Doshin the Giant

Doshin the Giant is a Nintendo god simulation game for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. It was originally released in Japan on December 1, 1999, as a launch game disk for the 64DD peripheral for Nintendo 64. A soundtrack by Tatsuhiko Asano was released on CD by Media Factory, early the next year. Both of these received positive reviews. An expansion was released five months later called "Kyojin no Doshin Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgou", which takes a very different perspective of the game, featuring short animated clips that the player can unlock after playing the original game. "Doshin the Giant" was upgraded graphically released for the GameCube in Japan on March 14, 2002, and Europe on September 20, 2002. The re-release received positive reviews.
Story.
The game opens on an island called Barudo, with a spoken narration, by an island native. This man, named Sodoru, who wears a mask on his face, tells the legend of a giant that rises out of the sea as the morning sun rises. As he tells the player this, a yellow giant named Doshin appears from out of the water.
The player then takes control of the giant. Sodoru then tells the player what the other inhabitants of the island want such as trees or hills raised and lowered. He then suggests helping the people, for which they will reward the giant with love, and might build a monument to it. Sodoru then suggests that the giant help bring the four tribes together. It takes Doshin many days to do this, and at the end of each day as the sun sets he returns to the sea. Finally, when every possible combination of tribes has been reached, the islanders then build one final monument called the Tower of Babel, which causes the island and Doshin to sink into the sea, thus killing everyone. However, the next day, a new island appears at sunrise in the shape of Doshin himself, with two members of each of the tribes on it as before. Doshin then walks out onto the island again and the story continues. The GameCube version has one additional ending with the islanders not building a monument this time, but instead a large rocket that blasts them up into space.
Gameplay.
As a god game, "Doshin the Giant"s gameplay revolves around typical god-like abilities and tasks, such as altering the geography, managing natural disasters or answering prayers from simulated worshippers. Its designer Kazutoshi Iida has described it as ""Populous" meets "Mario"".
The player controls the Doshin as he tries to help, or hinder the islands inhabitants. Doing so causes the villagers to release love or hate, which Doshin absorbs. The two feelings cancel each other out, but if he gets enough of one type, he will grow in size. Doshin is the Love Giant, a yellow, featureless giant with a happy face and a few strands of hair. He is a benevolent being whose helpful actions earn love from his people and cause his body to increase in size for a day and return to normal size the next day. He can pick up objects such as people and trees. Doshin can transform at will into his evil alter ego Jashin, the Hate Giant. In the GameCube version, he has wings and clawed feet and inspires Hate monuments that are slightly different from the Love monuments Doshin can earn. Jashin is known to be a destructive force to the natives, the opposite of Doshin's nature. With his bad actions, people show him their dislike, and he increases in size. The only thing the two giants have in common is that both have an outie belly button. Although he cannot pick up things, he can send streams of fire across the land, destroying structures in their way. Doshin and Jashin can both raise and lower terrain.
The four native tribes on the island are separated with the color of their clothing (red, green, yellow, blue). The female natives are dressed in a sleeveless, uni-colored gown of their tribe's color. The male natives wear a kilt and hat of their tribe's color, but remain shirtless, also showing outie belly buttons. In the GameCube version the people also raise farm animals, and there are fish in the water. There are several threats that also endanger the villagers, such as tornadoes, volcanoes, fires, being crushed by Doshin, and even jealous tribe members named "Naughties".
An album stores photographic snapshots of the gameplay itself, and the player can examine a monument gallery closely for more information. In the GameCube version, completing the game unlocks a "New Map" option with various islands and various themed layouts and textures.
Developer Kazutoshi Iida notes "the sheer simplicity of the user-interface, as the game can be played without numbers or letters". He added, "Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo has said that computer games incorporate a world-wide common language, and "Doshin" illustrates this very clearly."
Reception.
"Doshin the Giant" was first publicly displayed at Nintendo's Space World '99 trade show on August 27–29, 1999. Developer Kazutoshi Iida recalled a "continuous line of people queued to use the eight playable test units, and the 'Large Screen Experience'". He said that the foreign press received the game "very enthusiastically".
"Doshin the Giant" was a hit game in Japan, peaking at #1 and becoming the ninth best-selling game of 2002. In the UK, it peaked at #9 and is the 65th best-selling game (and 22nd best-selling GameCube game) of 2002 and hit the top of the GameCube charts. Doshin went on to appear as a trophy in "Super Smash Bros. Melee", holding a villager in his hands; Jashin appears as a secret trophy in the lottery as Hate Giant.
Drew Mackie of the "Singing Mountain" podcast noted the game for its "trippy tropicalia" soundtrack and said it was "worth a second look".
"Kyojin no Doshin: Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō".
Kyojin no Doshin Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō is a 64DD expansion to the original, released on June 30, 2000. It requires the "Doshin the Giant" disk to operate.
Gameplay.
In the game, a child is told to go to sleep and is pulled out of bed and through the window, into a world of dreams. There, Doshin is now imprisoned, and the child can tinkle 2D hearts on people and the giant. The main objective of the game is to watch the 17 mini black and white movies collectively titled "More Than Giant". The player must repeatedly go back and forth between the two disks to verify that monuments were built in game 1, and to complete tasks that the "Queen Companions" request of them.
Another objective is to free Doshin from his imprisonment, by causing him to grow larger than his cage. This will cause the game credits to begin.
The player can also gather help to free Doshin. After creating monuments in "Doshin 1" and their counterpart pavilions, children will appear in the Expo area. The player can tinkle on them with their hearts, and they will join the player's team, becoming "Teamers" or teamsters. There are two other teams that the player can choose from at the start of the game. When enough pavilions are completed the player can battle the other teamster groups in a tinkle contest. If the player wins, the loser's team members become neutral and can be added to their team. The team can be made of up to six other children. This gives the player six times more tinkling hearts that can be poured onto Doshin to try and free him.
The player is given a meter for love which they can use on the other people, billboards, or Doshin. However, if the heart becomes too full, or the player is beaten at a tinkle contest, it causes the player to wake up. After Doshin is released the player's character wakes up to find that they now have a stained blanket, which the mother lectures the child about. At this moment Doshin appears from behind the parent, and part of the child jumps into dreamland, as a Queen Companion appears asking if the player wants to play again. From that point the credits begin as the camera descends down a manhole.
Reception.
Peer Schneider of IGN rated the game at 2.5 out of 10, citing the graphics, controls, and gameplay. He said it "[l]ooks and plays like it was programmed in two weeks. Controls are bad" and "this add-on disk is a glorified movie player." The only thing he found appealing about the game was its presentation, saying that "[t]he Param team definitely has a sense of humor. Both "Doshin" games will make you laugh because they're so absurd." He ended his review of the game with one word: "Painful".