I'll save your memory. Let's play Missing Bro!

Welcome to Let's Play Missing Bro! What, you ask, is Missing Bro? According to the app store, it's "A Japanese RPG with a missing brother story". I stumbled over it and thought I'd give it a go, since it was free and had an amusing title. This'll be my second time playing the game. I have no idea if there are secrets to be found in it, or clever strategies to exploit, or whatever. There's not a whole lot of information about Missing Bro out there.



Here's the hero of the game, Apolo.



Since then nobody has seen him.
My neighbors say he has died. But I can't believe it...



Here's Apolo's home town and starting stats. I'm not sure if the town has a name. You control the game with the arrows at the bottom of the screen there. The menu button brings up a fairly standard RPG menu. You talk to people by walking into them. At level 1, I have 15/15 HP, 8/8MP, and 50 Money. I have no items, no equipment, and no spells. Might as well talk to the citizens.



Oh, there we go. This is Hast town.



You can't go through this door at the moment.



How about you?

That's a pretty harsh assessment, lady. Real sensitive.



I've got a few options at the store here, but I can't afford very much. Helpfully the shopping screen doesn't tell you how much money you have (I have 50 money). I'll leave it alone for now.



This is the save point. The English in this game isn't great, but I think it's charming fairly consistently.



SpecialHerb is very effective for restoring HP. And you can sell it at a high price. However it's too hard for me to find it, because there are lots of monsters in the forest.



A person from Kant village brought a sword as his memento.
What? You say it's not a memento?
You mean he is alive?
I understand that you want to think so, but...



Even so, nobody should do anything foolhardy. Don't follow your brother.

This game has a pretty depressing opening.



At the south end of town is a building you can't reach easily. There's a maze of trees off to the right:



Your brother is still alive.
However...
Um...I think you shouldn't know that.

The witch might have magic powers, but she doesn't know when to keep quiet. Still, it's nice to have a little support after the sadfest of the rest of the town.



One of the graves has a sword sticking out of it.

...
I decided!!
I'll leave this town with the sword that you left.
I'll find you at any cost.



Man, no wonder Apolo's Bro was a poor swordsman. His sword gives no benefit whatsoever. I equip it anyway. Time to leave town!



Oh. Right.



You also say so at last. I know I can't stop you. OK...I'll let you go. Take care of yourself. And remember, you can return anytime if you want.

That last bit is good news: you can come back here anytime for a free rest to get your HP/MP back.



But here goes!!



Here's the world map. I take a few steps...



And I'm attacked by a Kessler! I don't know what a Kessler is, exactly, but here it's basically equivalent to a Dragon Quest Slime. Except hairy. I'll attack it!



It's a bit hard to take iPhone screenshots quickly, so I missed the return attack. Basically it hit me for one hit point. We take turns hitting each other for 1HP for a few rounds, and...



I get one experience point and three gold. Nice! And I'm almost dead. If Apolo hadn't missed a few times I'd have another couple HP, but not enough that taking on another Kessler would be a good idea. Back to town!



I get my health back and buy the best stuff I can afford: A Bronze Sword and Cloth Armor. My attack is more than doubled. My defence is... unchanged? Lame!



With the awesome power of my Bronze Sword, I can kill Kesslers way faster.



This Sickllog gets the jump on me, but I manage to bring it down. I grind around here for a little while, and before you know it:



Sweet! I have no idea what Dong magic is supposed to be. Hopefully not what it sounds like.



My attacks now do 4points minus. Let's give our Dong magic a shot:



The spell effects in this game are sort of underwhelming. The name comes up, then it tells you how much damage you've done (I missed the shot the first time, but it was 6HP). The second shot was kind of a waste of MP: only one point of damage. In Missing Bro the killing blow only does as many hit points of damage as the enemy had left.

I enter a forest to the north.



You can buy a pass at the counter. It costs 800G. Steep? That's not my business. Why don't you sell something if you don't have enough money.

