Doraemon: Minna de Asobō! Minidorando
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 The Epoch era of the Doraemon games ended on a high note with this one.
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Doraemon: Minna de Asobō! Minidorando (ドラえもん みんなで遊ぼう！ミニドランド) is a 2003 action video game released by Epoch. The game was released only in Japan, and credited as the final Doraemon video game.
Plot
On the last day of summer vacation, Nobita is talked about going out with everyone, but he is left out of the group and is angry. To appease Nobita, Doraemon gives him a ticket to a theme park.
It was a pre-opening ticket for a new theme park built in the future, which Doraemon won in a lottery. Interested, Nobita goes to invite Shizuka, but as usual, Gian and Suneo also arrive.
Nobita gets angry at Doraemon, who takes advantage of Suneo's cajoling offer of ``I'll give you 100 dorayaki and gives him the ticket, but with Shizuka's persuasion, he improves his mood and decides to depart.
With everyone's shouts, the last day of summer vacation begins at the theme park, Minidoland.
Why It Deserves A Visit to Miniland
- For starter, the gameplay is quite fun and also really varied, especially the action stages that are very fun to play to the point that this game will never be boring to play at all, not only that, but there are other types of gameplay compared to even the Nintendo 64 trilogy.
- The gameplay also feels like the 3DS Doraemon games, but in a so much better way since the gameplay is a bit more complex and less repetitive, it's also feels less rushed due to actually having care put into the game.
- Not to mention that it's also extremely fun to speedrun too, especially because of how fast paced the gameplay is when you jump, and while the gameplay is slow paced (at least that would be for some peoples) compared to Doraemon 3 on N64, it is still so fun that the gameplay is still great.
- There are 4 types of gameplay in this game, not to mention that they all are pretty decent and so much fun to play despite being very linear, they are:
- The action levels that are the main focus on the game, and as said before, they are the best part of the game due to how fun they are.
- There is a shoot 'em up level with Space Harrier style of gameplay that is also very fun and break the repetitiveness of the game, howewer it can be bad for those who are epileptic, like the aforementioned game that was the inspiration for these levels, howewer it is not as bad.
- There are the mini games in which most of them are good and fun, despite being simple, they can also be hilarous despite being very basic, howewer it is nowhere near as great as a Mario Party game.
- There's also a sliding section in level 5, but howewer that part was rather terrible due to how bad the controls are (see BQ#1).
- Despite looking more like an updated Dreamcast game, the graphics still manage to look excellent for the system it released on, with many characters that got detailed models and the graphics are also colorful for the time, especially the level 2.
- The cutscenes despite not aging well, still had somewhat enjoyable art style that feel like a Dreamcast game too, and this could also make for some really funny moments and animations too, especially the animation where Nobita yells at Doraemon.
- The characters' models also look like how they supposed to look in the show, since their design also is extremely faithful to the show to the point of looking like that they are directly taken from the show and made it into a 3D model.
- Speaking of the cutscenes, they are not only decently animated, but also really funny either due to the animation, because of the situation or because of the dialogues that are really funny to hear, not only that, but they also are faithful to the show.
- Not to mention that despite being in Japanese, even if you don't understand what the characters say, you might still get a good lauch, such as the scene where Nobita isn't angry anymore because of the fact that Shizuka talked to him and he did improve his mood after it.
- The end of the beginning cutscene is also a bit funny since it's end in a Looney Tunes esque, which surprisingly fit both the game and even the whole franchise.
- There's a lot of funny moments in this game even when compared to the N64 games, such as the aforementioned cutscenes and the sections where you must capture the Mini Doras, in which when they get captured by you, they say some funny and hilarious lines, in fact it is comparable to how funny SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is.
- Despite not being as amazing as Doraemon 3: Nobita no Machi SOS!, the controls are still pretty good as they are tight and responsive, since the characters will never really be unresponsive, even the shoot 'em up levels have tight controls.
- Not to mention that they are quite simple to learn how to use them since there are not many buttons to use and there are not any confusing controls like other good games such as Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World or even some of the Double Dragon games.
- They also controls well in the minigames sections to the point that they are comparable to how good the controls were in SpongeBob: Light, Camera, Pants! (despite being released 2 years after this game), and they make them very easy to play and also make them even more fun due to how tight they are.
