View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.

Jan Code: 4902370513677

Fire
Wind
Water
Earth
Tree (Wood)

The heroes in Magical Vacation are also aligned with an element. When venturing on a planet with the same element, their powers are boosted.

» To move, tap the stylus on a target area of your merry band of travelers walks to the tap point. Battles are shown in animated motion with attacks and magic blowing out with special effects galore. All of the commands may be issued with the stylus by pointing on the touch screen to activate functions and move as well as battle.

» At the outset of the game, players select a male or female character. Both have orange-colored hair and wear big turban-like productions on their heads. NCS chose the male magician and gave him an English name of "RaJee". Input may be in Japanese or English with the latter toggled by tapping on the third button from the left on the bottom of the screen. RaJee starts the game with 140HP and 20MP along with a number of attributes for strength, intelligence, vitality, etc. After clicking on okay, six character portraits are shown with our hero located in the upper left. The other characters are as follows:

Pomodoro: A magician who's attuned to the Fire Element. He looks like a punk kid version of Wolverine and has two horn-like appendages protruding from his forehead.

Sugar: A headband wearing hippy girl who wields Water magic.

Jasmine: A doleful looking animal with bunny ears. Jasmine has red puppy-dog eyes and shaggy hair which she tousles with her Wind magic.

Cafe Latte: A robot who bears a likeness to Cafe au Lait from the original Magical Vacation. Maybe they were carved from the same kettle. Cafe Latte uses Earth Magic.

Chai: A green reptile with red hair and yellow squiggly lines on his forehead. Naturally, he uses Tree magic since he sort of looks like a tree frog.

» After clicking okay, the intro starts which shows the purple and aqua colored Will O' Wisp magic school on both screens. The camera shifts inside and shows a classroom with desks and students milling about. The buzz of a crowd may be heard in the background as Pomodoro address RaJee and the students chat amongst themselves. Jasmine alerts the class that teacher's on her way and everyone settles down at their desks.

» Before the proper game begins, teacher holds a lengthy training sequence where the battle controls are laid out. Icons are used to trigger attacks, item use, defense, magic, and escape. When magic is used, the effects can span both screens. In the early training, Chai uses a bit of Tree magic which arcs to the top NDS screen before raining damage on the munchkin enemies below. After two battles, teacher bestows the knowledge of elemental magic and the effect of planetary alignments.

» During battles, attacks and their effects are shown on the screen in animated motion. For example, command Sugar to blast out an ice attack and elemental sigils encircle her as she bends forward with arms pointed to form an ice sphere. The ice then rises up to the top NDS screen before shattering little ice metorites downwards on enemy attackers. Command Jasmine to attack and she'll hop-step right up to a foe and perform a little kick attack while yelping out "YAH!" After a successful battle, the amount of experience earned is shown on top of each hero followed by any increases in attributes.

» Although the stylus can be used for all movement and control input in the game, the D-pad or the face buttons may also be used for movement. If using the face buttons, X is for up, A is for right, B is for down, and Y is for left. When moving via stylus, tap on a portion of the screen and the hero will move towards it. To accelerate the rate of movement, point the stylus further away on the screen.

» During movement phases, the local area is shown on the lower screen while the top screen shows an overview map of the entire area. To toggle the display on the top screen, tap on the STAR on the upper-right corner of the bottom DS screen and the view will shift to a map of the planets with their orbits depicted in circular lines around the sun. Tap the star icon again and the top DS screen shows the portraits and stats of the party.

» The progress in the game may be saved at any time. A total of three save slots are available on the game card.

» Once control is handed over to the player, RaJee, Cafe Latte, and Sugar discover a room with a weird door which depicts an unflattering racial stereotype which Nintendo will probably have to change if the game is ever officially released in Europe or the United States.

» The three investigate further after some trepidation and the face awakens and addresses RaJee. While standing in front of the face-door, perform a magical incantation by tapping on the satchel icon on the lower left corner of the screen and then tap on the silvery magic sigil. After a light show and shrill sound effects, the door opens to grant passage within. The three students walk inside and find a dreary hall with a ladder on the wall. After climbing to the top, six space ships may be seen on a platform on top of the screen with their engines humming.

» Pomodoro and Chai join the gang and as soon as RaJee steps on the stairs leading to the vessels, an alarm sounds. The camera changes to a view of a classroom and the alarm alerts the students inside as the room rumbles. Below, the whole school is rumbling and the clock tower which serves dual purposes as a launching pad for the space ships opens up to allow the vessels to see the daylight.

» The view changes to Jasmine inside one of the ships. She takes command and launches upwards amidst a swirl of clouds. In the next scene, the five remaining students are knocked out in the launching chamber. RaJee wakes up and after checking on the other students, walks into one of the ships. Tap on the red lever to start the launch sequence. After a while, RaJee also launches into outer space as the students and professor inside the school scramble.

» The next scene shows RaJee flying though space on a spinning ship following Jasmine. As the vessels dodge asteroids, a front shot is shown of Jasmine who appears to be exceptionally scared. After a short flight sequence, both rockets crash onto a rocky planet.

» In the next scene, a sandstorm is in progress as one of the ships lies wrecked in the background and the pilot lies ejected face down in the middle of the screen. Tap on the survivor and he'll get up. Move to the SE to find Jasmine who has also been ejected from her rocket. Walk to the north and have Jasmine cast a wind spell to quell the gales and stop the sandstorm.

» Soon after the storm stops, a sand creature emerges with its big claws and hungry mouth. Despite the creature's large size, the battle that ensues isn't particularly difficult. The creature will attack by swiping its tail from the Top NDS screen across the bottom screen and send its target flying. Its second attack is a sand blast where billowing clouds of sand shoot from its maw to attack both RaJee and Jasmine. It's gone after 5 magic attacks which earns each hero 40 EXP.

This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of this document may be made without express written consent of National Console Support, Inc.