Remember Spectrobes, well here are some screenshots I snapped from the Disney short web episodes of the DS game. Along with an image from the opening of Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals.

so who remembers Spectrobes huh

(Bless this blog 🙌) Either way, could we get some Boarding School imagines? That would be super coolio 👏

Hi! Sorry about my years-long break. Ihope this is alright, because neither have I been to a boardingschool, nor have I ever talked to anyone about how it works. :D

• Rallen is well known at the dorms, asboth a troublemaker and – in a way – authority. How so? He standsup for other students who he feels are treated badly regularly, andoftentimes starts fights to get his point across. He’s definitelysomeone you want to be on good terms with.

• Jeena plays a similar role to Rallen.Like him she will bring any bully to submission, but in her case sheaccomplishes this without fights. She’s a student representative andeveryone knows she will report them and teachers will listen to heraccusations.

• Grant is the school’s headmaster. Heknows Rallen and Jeena well. The former because of his troublemaking,and the latter because of her efforts to maintain a good environmentfor all students. Grant used to be a Physics and P.E. teacher beforetaking the headmaster position.

• Professor Wright and Kate are…professors! Wright teaches History and Biology, while Kate teachesPhysics and Chemistry.

• Hank is the janitor. Rallen knows himfairly well because he sometimes has to stay after classes and cleanrooms as punishment for starting fights. They bond over talking aboutmotorcycles, and Hank has gives Rallen good tips on how to tinkerwith his own at home.

• Outside of boarding school Rallen liveswith his adoptive uncle, Aldous.

Rallen: Do you like cats?

Prof. Kate: I love them

Rallen, trying to impress her: [pushes her drink off the table]

The quality isn’t that good thanks to my terrible phone. 🙈 Due to some inexplicable magical boost of inspiration I’ve been drawing so much Spectrobes stuff ignoring doing important stuff

So I hope you like this professor Kate marker drawing I made yesterday!

My Thoughts About Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals

I recently revisited a game from my childhood: Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals. I never finished this game when I was younger, because I found it too scary to progress. As strange as it seems, this game’s first hour started my interest in science fiction, and I still enjoy the genre in books and games today, despite never finishing the game.

I played up to what I’d call the start of the end of the first act of the game, getting up to the Corona vortex on the planet Genshi. This is probably a super biased article, as I think about this game a lot. It reviewed poorly with critics and I think this was probably justified. It is also worth mentioning that I did not play the first Spectrobes game.

If you intend on playing this game, spoilers are ahead. The short version is that I enjoy the characters, but the last parts of the game are far weaker than the start. The gameplay is largely uninteresting, and the game isn’t really something I would recommend anyone play.

The Good

The music in this game is fantastic. The game always has some music playing, no matter what’s going on. Among my favourites are the character-specific tracks that play during dialogue, and the track that plays when you solve a puzzle. The music goes a long way toward selling the game’s environments, too. The music on the populated planets in the Nanairo system largely sounds upbeat, and reflects the planet you are on. This contrasts with the music on the planets that are “beyond the portals”, which sound quite alien. The music on Hyoga is calm and slow, fitting with a cold, lifeless planet. The music on Fons is calm but more sombre, and is very foreboding, fitting with the point in the story it is encountered. The music on Darkmos and Nox both fit with the artificial themes of these planets and are opposites somewhat to Fons and Hyoga.

Some good tracks would be: Ready For Action!, Hyoga, Darkmos and Fons.

The environments in this game are pretty impressive for the Nintendo DS. A lot of the backgrounds are 2D, which shows, especially in the city on Nessa, and on Fons. However, they look great in my opinion. Most impressive are the safe areas, such as Kollin and Colony. These environments really sell the Nanairo system as a real place.

The characters in this game are excellently written. By no means is the story a masterpiece, but the game’s characters entirely carry its story. Rallen and Jeena make a great duo, with entertaining banter. They reference each others’ quirks and joke around with each other. The supporting characters are good too. Commander Grant is very serious but clearly likes Rallen and Jeena. Cyrus and Webster are characters Rallen has history with, making for some funny moments and a nice “redemption” for Webster. Hank and Professor Kate are nice, and again, their friendship feels realistic in the sense that they act like they have known each other for a long time. While they’re not particularly deep, the High Krawl are good villains. They’re imposing throughout the story, and the mystery of their campaign against the Towers of Nanairo is intriguing. Maja is the main villain throughout, and she seems equally aloof and desperate in her attempts to get Rallen to side with her. Strictly from a characterisation perspective, she provides a good view into the internal conflicts between the High Krawl. Jado is a (probably intentionally) forgettable character in the early parts of the game.

The Bad

The excavation system is an interesting take on obtaining collectable monsters. This game’s status as a Pokemon clone is a largely inconsequential part of the experience to me. In Spectrobes, I didn’t feel any attachment to my spectrobes by the end of the game, simply using them as tools to get to the end. Partially, this could be because of Rallen not being a blank slate character. They’re more his spectrobes than mine. There is also the issue of the monsters themselves not really being unique. They’re nice designs, and unique to the game for sure, but my spectrobes ended up all looking the same. They’re not that unique from each other mechanically either, with the only differentiations being the typing and the evolution status. The child spectrobes are a good feature, however. Child spectrobes take on the role of searching for fossils, and don’t just sit in your storage waiting to be evolved.

The game’s characters are good, as discussed earlier, but its broader plot isn’t. It revolves around creatures known as Krawl, which feed by eating entire star systems. They’ve done this many times and are now focusing their efforts on the Nanairo system. This is OK, not particularly deep, but I see no issue with this. Beyond the Portals introduces new characters, High Krawl, who are capable of communicating with the humans living in Nanairo. Maja, at least, sees Rallen as an equal by the end of her involvement in the story, but continues to gloat about the inevitable complete genocide of Rallen’s home star system. The others are a bit more aloof, positioning themselves above the humans living in Nanairo. This is all a little far-fetched, but still OK. The High Krawl are seeking to destroy structures on each planet just called Towers. This allows them to open a new portal each time, into another star system. From these portals, Krawl will emerge from their current home on planets they have already consumed.

The first of the High Krawl to appear in the story is Jado, who is shown as being aloof but hapless. When defeated, he simply appears to die. This is a ruse on his part, and he is actually one of the most important characters to the story. Problem is, he barely appears. On Malik, at the very end of the game, he reveals that he has been hiding inside your patrol cruiser for the entire game. This is a bit of a head-scratcher. At this point, you fight him again and he admits defeat. Thus, he appears twice, but seems to warrant more of a presence. Next up is Gelberus, on Nessa. He is pretty inconsequential. He destroys the tower, opens the first portal, and you defeat him on Hyoga. After this is when Maja becomes the antagonist in earnest. She appears after both Jado and Gelberus’ defeats, gloating about how these events make her more powerful. She introduces the concept of Dark Spectrobes, and is first fought in an unbeatable fight on Daichi. After this, you go on a wild goose chase through Fons and Darkmos before beating her on Nox. Maja is more powerful than Rallen, but wants or needs his power for something. Beyond destroying or ruling the universe, this is not specified. Still, it is a good enough reason for her to not just kill Rallen. After Maja is defeated, Rallen and Jeena recover the Dynalium, which is a weapon that can penetrate a planetary shield of some kind. After some fetch quests to make a large Dynalium, an assault is carried out on Malik, where Krux resides. Krux reveals that he is a Spectrobe Master like Rallen, but uses the Krawl for their numbers. The implications of this aren’t discussed in-game. Rallen defeats Krux in hand-to-hand combat and the game ends. None of this plot is particularly interesting at any point. The best part is Maja’s story arc, which seems to build up to a twist that doesn’t happen. The High Krawl are treacherous toward one another in a way that isn’t really used for anything interesting. Internal conflicts within the High Krawl could be a good way to introduce some uneasy alliances between the NPP and certain High Krawl. I don’t expect the plot of this game to be filled with complex intrigue, but its perfectly good characters have wasted potential.

The game has some nasty difficulty spikes around Fons, halfway through the game. It’s mentioned that Rallen should evolve his spectrobes after Fons is cleared, but the Krawl on the planet are much higher level than yours at this point. Up to this point, the game is balanced well, providing good balance with no need to grind. The battling in general leaves a lot to be desired. The type matchups are obvious and shallow, and the systems leave little room for strategising. The real time battling system seems cool at first, but ends up being a matter of running up to an opponent and mashing the A button. The camera in this mode is awful and frequently leaves you facing nothing at all. As such, battling in this game feels like a chore needed to progress, rather than a fun challenge.

The level design isn’t fantastic either. While many environments are visually impressive, they’re often too big, with very little in them. There isn’t anything to find other than randomly dispersed fossils and minerals. Especially later in the game, the constant backtracking through these big, empty areas feels like an attempt to pad for time. This is exemplified by the final planet, Malik. You’re asked to traverse the exact same room around 10, maybe more, times by going through the portal that is spinning to the left in each. This is not fun to play. A lot of the game’s tasks feel like busy work rather than actual gameplay. This should not be an issue. The game has more than enough content to justify itself, without this bad filler. My other issue with the levels is that the Krawl respawn continuously. This creates a feeling that you’re not actually helping these planets. At least, the populated Nanairo planets should be clear of Krawl if you remove them.

Conclusion

To conclude, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals is not a particularly good game. It is a mediocre Pokemon clone in gameplay terms, and in plot terms has wasted potential. The game has excellent characters and music and a well realised world. It falls short probably due to attempting to ride the Pokemon train, rather than trying to be more unique. The game’s plot doesn’t really fit an RPG formula at all. This game is just one of many obscure Nintendo DS games, and I don’t even really like it, but it will hold a place in my heart forever. I suppose something to draw from this could be that no matter how mediocre a piece of media, it can still have an impact on someone, somewhere.

