Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu

Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu was released for PlayStation 1 in Japan on December 3, 1998, and in the rest of the world in 1999.

What Makes Jade Cocoon Different?

At its core it's a monster collecting RPG, but you'd be mistaken to compare it to Pokémon or Digimon. Jade Cocoon has some ideas that make it feel unique.

Although the focus is on collecting creatures and making them battle, the protagonist, called Levant, also participates in the fights. Here's the twist: while your monsters gain experience, level up and get stronger when they beat enemies, like in a traditional RPG, Levant doesn't get stronger from battling. In fact, the only way to make him stronger is by buying equipment.

However, using him in battle is indispensable, because he's the one who can capture beasts inside cocoons. And capturing is the only way for him to gain experience and levels—Levant doesn't gain stats from leveling up, but raising his level increases his capture success rate for stronger monsters and his chances of successful captures in general.
Just like Pokémon, you raise your chances by weakening the enemies, but it still has a chance of failing. And Levant's level also counts when calculating the odds.

You can also transform captured creatures into silk to sell—giving you even more reason to keep hunting duplicates. This makes capturing an important way of making money in the game.

The Fusion System

The main aspect that separates Jade Cocoon from other monster capturing games is the merge function. At first I thought it would be like Persona, where fusing creates a different already existing species. However, in this game, fused creatures are actually hybrid forms of their parents, in both appearance and skills. You can even name your new creations.

This opens up opportunities for strategies, having you decide which beasts to fuse, if keeping the same element is better than mixing them, or if you should focus on certain stats, since merging can both raise or lower the resulting creature's stats.
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Elements & Strategy

Speaking of elements, every monster belongs to at least one of four elements. Attacks based on one element are stronger against another one. Fortunately the game even displays the enemy's element during battle, inside a small circular icon that reminds you which element is more effective.

The Story

The plot revolves around finding a cure for a curse that made most of the villagers in Levant's hometown fall asleep. This seemingly simple story hides a rich lore that contains the origins of the creatures inhabiting the world, its gods, and even how humanity itself came to be.

With the few villagers left awake, including his fated wife Mahbu who has the power to purify cocoons, merge monsters and turn cocoons into silk, Levant, the single Cocoon Master, departs on a journey to heal the townsfolk.

Graphics and Controls

While the characters and battle locations are rendered in 3D, the backgrounds of towns and forests are pre-rendered images, which are fine-looking. This does mean they chose to use tank controls, popularized by Resident Evil. So younger gamers may struggle a bit to get used to the controls, and avoiding enemies can prove to be a challenge.

Learning Japanese Through Gaming?

The Japanese version of Jade Cocoon, called Tamamayu Monogatari, may require an advanced level of Japanese skills.
Most characters speak in a classical way, using old words and ways of speech. On top of that, the plot itself sometimes gets a bit complex, with a rich lore behind the world and events. So the language can get in the way of the game's enjoyment, even for intermediate learners.
Most of the dialogue is voiced, though, by talented voice actors. So it does serve to practice listening.

Final Verdict

While the difficult Japanese language used in the game does act as an obstacle, the unique mechanics not found in other monster battling RPGs give Jade Cocoon a twist that's worth experiencing. Reviews say the main story can be completed between 15 and 20 hours.

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