Fossil League: Dino Tournament Championship (or known as Kyouryuu Ouja Ketteisen: Kyouryuu Grand Prix in Japan) is a dinosaur battle RPG game made by MTO. It was released back in August 25, 2005 in Japan for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite systems. The game featured 3D graphics that predated modern Pokémon games, and an encounter system that predated Pokémon Sword and Shield's. The game received mixed reviews upon its release and it struggled against Pokémon Diamond and Pearl that was released at that time. It was released later in the United States back in January 22, 2007 and in Europe back in February 23, 2007 by D3 Publisher.
In 2007, a sequel known as Dino Monsters (or Kyouryuu Ikusei RPG: Kyouryuu Monsters) was released in Japan by MTO, but it wasn't released in Western countries by D3 Publisher because of Fossil League's commercial failure.
Plot[]
The story is about a young boy named Taiga who was given a fossil of Juramaia (known as Big Mother in-game) and a dinosaur encyclopedia by his father, Dr. Brown before his death. He was soon adopted by his father's colleague, Dr. Smith and his assistant Yukari, and he was tasked to research dinosaurs using a time machine. Along his way, Taiga encountered the evil organization Syndicate X, who are planning to get rid of mankind by stealing Taiga's fossil so they can find and kill the Juramaia. During his quest, Taiga is accompanied by a Staurikosaurus named Stakk, who he saved during the early parts of the game from a trap.
Gameplay[]
The gameplay is almost similar to Pokémon. Each dinosaur and prehistoric fauna has five elements: fire, water, earth, wind and neutral. Neutral dinosaurs are able to learn almost all elemental moves. Each elements has their own advantages and disadvantages over the other elements. Players are able to tame dinosaurs using meat, grass and fish based on their diet. However, there are also wild and untamable dinosaurs that only appear as enemies. In every end of a period, there's a boss dinosaur that must be defeated. They can be tamed once the period has been cleared.
Prehistoric creatures[]
Fossil League featured around 106 different species of dinosaurs and other prehistoric fauna from the Jurassic and Cretaceous period, ranging from theropods to plesiosaurs.
- Dacentrurus
- Tuojiangosaurus
- Kentrosaurus
- Stegosaurus
- Lesothosaurus
- Heterodontosaurus
- Dryosaurus
- Scutellosaurus
- Camptosaurus
- Hypsilophodon
- Ouranosaurus
- Iguanodon
- Tenontosaurus
- Orodromeus
- Muttaburrasaurus
- Corythosaurus
- Lambeosaurus
- Parasaurolophus
- Maiasaura
- Hadrosaurus
- Tsintaosaurus
- Saurolophus
- Psittacosaurus
- Protoceratops
- Torosaurus
- Triceratops
- Chasmosaurus
- Styracosaurus
- Pachyrhinosaurus
- Centrosaurus
- Scelidosaurus
- Nodosaurus
- Euoplocephalus
- Ankylosaurus
- Saichania
- Stegoceras
- Stygimoloch
- Pachycephalosaurus
- Plateosaurus
- Anchisaurus
- Supersaurus
- Barosaurus
- Apatosaurus
- Mamenchisaurus
- Shunosaurus
- Brachiosaurus
- Seismosaurus (Diplodocus hallorum)
- Diplodocus (Diplodocus carnegii)
- Camarasaurus
- Euhelopus
- Titanosaurus
- Alamosaurus
- Saltasaurus
- Dilophosaurus
- Coelophysis
- Eoraptor
- Staurikosaurus
- Megalosaurus
- Ornitholestes
- Allosaurus
- Ceratosaurus
- Yangchuanosaurus
- Archaeopteryx
- Compsognathus
- Baryonyx
- Deinonychus
- Velociraptor
- Dromaeosaurus
- Troodon
- Saurornithoides
- Fukuiraptor
- Mononykus
- Gallimimus
- Ornithomimus
- Dromiceiomimus
- Erlikosaurus
- Segnosaurus
- Therizinosaurus
- Spinosaurus
- Giganotosaurus
- Carnotaurus
- Tyrannosaurus
- Tarbosaurus
- Daspletosaurus
- Albertosaurus
- Gorgosaurus
- Alioramus
- Sordes pilosus
- Eudimorphodon
- Dimorphodon
- Rhamphorhynchus
- Pterodactylus
- Dsungaripterus
- Pteranodon
- Plesiosaurus
- Futabasaurus
- Elasmosaurus
- Kronosaurus
- Ichthyosaurus
- Stenopterygius
- Shonisaurus
- Mosasaurus
- Tylosaurus
- Deinosuchus
- Archelon
Other prehistoric creatures that are only mentioned and appeared in cutscenes are Zalambdalestes, Docodont and Juramaia. Quetzalcoatlus is featured in the Western version's cover, though it doesn't appear in the game.
Errors[]
- The English version lists Ornitholestes and Futabasaurus as Ornithosaurus and Muraenosaurus due to a localization error
- Some of the classifications are weird and innacurate, like how the mosasaurs and the other marine reptiles are classified as ichthyosaurs and the plesiosaurs are classified as diplodocids
- Corythosaurus lacks its iconic curved crest, which makes it look more like a Kritosaurus
- Shonisaurus appears to be a resized and recolored Ichthyosaurus
- Spinosaurus has a rather short and stubby neck
- Saurornithoides has feathers while Troodon lacks it. All of the ornithomimds and maniraptorans lacks feathers except Archaeopteryx
- Dromiceiomimus' legs appears to be broken and glitchy
- Psittacosaurus lacks its cheek spikes and tail bristles and it has a rotund body
- Tuojiangosaurus has a graphical glitch which makes its back plates disapppear when seen from the right side
- Dilophosaurus and Anchisaurus are oversized while Archelon appears to be shrunken down
- Ouranosaurus, Euhelopus, Dsungaripterus and Tarbosaurus are misplaced in the Late Jurassic Period despite being Cretaceous fauna. Lots of Late Cretaceous faunas are misplaced in Early and Middle Cretaceous too
- Most of the large theropods has a kangaroo-like body shape, reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen-era theropods
- Some of the small theropods' models stretches out when they're defeated
- The description inside the Dinopedia are short and less informative
- Pachyrhinosaurus, Daspletosaurus and Saurornithoides do not appear again once they're defeated, nor they can be recruited
- Juramaia is identified as a "noconodont" in-game. There's no such thing as a noconodont
Trivia[]
- Dsungaripterus and Pteranodon are the only Cretaceous pterosaurs featured in the game
- The first boss (Dilophosaurus) is very challenging since it has a higher level ompared to most of Early Jurassic's dinos, the inability to recruit Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus (the two first Water-elementals), Plateosaurus and Anchisaurus' elemental disadvantage and the soft level cap that prevents players from overpowering it, although it can be cheesed with the help of Stun Bombs. The final boss (Yangchuanosaurus) is almost unbeatable due to its constant usage of the OHKO move The Last Supper and its huge HP
- The Shonisaurus is pretty well-hidden in the game, and can be easily missed. Once you beat it on your way to the Dojo in the Middle Jurassic, it will appear in a wetland area in the western part of Early Jurassic after defeating Megalosaurus
- The Japanese logo appears to be a tribute or a reference to the Jurassic Park logo. The Japanese logo can be seen in the Dino Arena, presumably leftover data from the Japanese version
- Certain moves can be unlocked by using its weaker form for 25 times