Fossil Fighters: Champions

Fossil Fighters: Champions is a 2010 video game developed by Nintendo SPD, Red Entertainment, M2, and Artdink and published by Nintendo. The game is a sequel to its original title, Fossil Fighters. It was released in Japan on November 18, 2010 and in North America on November 14, 2011. It features the first 100 vivosaurs from the original game, as well as new vivosaurs.

Gameplay
Fossil Fighters: Champions is similar to the first game, but adds new gameplay elements. Gameplay consists of collecting fossils to revive them into monsters known as "vivosaurs", and using them to battle other vivosaurs. Players gain fossils by purchasing them in shops, as rewards for quests, or digging them up in specified locations indicated by a sonar. Two new fossil rocks are added; the Wonderous Fossil rock, which changes color and improves a vivosaur's stats, and the Miraculous Fossil rock, which evolves it into a new form.

Cleaning
Fossils must be cleaned before they are able to be revived. The player uses either a hammer or a chisel, each with different strengths and weaknesses, in a cleaning minigame using the DS touchscreen to remove the surrounding rock. The minigame has a ninety-second time limit, as well as a meter to show how much of the fossil is revealed and how damaged it is. Two new types of fossil rocks are added; giant fossil rocks, which contain all four fossils for a particular vivosaur in one complete skeleton, and odd fossil rocks, which have two sides that the player can flip between while cleaning.

Revival
Getting the head fossil is mandatory to revive a creature, while the other three parts strengthen it. Many vivosaurs return from the original game; newly added vivosaurs include mollusks, mammoths, and sabre-tooth tigers.

Battle
Fossil Fighters: Champions uses the same battle system as its predecessor. Along with an associated element, vivosaurs are categorized by what range they best attack at: short, medium, and long range. Both sides are able to rotate their three players on the playfield to move their vivosaurs into their strongest range to maximize damage. The team with the higher total speed goes first in a battle, as opposed to the previous game, in which the team with the lower total LP goes first.

Added features
The player can now play as a girl or a boy and choose between four starting vivosaurs. The game also adds the toggle for Auto Battle as well as the ability to rotate the player's team. Players can unearth rare gold fossils that are used to "super evolve" certain vivosaurs into new forms.

Plot
After having rescued protagonist and their best friend Todd, Joe Wildwest, the proud owner of Caliosteo Island, organizes the Caliosteo Cup, a tournament in which participants battle with vivosaurs. The BareBones Brigade, led by the skeletal Don Boneyard and with Kole, Lester, and Lola as lieutenants, tries to stop the tournament, but Joe Wildwest organizes the hero and their friends into the Patrol Team to counter this threat. These friends are Pauleen, a Digadig girl who wears a magic mask to feel more confident, and Rupert, an egotistical boy who is the son of a wealthy man.

During the finals, Joe Wildwest reveals himself to be a sorcerer named Zongazonga; he tries to possess the Hero, but is foiled by Don Boneyard, who reveals himself to be the real Joe Wildwest and helps the Hero escape. When the Hero confronts him with the Caliosteo Pipsqueak, a tool used to detach Zongazonga from his body, he knocks it out of the hero's hands and challenges them to a Fossil Battle. He loses, and the Hero knocks Zongazonga out of Joe's body. However, he escapes with Rupert and possesses his body, then summons his castle, where the Hero faces him. Zongazonga is defeated and separates from Rupert, but then transforms into a Zombie vivosaur form. However, he is defeated again, and his skull is broken and sealed and his castle is destroyed. The Hero and Rupert are then rescued by Todd and Pauleen.

Reception
Fossil Fighters: Champions received a score of 68/100 on Metacritic. IGN called the fossil cleaning mechanic "fun" and enjoyable for fans of dinosaurs or of the previous game, while RPGamer and GameSpot criticized the similarity without improvement.