The guy in the building in the forest is kind of a jerk. Still, I know how to outsmart him!



Oh.



The other guy in the building will let you rest for 10G, which for me is still a lot of money. He also operates a shop, which sells the GatePass I need, among other things. Given that the inn is expensive, the 800 for the pass is just absurd. I'd better start looking around. Maybe there's another path or something.



The Mouthorm, aside from being pretty gross, has the ability to heal itself, and gives more money and experience than anything else so far. If I can manage to kill three of them between trips to the inn, I can get some levels here and start (slowly) accumulating money.



Or not. This FaceBug does 9 points of damage in its first hit, and I'm down. Bummer.

Next time: I reload my save!

Hey I found the ending to this game. :3c

This game doesn't look very good!

Bro! It looks like some bro played the first Dragon Quest and liked it so much he decided to make his own!

This Guy!

Dragon Quest!

Cabo!

And failed. So badly.

I found him

he's right there

Bro! Your Bro is a Moon-Bro!

What does the "050 plus" mean?

Looks like that's an ad banner for this Skype-esque service.

OK, we're back in action. I managed to get the title screen with no ads this time. Anyway, the plan now is to get a little stronger before continuing.



MaxHP: +19
MaxMP: +12
AttackP:+8
DefenseP: +10
Speed: +2
Treto magic came to be usable.

That level up pretty much doubled my stats. Nice! It also restored my HP/MP, which is nice too.



I can now hit Kesslers for 7points. Anyway, back to the forest!



Herb: 5g
SpesialHerb: 900G
MagicSeeds: 20G
IronSword: 50G
IronArmor: 100G

I take the chance to save, and check out the store's buy-back prices. They're actually kind of inconsistent. The Herb sells for a quarter what you pay for it, but the IronArmor only gives you a fifth back. The SpesialHerb, on the other hand, gets you three quarters of the cost of a SpecialHerb.



I start to explore the many dead ends in the local area and get another level up. Treto is healing magic, and Dodong is a multihit version of Dong. I don't know if these names make more sense in Japanese, or what.



I have a rematch with a FaceBug. It's not much of a threat anymore.



MaxHP: +35
MaxMP: +22
AttackP: +14
DefenseP: +18
Speed: +4

I look around some more and get another level up. Plus I find a shiny in the last dead end!



I found it!! It's SpecialHerb.
(Apolo got the SpecialHerb.)

Groovy. The SpecialHerb is a healing item, but don't use it as one! For one thing, at this point I'm getting all the healing I need from level ups, and for another it sells for 900G. That's enough to buy the gate pass!



It's so nice of him to offer to buy my Cloth Armor for 0G. Anyway, I sell the herb, buy the pass, and with the leftover cash I pick up an IronSword. Which is mysteriously worse than my BronzeSword. Also notice that the Cloth Armor now has an effect, as does my Bro'sSword. Both of them had zero effect before.



You can go ahead.
What? Your brother? Three years ago?
How can I remember such old thing?

True to his word, this jerk lets me through. Finding and selling the herb is actually kind of a clever puzzle, I think. Though I probably think that because I never tried using the herb for healing. Still, there's a guy in the first town who tells you the herbs are in the forest, and the shop list shows that you can sell it for enough to continue. Good job, Missing Bro!



Ah, the beautiful north!



There's a new enemy in the area. It's a much more profitable fight than anything else so far.



I ignore the way forward and check out what's up north and out east before entering Kant village. There's some caves and a building up north, but the mountains block passage. The western peninsula ends in whirlpools.

You look tired.
Do you want to use the bed?

The fee at this inn is 30G. Highway robbery! Anyway, I'm still getting my heals from level ups, and I have healing magic to keep me going besides.



Oh, you reminded me about him.
He said he would go to the north mountain to learn magics from a witch who lives in there.There is a rumor the witch is very strong. But nobody has met her.
I think even witch needs to eat something. I wonder how she get foods.

