Jade Cocoon 2 review

 THE GOOD:
A vast array of monsters to train each with their own stlye and flare. A few old favorites make it to the PS 2 like Levant, Mu, and Ra. The Sweet Knights are cute (they remind me of misty and her sisters from pokemon). Battle in tournaments. Take up jobs like a bounty hunter. Find a vast amount of different and unique items (like sweet knights collectibles). Evolve during a battle to give you the edge.

THE BAD:
Merging is possible but you have to merge with a base set and it doesn't change their appearance all it does is cause them to revert back to their baby form. You can't capture any more you have to find or buy the eggs. The main character can't fight normally like Levant could. The beast emulate battle type in my opinion isn't as good as the original battle type from Jade coccon one. No anime cut scene like the originals opening. Your monster can only know two fighting techs at a time.the battle system is totally different from the battle system in the original Jade Cocoon. You cannot select which enemies your beasts attack when you are fighting, if there are multiple enemies; and your beasts can only use the type of elemental attack that they are aligned with on your beast amulet.

First of all, all of the features that made Jade Cocoon fun and interesting, such as catching monsters and breeding them and coming up with totally new monsters, breeding monsters to have a variety of available attacks within one elemental power, and upgrading armor and weapons of the player character as the game progresses are TOTALLY ABSENT FROM THIS GAME.

SUMMARY:
In my opinion this does not stand up to the original. This kid will always live in Levant's shadow in my eyes.

Genki is due for a ps3/psp remake