When Atlus’ Nintendo DS Surgery game was unveiled, its originality and unique premise were immediately striking. The DS’ stylus-based operation suits the notion perfectly, and so it seems, this might be an idea that spawns a waiting-room full of imitators. Indeed, having discovered the concept behind Spike’s only announced DS title: the amusingly named Intern Tendo Dokuta (Intern [Nin]‘Tendo Doctor), it would seem that the ‘hospital adventure’ is now establishing itself as a self-contained genre.
Tendo Dokuta places DS players in the role of a junior doctor. On the bottom of the two screens, you are presented with an ailed expanse of flesh. As you rub your stylus over the virtual-patient’s anatomy, you have to watch their face react on the upper screen. By doing this, you can identify the problem area and then proceed to remedy it. It does sound like a fun idea, but it could be a ‘difficult’ game to play in public.
If you were to glance over someone’s shoulder as they played this, you would see them rubbing digital naked skin with a small plastic pen in an effort to get a young anime girl to screw up her face and let out a loud moan. It’s an embarrassment-factor that we shall have to learn to live with, because Intern Tendo Dokuta could be a classic. That is, if it ever gets released outside of Japan.
Expect more DS software news as soon as it surfaces.