| Keitai Denjū Telefang | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Smilesoft |
| Publisher(s) | Natsume |
| Designer(s) | Takagi Toushi |
| Composer(s) | Kinuyo Yamashita |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Color |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Media/distribution | 16 megabit cartridge |
Keitai Denjū Telefang (携帯電獣テレファング Keitai Denjū Terefangu, lit. "Mobile Electric Beast Telefang") is a series of video games for the Game Boy Color, produced by Smilesoft and published by Natsume. The games are monster-battling games, where the player contacts various creatures using a cell phone-like device called a D-Shot in order to get them to battle the foes he or she will encounter. The name of the series derives from Keitai, which is Japanese for "cell phone," since phoning creatures is an integral part of the game, and "fang," to symbolise the various beasts involved.
There are two games in the series as of 2002, the first for Game Boy Color and the later for Game Boy Advance. Both games were divided into two versions: Power and Speed. Each version featured creatures who were either stronger or quicker, respectively.
Contents |
Telefang revolves around collecting the phone numbers of various creatures, referred to as Denjū, that the player encounters. These are used to be able to request aid from them at a later time, should he or she require it. The game is played from a third person perspective, the player taking the role of the young protagonist, Shigeki.
One Denjū stays by Shigeki's side at a time and follows him around, but in battle he can call up to two other Denjū to help him. Denjū will sometimes give him their phone numbers after he beats them in a random battle, but take longer to arrive in battle if they're originally from a distant area, due to getting lost. Sometimes, they may not even show up at all if called, so care must be taken to make sure that he is not calling a Denjū who is too far away.
All Denjū have a range of statistics: hit point, Speed, Power, Defense, Electric Power, and Electric Defense. These determine how powerful, fast, or robust any given Denjū is. The type of habitat a Denjū lives in determines how weak it is to attacks from Denjū from other habitats; there is a vulnerability chain that goes Mountain > Sky > Forest > Aquatic > Desert > Grassland > Mountain. This also applies in reverse, a Denjū of certain types inflicting less damage upon one it is weak to. This is slightly changed in Telefang 2 however, where Denjū's habitat types are defensive, and attacks are of separate offensive types such as Flame, Water, Machine, Thunder, etc. This arrangement makes Denjū a bit more versatile, as they may carry moves that would be effective against opponents they would normally have trouble against.
In battle, the Denjū have an array of two to four attacks specific to their species. These cannot be altered, unless a Denjū evolves. Evolution is achieved by three different methods: Natural evolution, achieved by training them, Mod evolution, by giving them certain items in a mod evolution area, or Experimental evolution, achieved by taking the DNA of one Denjū with a Phone Card and giving it to the Denjū to be experimentally evolved. Some Denjū do not evolve. Evolution is permanent, however, in Telefang 2, evolution can be reversed if it was not by the Natural method. Battles are done in matches where each team may have anywhere from one to three Denjū participating. The battles are not strictly turn-based; the speed stat of a Denjū determines how many turns it can take, and when. Thus, a Denjū with a high Speed stat could attack twice for every time a Denjū with a low Speed goes once, also attacking before the low Speed Denjū can get a hit in.
Many Denjū have a special attack that needs to be charged up, and takes multiple turns to execute. This special attack does damage based on the Denjū's Electric Power stat, and is often considered not to be worth the wait. Due to the time it takes the special attack to charge, it is easy for the opponent to attack multiple turns or avoid the move entirely. In Telefang 2, instead of having to wait for an Electric Attack to charge, its use is limited by a DP meter. Other abilities—like skills that raise power or defense, or heal the user or its allies—vary from Denjū to Denjū.
The use of items varies greatly between Telefang and Telefang 2. In the first games, items were only used for evolutions or gifts, not including a few items important to the storyline such as keys to unlock doors, or a plush Denjū toy that has been stolen. Evolution items are generally things that come from the human world that effect Denjū in some way when they are forcibly combined. These items range from things such as pencils and batteries to flamethrowers, computers, cranes, and shuriken. Denjū which evolve by the Mod method will only do so if they receive a specific item, certain items also give large amounts of experience points to Denjū without evolving them. In Telefang 2 though, evolution items are typed the same as Denjū (Mountain, Forest, Sky, etc.) and any item of the proper type can be used to evolve a Denjū, however different items may have certain effects on stat growth. Evolution items can also be thrown at enemy Denjū to attempt to befriend them easier, which is more likely if the item thrown matches their type. In addition to evolution items, there are also special items which can be held by Denjū to boost one of their stats. Telefang 2 also introduced items which can heal HP and DP, and cure status effects such as blindness or paralysis. Items can be purchased at shops or found in treasure chests. In Telefang 2, they may also be picked up after battles or found by running through grass.
It's the year 2020 and there are certain mobile phones equipped with a special antenna called "D-shot" which allows teleportation through "antenna trees." A boy named Shigeki finds one of these phones, and is accidentally transported to another world when he loses a baseball near an antenna tree.
This world is full of strange animals called Denjū, who all own D-shot phones and use them to call their friends to help them compete in battles. These phone battles are also known as Telefang. Shigeki basically travels the Denjū world trying to learn more about it but also gets wrapped up in several plots to overtake it, both by other humans and evil Denjū.
A manga series was produced by Kodansha Publishing Ltd. It is based on the first game of the series and was first released as a monthly feature in the magazine Comic Bon Bon. The comics were later reprinted as a three-volume book set. This set is often sold through Japanese retailers online (such as Yahoo! Auctions Japan or Amazon Japan.)
The Telefang games were translated into English under the names of Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Jade. The Power version became known as Pokémon Diamond (not to be confused with the official Nintendo-published Pokémon Diamond that was released later for the Nintendo DS) while the Speed version was known as Pokémon Jade. The creatures on the box arts do not appear in the actual games. The deer-like creature on the Jade box art is an altered version of the forest spirit Shishigami from Hayao Miyazaki's anime Princess Mononoke. The snake-like creature on the Diamond box art is seemingly based on Dratini or Dragonair from Pokémon. The backs of the boxes also contained modified Telefang screenshots with Pokemon names edited into them.
The games are an unsuccessful attempt to translate the Telefang games into English. There is some mild profanity in it, such as Shigeki saying "Damn it! He's nothing!" in the intro. Engrish in the games include "Some points of 20 lost!" and "For the clever opponent, Injure increase!!".
Many characters have different names in the bootleg:
However, it should be noted that even the original Japanese version has at least one line of Engrish, with the text "THANK YOU FOR YOUR PLAYING!" at the end (which, interestingly, also appears in Telefang 2).
Some features were also removed or broken in the bootlegs. These include:
The bootlegs were also plagued by a number of glitches: