Toon-doku

Nintendo exclusive

Toon-Doku is a sudoku game for Nintendo DS which attempts to substitute the numbers used in the original game for colorful images. The game features 99 custom sudoku puzzles widely ranging in difficulty, 9 different avatars, and 246 different images to substitute the numbers with. The game is fully customizable, allowing the player to choose not only his or her own avatar, but the background skin, music tracks, as well as all 9 of the symbols used to play the game (the game doesn't force the player to use images, one can choose to use numbers). Furthermore, the player is given a choice to draw his/her own unique set of symbols.

Released: 2007
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genres: Sudoku
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Age ratings: ESRB E PEGI 3 USK 0

About

Toon-Doku is a 2007 sudoku puzzle video game developed by Dragon's Den Unlimited and published by Majesco for the Nintendo DS. Directed by Joseph Sutton, the game was first released in North America and Europe in April 2007, with an Australian release following in October later the same year.

Toon-Doku was received generally negatively by critics, who criticized the game for having poor controls, as well as its replacement of numbers with symbols.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Toon-Doku follows the same principles as the logic-based puzzle Sudoku. In Toon-Doku, players have to fill a 9×9 grid with different symbols; however, no line or 3×3 subgrid can feature multiple of the same symbols. One of Toon-Doku's main gameplay points is the player's ability to draw custom symbols for use within the games puzzles. The game also has several unlockable symbols, which can be obtained by completing certain puzzles.

Toon-Doku features three main single-player modes: the instant mode, where players can play over 250 different sudoku puzzles, the stage mode, which features nine different levels, each with eleven puzzles, and the "Vs. CPU" mode, where the player competes against a CPU. Levels in the stage mode end with a boss fight, where an enemy can hide some of the boxes in the player's grid. Additionally, the game also features a multiplayer mode, where the player can hide some of the boxes in their enemies grids, similarly to the game's boss fights.

Development

Toon-Doku was developed by the American video game development studio Dragon's Den Unlimited. The game was published by Majesco. The game was intended to be more suitable for younger players than traditional sudoku, which was attempted via the game primarily using symbols, instead of numbers.

The game was first announced on January 24, 2007, by its publisher, Majesco, with a scheduled release of April later that same year. Toon-Doku released on April 10, 2007, in Europe, with a North American release following on April 16. The game released in Australia on October 12.

Reception

Toon-Doku received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. The aggregator calculated a normalized score of 39/100, based on six critic reviews.

The game has been criticized by multiple reviewers for primarily using symbols instead of numbers. JC Fletcher of Engadget wrote that the use of symbols makes it harder to solve puzzles, due to it being easier to know that a number is missing in a line, as opposed to a symbol, using a walrus as an example. Jeuxvideo.com's Jihem was more positive towards the use of symbols, while still writing that the idea wasn't original, due to it being used in children's newspaper, as well as another sudoku Nintendo DS game, Zendoku.