This guy at last gives me a solid lead on my bro. I need to pass the mountains. But how? Well, he's giving another clue there: the witch is getting food somehow. Let's talk to the nearby farmer:



But recently, we have no way to do that. The vortexes are too intense.

Thanks, lady. Real helpful.



Oh, I clearly remember him.
I often see him with Dina.

(Apolo) Dina?

(Woman) Dina is a woman who lives in a house next to the inn.
She is a little strange.
She sometimes disappears.



My favourite line in the game so far. In answer, yes I do.



This other farmer is no more useful than the last.



(Apolo) You know this sword or my brother?

(Woman) No...no, I don't.

(Apolo) But you just said...

(Woman) Sorry, I don't know anything. Really...

(Apolo) Um...I see.

(Woman) Sorry. I don't know anything really.

This is Dina. She's a liar and the single toughest obstacle in the game. As the woman in the south-east of town told us, Dina sometimes disappears. I need her to do so before I can proceed. Unfortunately, she doesn't do it very often. I have no idea if there's a specific action that triggers it, or if it's just random that sometimes you enter town and she's gone, or what.



Someone says so? Yeah, I notice it, but I don't know why.
You look tired. Do you want to use the bed?
(HP&MP was 100% restored.)

The innkeeper has something new to say. A-ha! I'll rest here, and when I wake up, Dina will be gone.



Nope. I go back to the inn.



Sorry, you can't use the bed, because this is for tired people,. Please come again when you are tired.

Missing Bro doesn't let you rest when you don't need to. I've actually been turned away at the inn with less than full health, too. Anyway, that didn't get rid of Dina. Maybe I need to go fight some monsters?



Here's my first encounter with more than one enemy. These Mouthats can cast Dodong for 11 or so HP of damage, but after two rounds I guess they're out of MP or something, 'cause they switch to normal attacks, which do much less damage. I probably should've been using Dodong against them myself instead of just hitting them one at a time, but I forgot I had it.



They drop enough cash to pay for the inn stay I now need, which is nice of them. Dina still hasn't disappeared.



At this point I start doing whatever I can think of to try to get Dina to leave. I exit town and immediately return, I go out and get in some fights and come back, I stand around outside Dina's house for a while, I talk to Dina a bunch, I stand around in a different part of town, I talk to everyone in town again, I go back to the forest, I go back to the first town and talk to everyone, I wander all over the world map. Every time I come back to Kant, Dina is still there.

I'm starting to think it's impossible, and bear in mind that I've beaten this game before. I had the same problem then, and I have no idea why I didn't just quit.

That's it for now. I've spent 20 minutes trying to get Dina to leave, and she won't. On the plus side, I'm now level 8.

Next time: She moves. I hope.

Guys! Spoilers! But yeah, it's weird how the title screen shows the ending.

I'd be reluctant to call it good, but as a phone-based distraction it's ok, Dina aside. You can pick it up for two minutes at a time and make a little progress, the controls are adequate, and it scratches the numbers-going-up itch.

I've figured it out! Bro is in the kitchen with Dina.

Insert joke A into obvious slot B. If you know what I mean.

Right, we're back. Hey, where's Dina?



Oh man, finally! I'm not sure how I triggered this. I walked about, got in a few fights, and when I came back to town she was still there. Then I stayed at the inn, and she disappeared. I don't know if she only leaves after inn stays (this was probably at least my fourth stay at the inn since talking to her the first time), or if it's just random with a low chance every time you come into town. Whatever, she's gone. Let's take the stairs!



They lead to a tunnel to the northern area past the mountains.



As I enter the building, a cutscene starts.



You...reached here at last

(Witch) Who is the boy?

(Dina) A brother of the person who stayed here three years ago.

(Witch) Um..now that you mention it, he looks like the man.

(Apolo) My brother was staying here, wasn't he?

(Witch) Yes, he was learning magics from me for about a year. He could be a full-fledged wizard, if he had a little more practicing. However, he left here.

(Apolo) Do you know where he was going to go?

