Parents' Guide to

Fossil Fighters: Champions

By Erin Bell, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Pokemon-ish sequel makes dinosaur-hunting less repetitive.

Game Nintendo DS 2011
Fossil Fighters: Champions Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

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

Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 2 parent reviews

EchoSpace
EchoSpace Adult
April 14, 2019
age 9+

GREAT GAME FOR A CHILD

It has a great storyline throughout the thing engaging with children and has various strategies put into it Including having a Percision to clean fossils just right so you don’t damage them too much

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
Trickortreatboy
Trickortreatboy Adult
August 5, 2018
age 8+

Fossil fighters review

Reviewing some of my favorite games when I was a teen/kid and Fossil fighters champions was another classic for my DS collection. This is a sequel to the first Fossil fighters and it was much better when it came to storyline and action. There are more vivasaurs in FFC than the first game. There are more vivasaurs to dig and clean up as well ares more moves during battle. The characters are fun and have interesting personalities. There is fighting in FFC but the dinosaurs don't actually make physical contact with each other. The dinosaurs make their move and the damage just shows up on the screen above the opponent dinosaur. So there is no blood or crazy violence. FFC is good for kids who love dinosaurs and want to have fun digging up and fighting with dinosaurs with special powers. For kids who are older such as teens, the characters in the game develop into better people and they teach the player not to be afraid of taking chances and to look out for friends.

This title has:

Great role models
Too much violence
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In FOSSIL FIGHTERS: CHAMPIONS, players divide their time between peacefully excavating and cleaning fossils (to revive the dinosaurs), to forming teams of dinosaurs to pit in combat against fellow Fossil Fighters, both informally, and in sanctioned tournament challenges. Players are encouraged to meticulously clean each fossil using the DS stylus as a hammer and drill because the more the fossil is cleaned, the more powerful the vivosaur will be. Fossil Fighters: Champions introduces new giant fossil rocks containing complete dinosaurs, and two-sided Odd Fossil Rocks, which add new challenges to the cleaning. There are more than 140 vivosaurs to discover, along with rare golden fossils that transform into new \"Super Evolver\" forms.

Is It Any Good?

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

"Pokemon with dinosaurs" is still an apt description for the Fossil Fighters franchise, but the fossil excavation and cleaning aspects are interesting enough to help set Fossil Fighters: Champions apart. Battles are strategic, and success relies on becoming familiar with each dinosaur's strengths and weaknesses. The dialogue in the game can be quite lengthy. However, unlike the original Fossil Fighters, where cleaning fossils became a repetitive experience because duplicate fossils were thrown away, in Fossil Fighters: Champions duplicate fossils are donated to the lab to earn "Donation Points" that can be traded in for rewards.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the ethics of excavating dinosaurs to use them as fighters in competitions. How does this compare to real-world examples of humans using animals for sanctioned competitions, like horse- and dog-racing?

  • Parents can also talk about paleontology, using the game as a jumping off point to explore the field. Families could arrange a trip to the local museum to see some real dinosaur bones.

  • Families can also talk about how to manage time when playing a video game.

Game Details

  • Platform: Nintendo DS
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Release date: November 14, 2011
  • Genre: Role-Playing
  • Topics: Dinosaurs
  • ESRB rating: E for Crude Humor, Mild Fantasy Violence
  • Last updated: August 29, 2016

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