Devil Children / DemiKids

Every mass market multimedia tie-in needs a card game, right? It was no different with Devil Children, unfortunately, and the card game was later translated back into a video game. While it has some overhead sequences where you walk around and talk to opponents (like Card Fighters Clash for the Neo Geo Pocket Color), most of the game is done through card battling. Near as I can tell, it plays similar to Magic: The Gathering and other similar games, where each card summon a demon to attack and protect the players HP. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you what it was about. Card Summoner features an even wackier set of character designs than the rest of the series.

Remember Sokoban? That box-pushing puzzle game? Well, add characters from the GBA version of Devil Children and you've got Puzzle de Call! The Story mode begins when Jin and Akira are sucked into some bizarre alternate world, so Rand and Gale jump in to find them. Each level is made of several screens, each of which contains an egg. Hatching it will summon another demon that can be switched in and out of gameplay. However, the eggs disappear after a set number of turns, so getting to it is your highest priority. Beyond that, you just need to get to the pentagram that leads you to the next screen. At the end of each stage is a boss fight, where you need to collect all of the icons on the screen, all while dodging enemy attacks. It's an interesting idea, and one that noticeably spices up an otherwise standard game. Still, unless you really like box puzzles, there's nothing too drastically appealing about Puzzle de Call!

Messiah Riser (sometimes romanized as "Messiahlyzer") is something of a depature from the traditional RPG mold. It's actually a real-time strategy game, where you summon demons onto the field, tell them where to move or attack, and watch the action unfold. It's an interesting idea, especially since it eschews the usual turn-based, grid-based system we usually see in Japanese RPGs. Still, the interface is very clunky, and the artificial intelligence is a bit haphazard, so actually playing the game can be an exercise in chaos. It also feels a bit limited, especially since each monster only has one magic attack. There aren't exploration bits either, just level-by-level combat.