Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime

Overview

Rocket Slime is a spin-off of the popular Dragon Quest series where you play as one of the series' iconic slimes, in an attempt to defend their kingdom of Slimenia from the Mafia-esque Plob. The main protagonist, Rocket Slime, is the only one left in Boingsburg after the Plob shelled the town and kidnapped everyone else. Rocket then (naturally) has to set out to save the rest of the inhabitants of Slimenia and defeat the Plob.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime consists of 2 major aspects, on foot exploration and epic tank battles. This section will deal only with the non tank-related portions of the game.

The on foot portions of Rocket Slime look and play somewhat similar to the Game Boy Zelda games. Your character's attack is handled through stretching the slime out with the A button to slingshot him through enemies. Rocket also has the ability to pick up multiple items at the same time, a critical gameplay mechanic.

Stage Exploration

During the normal stages in the game, the gameplay centers around Rocket as he attempts to rescue the citizens of Boingburg and defeat the Plob. These innocent civilians can be rescued either directly from the level through exploration, or through tank battles (more on those later). A majority of the gameplay centers around gathering items, and then throwing them onto the "Slime Rails" carts for transport back to town. Not only can miscellaneous objects such as chests and bombshells be collected, so can enemies. Returning a certain number of the same enemy will result in them offering to join your crew!

Partial Enemy List

• Jailcat
• Imp
• Platypunk
• Hammerhood
• Restless Armor
• Dancing Flame
• Killing Machine
• Jinkster
• Walking Corpse
• Golem
• Cactiball
• Mimic
• Picksy
• Golem
• Bunnicorn

Stage List

There are 7 stages in the game.

• Forewood Forest
• Tootinschleiman's Tomb
• Callmigh Bluff
• Mt. Krakatroda
• Backwoods
• Flucifer's Necropolis
• Flying Clawtress

Tank Combat

In DQH: Rocket Slime, most major fights are tank battles, occurring at a rate of 3-5 per level. Tank battles take place across both screens of the DS, and many different strategies can be employed.

General Mechanics and Screen Layout

On the top screen the HP of both tanks is displayed, as well as a depiction of the area between the tanks, with indications of what ammo is currently flying through the air. You will also see icons related to the location of your crew, but more about crew later. This view of the game is essential for planning your attack strategy.

On the lower screen, you see a view of your character, as in the overworld view. This is where you will make all of the actual movements to attack the enemy tank and defend yours.

The ultimate objective of each tank battle is to penetrate into the heart of the enemy tank and take out its power core, which incidentally looks like a giant mechanical heart. However, the power core is protected by impenetrable steel walls that only open when the tank's hp reaches zero, so this necessitates shelling the tank into submission before going in for the kill. But be careful, because the Grand Schlieman can be destroyed in the same way.

Each tank has a similar layout of three rooms. The lower room contains the doors to the tank, as well as (usually) a resurrection shrine where defeated crew members can return to action. This room also contains a few ammo dispensers. The back room contains the doors to the all important power core area, as well as a few more ammo dispensers. The top room is the most important of all, as it houses both of your cannons, as well as a couple vulcan machine gun ports, and the final pair of ammo dispensers. In addition, all rooms contain rows of destructible consoles along the wall.

Attack and Defense (Top Screen Combat)

In DQH: Rocket Slime launching ordinance is the only way of lowering your opponents hp. This aspect of combat centers around the top screen, the cannons, and the ammo dispensers. The base mechanics of this mode are simple, get ammo from the dispenser, throw it into the cannon, and watch the fireworks at the other end, but there are many layers of strategy under the surface.

Each tank has two cannons, a "straight line" cannon on the bottom and a "mortar" on the top. This allows you to fire shells in two different fire arcs, upper and lower. The enemies shells also follow these same arcs, so when two shells on the same arc meet, they explode midair. This makes the top screen essential for tracking ammo, and deciding which cannon to fire.

Loading the cannons is simple, just pick up some ammo and toss it in, but be careful; if you screw up and get knocked into the cannon, you become a squishy blue projectile yourself.

Disruption Strategies (Lower Screen Combat)

Not only do you have access to the interior of your own tank, but you can also reach the opposing tank as well. There are two main ways to reach the enemy tank, the daring airborne attack, and the conservative ground assault. Performing an air attack is simple, just jump into one of the cannons and hope that none of the enemy ammo hits you. Usually it is a good idea to lay down some sort of covering fire before attempting one of these. Preforming a ground attack is much more conservative, and much less debonair, basically you walk out of the doors of your tank, across the intervening landscape, and into the enemy tank. But its not quite that simple... you do have to bash down the doors to the enemy tank, if you haven't done so already.

Once you actually manage to get inside the enemy tank, you will notice that it is set up pretty much the same way that your tank is, and the enemy crew is doing the exact same thing that you and your crew are attempting. It is easy to just sit back and watch them at work... buzzing away like little bees, but we are not here to relax, we have havoc to wreak! One of the most effective disruption strategies is to destroy the rows of consoles lining the inside of the tank; destroy enough and enemy ammo dropped from the ammo dispensers will emerge on fire, and unusable for several seconds. You can also destroy things on the bridge, and prevent the enemy form being able to launch any ammo, and generally harass the enemy crew. Mano a Mano combat in tank battles works exactly the same as in the general exploration part of the game, so mind your hearts!

Ammo and Crew

Some of the most important factors in any tank battle are set before the first shell is fired, your ammo and your crew selection.

Your tank has slots for 25 pieces of ammo. Which ammo you put here basically affects the random drop pool of the tank, i.e. if you have one "Iron Shield" ammo selected it would drop one out of every 25 times an item comes out of the ammo dispensers. All ammo is not created alike, all do different amounts of damage and fly at different speeds, many also have special effects and a few aren't even really meant to be fired from your cannon.

Partial Ammo List

This list covers only the basic categories of standard ammo and a few of the special types. If you want to know them all, go play the game.

• Misc everyday items (ex. Pompom, Catnip,Chest) Small amount of damage.
• Bombshells/Missiles (ex. Bombshell, BS-1 Crooze) Faster flying, moderate damage.
• Arrows (ex. Iron Arrow) Really fast flying, middling damage.
• Swords (ex. Bastard Sword) High damage.
• Shields (ex. Iron Shield) Can take multiple hits before failing, little to no damage.
• Crafting items (ex. Gold Bar) Dude, what are you doing shooting these out of your tank?
• Boomerangs (ex. Boomerang) Seek out and destroy enemy ammo.
• Fire Water (ex. Fire Water) Disrupts enemy firing deck.
• Chile (ex. Chilli Pepper) Ever seen a tank breath fire before?
• Invisibility items (ex. Spooklear Bomb, Cloaking Device) You can't hit what you can't see!

Partial Crew Ability List

This list covers the basic category's of abilities crew members can have. Many crewmen (and converted Plob crewmen) have unique special abilities not listed here. Most crew have 2 abilities you can select between in battle, but some only have one.

• Use Upper/Lower Cannon: Will load ammo into named cannon
• Keep Everyone/Me Alive: Heals
• Fire Like Crazy: Indiscriminately uses either cannon
• Infiltrate and Sabotage: Will get into the enemy tank and disrupt the enemy
• Target Their Commander: Basically self explanatory
• Bring Ammo: Will bring you ammo
• Fire Self at Enemy: Also self explanatory