This little action RPG is a great addition to NGPCs mostly arcade-based library.
The overall idea is you play a character w/ a roster of weapons that can be switched out, modified and leveled up. It is honestly kind of hard to tell exactly what is going on as the cut scenes are kind of confusing and forgettable and the translation is littered w/ funny bits of imperfect English. (When you got to save a game, it asks you, "Saving?" instead of "Save?" for example. What kind of a video game translator gets that wrong?) That is all part of the charm though and it is sufficient to say the plot is to somehow save the world from something that might happen and you do that by killing monsters with your weapons.
It is presented reasonably adeptly on the little screen of the Neo-Geo Pocket Color though it's dark color palate can make it hard to see in all but the very best light. The sound effects are kind of corny but the music is pretty fantastic, actually: RPG-style electronic epics along the lines of NES Final Fantasy titles but w/ a bit of a darker tone to them. Controls are solid and simple but effective. All in all, it is set up reasonably well for its top-down Zelda-style action.
Well, it's not quite Zelda. In fact one of the main appeals here is the relatively well developed weapon upgrade system. Weapons are grown from seeds which are found after certain bosses and hidden throughout the world. From there you can feed them monsters you've captured to evolve them into newer, better creations or simply level them up by having them equipped while fighting. (Oddly, you do not need to use them to level them up, just have them equipped, which makes it easy to level up new weapons since you can just use a stronger one until the new one is up to snuff.) There are a half dozen different weapon types and several of them have a few different upgrade paths. Combined w/ the fact that you can tack some elemental damage on them by feeding them the right monsters, it allows for a lot of flexibly--though there are some weapons that are clearly and obviously more useful than others.
The action here is pretty light fair. Some boss battles are tough but the designers provide ample opportunity to further upgrade weapons if you get stuck and an hour or two of weapon customization separated out throughout the course of the game will probably get most people through the final boss no problem. After this, there is a fifty level dungeon--only one room per floor though so not as big as it sounds--that you can work through and continue upgrading your weapon and defeat an additional boss. This part was fun enough you wish they would have, you know, actually had a few dungeons throughout the course of the game instead of just tacking one on at the the end but, whatever, the weirdness of this is part of the charm. It's actually easy enough to kind of beat the game accidentally since it is not really made clear that you're facing your final challenge so it's nice to have an opportunity to see what the weapons you never had can actually do.
Most sections throughout the game are relatively short and it works well for the handheld since it provides ample chances to save so you don't have to play it all in one stretch. This reviewer in particular beat most of it in short bursts in between household chores and while waiting a few minutes before going to work. The difficulty level is just right for this sort of thing and the game provides more depth that most mobile gaming does these days so it all ends up being a very good experience for action RPG fans looking for something to play in short bursts. Beyond this, Dark Arms's strange Japanese charm and its little quirks here and there make this must have for those looking to expand their NGPC library.