Moco Moco Friends is a new RPG for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Racjin and published by Aksys Games. This game is set in the world of Dreamtopia, a magical place inhabited by adorable creatures called Plushkins, which resemble stuffed animals. You play as a witch named Moco who has just graduated from Plushkin Magic School. Your goal is to become the world’s greatest Plushkin Master.

Moco Moco Friends is similar to Pokemon, in that you collect and battle monsters. You can clearly see how the designs for some of the Plushkins were inspired by Pokemon (compare Scrunchie with Pikachu, for an obvious example). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however.

Most of the game revolves around exploring dungeons and battling enemy Plushkins. You can take a team of up to three Plushkins with you, with one additional substitute Plushkin in reserve. The rest of your Plushkins are stored in the Plushkin House in town. To acquire more Plushkin friends, you can sometimes make contracts with them after defeating them in battle. You can also summon new Plushkins by giving yarn to your mentor, Michiru’s Plushkin Konpei. There are a total of 120 Plushkins to befriend.

During battle, you can attack, use an item, or rearrange your Plushkins’ formation (which allows you to switch an active Plushkin for your substitute Plushkin or reorder your active Plushkins). You may use one item per turn and each Plushkin can use one of their moves. The moves are a lot like the move in similar games, such as Pokemon. Each Plushkin can learn up to four moves, and you can switch older moves out as they level up and learn new moves (sound familiar?). There is also an “auto” option that allows you to have the game automatically choose moves for you, but I don’t recommend using it, as it would take the fun out of the battle. As the Plushkins take damage, bits of stuffing start to come out of their bodies.

At the end of the battle, sometimes one of the Plushkins you have defeated will want to make a contract with you and become your friend. If you are battling a Plushkin that you really want to be friends with, you can give it an item during battle that will increase the likelihood of it wanting to become your friend.

The dungeons are pretty simple (so far at least. I’m still early in the game). You battle your way through a couple floors until you get to the floor containing the boss battle. All of the dungeons I’ve been in so far have been pretty small, though I’m guessing they will get bigger and more complicated as the game progresses. You can revisit dungeons that you have completed as many times as you want to gather more items or to befriend Plushkins that you might have missed.

In town you will find businesses that let you do things such as training your Plushkins, sewing new items, and gardening to create materials. You will also get new quests to progress the story from Michiru and from townspeople called Gurumins.

The graphics are cute, but simple. You will notice lots of fabric- and knit-themed textures throughout the game. The graphical style reminds me a bit of Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Yoshi’s Woolly World.

Aside from Pokemon, comparisons have also been made between Moco Moco Friends and Yo Kai Watch. I haven’t played Yo Kai Watch, so I can’t comment on any similarities.

I haven’t seen much advertising or many reviews for Moco Moco Friends. The only reason I even knew about this game was because Amazon showed it to me as an item I may be interested in. (A game about a witch who trains adorable creatures that look like plushies? Sign me up!)

So far, I am really enjoying Moco Moco Friends. While it isn’t Pokemon, it is still a fun monster collecting RPG. Though the gameplay is simple, there is still plenty to do to keep you entertained. Overall, this game is worth playing if you are a fan of Japanese RPGs and enjoy super cute things. If you are looking for a cute RPG, give Moco Moco Friends a try.

I was originally going to wait and see if either a pink New Nintendo 3DS XL or a limited edition that I actually like came out to upgrade, but then I found these awesome decals to turn a red 3DS XL into a Pokedex and realized that there was probably never going to be a 3DS design that is this awesome!

Initially I was hesitant to get an XL, and was hoping that the smaller New 3D would come out in the US so I could try them both out before buying. Being a female, I have limited pocket space and I can already barely fit the smaller 3DS in my pocket (small pockets are a scam to also sell us purses, I swear!) and I was afraid that games would look too blurry being stretched out on the bigger screen.

I’ve had my New Nintendo 3DS XL for about a week now, and I can honestly say, it’s difficult to go back to playing on the smaller screen. Games are noticeably blurrier, but I got used to it pretty quickly. The only time I really notice it is when I check the Streetpasses on the old one and then switch back to the new one (I kept my old launch 3DS, transferred everything to the new one, and put a new Mii on the old one to get extra Streetpasses).

So far, I haven’t really used the little analog nub, other than briefly in Majora’s Mask, so I can’t comment on how useful it really is.

The head tracking for the 3D effect works pretty well. Sometimes it can still get funky though if I am holding the 3DS at a weird angle, but it is still a big improvement. The 3D effects look better on the bigger screen as well.

This decal makes it the next best thing to an actual limited edition Kanto Pokedex 3DS. I don’t think that I will ever see an actual special edition 3DS that is as awesome as this!

I also made a felt case for it to keep it from getting scratched in my purse. I think my Pokeball 3DS pouch matches my Pokedex 3DS quite nicely.

I got the decal from argibi on etsy and the pattern to make the pouch from Otaku Crafts.