Developed by Japanese developer Sting and first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2007, Dokapon Kingdom is the case study of what happens if a standard RPG swallows a Mario Party-esque style of board game. Originally pitched as an experience “where friendships are destroyed” in the early English promotional materials, the game has received new life as part of a Nintendo Switch and PC port by Compile Heart, released internationally by Idea Factory International. Having recently been reminded of the game after playing another one of IFI’s recent releases – Calamity Angels: Special Delivery – I found myself diving into this port to see how the game, now known as Dokapon Kingdom: Connect, holds up almost two decades later.
Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is entirely about greed and betrayal, with a level of matrimonial bribery mixed in. While you must work together with your friends (or CPU) to save the day, you do so with the complete knowledge that it is secondary to backstabbing each other to take out the main victory. At its core, the game’s narrative is thin but workable. Monsters have invaded the Kingdom of Dokapon, the townsfolk have stopped paying their taxes, and the King (less concerned with his subjects’ welfare than his rapidly emptying coffers) declares that whichever hero amasses the most gold will earn the hand of Princess Penny and the throne itself. It is a stereotypical fantasy setup by design, existing purely to justify why up to four adventurers are actively sabotaging one another rather than working together, and honestly, it works. Where the writing does earn its keep is in its humour: the dialogue is wacky and self-aware, the chapter-capping exchanges between the King and his daughter are consistently amusing, and the whole adventure carries a silly, lighthearted energy that makes even your most heinous acts of villainy feel like part of the joke. Just don’t come in expecting a gripping tale to pull you through; it is primarily a framing device.
While Dokapon Kingdom has received the Connect feature, it is more aligned with online functionality than with any other enhancements found in a remake. The original PS2 and Wii-era 3D models have been carried across wholesale, now rendered in crisp high-definition widescreen, which gives everything a cleaner sheen without disguising just how dated the visuals are at their core. That said, I would argue the art style has aged far more gracefully than the technology behind it. The colourful world and its cast of individually coloured heroes and adorably reimagined JRPG monster tropes are charming enough, and that cuteness does enough to keep your attention – even if I would have preferred something a bit more modern. The soundtrack, left untouched from the original, is pleasant enough in short bursts but becomes less pleasant as the hours go by. Meanwhile, the original voice acting is included – which is nice in a way, as while there isn’t all that much, you do hear a few voice actors who you may not hear too much of nowadays.
At its core, Dokapon Kingdom: Connect plays out as a board game with RPG elements. Each turn you spin a roulette numbered zero to six and move across an enormous node-based world map, split into continents that unlock as the story progresses. Each space you land on triggers battles, shops, loot, or one of many random events. Combat is where the RPG half asserts itself: turn-based encounters built on a rock-paper-scissors framework, where a standard Attack can be softened by Defend, a strike can be entirely negated (and punished) by Counter, and so forth. Layered on top of this is a decent enough progression system, with the starting Warrior, Magician and Thief classes giving way to unlockable advanced jobs like the Spellsword and Robo Knight, plus an arsenal of equipment, spells and items to shape your strategy. The economic layer ties it all together: towns across the map are held by monsters, and liberating them grants weekly tax income that can be reinvested to level them up, which matters immensely given the winner is ultimately decided by gold rather than glory.
But make no mistake, the beating heart of Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is its capacity to ruin friendships. If the length of a single game doesn’t have you not wanting to see friends for a week or two, this is a game that actively hands you the tools to be terrible: cursing rivals from across the map, teleporting them away from towns, stealing their gold and gear, taking over their settlements, and, upon defeating them in a duel, renaming their character or restyling their hair into something appropriately humiliating. With a full table of human players, whether on the couch or via the new online functionality (not tested for this review), the tension, temporary alliances, and inevitable backstabbing can produce some memorable experiences… or turn into a lengthy slog. The same cannot be said for solo play, which quickly devolves into watching unskippable CPU turns against an AI that is dragged out far too much. The bigger hurdle, however, is time: a story mode playthrough can stretch far too long; the opening weeks are a slow grind, and the game does a poor job of explaining several of its deeper mechanics.
So, how does Dokapon Kingdom: Connect hold up after almost two decades? Remarkably well, provided you know exactly what you are signing up for. Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is a slow-burn, mechanically sound hybrid of board game and JRPG that demands both a serious time investment and, ideally, a group of friends for hours on end. Those early promotional materials promised a game where friendships are destroyed, and all these years later, Dokapon Kingdom: Connect still delivers on that promise.
Final Score for Dokapon Kingdom: Connect
This review was conducted on a PC (Steam) version of Dokapon Kingdom: Connect. A review code was provided by Idea Factory International to facilitate the review.
Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is now available to purchase on PC (via Steam) and Nintendo Switch.
