This month's entry is Granbo.

For those who don't know what it is, it was a Game Boy Advance game released by Capcom in 2001.

At its core, it's a monster-collecting RPG with a twist. Instead of actual monsters, you take little robots shaped like animals into battle with wild robots. Your original choices from the beginning are either a chicken, a sparrow, or a fox, all of which can evolve and gain new moves. Basically Granbo is Capcom's version of Pokemon, but with a few key differences:

-The battles are in an isometric (3/4) viewpoint, akin to that of Breath of Fires 1-4.

-Instead of just one robot battling another, you can each have three robots in your party fighting at one given time.

-Instead of the normal way of evolving monsters (i.e., by level) you evolve these little guys by installing other robots into them. You can do this at almost any level, but it affects what moves your Granbo actually learns.

-You catch them the same way, by weakening them and snapping the trap, basically, but it's a heck of a lot harder to catch a Granbo than a Pokemon. For the Pokemon players, think Mewtwo-like catch rates for every single Granbo and you'll get the idea of just how hard it is.

What else can I talk about here? Oh yeah, the story. It's your typical "boy-saves-the-world" story here, just like in most other RPGs. An evil crew called Skyshock kidnaps the main character, Kakeru's, friend Shizuku, and Kakeru must save her from them. See, I told you. :P

The gameplay is very straightforward as well, but some parts, like the installation feature, may prove difficult at first to non-Japanese speakers. The battles themselves are all laid out just like any other RPG. The battle menu is as thus:

-Kougeki (Attack)

-Waza (Special)

-Item

-Henshin (Transformation)

-Bougyou (Defense)

-Nigeru (Run Away/Escape)

Pretty easy, huh?

For more information about the game (since I'm too lazy to type any more right now) here's a link to a review I did on the game:

http://www.capcom-unity.com/game_reviews/go/thread/view/7351/531231/Granbo

And a very short gameplay video I did showing a battle: