Kaseki Sōsei Reborn II: Monster Digger

Description

Kaseki Sōsei Reborn II: Monster Digger is a monster-collecting RPG and the sequel to Kaseki Sōsei Reborn, arriving only about seven months after the first game. While it keeps the same broad formula of exploring caves, collecting fossils, reviving monsters, and battling through dungeon-style areas, it expands on the original with colour support, more monsters, evolution, communication features, and Pocket Printer support.

The main hook is fossil revival. Instead of catching monsters directly, the player digs up fossil parts in dungeons and uses a lab machine to “reborn” them into monsters. Fossil combinations use parts such as head, body, and limbs, and different combinations or quantities produce different creatures. The game has 117 monsters, with most revived from fossils and a smaller number obtained by evolving existing monsters.

Gameplay is closer to a light roguelike / dungeon RPG than a straight Pokémon clone. The player enters caves, moves through dungeon floors, finds fossils and items, fights monsters, reaches the bottom, defeats a boss, and returns to base. Battles add positional bonuses compared with the first game, with side and rear attacks dealing more damage, making positioning slightly more important.

Retrospectively it was a fairly minor sequel rather than a major overhaul. It is also criticised for being easy, short, and somewhat repetitive, with many systems reused from the first game and some new mechanics making fossil revival more tedious rather than deeper.