April 22, 2007: Pokemon Diamond/Pearl releases in North America.
Six months later, a different monster catch and battle game releases.
This game was Dragon Quest Monsters Joker.
It is not like Pokemon. It involves monsters that suck blood, cannibalize, and beat on small animals with wooden clubs.
Not all the monsters can be captured, traded for, or won as prizes. The most powerful can only be bred, or as called in DQMJ, synthesized.
During in-game tournaments, monsters cannot be ordered, only given guidelines to follow. Monsters can also be equipped with weapons.
Perhaps the biggest difference between these two games is in the traditions from which they draw reference.
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker is part of a spin-off of the popular Dragon Quest series. The series began on May 27, 1986, when Dragon Quest was first released in Japan.
Dragon Warrior (Quest in Japan) Intro
Dragon Warrior Gameplay
Known in America for much of its life as Dragon Warrior, it was released there in August of 1989. The main series is known as a rival to Final Fantasy, though both series are now published by the same company, Square Enix. This is due to the merger of Enix, Dragon Quest's publisher, and Square, the publisher of Final Fantasy.
Dragon Quest Monsters was released in Japan on September 25, 1998, though monster capturing had been a part of the Dragon Quest series since Dragon Quest V, which was released in Japan on September 27, 1992.
Pokemon was developed in 1996 by Game Freak and published by Nintendo on February 27, 1996.
Pokemon Green Intro
Fast forward to December 28, 2006, when Joker was released in Japan. One play of this game and all the debates about which game series got into the monster business first become moot.
Simply put, there's no comparison necessary. They're simply too different.
Where Pokemon focuses on training monsters for battles against your friends, Joker, and the Monsters series in general, focuses on training your monsters so they can be synthesized with other monsters in order to make better monsters. One is about capturing monsters for trading with friends, and the other's about grinding to make better monsters for bragging rights.
The graphics are also widely different. Joker favors the free-roaming 3D cel-shaded look from Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2, while Diamond/Pearl still follows the 3/4 overhead look of the previous games, similar to the first two Monsters games.
Commercial for Joker
Commercial for Diamond
The music in both pulls influences for the key themes from previous games. The sounds are also a tribute to those of their predecessors, though Joker keeps the feel much closer to the original tunes and effects, as most Dragon Quests games do.
As heard in the videos below, both title tracks are reworkings of their series' original themes. Joker, as all Dragon Quest themes, has a more classical sound to it than Pokemon, which is faster and heavier on the synths.
Dragon Quest (Warrior in U.S.) Monsters (w/ highlighted background tweak)
Pokemon Red (on Super Game Boy)
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (w/o title screen)
Pokemon Diamond
This is reflected in the surroundings typically seen in each series. Joker, while more modern than most Dragon Quest titles in technology (Jet scooters as compared to horse-drawn wagons), still has the characters using magic, swords, and alchemical potions. Diamond is set in a more modern era, with spray-on medicines, vitamins tablets, and a lack of melee weapons (poison barbs and such don't count; they don't add to attack stats, only to resultant damage).
The surrounding characters are similarly pulled from opposing ages. Where in Joker, one may see barbarians who command axe-wielding dragons, possessed suits of armor, and undead warlocks, in Diamond one instead sees park rangers who've befriended bipedal bears, fire-breathing foxes, and electric rodents.
In short, Joker appeals to the fantasy element of old-school RPGs, while Diamond is more into the sci-fi side. Call it Tolkien versus Crichton.
The battling systems are also quite different. Joker has more options during battle than Diamond. Joker gives the player more control over their monster. Joker also gives players the option to allow their monsters to fight based on guidelines rather than direct orders.
Pokemon Diamond Battle
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker Battle
As well, unlike in Diamond, though monsters populate most of the explorable areas in Joker, battles can be avoided. In Diamond this can be done by avoiding grassy areas, deserts or caves. In Joker, monsters can be avoided in any area. Just don't allow them to touch the main character.
Speaking of main characters, there's a difference there, too. In Joker, a boy trains to compete in a monster tournament, but is forced to hide a hidden agenda the clandestine organization his father runs has given him. In Diamond, a kid becomes a trainer at a researcher’s request and stumbles upon an evil plot.
The biggest difference these two games have boils down to their synthesizing/breeding systems.
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker Synthesis
Pokemon Diamond Breeding
In Joker, monsters are sorted by pluses, minuses and neutrals. Each monster is assigned a rank. Their rank determines a monster’s relative strength and growth rate. Creating new monsters is as simple as combining a plus and a minus or a neutral with either of the other two. The monsters must be of a sufficient level. Synthesis can be done in any scout post. Synthesis is free. Finally, synthesis is guaranteed to work.
In Diamond, the breeding system is more complicated. First, the Pokemon must be of the same species or share an Egg Group and must be of opposite genders. Certain Pokemon cannot breed or only with one special Pokemon. Breeding is only possible in one location. It even costs money to breed. Finally, a successful breeding is not guaranteed, even in the best conditions.
Despite its simplicity, the breeding system in Joker is much deeper than Diamond’s because each synthesis has the possibility of creating up to three different monsters. The player also is allowed to choose which monster they want to create from those three choices.
Ultimately this is where these two games differ. These are the reasons why Dragon Quest Monsters Joker and Pokemon Diamond, rather, the whole Dragon Quest Monsters and Pokemon series should not be compared. They are simply too different.
They deserve to played and enjoyed not as rivals or competitors, but as entirely different games that just happen to occupy the same niche. To that I say, “Enjoy them both!”
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