you can use items. You also don't recover HP just by pressing B outside of battle -- like Pokémon, you go in buildings in most towns to heal them. The graphics are a lot better -- they're COMPLETELY revamped. All the Denjuu look better, the scenery looks better, and the battles look very, very cool (the battle scenes in this game look even better than any Pokémon game, even D/P!). The attacks are cool too, there's one that uses a rocket ship to send a Denjuu to another planet! Also, in the wild, you can SEE Denjuu on the screen, so you always know what you're fighting! It baffles me why they can't do that in Pokémon. Only thing I don't like about this game is that they removed a lot of Denjuu from the original -- I would have loved to see the Power starter, Krypto, in this game, for instance. Oh, and the mazes can be really, really mind-bending. This game is still really fun, though.
Has anybody played these two games at all?
Telefang is a Pokémon-like game for the Game Boy Color. It was divided into two versions: Power and Speed. It was only officially released in Japan, sadly. The reception of this game was undeservedly very poor for one reason: someone in China bootlegged this obscure game and called the Power version "Pokémon Diamond," and the Speed version "Pokémon Jade." It was translated VERY badly and had many annoying glitches (for example, you can't save). People thought this was a bad attempt at a Pokémon game when it's actually very fun and was never meant to be a Pokémon game in the first place.
Well, I never actually explained the game itself yet, have I? Basically it plays a bit like Pokémon. It's an RPG, and you get monsters (they're called Denjuu) and use them to fight other Denjuu. They have up to four moves and they gain experience and evolve eventually. You can find Denjuu in the wild -- and get this -- instead of using Poké Balls to get them, you sometimes obtain their phone number (in this game, you get a cell phone to do everything). This part of the game is actually really interesting. You see, you only carry one Denjuu with you at a time -- at the beginning of every battle, you must call the rest. Deciding which Denjuu to call is part of the game -- depending on where you are, they may be so far away that they make take many turns to show up or not show up at all. So you have to be careful on which you choose. This can be fun. Hehe.
Also, despite this game feeling like a Pokémon clone, this has other things that Pokémon doesn't have. First, every battle is either a double battle or triple battle (or a mix, e.g. 2-on-3). Both this and the sequel came out BEFORE Ruby and Sapphire, therefore this had the idea of double battles first! And Pokémon NEVER had triple battles...
Also, unlike Pokémon, there is a LOT less having to train in the same place for hours to level up your Denjuu. This makes it much less tedious and faster paced. The boss fights are fun too, as are the battles against T-Fangers (the Telefang equivalent of trainers -- in the bootleg version, they're called T-Mildew, which is really odd). And running in grass to see coins and hearts (anybody see the Zelda influence here?) is fun too.Still, the first game has flaws that Pokémon doesn't have. For one, the battle system is too simplified. The typing system is too simple -- every attack is the same type as the Denjuu itself, meaning that depend on the Denjuu you're up against, ALL your attacks may be weak against the opponent. Also, there are NO items to be used in battle whatsoever -- though the sequel improves on this. Thirdly, HP is not really an issue until at the end of the game -- if you stand there when not in battle, you can recover HP. Pressing B repeatedly makes recovering HP even faster. Fourthly, you can always see opponent Denjuu before a battle, and all the stats (even the types). This makes a bit easy to choose what Denjuu you have. Still, it's a fun game.
Now on to Telefang 2. Like the prequel, it was only officially released in Japan, and was also divided into Power and Speed (they have different Denjuu in each version). This sequel improves things from the first game. For example, the battle system is better -- the attack types are separate from the Denjuu types, meaning a Denjuu's moveset is much more versatile. And you can use items. You also don't recover HP just by pressing B outside of battle -- like Pokémon, you go in buildings in most towns to heal them. The graphics are a lot better -- they're COMPLETELY revamped. All the Denjuu look better, the scenery looks better, and the battles look very, very cool (the battle scenes in this game look even better than any Pokémon game, even D/P!). The attacks are cool too, there's one that uses a rocket ship to send a Denjuu to another planet! Also, in the wild, you can SEE Denjuu on the screen, so you always know what you're fighting! It baffles me why they can't do that in Pokémon. Only thing I don't like about this game is that they removed a lot of Denjuu from the original -- I would have loved to see the Power starter, Krypto, in this game, for instance. Oh, and the mazes can be really, really mind-bending. This game is still really fun, though.
Has anybody played these two games at all?
