Parents' Guide to

Fossil Fighters

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Pokemon-ish RPG substitutes fighting dinos for monsters.

Game Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi 2009
Fossil Fighters Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Fossil Fighters Game: Screenshot #1
  • Fossil Fighters Game: Screenshot #2
  • Fossil Fighters Game: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 7+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Ekaru
Ekaru Adult
October 22, 2010
age 8+

An enjoyable game for almost everybody.

Fossil Fighters is a game that is enjoyable, easy-to-play, and has some educational value with it. The fossil cleaning is very well done. Unlike other games with this feature, this game makes it simple yet challenging and engaging, meaning it's fun and not tedious. Other games often make it overly complex, which gets old and irritating very quickly. There's a museum mode so kids can look up some facts about the dinosaurs. But, do keep in mind that basic reading ability is needed to enjoy this game. There are fossil battles, but they are rarely forced. The only battles you really have to fight are boss battles. Everybody else asks if you want to battle. The game's attitude about fossil battles is a positive one. It's done in a good nature. The game also explains that vivosaurs are not dinosaurs. They're creatures made using the fossils that are designed for battling. The story part of the game is easy, as some have said. However, there is a ton of stuff to do after you beat the "final boss", much of which is very challenging, since lots of your opponents are max rank which good strategies. Fossil cleaning is also challenging and rewarding, since it is very difficult to clean most fossils perfectly. Overall, I highly recommend this game. It's fun and can last a long time, and the plot is well written and enjoyable, even if it's not original. This game also has two save files, making it well-suited for households with multiple children.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
anababy
anababy Parent of 4-year-old
August 18, 2009
age 5+

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

FOSSIL FIGHTERS’ slogan could be “gotta find and clean ‘em all!” It’s a role-playing game involving the collection of animals that makes no bones about drawing inspiration from Nintendo’s popular Pokemon games. The primary difference is that rather than finding monsters and pitting them in battle against one another, players are instead digging up dinosaur fossils and cleaning them in a laboratory using a hammer, a laser chisel, and a their breath (they can blow into the mic to remove dust) before re-animating them and throwing them into the ring. All of the action takes place on remote atoll called Vivosaur Island. Players take control of a young fossil fighter in training who slowly learns the ropes from the locals while upgrading his fighter’s license and earning access to areas of the island home where he can find rarer fossils.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (9):

Fossil Fighters is a polished and entertaining children’s RPG. Using a sonar to find fossils in fields is exciting, and the bone cleaning activity requires a very delicate touch in order to preserve as much of the dinosaur’s remains as possible. What’s more, the battles are fairly strategic. Players are required to manage teams composed of up to five creatures, each of which has its own upgradable abilities and is assigned an attack, supporting, or escape position on the battlefield. Later battles demand both thought and skill.

However, play is hampered by excessive text dialogue. Consequently, the game moseys along rather slowly. It will take most players better than a couple of hours to reach the first major battle to level up to a second grade fossil fighter. Plus, the cleaning, though fun, begins to feel repetitive once you realize that the vast majority of discovered fossils are duplicates of others you’ve already found. Pokemon lovers will have fun, but it’s unlikely they’ll consider Fossil Fighters a permanent substitute for their favorite franchise.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about paleontology as a career. What do you think paleontologists do? Do you think hunting for and researching ancient fossils would be fun? Do you think the number of findable fossils is dwindling as more researchers head out into the field? Does that make a paleontologist’s job more difficult? Which would be more fun to investigate, plant or animal fossils?

  • Families can also contrast the game with Pokemon, a franchise with a similar concept. What are the major differences between these two games? Is one more appealing than the other? What do you think of the idea of using once-real animals instead of fantasy monsters in battle?

Game Details

  • Platforms: Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Release date: August 10, 2009
  • Genre: Role-Playing
  • ESRB rating: E for Crude Humor, Mild Fantasy Violence
  • Last updated: August 31, 2016

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