- Also the controls are explained before a minigame, which make it even better, since some games don't explain the controls well, not to mention that it's explained in a simple way extremely well.
- The bosses, along with Doraemon 3: Nobita no Machi SOS! are some of the best in the entire franchise since they are very fun and also challenging, they can also be considered to be the most challenging part of the game. Well, not really once you learned their paths to defeat them easily.
- The first boss is somewhat easy, but sometime hard because it will lift the ground up and if you're in it, then you will likely get a lot of damages, which would be one of the reason of why this boss is a bit hard.
- The second boss is also a bit easy, but also a bit challenging since his attacks are hard to dodge if you don't react fast enough, but overall it is still a little bit easy to beat him.
- The third boss is challenging due to his attacks doing tons of damage and being fast, so you will probably have a hard time to deal with him. but it is still a decent boss since he is decently balanced, but howewer it is the weakest boss fight of the game.
- The fourth boss is really interesting and had fun paths to learn, since there are some gimmicks where you can push the boss to the moon so that when he comes back, he get hit when falling on the ground, he is also challenging due to his attacks being hard to dodge, but in a good way.
- The fifth boss is somewhat decent, but still had lot of flaws, such as some attacks that are impossible to dodge.
- The final boss is really awesome and is epic, since he is not only a huge improvement over the final boss of Doraemon 3: Nobita no Machi SOS!, but also had lot of awesome paths to learn, and he is also challenging, not to mention that it's a fun section.
- The stage design, as usual with a Doraemon game, are really good and look either great or sometime epic, in fact they can be considered as some of the best in a Doraemon game along with the SNES games and of course, the N64 trilogy.
- The first stage is really good looking and feels like a carnival or the start of a park, in which in this case it is, also it's helped by the fact that it's colorful and detailed even for a 2003 game.
- The second stage had lot of details that are really pleasant to see and is also one of the most colorful part of the game, not only that, but it is also one of the best graphics part of the game.
- The third stage had a cool design too and is one of the best of the game since it is full of details and there's a lot of good effects on the backgrounds.
- The fourth stage (especially at the boss fight of it) had a pretty decent in-game background and an awesome looking background for the boss battle, but howewer it is one of the weakest-looking stages of the game (at least in-game).
- The fifth stage also looks great enough, with lot of details and a decent backgrounds too, it helps that it is also colorful and the theme also being awesome.
- The final boss (stage 6) had an awesome looking background and is probably the best looking part of the game due to how awesome it is, it's even to the point of making the boss more epic, despite the unfitting music.
- Not to mention that some of them could be references to some other games franchises (albeit unintentionally), such as:
- The shoot 'em up phases can be seen as a Space Harrier reference due to it playing in a same style, and the perspective also works like that game, as said before.
- The second stage design could have some references to both some Super Mario games and even Wario World (in which that game also came out in 2003), it also helps that the stage is colorful.
- Some of the bosses might be references to some Mario games, although that is mostly related to the backgrounds.
- The third boss is similar to Wispy Wood from the Kirby games, at least his design, not the fight itself.
- Not to mention that some of them could be references to some other games franchises (albeit unintentionally), such as:
- Nice box art that is full of details and is also a little funny too, it is also colorful.
- As usual with a Doraemon game, the level design is really great and one of the best from a Doraemon game to date, as there are a lot of fun stages and lot of interesting ideas that were executed extremely well.
- Some of the gimmicks are also the interesting ideas behind the level design, since they are very well executed and they mostly range from projectiles that you need to reverse with the C button to throw it to the wall, which is one of the best ideas even for a Doraemon game, not even Doraemon 3: Nobita no Machi SOS! had this lot of interesting ideas in it's levels.
- While for most of the time the game is easy, there are still some parts of the game that are challenging at times, so at least it isn't completely easy, howewer they aren't extremely hard or frustrating.
- The soundtrack is awesome since it is really catchy and fits the theme park them of the game well, despite some of the music for a boss being unfitting at times.
- The music for the most parts aren't even repetitive since it loops decently and had enough part that doesn't feel the same too much, it also help that the music are usually long before being finished.
