The story behind Rocket Slime is rather simple. The Plob has ransacked Boingburg, and slimenapped everyone except for our hero, Rocket. Thus, Rocket is on a quest to save everyone, rebuild Boingburg, and in the process, get revenge against the Plob.

Save for the Monster Tank battles, which I'll get to soon enough, what really makes Rocket Slime stand out is its endearing translation. Instead of having "Inventory," you have "Swag." At the end of a long day's slurp, you goo straight to bed. At another point, a fellow character remarks, "Thanks Squishy, you're solid." The tagline for the Pyramaniac, a pyramid-shaped tank, reads "Doesn't fight Pharaoh." Full of puns and nods to various other Square Enix games, including Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, the humorous script is a clear labor of love.

In the gameplay department, Rocket Slime is divided into dungeons and Monster Battles. During the dungeons, Rocket Slime is reminiscent of Zelda in that it's all about exploring and solving puzzles, with the occasional off-limits section requiring Rocket to return later on. Throughout these dungeons, a map on the top screen helps players to track exactly where they've been so far.

As our hero hops around, he can toss items and enemies into the air by stretching and slamming into them with the A button, referred to as the Elasto Blast, and up to three of these airborne objects can be balanced on top of his head. The lowest object on the stack can then be thrown, and Rocket has the ability to reorder the stack, incredibly handy for puzzles and holding onto select items.

Anything that Rocket's carrying around can be sent back to Boingburg via the railroads that populate each dungeon, and every object, enemies included, have their uses back in town. Enemies become town residents, often with amusing results, and statues are constructed in the museum after a certain number have been captured. The various items all become ammunition for the Monster Tank battles. And the more town residents are rescued and sent back to Boingburg, the more the town gets cleaned up, the more options become available, the more items Rocket receives as rewards, and perhaps most importantly, the larger the available crew for the Monster Tank.

Of course, it takes a bit of time to get to the point where the townsfolk will help Rocket out in the battlefield. First, Rocket himself needs to acquire a firm grasp of the Monster Tank mechanics. As Rocket explores dungeons, he’ll run across pedestals, from which enemies will challenge him to a Monster Tank duel. After summoning the Monster Tanks, the participants hop inside their respective tank and get to work.

Within the tank, various chutes randomly disperse ammunition, which can then be thrown into either of the two main cannons. One cannon fires items in an arc-like trajectory, and the other one fires them straight ahead. Once fired, an item's slow transition to the other tank can be tracked on the top screen.

However, there's a catch. The opposing tank has the exact same setup, and if two items happen to collide in midair, regardless of strength, they'll destroy each other. Once a Monster Tank has lost enough of its health, its core will be vulnerable, which Rocket must head over and disable to finish the fight.

This results in some very interesting strategies. You can play defensively, firing only when fired upon, amassing a plethora of strong items that will leave the enemy without hope of defense. You can play offensively, firing whatever whenever you can, though this leaves you vulnerable to attack. You can attack primarily from one cannon, and only use the other when defensive measures are called for. But with only Rocket at the helm, there's not as much potential for strategy as there could be. And just as players come to terms with the battle mechanics and realize this, that's when the crew option shows up.

The addition of a three-slime crew really opens up the tank battles and allows for a much more diverse assortment of strategies. Each crew member has two actions they can perform, and the wide variety of these abilities and the large number of available crew members ensure players will be able to concentrate on their favorite part of battle. There are slimes that will throw items into one specific cannon, slimes that will protect the tank from invaders, and even slimes that focus on infiltrating the enemy's tank and stealing their ammunition. Personally, I found myself rather fond of an all-offensive crew that would handle firing while I went over and kept the enemy crew so busy they couldn't fire back.

What's really cool is that these cunning strategies, crew and all, carry over to the multiplayer section of the game. Now you're playing against a human opponent who has the potential to be just as devious as you are, and with the various tanks and crew members at one’s disposal, multiplayer can be both incredibly challenging and fulfilling. Up to four players, two in each tank, can compete, but since each player is required to have their own cartridge and the game doesn't support online play via Nintendo WiFi Connection, the chances for epic four-player Monster Tank battles aren't all that great. Fortunately, two players are quite enough for an enjoyable multiplayer experience, and the ability to modify a tank’s HP before the fight helps to keep things balanced when players of different skill levels face off. Additionally, Rocket Slime owners can send a Monster Tank battle demo and a surfing mini-game to any DS, which may prove useful in convincing others to grab the game and duke it out via multiplayer.

Rocket Slime only falters in that the cartridge allows for just one save slot, upsetting if you're the type that lives with another gamer or loans games to friends. Also, most will finish the game in under ten hours, but they're such an entertaining ten hours that I’m hesitant to say it's a bad thing. After all, I'd rather have a short enjoyable experience over a long tedious one. Still, when you've got a game like Rocket Slime, you don't really want it to end, a high compliment coming from someone who prefers short games (at both a personal and professional level) as they're easier to squeeze between deadlines.

Delightfully charming and downright heartwarming, it's hard not to fall in love with Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. The gameplay is simple yet addictive, and the varying strategies of the Monster Tank battles keep things from feeling stale, something that’s highlighted through the title’s multiplayer mode. Meanwhile, the translation is one of Square Enix's best, the lighthearted and pun-centric dialog known to cause laughter and smiles regardless of one's experience with the Square Enix catalog of games. A top-notch product in all regards, Rocket Slime is one of those rare DS games everyone can, and should, enjoy.