DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure

Wii review by Jonathan Glover, published on Tuesday 29th April 2008

The SNES canon has been set in stone for quite some time. Etched upon an immovable, moss-covered slab of granite, any discussion about which games (Yoshi’s Island) make the cut (Super Metroid) is probably redundant (ActRaiser) by this point. So color me surprised when a little known import recently released on Virtual Console, DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure, turned out to be one of the best platformers I had ever played.

The pseudo-sequel to Milon’s Secret Castle, DoReMi features the same protagonist sans the frustrating obtuseness of the original. As Milon, you set off on an adventure to save a fairy princess and collect the stolen “Magical Instruments” which grant Milon fantastic powers such as, uh, climbing walls. Keeping in step with Hudson’s best efforts to toss every game imaginable onto Nintendo’s service while putting forth as little effort as possible (their broken TG-16 emulation in unforgivable), the Japanese game has been left untranslated. Thankfully, the included digital instruction manual fills you in on the story which is often of little consequence.

Despite the premise sounding like something penned by Neil Peart after a stroll at the Neverland Ranch, it does little to inhibit the game’s amazing quality in pretty much every other respect. Controlling as tight as the best Nintendo-developed platformers, the game feels wonderful. The vertically oriented levels offer a chance for exploration and pure platforming which, combined with the “bubble wand” element of dispensing enemies, gives the game the feel of a meaty Kirby game. Things starts off incredibly easy (which is only magnified by the very short initial levels), however the difficulty ramps up perfectly toward the end to create an ultimately challenging and rewarding experience.

The huge, colorful sprites go a long way in making the fairly generic Milon look endearing. He often elicits a smile when struggling against a gust of wind (holding onto his wee Keebler hat) or blowing a massive piece of bubblegum to save himself from the peril of a pit. The animation is superb and though the worlds are incredibly cookie cutter in their themes (fire, ice, grass, etc.) they always surprise with some nice little atmospheric touches. A favorite of mine is the pancake tossing sock monkey, recklessly flying around in a cooking pan. Word.

The score is similarly fantastic. Every few levels the standard high-fructose Candy Land carol is broken up by an area or two featuring a remarkably measured ambience. Seemingly carried on the wind, tribal drums or distorted synthesized vocals intertwine with ebbing strings to create a genuinely moody score, often flirting with, gasp, maturity. It’s incredibly impressive; more Eno than Koshiro.

The only sizeable complaint with the game is the nightmarish title screen. A coloring book reject, it features a heap o’ Japanese text coupled with a grotesque Milon hanging out with a few unsightly animals. Looking like the cover of the newest Phoenix Games release (Animal Frisbee Hunter, perhaps), I can’t help but feel the casual gamer browsing the Virtual Console service will quickly scroll past the game in an effort to save his or her eyesight.

That small complaint aside (and if you couldn’t tell, I was reaching), DoReMi: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure is the quintessential platformer, doing nothing new while doing everything spectacularly. It ain’t art, however it verges on pure platforming perfection and one can only think that if Hudson had decided to bring this West it would’ve kept the aforementioned games company. If enough people give it the overdue attention it deserves it may just shake up the status quo.