NCS Product Synopsis
Original Update: June 15, 2006
«©NCSX» Rousseau is an average student who hangs out with friends, gets harassed by a bully with a pompadour, and just for giggles, sneaks into museums at night for some thieving. Best described as an interactive comic book with a doodling element, Kaitou Rousseau begins with a view of a moon overhead while a stately manse sits on a bush-covered estate. Rousseau opens the entrance with ease and slips in... only to trigger the security alarm. Guards converge on his location and catch sight of the wiry thief. Rushing away in a bid for escape, Rousseau runs into a dead end. Not all is lost however. He has the ability to draw a visage of a guard and graft it over his own face so that the security detail is completely baffled and gives up the chase for the time being...
Sale Offering: NCS' remaining inventory of Kaitou Rousseau for the Japanese Nintendo DS is new, factory boxed, and in excellent condition.
Original Date of Release in Japan: June 15, 2006
Product SKU: NTR-P-ARSJ / Jan Code: 4582224496105 / NCS Sale of the Day Archive
NCS Game Notes
» In the intro to the game, Rousseau runs from two rent-a-cops and fools them by standing next to a mother and child. He's drawn an exact likeness of the mother's face and pastes it over his own to disguise himself. Complete with kewpie pie lips. The rest of the cast members are introduced in the intro along with evildoers in silhouette who Rousseau will encounter during the game.
» In addition to world class thievery and obfuscation, Rousseau also engages in the mundane day-to-day of school life and dealing with friends and a pompadour-wearing bully of a teacher.
» Two levels of difficulty are available - players may opt to play the game with blue trace lines drawn in the objects so that you just trace over them to perform doodling duties. For a higher level of challenge, players may select no trace lines so that you have to actually draw and match the target item.
» After drawing a doodle well, you'll be ranked an "A" or "B" and your work will be good enough to pass muster. If you draw something exceedingly poorly - as in the lines don't even match the underlying work - you'll earn a "C" and lose.
» As mentioned earlier, Kaitou Rousseau plays very much like an interactive comic book. As the comic plays out, the panels move upwards and the previous panel is shown on the top screen while the current panel is on the bottom screen. Every panel must be manually clicked through to progress - there's no automatic advancement and a little red arrow on the bottom screen waits to be clicked before the next panel appears.
Complete Step by Step for the First Scenario - Spoilers
1) First scene: The moon peeks behind a swath of clouds and an envelope flies into the screen which describes the mission at hand. The camera switches to a view of a stately museum while the moon hovers overhead.
2) The wily Rousseau opens the door with uncanny ease and slips in like a shadowy operative. Despite his stealthy skill, he nevertheless trips the alarm which sends two flat-footed guards in pursuit.
3) Hero makes a dash for it and spies a light overhead that may prove useful. A cut sequence plays which offers some game play hints and switches the camera view to outside the building again. Tap on the lighted room and read up on some more hints and game play mechanics.
4) Back inside, the guards are still running and Rousseau needs an out. Tap on the closest light and he'll leap up onto it like an acrobat and swing across... knocking the guards down. Resuming his dash, Rousseau runs right into a dead end.
5) The two guards recover and are running after him once again. With nowhere to escape, he does the next best thing - he disguises himself to look like one of the guards. To initiate the disguise sequence, tap on one of the guards and then tap on the smiling red Cheshire cat icon on the upper right side of the screen. Five green bars will appear - you'll want to tap on the last bar to start. Stare at the picture in the upper screen and then draw the features of the guard as you see them. The "artwork" is rudimentary and consists of four elliptical strokes and two dots for the eyes. Once you're done and satisfied with your handiwork, tap on the green option button on the lower right side of the screen to submit your work. An animation will play where Rousseau poses like a superhero and disguises himself with the artwork. If you want to erase your last stroke, tap on the green option button on the upper right corner of the screen. A pencil icon, a colored pencil icon, and an eraser are below it and serve as your tools.
6) After the disguise sequence, Roussea stands against the wall as the guards approach and sniff around. As long as your work is clean and fairly close to the original image, they'll accept you as a guard and proceed on their investigation away from you.
7) Rousseau walks away beaming but four guards soon spot him and the chase resumes. Surrounded by guards, Rousseau initiates another disguise - this time to look like a window. Yes, a window. To start, tap on the window behind him and tap on the red smiling cat icon again.
8) The window sequence consists of drawing four straight lines. That's it. If your hand is somewhat shaky, you'll still pass as long as the lines don't stray too far away from the original. When you're done, tap on the green option icon on the lower right and watch as the guards accept you for being a window... A window with a body underneath. Wow.
9) Fooled once again, the guards vamoose and Rousseau resumes his skulking. He eventually finds a door with a pass code terminal protecting it. Tap on the device and then tap on the first code which consists of five small ovals. Draw them accurately and the door unlocks immediately.
10) Rousseau meets a princess of a gal inside who wears a tiara. Elated to see her rescuer, the girl rises up and moves in closer to reward Rousseau. Somewhat taken aback, he edges away until she gives him a smooch...
11) Rousseau wakes up in class. His teacher with a pompadour is poking at him with a stick. After a short conversation, he slumps back on top of his desk which raises the ire of sensei. With fiery eyes and smoking temperament, he lifts Rousseau up and roughs him up.
12) Back down at his desk, he looks around and sees a classmate sitting behind him who was the princess earlier...
13) Class is over and he's with two friends and they chat a bit. This sequence consists of just tapping between the three boys to progress further. First tap on the boy with glasses and then tap on the boy to the left. The game offers a game tip where past dialogue screens may be viewed by pressing the "R-Trigger" to scroll through them in reverse sequential order. To move forward, press the "L-Trigger"
14) Tap on the boy to the left again to rouse up the red haired girl who greets the three boys. Tap on the boy to the left and then tap on the third green menu option.
15) Outside of school, the princess is running home when she's intercepted by a chubby guy with a sprig of blond hair on his head. He uses chloroform to knock her out and tosses her into the back seat. Rousseau is leaving school and spies the back of her legs on the backseat and challenges the kidnapper. Tap on the car to elicit a blustery response from the villain. Next tap on the brute and then tap on his face and then his belly. Three green options will appear followed by a fourth smaller option button. Tap on the top three selections to elicit responses and then tap on the fourth one to exit.
16) Tap on the villain again and a zombie-like human will appear. At first, you will only see his grey colored arm. Tap on the elbow of the creature. Tap it again and he'll be shown with his piano key teeth and skull-shaped head. Tap on him again and he'll raise up a chattering stream of gibberish but the portly villain scares both him and Rousseau away again. The zombie mounts an attack with a wooden plank but the villain bounces him away. At this point, a policeman in a car drives up to investigate the commotion. While his back is to the camera, tap on the car. He'll go to investigate and pull out a... pink blow-up doll of some sort. Tap on the other characters to get their reaction and then tap on the cop again. Thinking that the doll was all that's fishy about the vehicle, he cuffs the zombie and leaves. At this point, the option to save your progress is shown. Scenario One over...
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