Every so often, a game comes around that just seems to click with you. In walks Spectrobes, which at first glance seemed like just another game in the Pokemon style genre of games, but the more and more you learn about it, the more interesting and unique it becomes. Spectrobes is also looking to be the showcase for the unique gameplay possibilities of the DS, as you'll be using the microphone, touch screen, and new to the party, innovations like downloadable content, community features, and trading cards that interact with your DS. Killer Betties got to be a part of a conference call with Tim FitzRandolph (Quality Assurance Lead, Spectrobes) and Steven Dodson (Associate Brand Manager, Spectrobes) - both from Disney - about the upcoming game, and here is what they had to say.

Tim: Spectrobes is a pretty exciting game for Disney. It's our first original IP, so it's not based on any pre-existing film or games or television content, so it is all brand new and we are all excited about it. It's an action RPG game being developed in Japan by a developer named Jupiter in conjunction with our offices in Japan and here at Disney as well. It was designed from the ground up to be a DS title, and I think if you've been following anything about the game, you'll know it is really using the DS features a lot. Using both screens to full extent, using the touch input and the microphone, also the Wi-Fi features. You play as a character named Rallen who is a member of the Planetary Patrol, so he is like a police officer in the galaxy in which the game takes place, and you have a long and very exciting story that involves meeting a mystery man from an external galaxy who has some technology to help you awaken the Spectrobes, which are kind of like the dinosaurs in our context. In the game world they've been extinct and everyone has heard of them but they only exist through fossil form, and through this interesting technology as part of the game you're able to wake up the Spectrobes and use them to fight an enemy called the Krawl. The game consists of collecting Spectrobes, raising Spectrobes, battling the Krawl, and moving through an RPG story.

Some of the features that have been discussed before is the excavation feature of the game, using the touch screen and microphone to excavate the fossils. We have an action oriented battling system. We've also got an interesting way to use the touch screen to raise and train your Spectrobes.

Just to touch on a few of the new features that were announced today, we have a code input card system, which is a physical trading card you put on the DS screen, and using the touch screen there are holes in the cards, and touching through those holes in a specific order will unlock game content. Some of those cards will be bundled in with the game and then later you'll have opportunity to get other cards as well. It's a really cool feature and the first time it has ever been done with the touch screen.

Also today we announced the wireless features for the game. Speaking about local wireless features, we've got the one on one battles, which is my Rallen character and two Spectrobes that I've chosen versus you and your two Spectrobes one on one. We've got the ability to exchange items: exchanging Spectrobes, exchanging fossils, and exchanging custom parts, which is our way of customizing Spectrobes. We've also got the Match Make Tournament, which is anywhere from three to sixteen people who can take place in a round robin tournament where basically one person becomes the game master and everyone joins up to play that game and they setup who fights who each round, and it keeps track of wins and losses, and at the end you can declare the top three winners of the tournament.

Finally, we have the Wi-Fi connection features there. We've got the download feature that allows you to connect through the internet and download new items for the game, like new exclusive Spectrobes, rare Spectrobes, and other items in the game. You can also download video clips and all that content can change over time as the game comes out. And finally we have the Upload feature, where you can upload some stats about your game, like some high scores, what Spectrobes you used, all the things that would be in your battle profile, and you can push that to the internet and link it to the Spectrobe website where you can have an account and you can check your high scores against other users, your profile against other users, so we've got some community items there.