Fossil Fighters

For the article about the people who use vivosaurs to battle, see Fossil Fighter.

Fossil Fighters (ぼくらはカセキホリダー We Are Fossil Diggers) is a video game developed by Red Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. It follows the story of the Hero, a young boy, as he comes to Vivosaur Island, becomes a Fossil Fighter, and rises up the Fighter Ranks, eventually becoming a Master Fighter. However, his path is blocked by a mysterious group known as the BB Bandits, who are revealed to be commanded by a bigger, more dangerous force...

Blurb
DIG AND DUEL! Welcome to Vivosaur Island, where dinosaurs revived from ancient fossils fight in thrilling battles. In your adventures as a Fossil Fighter, you'll delve into ancient ruins, explore sunken pirate ships, and uncover secrets that will shake the planet to its core!
 * Collect over 100 different vivosaurs and pit them against the enemy in strategic, turn-based battles.
 * Each fossil must be carefully cleaned—with a steady hand and keen eye, you can make your vivosaurs stronger.
 * Using DS Wireless Play, take on a friend within range of your system for head-to-head battles or trade your extra fossils for new ones.

Reception
Fossil Fighters received average to favorable reviews. IGN rated it a 5.9/10 "Mediocre," while Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu rated it a 32/40. Nintendo's own Nintendo Power magazine gave the game an 8.0/10, stating that the game "has few flaws, but few real challenges." Reviewers praised the game for its compelling cleaning feature and fun, lightly strategic battle system, but criticized its simple graphics and soundtrack. Many compared it to the Pokémon games, though they noted that Fossil Fighters lacked some of that series' positive features, specifically citing the game's limited multiplayer capabilities.

Trivia

 * Ironically, no human is seen with a vivosaur on the same screen in the entire game, except in the battles. This doesn't happen again in the other games.
 * Fossil Fighters employs an anti-piracy measure where it persistently opens the help screen, making it incredibly hard to progress past the file select menu.