(Dina) He heard monsters were attacking the Alto castle. He decided to guard the castle using his magics. He left here without the sword that you have now. Since then, he never...

(Apolo) I see...Thanks so much.

(Dina) I know you are going to follow him. That's why I didn't want to tell you about him. He often told me about you and your mom. You shouldn't make your mom sad anymore.

(Apolo) Um...I know, but my mom let me go.

(Dina) ...
You'd never change your mind...
OK! I decided! I'm going to go with you. Do you stop me, grandma?

(Witch) No, whatever you want.

(Apolo) Wait! wait! I...

(Dina) I'll follow you on my own, even if you say "No".



(Apolo) Um...No.

(Witch) You are a thoughtless person...like your brother.

(Apolo) Sorry...

(Witch) There is a magical tool called LunaStone in the cave in back of my house. If you have it, you can control the tidal stream.

(Apolo) Oh, really? Thank you so much.

Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.



Phew! Here's Dina's stats. She's a few levels behind, thanks to all that time she wasted standing in her house, but that'll fix itself soon enough. She has only healing magics, and no equipment. I give her the BronzeSword I have spare.



Eat the foods on the table, if you are tired.
I saved your memory.

At this point you can't go back through the tunnel, but luckily the witch will save your game, and the foods will restore you. Like so:



Right! Now that we're fed and watered, time to find the LunaStone!



I'm not a big fan of dungeons where you can't see very far, so at this point I took a break.



Note that an hour and a half have passed. It's nice of the game to not hide the iPhone's info bar. These Red Sickle Frogs aren't much different from the green ones earlier in the game.



MaxHP: +31
MaxMP: +31
AttackP: +4
DefenseP: +24
Speed: +4

They do drop enough experience for Dina to get a level off her first battle, though.

MaxHP: +63
MaxMP:+39
AttackP: +25
DefenseP: +31
Speed: +6
Mega magic came to be usable.

So here's what this dungeon is about: another palette swap, several short dead end paths, a chest with 100G in it, and level ups. Eventually I reach the chamber you can see at the bottom of that last shot:



And that's the dungeon: A tasty and healthful puddle, and the LunaStone. I complained earlier about the low visibility, but the game makes up for it with short dungeons. Which it makes up for with a sometimes ridiculous encounter rate (several times I've gone to take a step after a fight and gotten into another one without having moved). Which it makes up for with battles that start and end in seconds.



MaxHP: +42
MaxMP: +42
AttackP: +6
DefenseP: +32
Speed: +6

Oh, did I say that the dungeon was finished? You have to make your way out first. At least it gave me time for another level up from Dina.



And some chances to try out Apolo's new Mega spell. These shots were taken over two fights because I can't get the iPhone to screenshot fast enough to capture both an attack and the damage it does. Anyway, it does reasonable damage, but usually Apolo will do about as much with his normal attacks. I think that magic can't miss though, which gives it an advantage.



The witch has nothing new to say, but she saves the game for me.



The way back is reopened. I didn't actually try to go through it before, so how Apolo knew it had been closed I don't know.



These two have new dialogue. Everyone else in town is unchanged.



I head down to the vortices and use the check command off the menu. Nothing happens. I freak out and start back towards town, thinking that the game is broken or I was supposed to talk to the witch some more or something, then I think to go back and just press towards the swirl as if I were trying to talk to it.



It works. I guess the LunaStone allows me to change the position of the moon to get tides at my own convenience?



With a new continent come new enemies. The flowers aren't really much of a threat, though.



Dina won't let me explore. I have to go north first.



This little guy's kinda cute.

I get another level just before reaching the castle.



Lots of people left here because of monsters.



He said he was confident of his magics. The king expected him to defeat monsters, but...
Oh, you are his brother, really? However...
The king says he'd never meet anyone anymore.

This doesn't sound too good.



And the King's treasure RoyalRing was stolen.
We are almost doomed.

It's never really explained what the RoyalRing does. Best as I can tell it stops the king from acting like a baby. Here he is without it:



Go away!

