Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color
Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color, known as in Japan, is a 2002 role-playing video game developed by Garakuda-Studio and Taito for the PlayStation 2, published by Agetec in North America. Studio Ghibli also collaborated with this game, with the musical composition by Zuntata. The game had a sequel in 2004 titled "Graffiti Kingdom". Gameplay. Combining the collectible monsters genre (e.g., "Pokémon") with the interactive art genre (e.g., "Mario Paint"), "Magic Pengel" is centered on the player, as a character able to manipulate a "Pengel" (which looks like a stylized fairy combined  with a paintbrush) to create a creature, or "Doodle". Using the Pengel (pronounced "pen-jell") as a cursor, the player simply sketches out the limbs, body, and other features. Depending on the amount of magic ink expended, and the types of body parts, the creature will be given certain statistics and created. With the help of Zoe and Taro, the character trains and battles using custom-created designs, which can be traded to or battled with the creations of other players. As the Doodles battle, they become more powerful, and earn points towards the purchase of pre-created Doodles, and  extra abilities towards customizable creation. Combat functions according to three selections: attack, magic, and block, as well as a charge command. The three basic maneuvers follow a standard rock paper scissors methodology, but repetitiveness is minimized due to the varied attributes of the Doodles, as well as the inability to successively repeat any selection. "Magic Pengel" combines cel-shading with standard 3D graphics. Though most of the backgrounds are 3D, the Doodles are cel-shaded. Occasionally the animations of the Doodles can be jerky due to the extreme range of customization possible within the game, but this is fairly uncommon . Plot. Story. The story begins when you (the main character - this character is never shown or given a default name in order to keep with the "second person" feel of the game, however, it is implied that the unseen character is a young boy) wake up in someone's yard and sees a Pengel. A mysterious voice tells you that you can use the Pengel to draw whatever you like, and that the shape will become your companion on your quest. You draw a simple shape to become your first Doodle, however, the Doodle falls off a cliff and is  rescued by a girl. Then it runs away. After lecturing you, the girl introduces herself as Zoe, then introduces her (foster) brother, Taro. She takes you to the arena where a tournament is being held and teaches you how to duel. You win, and Zoe gets ticked off at the kingdom's guards for taking some of the Color you won as tax. It is revealed that the King who rules the humans is corrupt and tries to force pure-hearted people to draw Doodles to work for him. One of his best Doodlers, Galileo (who is Zoe and Taro 's father) disappeared and the king has been trying to seek revenge by taking away Zoe and Taro's homeland. Zoe and Taro don't know where Galileo went, and have been searching for their father by throwing notes in a bottle into the ocean. You must enter tournaments to get the money Zoey and Taro need to pay off the mortgage on their Homeland, help them search for their father, and eventually defeat the Doodle King himself. Characters. "Magic Pengel" is known for its flexibility in characters - players can create their own. Unlike "Graffiti Kingdom", the second game in  the "Rakugaki Ōkoku" series, the "main character" does not exist: the storyline revolves around the "player" being sucked into Zoe and Taro's world. However, there is a small cast of important characters, and a large cast of secondary characters, that play roles in the storyline. Technology. The drawing technology used to draw characters was based on Takeo Igarashi's "Teddy" software. Reception. "Magic Pengel" received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, "Famitsu" gave it a score of 32 out of 40. "IGN"'s Jeremy Dunham found that the monster creation system lives up to  its potential for creating unique-looking creatures and providing gameplay depth, since different body parts, colors, and sizes affect abilities and statistics in battle. Despite considering the rock-paper-scissors battle system simplistic on paper, he greatly enjoyed it thanks to the variety of attacks and magic spells that could be discovered with each custom monster. Issues he discovered included a hard-to-control camera, a short and repetitive main quest, and an unremarkable soundtrack. Dunham did, however, enjoy the colorful graphical style and pleasant character designs. He concluded that while the game probably would not appeal to a wide  audience, it had the makings of a cult classic.