Monster Gate

Monster Gate is a Japanese only arcade game made by Konami, which has a couple of variations released for the gameboy advance.

Using arcade credits you get in game money which is used to pay the entrance fee for entering a dungeon, and for casting spells. More money can be gotten by inserting more arcade credits, finding money within the dungeon, or by completing one. It is rare to finish a dungeon with more money than you started with. Dungeons range from 2 to 30 floors of various sizes, with various collections of monsters on each floor, and possibly other special rules. These rules along with a danger level is posted for each dungeon. Harder dungeons reward more money for completing them and have more money within them along with better spells.

You may (usually) choose 10 spell cards to enter a dungeon with, and you always enter at "level 1". Killing monster will either increase your attack/defense/health by an amount depending on its power level relative to yours, or will not grant any increase if the monster is trivial. Although no explicit levels are given, your max HP is a good indicator of your level. Each spell card costs money to use and only has a single use, and you can only hold 10 at a time within the dungeon (unlimited may be stored outside). Spell cards can be found laying on the ground though out the dungeon.

Dungeon Layout

Each floor has a group of rectangular rooms positioned in a grid with short passages between many of them, with a few that go around the outside of the grid. Visibility is 1 adjacent space in passages and 5 squares in lit rooms (usually the entire room). Monsters are placed in stasis in rooms and become active once you enter them. Other monsters spawn at various places the longer you stay on the floor and are immediately active. On the final floor is the gem item which is your reward for completing the dungeon, you may teleport out at that point, or by backtracking to the entrance on the first floor.

Dungeon Specials

Some examples of special rules in some dungeons:

• Higher chance to critically strike
• Monster can critically strike
• Acid floor, take 1 damage per movement
• Ice on some floor times that you slide across (only takes 1 turn to slide across ice). Ice only affect the hero.
• Light allows sight in passage ways.
• No backtrack. You cannot revisit previous floors.
• Reduced inventory. You cannot carry as many spell cards.
• No initial cards. You cannot bring cards into the dungeon (used on bonus levels).
• Sleeping dragons, powerful sleeping dragons are on each floor. Try not to wake them up.

Monster AI

When a monster sees you they will take the most direct path to you, taking diagonals if blocked by other monsters. They will not move to any square that does not bring them closer to you. When they can't see you, they will walk to your last known position, and then start going from room to room randomly. Many monsters shoot and will do so if you are on a diagonal, horizontal, or vertical from them. Ranged damage is divided by an amount equal to the number of spaces they are away from you.

Bosses

Bosses appear on some floor guarding the next floor stairs (you can walk around them though). They have much higher HP, only have a %50 of attacking and drop an uncommon spell card, or money.

Spells

Some spells are (with cost):

• Healing spells are core, and are used to restore lost life:
  • Heal 20 (2)
  • Heal 40 (4)
  • Heal 60 (6)
  • Heal 80 (8)
  • Full Heal (10)

• Damage spells ignore defense and can be shot at a range, allowing the killing of harder monsters. They can easily become obsolete at higher levels, and overkill at lower ones. Mass versions of the spell that hit everything in the room cost twice as much as the listed value.
  • Fire (2) - 20 damage
  • Lightning (4) - 60 damage
  • Meteor (6) - 200

• Other spells:
  • Regen 100 (3) - restore 1 HP every turn for 100 turns
  • Sleep - puts a monster to sleep
  • Haste (4) - Take 2 actions for 4 turns
  • Warp (?) - teleport to a random square
  • Bronze sword (?) - increase attack power for the entire dungeon
  • Death (?) - kills any monster, but you lose a little exp
  • Escape (?) - Exits the dungeon keeping your spells

Classes

• Fighter - Good stats, no special abilities. Easiest class to play
• Mage - Average stats, +50% healing and damage spells. Sees 2 spaces in passageway (makes getting first hit easier).
• Gambler - Average stats, sees the location of all money on minimap (including the final gem on the last level). Can use slot machine outside of dungeon. *Better cards appear in dungeon.
• Majin - Excellent stats, +50% healing and +25% damage spells. Losses 1 HP every turn.
• Werewolf (GBA hidden character) - Average stats when human, Great stats when werewolf. Changes to and from after a set number of steps. Changing into werewolf restores 50% of HP.
• Hero (GBA hidden character) - The advantages of Mage, Majin, Gambler, without any of the disadvantages.

Online

Features a way to create a castle that other players can challenge. You can put ghosts in the dungeons that restrict cards that can be taken in, and run away when seen. You can also place normal boss creatures that guard the floor steps.

GBA differences

No dungeon fees. Spells cost mana instead of money. Mana is restored by exploring new rooms, or by sacrificing spells to gain 100% of the mana cost to cast that spell (mages get a bonus to mana and sacrifice amount). The second GBA game has a story mode, and unique interesting bosses.

Links

http://www.konami.jp/am/mg_online/online2/html/ (official site)