Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
North American box art featuring Chocobo and Raffaello
Developer(s)h.a.n.d.[1]
Publisher(s)Square Enix
Director(s)Yuji Yano
Producer(s)Yuki Yokoyama
Artist(s)Toshiyuki Itahana
Composer(s)
Series
Platform(s)
ReleaseWii
DS
  • JP: October 30, 2008
Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
  • WW: March 20, 2019
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Japanese: チョコボの不思議なダンジョン 時忘れの迷宮, Hepburn: Chokobo no Fushigi na Danjon Toki Wasure no Meikyū, "Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Forgotten Time") is a role-playing video game published by Square Enix for the Wii. It is an installment in the Chocobo series that focuses on Chocobo and his quest to free a town lost in time from eternal forgetfulness.[8] It is a loose sequel to Chocobo's Dungeon 2 on the PlayStation.

Development began in 2006. The game was well received by critics, who praised the dialogue, graphics and nostalgia for Final Fantasy, but noted the game's shallow and repetitive gameplay. An enhanced port of the game was released for the Nintendo DS on October 30, 2008, in Japan. In 2019, a remaster named Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY! was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.[9]

Gameplay

The gameplay involves randomly generated dungeons and turn-based battles of the Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon title, though new elements have also been incorporated into the gameplay, such as the Job system featuring ten jobs.[10][11] Different jobs change the appearance of the player's Chocobo and alter the layout of the dungeons the players enter.[11] "Pop-up duels" also make a comeback with the addition of enemy cards that can be brought to "Mog's House", where they can be used to play minigames such as "bat shooter", "kick darts", fishing, and gardening.[11]

The player uses the Wii Remote to control characters. The player can also choose to use the Classic Controller if preferred.[12] As the player moves, Chocobo regains health, and if the player loses all of his or her health, he or she will be brought back to the beginning of the current dungeon.[13] The game is Wi-Fi compatible, and players can battle against other players.[11]

Plot

While searching for the fabled Timeless Power gem to power his Airship, Cid and his partner Chocobo ended up being sucked into a vortex and landed in the quaint town of Lostime within the island of Memoria, which disappeared from the rest of the world fifty years ago. In the center of Lostime is a clock tower which rings the Bell of Oblivion that makes everyone lose their memories.[11][12][14] Along with his new friend Shirma and a mysterious boy named Raffaello who is able to create a labyrinth of memories, Chocobo has to recover the lost memories of Lostime's residents. These actions reveal the mystery behind Raffaello and the calamity that began the trouble.

Music

The Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon Toki Wasure no Meikyū Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on January 23, 2008. The theme song, Door Crawl, which is both included on the soundtrack and available as a separate single, is written and performed by Ai Kawashima.

Development

Development began in November 2006 with new members added to the Chocobo development team as the platform had shifted from the Nintendo DS to the Wii.[11] Pastel colors replaced the bright colors of the Chocobo Tales.[15] Some of the more difficult game elements were removed so that it would appeal to "small children and female" players.[11] Square Enix's Virtual World had in-game advertisements for this game during the virtual world's first week.[16] Joe Down Studio developed the music for the game and featured extensive remixing of music from various Final Fantasy games due to the positive reception of remixed Final Fantasy music in the game Chocobo Tales.[17][18] New music was composed for the opening movie and demo by Kumi Tanioka.[17] The studio requested that they be allowed to use music from the early Final Fantasy titles as it would be appropriate to the theme of forgotten time.[17] Musical cues such as the sound of pickaxes can be heard in the Fire Dungeon, and songs play backwards to indicate the restoration of memory.[17] The theme of forgetting difficulties is discussed in the game story, and the developers tried to convey that putting all into resolving problems is much better than simply trying to forget, as the people in the game story have.[18]

Nintendo DS port

An enhanced port, titled Cid to Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon: Toki Wasure no Meikyū DS+ (シドとチョコボの不思議なダンジョン 時忘れの迷宮 DS+, Sido to Chokobo no Fushigi na Danjon Toki Wasure no Meikyū DS Purasu, lit. Cid and Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Forgotten Time DS+), was released in Japan for the Nintendo DS on October 30, 2008. It features a new storyline centering on Cid, as well as new jobs for characters to learn.[2]

Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 remaster

A remastered port titled Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY! was developed by Rocket Studio, Inc.,[19] and released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on March 20, 2019. It features a new buddy system to bring monsters and other characters into the dungeon to assist.[20][9]

Reception

The game experienced strong sales in the first week after release in Japan but quickly fell from the video game charts.[11] Square Enix reported that 160 thousand copies were sold as of September 2008, with 90 thousand units sold in Japan and 70 thousand units sold in North America.[26] The enhanced DS version sold over 74,000 copies by the end of 2009.[27]

IGN praised the game for its polish, graphics, humorous dialogue and its wealth of gameplay choices.[25] Video game website Joystiq previewed the game, complaining that despite some graphical improvements, the gameplay was little different to earlier entries in the series and was, in fact, "scarily reminiscent" of the ancient 1980 DOS game Rogue, which inspired the genre.[15] The game was the runner-up for the best Wii game of July 2008 on IGN.[28] It was awarded Best RPG for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards.[29]

References

  1. ↑ Riley, Adam (2008-02-26). "h.a.n.d Talks Chocobo on Nintendo DS & Wii, Square Enix Support & More". Cubed³. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  2. 1 2 John Tanaka (2008-07-08). "Square Enix Announces New Chocobo Titles". IGN. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  3. ↑ IGN staff (2007-09-13). "Chocobo Hits Japan in December". IGN. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
  4. ↑ IGN Staff (2008-03-31). "Uncover Lost Memories with Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon". IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  5. ↑ Luke Van Leuveren (2008-04-06). "Updated Australian Release List - 7/4/08". PALGN. Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  6. ↑ zConnection Staff (2008-11-01). "Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon". zConnection. Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  7. ↑ GameSpy staff (2008-06-28). "FFF: Chocobo's Dungeon For PAL (Wii)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  8. ↑ KujaFFman (2007-05-10). "Chocobo's Dungeon débarque sur Wii (MàJ)". Final Fantasy World (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  9. 1 2 "Review: Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy!". Archived from the original on 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  10. ↑ Karl. B (2007-12-06). "Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon gameplay, custscene screenshots". Wiiz. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Adam Riley (2008-03-25). "Interview: hand Talks Chocobo Mystery Dungeon on Nintendo's Wii". C3 News]. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  12. 1 2 Sato, Yoshi (2007-08-08). "New Details on Chocobo's Dungeon Wii". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
  13. ↑ Hatfield, Daemon (2007-09-20). "TGS 2007: Chocobo's Dungeon Wii Preview". IGN. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  14. ↑ Harris, Craig (2007-05-10). "Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu". IGN. Archived from the original on August 31, 2007. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
  15. 1 2 Jem Alexander (2007-09-22). "TGS hands-on: Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (Wii)". joystiq. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  16. ↑ David T. (2007-12-06). "Square Enix Virtual World to house Nintendo Wii ads". C3 News. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Jeriaska (2008-02-17). "Interview with Joe Down Studio". RPGFan. Archived from the original on April 10, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  18. 1 2 IGN Staff (2008-07-01). "Chocobo's Dungeon Producer Q&A". IGN. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! Credits". MobyGames. Blue Flame Labs. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  20. ↑ "Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!". square-enix-games.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-09. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
  21. ↑ "Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon for Wii Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  24. ↑ Shiva Stella (2008-07-23). "Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon for Wii Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved October 29, 2008.
  25. 1 2 Daemon Hatfield (2008-07-01). "Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon Review". IGN. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  26. ↑ "Results Briefing Session: The First-Half of the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 2009" (PDF). Square-Enix.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 16, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  27. ↑ "2009年ゲームソフト年間売上TOP1000" [2009 Game Software Annual Sales Top 1000]. Famitsū Gēmu Hakusho 2010 ファミ通ゲーム白書2010 [Famitsu Game Whitebook 2010] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Enterbrain. 2010-05-21. p. 385. ISBN 978-4-04-726511-0. Archived from the original on 2015-06-27.
  28. ↑ IGN Nintendo Team (2008-07-31). "Wii Game of the Month: July 2008". IGN. Archived from the original on August 15, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  29. ↑ "IGN Wii: Best RPG 2008". IGN.com. 2008-12-18. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
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