Dokapon Kingdom

Dokapon Kingdom is a PlayStation 2 role-playing and party game developed by Sting Entertainment and published in North America by Atlus. Released there on October 14, 2008, it turns a familiar fantasy rescue premise into a contest for wealth and royal succession. Monsters have overrun Dokapon Kingdom and stripped its towns of their prosperity, so the king calls for adventurers to restore the realm. The promised reward gives every contestant reason to compete: the player who amasses the greatest fortune ultimately claims control of the kingdom.

The game combines a turn-based board-game map with character growth, equipment, spells, and battles. On each turn, players spin to determine their movement range, then choose a route across connected spaces. That choice can be as important as the number spun, since different paths lead toward towns, enemies, shops, temples, events, and rivals. Clearing monsters and liberating towns brings income, while claiming towns also creates territory that opponents can challenge. The result is a contest in which progression is measured in money as well as combat power.

Dokapon Kingdom supports two to four adventurers, with computer-controlled opponents filling open slots when necessary. It can be played as a long story campaign or in competitive modes with adjustable rules and objectives. Story mode organizes the adventure into chapters whose missions advance the struggle against the invading monsters. Other setups emphasize direct competition and let groups shape the pace of a match, making it well suited to a local session that can range from a short rivalry to an extended campaign.

Battles are deliberately simple to learn but create tense decisions between players. When combatants meet, they select commands in a rock-paper-scissors-style relationship: attacking can overcome a counter, a counter can punish a strike, and defense can blunt an attack. Magic, items, equipment, and character statistics add further choices around that core. The system makes encounters with monsters useful for advancement, but it also makes player-versus-player confrontations risky because a single loss can cost money, equipment, or hard-won momentum.

Character jobs give the role-playing side of Dokapon Kingdom its identity. New characters begin as warrior, thief, or magician, each favoring a different approach to physical attacks, tricks, or magic. Leveling jobs opens a wider selection of classes and class-specific abilities, allowing players to reshape their strategy as a campaign develops. The game also gives the trailing player access to the Darkling role under certain conditions, a powerful comeback mechanism that can disrupt the leader and keep a seemingly settled contest unpredictable.

The PlayStation 2 edition is a remake of the 1994 Super Famicom game Dokapon 3-2-1: Arashi o Yobu Yuujou. It first arrived in Japan in 2007 before Atlus brought it to North America the following year, and it was later followed by a Wii version. Its colorful fantasy presentation and comic mischief stand beside a competitive design that rewards alliances only until they stop being useful. Dokapon Kingdom is therefore as much about negotiating a room full of competitors as it is about defeating monsters, building a character, and saving towns.