Yeah. Just like the soldier said, the king won't meet with me.



The price of this inn is absurd. I won't pay it!



It resore HP and MP of you all 100% at a time. I've heard I can find it in this castle, but...

I'm not sure where the MiracleHerb is, but I'd guess it's behind the king's locked door.



You'd better save your memory anytime.

This lady has a dim view of fortune-telling, for a seer.



Bbb... but I'm not scared at all.



I pick up a MagicCloth armor for Dina, since I can only afford one purchase and she's more got less defence and HP. And that's all I can do in the castle for now. Maybe if I go find the king's lost RoyalRing he'll stop acting like such a baby and I'll be able to get somewhere. Presumably the monsters from the South tower took it.



Apolo's HP:219points plus

All that neglecting the inn has left me a little closer to death than I'd like to be. That Madrill might've taken me out in another couple rounds. I try out Dina's healing magic.



MaxHP: +68
MaxMP: +42
AttackP: +27
DefenseP: +34
Speed: +7

And of course I gain a level after the very next fight, restoring Apolo to full health.

Well, I'm back at the crossroads where Dina wouldn't let me go south before. Will she let me go south now? Tune in next time to find out!

Next time: Yes, obviously she does.

I agree.

I've been designing an iOS app for a few months now at work, so it's interesting to see one here on talking time! I'm sure this game will be much more interesting with its questionable translation than if it were translated perfectly, so this should at least be entertaining. Except for the enemy names, those are just terrible.

Also, I'm betting your brother is the final boss, or at least a normal boss. It will be the tear-jerking, twist ending that no one could possibly see coming, except anyone who has played an RPG! Also he has to be at least 5000 feet tall if he's taking up the entire moon like that in the title screen.

They say it can fly in the air by magical power. I don't know if it's true though. Anyway, nobody can board the ship without the king's permission.

Alrighty, so I've moved to the south where Dina would previously stop me. Unfortunately I can't head east at the moment thanks to this dude. That leaves south.



There's a building down here, and a tower beyond it. A guy in the building lets me rest. I take a look around the store room, but the game's check function is as useless as ever.



A man who was going to the South tower two years ago?. Oh, I remember him. But I've never seen him since then.

Yet more encouraging news. When you try to leave the fort to head towards the south tower, this happens:



Then you have to fight against us before that. If you are weaker than us, you'll be difinitely killed by monsters in the tower.



Go ahead please.

It's actually a pretty tough fight, but since I'm quite strong we pull through.



There's the South tower. Note the skeleton hanging out on the map to the south of the tower. Anyway, take a look at my HP/MP! That won't do.



Right, let's make this happen.



Despite the name, this doesn't seem to inflict poison, it just does damage. In fact I don't think there are status effects in this game, unless you count death.



Dina gets a level, we fight a Visdom, and I find the southern exit of the South tower. What's Mr Skeleton up to?



I know you are stronger than me, I won't fight you.

(Apolo) What are you looking at?

(Skelton) It's obviously Devil'sCastle.

(Apolo) Devil'sCastle...

(Skelton) Hey, don't think about going to there. Even if you are quite confident of sword or magics, the KingDevil is far stronger than you. Still, it's meaningless to think about that. Because you can't go to there unless you can fly.

Apparently the Skelton doesn't know about the SkyShip.



You can just see the Devil'sCastle off to the south.

Back in the tower, I neglect healing (unlike that Visdom) and Dina gets killed. Which is a worry, because I don't have any revive items or spells or anything that I'm aware of. How do I deal with this?



With regular healing magic, as it turns out. Sweet!



There's not much on the second floor, just a puddle.



Who's this chap?



Oh hey, it's my missing bro! I guess that's the end of the game, thanks for reading everyone.



Oh. I guess we'll have to beat some sense into him.



I'm Apolo!! Your brother!!

(Dina) I'm Dina...