- Some of the musics can either be funny or even epic too, especially the bosses' music that are awesome because it sounds epic and really catchy, even though as said before, sometime it doesn't fit the stage for a boss fight.
- The mini games are really great and also fun, despite being very basic and not as good as a Mario Party game. The mini games mostly are easy, but some of them can also be challenging, such as the musical chair mini game that is the hardest or the volleyball mini game in level 5 that is a little hard, but still beatable.
- Excellent voice acting that sounds exactly like the show, since all of the actors reprise their roles in this game, but this is as expected for a Doraemon game since nearly all of them had great voice acting.
- The multiplayer mode is awesome and a big improvement from the previous games that had multiplayer, since here you play at the same time and not just one player before he/she lost his/her life and that the turn of the other people.
- The game is very faithful to the series, such as the story that is worthy of an episode from the show, the art style of the game and especially the cutscenes.
- In some levels you can change your weapon with another one, which can help you find a weapon that you like more or trying something new, not to mention that it can give variaty to the gameplay too.
Bad Qualities
- While the controls are good for the most parts, there are some parts that had poor or even awful controls, which will be explained in the sub pointers:
- The controls to push something are pretty poor since you might accidentally stop pushing and going to another direction, howewer they aren't horrible.
- The sliding section in the level 5 had horrible controls since they are unresponsive and clunky to the point of making it downright unplayable, thankfully it is only in the level 5.
- Not to mention that jumping is also incredibly tedious in this section since it's only unresponsive, and considering how clunky the controls are in this section, you might fall off a lot, but thankfully it doesn't kill you, but just takes down some of your health bar.
- The game difficulty is fairly easy, while not a bad thing, it is less challenging than Doraemon 3: Nobita no Machi SOS!, this can also be a major letdown for those who wanted a challenging experience, but howewer it is slightly harder than the Doraemon games on GBA, which were even more easy.
- Although despite that, there are still some challenging parts, such as the sliding section in level 5 (to an extend) or some of the bosses that are challenging.
- Not to mention that despite how poor the controls are in the sliding section, that section is still easy since when you fall, you will hardly lose a life since you don't take too much damages.
- Speaking about damages, it is really hard to get lot of damages by enemies since you can kill them really easily and their attacks don't do that much damage too, making it even more easier.
- Most of the mini games are also a bit too easy, with the exception of the musical chair mini game where it is the hardest of them all, to the point of being probably the hardest part of the game.
- The game is way too short, even for a Doraemon game, as you can beat it in only 2 hours, even Doraemon 3: Nobita no Machi SOS! is longer than this, but howewer it is understable considering the theme of the game.
- The game is somewhat a downgrade from Doraemon 3 on N64, mostly because of being more simple and basic in it's gameplay and level design, but it is still an awesome game, so at least it isn't in a bad way.
- This could also be because of the fact that it is shorter and has less levels compared to that game, which could make this impression more easy to think due to this.
- While the cutscenes are very good and funny, their animation didn't aged well, mostly because it looks more like a Dreamcast game with the characters' models, and also because the animation is a bit awkward at times, but howewer even with that, the animation can be seen as nice for this game, compared to other games with poorly aged cutscenes' animation.
- It is sadly the last Doraemon platform game made by Epoch, which is sad, because they were a great game, howewer they did another Doraemon DS game before stopping doing Doraemon games.
- Despite being very fun, the platforming can be awkward at times, since at times your jump will not get as far as you need to for reaching a platform, but that isn't really noticeable for the most parts.
- Most of the levels are really long, lasting sometimes 35 minutes, but howewer that's a little excusable since there's only 5 stages in the game (6 if you count the final boss).
Reception
The game received mixed reviews by critics, but positive reviews by gamers and fans of the franchise for it's gameplay, the soundtrack and the level design, it is also considered to be one of the most hilarious Doraemon games too.
Trivia
- This is the only Doraemon game to be released on GameCube.
- The mini games in this game is likely the inspiration for Doraemon Wii.
- Due to it being the next 3D platformer in the franchise, it is likely a sequel to Doraemon 3 on the N64, although that is not 100% comfirmed, but some people consider it to be the sequel of that game due to this.
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