Doshin the Giant

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, Doshin, a yellow giant 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 destroying 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, however, has one additional ending with the islanders not building a monument this time, but instead a large rocket that blasts them up into space. This ending has similarities with the beginning of Nintendo's Pikmin, which starts with a crashing ship and the survivor meeting three different colored plant type creatures.

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, helpful being who, with his good actions, earns love from his people and increases in size (only for that day; by the next day, he is back to normal size). He can pick up people trees and other such things. 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 exact opposite to 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."

Other features of the game include the following: an album of photographic snapshots of the gameplay itself; and a monument gallery, where the player can look at the monument close up and find out information about it. In the GameCube version, after completing the game, a "New Map" option is unlocked. This option has various islands with different 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 Space World '99. The game's 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".

It was fantastic to see the captivated expressions of the young children, some of whom came on each of the three days especially to play 'Doshin'! During the project, we hadn't given much thought to the target market, but we were very pleased by its obvious attraction for children. This attraction isn't really surprising, since children, more than anyone, have a burning desire to grow in size. Thinking back to my own childhood, I recall being very enamoured by anything gigantic, so their reaction could actually have been anticipated.

Doshin the Giant was a hit game in Japan, peaking at Japan's number-one, and becoming the ninth best-selling game of 2002. In the UK, Doshin the Giant peaked at number-nine and was the UK's sixty-fifth best-selling game of 2002 and hit the top of the GameCube charts and was the twenty-second best-selling GameCube game of 2002. With its fame, Doshin went on to appear as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was shown holding a villager in his hands. He was called the Love Giant as the title of the Trophy, but called Doshin in the entry. Jashin appears as a secret trophy in the lottery as Hate Giant.

Kyojin no Doshin: Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō

Kyojin no Doshin Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō (巨人のドシン解放戦線チビッコチッコ大集合, lit. "Doshin the Giant: Tinkling Toddler Liberation Front! Assemble!") is an expansion to the original, released on June 30, 2000 for 64DD. It requires the original 64DD version of Doshin the Giant 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. In this dream world, Doshin is now imprisoned, and the child can "Tinkle" 2D hearts on people and even the giant himself. 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 and the player can "tinkle" on them with their hearts, and they will join the players team. Becoming what are known as "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 "Love" meter that fills with love, which they can use on the other people, billboards, or Doshin himself. 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 they want 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".