Invizimals

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Dr. Bob Dawson: Creatures! Made out of energy! Amazing! And when hit... sparks fly off their bodies!

Invizimals is a PSP-exclusive Mon-catching game for the PSP.

A Mad Scientist working with other Mad Scientists in the Sony PSP R&D lab discovers invisible animals that can only be seen when a person with a particularly powerful aura uses the PSP camera attachment. His sensors indicate you have a very powerful aura, so he proceeds to teach you how to capture these creatures.

The game combines live-action briefings with gameplay that takes place through the PSP's camera and microphone. Warning: It also contains Brian Blessed.


Tropes used in Invizimals include:
  • Badass Adorable - Par fort the course in a Mon game. Many of the unevolved Invizimals curl up to sleep on their status pages, adding to the adorable factor.
  • Big Bad - Campbell hired Kaminsky to steal the technology to capture Invizimals.
  • Blue Blood - Sir Sebastian Campbell.
  • Commonplace Rare - An attempt to steal the technology to capture Invizimals is central to the plot, and yet there are trainers all over the world who already have it and are waiting to do battle...
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors - A common feature with Mon games, it's here too.
  • Gotta Catch Em All - It's a Mon game.
  • Insistent Terminology - In the west, we call it an "X" button. Kenichi calls it "the cross button." Of course, he's from Japan.
  • Large Ham - Did I mention Brian Blessed?
  • Mon - They exist. They are called "Invizimals."
  • No Fourth Wall - In an effort to take this as far as possible, the interface is a physical card that you point the camera at, making the gameplay take place in the camera view of where-ever you physically are.
    • Also, there is no player character, only the player.
  • Product Placement - Oddly, for the system the game is played on. The characters never fail to mention it's on the PSP.
  • Punny Name - The Invizimals themselves tend towards these, including: Bearserker, Porcupain, Furmin...
  • Trademark Favorite Food - Kenichi loves "snacks."
  • Title Drop - While it's to be expected in a game named for the major gameplay element, Kenichi explicitly names them in an early briefing, as though he just came up with that name on the spot.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential - In addition to battling the Invizimals against each other, at least two of the creatures are caught by sneaking quietly up on them[1] and slapping your hand flat down on top of them as fast as you can, effectively crushing your new pet the moment you see it. It's completely unharmed, of course.
  • World of Ham - In addition to the aforementioned Brian Blessed,[2] Kenichi Nakamura, the aforementioned discoverer of the titular mons is fond of scenery as well. And snacks. The first trainer Hunter you get video of is pretty ham-tastic as well.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz - The game logo emphasizes this. Apparently, the title is not Invizimals, but inviZimals

Did I mention it's on the PSP?

  1. The game uses the microphone often
  2. I did mention him, right?