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In this, the first of three articles, Creative Director at Nnooo Nic Watt will detail some of the components of Spirit Hunters Inc. to illustrate all the different aspects of the game. Spirit Hunters Inc. launches globally on DSiWare next week, so make sure you brush up on these tips to get a head start!

Introduction

In Spirit Hunters Inc you start out as a novice Spirit Hunter who has just joined Spirit Hunters Inc. As a new recruit you need to pop open your NIntendo DSi or Nintendo 3DS wherever you find yourself and hunt, battle and capture as many spirits as you can. The more you defeat the more XP you will get and the quicker you'll level up. The more you capture the more money (in the form of Ghoulders) you will get making it easier to afford all of the cool abilities in the game.

Scanning

After you complete the first training battle you can start out on your spirit hunting career. Just pop open your DSi or 3DS, tap on Scanner and start to look around you. After a couple of seconds the camera will have analysed your environment and puffs of smoke will begin to appear on screen. Just rotate yourself or your DSi/3DS until one is on screen and then tap like there is no tomorrow. Once you have tapped the smoke enough the spirit will become angry and the battle will begin. Note: each puff of smoke will disappear after a few seconds so you can wait it out if you want to hunt a particular element.

Also take note that depending on your level, the time of day and the colours around you different spirits will spawn. So to track all of the spirits down you are going to need to do a bit of exploring!

Abilities, Items and Traps

When the battle starts your ability bar will appear on screen. This bar contains all of the abilities, items and traps you have equipped via the Inventory (so don't forget to use the Inventory to add any new abilities when you buy them).

Just tap on an ability, item or trap to select it and then read the text at the bottom of the Top Screen to see what you need to do to use it. For example, the Fire element can flick Fireballs at their foes. So you would tap on the Fireball ability and then flick towards the spirit to fire out a Fireball. There are many different interaction types so to get the most out of each ability you will need to make sure you learn each ones interaction. Some examples are:

  • Tap and hold on your foe
    ⁃ Holding on your foe will make the ability charge quicker than if you are not
    ⁃ These abilities may lose charge or be weaker if you move off the spirit when casting
  • Tap, hold and avoid your foe
    ⁃ Holding and avoiding your foe will make the ability charge quicker than if you don't
    ⁃ These abilities may lose charge or be weaker if you bump into the spirit when casting them
  • Draw
    ⁃ Use the stylus to draw on the screen
    ⁃ For example, draw a wall of ice around the spirit
    ⁃ Be careful though because drawing through the spirit when drawing a barrier will stop
    the effect
  • Slice
    ⁃ Draw a line to slash the spirit
  • Tap
    ⁃ Tap on the screen to activate the ability
    ⁃ Watch out as some tap abilities will have more of an effect if you tap on the spirit
  • Flick
    ⁃ Flick towards the spirit to fire the ability in that direction

Items are used as soon as you tap on them in the ability bar, so be careful. Finally, traps need to be placed by tapping on the screen. When you place a trap it will bob about and activate as soon as the spirit bumps into it. Depending on how weak the spirit is; how many debuffs (e.g. Slow or Blind) you have on the spirit; how big a level gap there is between you; and how strong the trap is will determine if you are successful in capturing it or not. Note: Each ability has its own cool-down timer so you will need to learn to use different ones before the first one becomes active again. Traps and Items share the same cool-down timer so you can't just keep using them - so be careful!