Two things I really enjoy in gaming are Game Boy homebrew games and monster collecting
games. When I heard about the new game, PachiPals, I was instantly intrigued. When I read
more about the game, I was addicted before even starting it up.
What is PachiPals?
PachiPals is a new homebrew Game Boy Color game created by Rebusmind. This is the same
creator behind two other great homebrew games, Dango Dash and Hidden Gems. The game
has you playing as a kid who just got on summer vacation from school. After getting a new
PachiPals that seems to be really rare, you are sent to go on an adventure to get to the bottom
of it.
This isn’t just your typical monster collector that seems like a re-skinned Pokémon game. This
game is extremely unique and also extremely fun as well. Combat in PachiPals is in the style of
a Pachinko game. You have a team of 3 vs another team of 3 and take turns dropping a ball
from the top to hit their PachiPal on the bottom.
This goes for both random encounters and also battles. It isn’t that simple, though. There can be obstacles on the board; there are elemental buffs for your PatchiPal, and once you level up, you also gain some special abilities as well that make your life easier.
You don’t get PachiPals from random encounters, but instead you have to find them in the
overworld. Many of the PachiPals involve you solving some environmental puzzle, and you press
a button to throw your sphere at them. When you hit them? You have to hit them enough times
in a round of Pinball! Every Pinball board was completely different, and many were really
challenging. You have 4 balls to try and hit them enough to catch them.
There are many towns to visit, people to talk to, and 100 PachiPals (including the ones you
evolve). It is stated the game is 6-10 hours, but I don’t think I am close to finishing it and have
played more than that. The game includes fast travel, which is appreciated, and you can create
your character at the beginning.
How Is It?
I am loving this game and have zoned out some nights just grinding my team or exploring to find
more PachiPals to catch. I am really enjoying the charm of this game and the comedy of talking
to all the NPCs. I am fully exploring the towns, looking for treasure chests, and talking to
everyone. I absolutely love the pinball game that shows up when you are catching a PachiPal. I
am really bad at it, but it is still great fun with the challenge.
The PachiPals are so unique, and since it is a new world, it is nice knowing nothing about them. I
feel like a kid again playing the newest Pokémon game. I am just catching them and training
them to see if they evolve or if there is another way to evolve them. Such a nice change of pace
from some of the other games I have been playing recently
At first, I was not good at the combat and was getting very frustrated, but once you get a triple
kill with a perfectly placed ball, there are few things to replicate the feeling of triumph. The
different special abilities you unlock are fun too. I had one PachiPal that would let me just
chuck a giant boulder at my enemy along with the ball. Leveling up also increases your stats to
deal more damage as well.
Usually I play my games muted (I know, I know). I like to relax on the couch after the kid goes to
bed and not be distracted by the sounds. I decided to connect my Analogue Pocket to the
dock and try it, and wow! The soundtrack to this game is great. Credit to Beatscribe for the
earworms they created for this game.
Overall, I will say that Rebusmind has knocked it out of the park. This is one of, if not my favorite
homebrew games I have played. You can tell there is so much love put into this game. If you are
a fan of collecting games and want something new to play, I highly recommend checking it
out!
You can try the demo, buy the physical edition, or the digital version on Incube8. The physical
editions should be shipping out this month and come with a few other goodies as well.
1 Comment
It is fun and I beat it. Unfortunately in retroarch, if you beat it, it does NOT let you keep playing. It only works correctly in original hardware on a flashcart per the publisher, so unfortunately for emulating it on anything else, you don’t get to catch them all or keep playing after you hit a point of no return.