zoo keeper for nintendo ds

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Wouter Groeneveld 2023-05-23 14:44:27 +02:00
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---
title: "Zoo Keeper a.k.a. Animal Bejeweled"
date: 2023-05-23T13:30:00+02:00
score: 2
game_release_year: 2004
howlongtobeat_id: 11590
howlongtobeat_hrs: 5.3
game_name: "Zoo Keeper"
game_developer: 'Success'
game_genre: 'Puzzle'
tags:
- 'puzzle'
---
The rise and fall of web-based Flash games netted us a permanent addiction to tile-matching games ever since PopCap's _Bejeweled_ in 2001 and its innumerable subtle and not so subtle ripoffs. Zoo Keeper is one of the latter ones, initially also a Flash game built by the Japanese Robot Communications, which [can still be played](https://archive.org/details/zookeeper_flash) in your favorite browser thanks to Archive.org's Flash-emulator. Success Corporation fleshed out the concept and released it for Nintendo DS, which was later ported under the title _Zookeeper DX_ for smartphones.
The question is: what can a _Bejeweled_ clone offer besides another skin?
Not much, it turns out.
The game plays (almost) exactly like _Bejeweled_ does: match three or more tiles horizontally or vertically in a grid full of randomly placed cartoony animal heads, and they disappear, possibly creating a chain while a column or row drops and forms another set. A timer in the form of a reverse progress bar is supposed to keep things interesting, while certain modes spice things up a bit by having you match certain animals while avoiding others before moving on to the next challenge.
The biggest difference between _Zoo Keeper_ and its gemstoney counterpart is the ability to make a move while the previous move is still resolving, opening op a very small window of opportunity to form more chains before the animation completes and the action resolves. This can be difficult to pull of but is, admittedly, satisfying, even though the excitement quickly wears off a moment later when the staring continues trying to quickly locate two crocodiles and a third one close by. As you make your way through "Zoo Keeper" mode, a new animal type appears after about an hour of play: the bunny. I thought it was something special, but to my disappointment, I found out it's just another combo to be made.
![](puzzle.jpg "This is what you'll be doing for hours and hours: match animal heads! Right: if you're struggling to find potential combinations, the binoculars will highlight possible moves.")
_Zoo Keeper_ comes with five different modes: Zoo Keeper mode (capture a set number of animals to complete a level), Tokoton (a sort of unlimited mode; capture 100 animals per level), Quest (ten different assignments that get scored), Time Attack (6 minutes), and 2P Battle. The difficulty can be ramped up to hard or toned down to easy in the options menu, but other than that, there's little variation. Tokoton is just Zoo Keeper mode with a different quota and Quest mode is finished in 15 minutes---and comes with laughably bad English translations as your boss tells you what to do or grades your performance.
In order to properly rate a game such as this one, we have to go back in time and imagine it's December 2004: the Nintendo DS has just been released and _Zoo Keeper_ was [a launch game in Japan](https://altarofgaming.com/launch-titles/nintendo/nintendo-ds/), along _Feel the Magic_, _Mr. Driller_, _Pokémon Dash_, _Polarium_, and _WarioWare Touched_. This means only _Polarium_ was a direct puzzle competitor, but being a far more brainy typical for Japanese-like puzzlers, while _Zoo Keeper_ can certainly be considered addictive but braindead. If you loved wasting time in the browser sliding jewels back and forth, you certainly would have loved carrying a Nintendo DS loaded with _Zoo Keeper_ to do exactly the same on the go.
Unfortunately, twenty years later, the rather simplistic gameplay hasn't aged particularly well. After two hours, I was bored to death. But then again, I never was that big of a fan of Flash-based time wasters in the first place. Still, [Candy Crush and the like](https://www.polygon.com/2014/2/26/5428104/from-bejeweled-to-candy-crush-finding-the-key-to-match-3) prove that nowadays there's still a huge market for these kinds of games, although they come fully equipped with bells and whistles. That same Polygon article discusses the fine lines between straight clones and adding extra layers of gameplay mechanics, and although they mention _Puzzle Quest_ which introduced RPG elements, _Zoo Keeper_ seems to be forgotten---perhaps with good reason.
![](menu.jpg "Left: Available modes in Zoo Keeper. Right: Quest mode; your boss hands out a specific assignment ten times.")
If you're still in the market for a simple _Bejeweled_-like experience with cute animal heads and want to waste time without thinking too much, then by all means give _Zoo Keeper_ a try. If you'd rather install a free version on your phone that introduces the concept of "battles", try the modern iteration [Zoo Keeper Battle](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.kiteretsu.zookeeperbattle.google&hl=en) instead, available on both iOS and Android. As for _Bejeweled_ itself, of course multiple versions (_Bejeweled 3_; 2011, _Bejeweled Twist_; 2009) eventually made it to the Nintendo DS, but much later than _Zoo Keeper_.
Happy tile matching!

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