(Helios) Apolo? Dina...? I feel I've heard those names somewhere...ow...
Ouch.. I have a headache...
Mmm...No!! I never know you!!
I'm...Helios, KingDevil's vice commander!!





What am I doing?
You...Apolo?
And...D..Dina?
Why are you two...
Three years?
Three years have passed since I left my hometown?
And we are in the tower of monsters...
Oh! I remember!!
When I was learning magics from Dina's grandma...
I heard that the Alto castle was in big trouble with the war against monsters. I was confident of my magical power. I believed I could save the Alto castle. Then, I fought against....against...
Who? Who did I fight against?
No...I don't remember. However, I probably lost. I got it into my head that I was KingDevil's vice commander.
.....
I intensely regret it, but it's too late. Let's go back to the Alto castle anyway. We can jump close to the castle from the back room.
RoyalRing?
Don't worry, I have it.

(Helios got in the party.)

(Apolo got the RoyalRing.)

Well! We've accomplished what we set out to do. I was kind of hoping Helios would just continue to be referred to as "bro" or "that man" for the whole game. Dunno why his name is never mentioned prior to his appearance on screen. Misguided fear of spoilers?



Helios is a few levels ahead, and a way better magic user than my other party members. He gets Megagiga, which is a cool name for a spell if nothing else. It's a fairly strong attack on all enemies. Like every other spell, it has no animation.



Stepping into the circle at the back of the room teleports us back to Altos castle. Handy! Join me next time, when we step inside and the ending starts.

Next time: Or does it?

That's just a thing in Japan. "Dramatic" fiction writers have this pathological aversion to referring to people by name as often as they can manage. It's not even a conscious decision people make at this point, it's just the default behavior.

Also, there's something really amazing to me about these graphics. I mean, yeah, they're terrible, but they're a very specific style of terrible that I've seen before and requires a concentrated effort to achieve. Either that, or there's a particular graphics program that's really popular with makers of garbage pseudo-retro RPGs that happens to come pre-loaded with these texture fills and has an all-too-prominent gradient-fill button.

Man, the translation is the best (only?) selling point of this game.

And it is a doozy~.

"Megagiga" is the best name for anything ever.

Most of that spell list looks like Pokemon names.

Also, Dodongo had better be the next version of that spell.

Man. What is this.
...
I know if I owned an iDevice this would be half of what I used it for. I can't help but find Missing Bro charming.

What about Gogiga Gagagigo?

Like with Sasuke's brother?

Oh dear. The naming schemes for playable characters suggest that this will not end well for anyone...

It's not quite Zero Winglish, but this translation's definitely about on par with the sort of translations we saw back in the NES and early SNES days.

That's surprising.

Welcome back. We've returned to Alto Castle after defeating the boss of the South Tower, who turned out to be my missing bro.



You are alive!



(Apolo) Um...How can I say....

(Dina) Anyway, the chief is no longer in the tower.

(Soldier) Oh, that's enough good!



Ttt...that's surprising.

The people in the castle are clearly thrilled to see us again. Dina pulls a sweet dodge in avoiding telling the guard that the chief monster of the tower is now in our party.



OK, come in.

The king, seeing a chance to get his stuff back, stops being a baby and lets us in.



You really disappointed me, Helios. You are mere human being.

(Helios) What?

(King) Why are you so surprised? Did you forget me who defeated you and changed you to a monster two years ago?

Dun dun dunnnn!



I'd never be easy on you this time. I'll kill you with your brother!!

Man, this guy isn't just a baby, he's a jerk. Why they'd make him king, I don't know.



I guess we were so surprised by his changed appearance that he managed to get the drop on us. Anyway, it's much the same as every other battle in the game: I attack a lot and use Helios' magic (I inflicted 118 damage with Megant, which I guess is pretty good), and heal when I need to. Before too long:



Apparently Henge doesn't know how RPGs work.



As long as the KingDevil is alive, human beings are always facing destruction.

....

Then he disappears.



Wht's that?...Key?

(Apolo got PrisonKey.)

Better check out what's down those stairs.