Narikiri Dungeon 2: Dressing Up as Tales Heroes on the Game Boy Advance
Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 reached Japanese shops on 25 October 2002 and never left the country. Wolf Team and Alfa System developed it for Namco, and it follows the Game Boy Color's Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon while opening the Tales of the World line, a branch of the series built around mixing characters from different Tales games. The "Cosplay RPG" tag on the box is a nod to the Japanese word narikiri, roughly "to fully become someone".
The story starts with the young blacksmith's apprentice Frio Sven and the level-headed Kyaro Olange. They have to stop a villain called Thanatos, who uses black crystals to take over people's minds. Three goddesses (Ada, Stella and Ciel) are tied to the plot: Ada calls in heroes from other worlds to help, while Ciel vanished long ago after seemingly sacrificing herself to destroy the Dragon God.
At a glance
- Based on: original spin-off, sequel to Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon (Game Boy Color)
- Created by: Wolf Team and Alfa System; published by Namco
- Released: 25 October 2002 (Japan only)
- Genre: Action RPG and dungeon crawler
- What sets it apart: guest heroes from across the series in one adventure
How it plays and how it was received
Battles use the Condensed Linear Motion Battle System, a streamlined version of the real-time combat the series is known for. Four Famitsu reviewers scored it 9, 8, 8 and 7 out of 10. They praised the action, the freedom and the character customisation, although two found the game scattered and confusing.
The English patch
English-speaking players have had one route in: the fan patch by Kajitani-Eizan, distributed in numbered versions. The public listing we found is version 2.30, dated March 2021.