Imagine all the characters of Spectrobes coming together for a huge game day of practically everything (Video games, board games, card games, etc.)

SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. I took my sweet time lmao

For the first part everyone is at a bar with an area for games, because that’s where I’ve always encountered the classics like pool, etc. Somehow everyone is able to be present, no matter their species or solar system.

-Rallen and the Highkrawl constantly throw provocations at each others heads. Jeena isn’t verbally picking fights, but silently doing her all to beat the aliens.-Salia is playing too, but she’s rather quiet. She quickly backs away whenever one of the Krawl gets too close-Kamtoga is working as barkeeper-Gretta is at the bar; she’s having a blast talking with Kamtoga-Wright and Kate are sitting at the bar as well, having drinks and watching the “kids” play-Grant and Krux are sitting at a far off table, caught in a lively, grumpy discussion-Jado is wrecking everyone at Pool and Bowling. Noone know why, not even he himself, but he makes sure to brag anyway-Maja and Gelberus are punching and kicking him when noone’s looking because of his unexpected talent-Rallen turns out to be amazing at Darts-Jeena cheers her partner on while the Highkrawl send him death glares. Even Krux is staring-Dave and Kotetsu are at a table catching up with each other along with Cyrus and Dyrus. The latter two look annoyed for some reason.

Later they move on to Rallen’s dorm in NPP headquarters to play card games. (I don’t know many card games sorry)

-Jeena is quick enough to realize and turn off the fire alarm before Gelberus enters the building-A bunch of officers who notice the troop and got nothing better to do join them.-The Highkrawl suck at Cards Against Humanity. They don’t know enough about humans-Rallen turns out to be the worst at poker, followed by Gelberus and Jado. Gronos is good, but Maja and Jeena enter a death battle towards the end of the game.-One of the unknown officers tries to teach them Schnapsen. Salia and Jeena are his only successful students-Jado convinces an officer to play a game of chess with him. The other Highkrawl get both unnerved and relieved by how quiet he gets once they start.-The officers introduce everyone except Rallen, who’s played it with them before, to Exploding Kittens. That game ends in a loud mess-After a few hours Grant comes back from the bar. He planned to talk to Rallen and Jeena about his conversation with Krux, but when he sees all the officers slacking off in the dorm he gets PISSED.-All the unnamed officers scatter, the Krawl are kicked out, Rallen and Jeena get lectured, and Salia sneaks away to find her mom.

Imagine a Spectrobes farming game; like Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon

I’m so busy and so sorry for taking so long again u‿u”

-Rallen and Jeena are produce farmers-Rallen is very hands-on and does a lot of his work without any too fancy tools or machines. He does use them, but will also happily do the tasks for which they have no devices and get himself dirty.-Jeena builds, repairs, and uses tools and machines. She mainly works on further refining their products.-They go to town with a sales cart twice a week-It’s possible to visit their farm and buy something any day except Sunday-It’s also possible to order something from them, which will usually delivered by bike, unless the weather is horrible, then they’ll take the car-On Sundays they’re found at Aldous’-They’re part of a farmer association of which Grant is the boss

-Aldous is running a farm sanctuary-He has all kinds of animals there. Saved farm animals that used to live in bad conditions or where planned for slaughter, but also pets whose owners couldn’t keep them anymore.-Rallen and Jeena help him a lot in their free time, but that’s usually only possible on Sundays-Everyone from town is welcome to help as well-Aldous gets a lot of animal’s food for free in the form of leftovers or faulty products-But he’s also dependent on donations-He feels really bad for needing to accept money from others to keep the sanctuary running without being able to give them anything in return-Sometimes Jado sneaks in to be with the animals, especially the cows and chickens. Noone knows why and their attempts to keep him from doing so bear no fruit

I feel torn about what the Highkrawl would be doing. Either they’d be hunters who sell whatever they gather from their kills, or they work on fermented products with edible molds and whatnot. The first underlines that they’re evil, but I like the second a lot too. Both?Krux is their boss obviously.

-Gretta is the mayor.-Salia is a kind girl who doesn’t quite know her purpose yet. She frequently helps out in the neighbourhood, but she’s not peticularly good at anything.-Dave is a blacksmith. His twin brother Kotetsu is one too, but all the way over on the other end of the planet.-Wright is an archeologist who travels around the country and sometimes visits the village. Digg helps.-Kate is an astronomer. She has her headquarters in a city nearby.-Hank runs the local repair and assembling shop. He’s helped to put many of the farmers’ machines back together. Jeena’s really good at it, but sometimes even she can use a skilled third hand.-Cyrus is running a mine in the mountains not far away from town. Here also, his twin brother Dyrus pursues the same profession on the opposite side of the planet. Any closer would end in disaster.-Neal falls into a hole Rallen is digging one day. That’s how they first meet.