LogFAQs > #939432575

#99 Contact (DS)
Year: 2006


I feel like this was a game that came out as and so many people looked at as this earthbound wannabe because it had some graphic similarity with one of the screens. At the time this came out I was just playing whatever DS games I could, it was my main system. It's probably the only reason I checked out Contact and boy its a game.

This game is largely credited to be the brainchild of Akira Ueda who was behind the GBA Shining Soul games and unfortunately after this helped plan Sticker Star (thunder claps in the topic). If you looked at this at a quick glance you would think it was a Shining Soul 3 for DS since the graphic style is pretty similar. At least on the bottom screen! So heres the thing about Contact, the top screen is SNES earthbound style while the bottom is more detailed 2D art thats appropriate for DS capabilities. This is the big draw marketing wise but it doesn't tell the whole story here.

You see the game actually is made of 3 parts.

1.The professor who wants to escape the planet after crash landing
2.Terry the boy enlisted by the professor to find the cells to get his ufo working whose kidnapped from his home
3.And you

Yes you the player are a huge part of this story. You see in a strange twist maybe suggesting that the Professor is a '4D Being', he can see you playing the game. And because he doesn't know if this teenager can due the task he enlists you to help him by 'suggesting' what Terry do using the power of uh playing the game! The professor is desperate for some reason to keep Terry from knowing about the player, and sadly this is never really explained.

Actually a LOT in this game is never explained. In fact the one thing that is explained is probably the craziest part of all. The games kinda pacing along as a quirky action rpg when suddenly it just dips towards the ending without warning. Terry is fighting for the last crystal when the professor swoops in, takes it and flies away laughing. Terry washes up on the beach then confronts YOU the player. He knows hes being literally played and challenges you to a fight as he hates your guts.

You beat him by tapping the screen like a giant poking an ant. At this point Terry is gonna give up, Mint the leader of the gang that just happened to have a dragon comes in and asks Terry to join her. He does and goes off to be a dragon gangster I guess.

So uh thats it? Nope because then you get this



You read that correctly, they literally just ran out of time and had the 'professor' send that to you. It's such a wild thing to acknowledge of oops we ran out of time and money so games over go home! While a more common practice and result in the gaming world than you'd think this is still such a wild thing to admit...in your crazy botched ending.

But that's not all...

At the very end of this letter the professor reveals that he is the boy? What.

So yeah this ending is a real head scratcher on MANY levels, infact that Mint girl serves as a plot device to rescue you. There actually is a love interest Nadia but uh she just vanishes in the later part of the game. And the professor just leaves his dog behind. Strange stuff.

There is a really interesting aspect that you are the villain controlling Terry, and the Professor is screwing with you for revenge. Around the 2nd or 3rd crystal you collect you start getting dialog that points out another group is after the crystals (not the Aliens chasing the professor) and question is brought up by the NPCs of you not being in the right.

So enough story whats the rest of this game like? Pretty generic action rpg. In a lot of ways this plays like the first shining soul game on GBA which was extremely shallow in its combat. This is a game where equipment feels more cosmetic than anything as the game doesn't really have much challenge aside from the final boss. There is a huge theme to push home that Terry isn't in control. His weapons almost don't matter, you can change his outfit at will, and the implication his 'love interest' vanishes and he goes with the enemy Mint implies he wasn't even seeking that romance with Nadia.

Contact is a short game on two little screens about perception and control. It's a game I always suggest to people knowing how short it is and how decidedly strange it is.

Next time: A bunch of my party members fused together in one turn


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