Towelket One More Time 3

Towelket One More Time 3 is a game of the Towelket One More Time series (DUH!) made in Rm2k by Kanao (Kanashimi Hocchikisu) and translated by the Patchy Illusion Team. I checked around the web... and I realized that this is the FIRST episode of the series, and that's why I'll start reviewing from this one.
But FIRST mind that despite the cute custom graphics this series features dark humor and gore, NSFW moments, sex and violence (well, in the end this is not much different from a classical South Park episode isn't it? It even features children protagonists!). Apparently it's also similar to Earthbound, but I never played that one so I could not confirm or deny (shame on me!).

Anyway are you ready? Let's see this Towelket One More Time 3. One game, Three stories:

- The Kisechu Empire composed by tiny aliens commanded by six leaders that wear fish-hats tries to conquer Earth.
- Two kids are reduced to a tiny size due to an accident with a magical book.
- A young girl, Cochette, is kidnapped by some tiny white bears called Pon, whose leader has an unhealthy obsession towards her.

Do you see something in common among these three sentences? Yes, all about TINY people. The game in fact starts with our protagonist shrinking to a 1/10 of the size and all the adventure takes place in this reduced dimension (the kids were magically miniaturized, while the rest like the aliens, rats and insect are clearly naturally small!).


Bold words! But can you back them with some strenght? Also... who's this Pian guy? Play and see! (anyway like Cochette it's another recurring character)

But first the game introduces the aliens that are trying to invade earth and then we can choose our character: a boy named Kachil or a girl Goko-chan, even if you can edit the name if you want. In any case there isn't much difference, our hero or heroine is a silent protagonist.

The game is a story-heavy adventure/role-playing game that starts when the protagonist and his/her sister, Kimiru (a much more talkative redhead kid with round twin hairbuns and a bright pink dress that will also become the second party member) are reduced to a tiny size due to an accident with a magical book and then sucked by the vacuum cleaner. Then the real adventure begins!

This is a classic Rm2k adventure but the first thing you will probably notice is the more complex menu, available immediately after the prologue: this lets you open the classic rpgmaker menu (used to equip and use items, and review the party members), select the Helper, that's a fourth party member that is chosen among those collected during the adventure, save, buy new Skills (that are bought spending points earned in combat, and consist in special attacks, healing and buffs abilities), enter the Mind section (that contains unlockables, some extra cutscenes but also the possibility to buy Elemental Spells, this time spending normal cash) or exit the game.
A nice feature is that when you buy new Spells or Skills these are placed into the inventory so you can decide who learns what. Cool isn't it?


Here's the interface and the expanded menu on the upper left corner. Oh and see this place, the hideout of a really obsessed creature!

Of course skills and spells are needed because the game involves combat, and it's a classic Rpgmaker2000 system with front view enemies and no battlers. Skills and Spells cost MP (magic points) of course, and these are replenished with consumables, as the HP (hit points), but I'll suggest you to spare some money do upgrade weapons and armors, of course, and visit hotels or use beds to heal the party.
Loot is found interacting with everything (not just chests, drawers and dressers but also plants! So go on and interact with everything, if no loot is available at least you'll read a description... funny, creepy or both!).

Now, combat: you can save anywhere, anytime (YES!), there are NO random encounters (YES!), and most enemies can be avoided, except for the boss enemies, of course. Normal enemies aren't really aggressive, you may often just avoid them, but I liked to fight just to see their different sprites, getting some money and experience in the process. Anyway they are often pretty weak, no need to grind (but you can, exiting a re-entering a map often respawn enemies AND some loot for example the blue/red mushrooms in one particular area, so you can take advantage of this), the game is already generous with loot, anyway for example I had fun wiping out every enemy at the marriage part because I was able to one-shot each of them, so in five minutes I got two levels and a lot of money (150 each battle was a lot) with zero effort!


This is one of the terrible Fish-hat leaders! Guess what? It's time for an epic boss fight, and Pucchi knows this!

Boss enemies are a different matter: first they often have a ton of Hitpoints and some nasty skills that can for example blind or weaken the party members. In any case they were never too challenging, damage output was quite low, so it's ok, I found combat in this game rather easy.

Despite the unusual setting and (the numerous and weird) playable heroes this game is a classic Jrpg. Oh and speaking about the heroes there are a lot of playable characters, while you can select the guest character, the other three characters vary depending on the events of the game.

Graphically the game is extremely colorful and cute, there are a lot of different creatures from insects and rats to talking vegetables and other weird beings, mind that there is depiction of violence and gruesome deaths of some characters, I mean the aliens for example have torture chambers, and they are pretty serious with those! The game also features a particularly lecherous characters, so... well you've been warned, anyway nothing visual for this aspect, just some creepy scenes and dialogues!
Anyway the graphics are extremely cute, mapping is well done and there are a ton of different environments and locations, from sewers to a garden (huge because we're tiny, of course), and even starships.
Then the music... expect some unexpected music like "La donna è mobile" (canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi's 1851 opera Rigoletto) or the classic "'O sole mio" (a well-known Neapolitan song written in 1898) for example. Ok, unusual choice, still probably better than the usual classic jrpgs rips or Rtps, so yes, I like that very much!


An epic intergalactic war between different beings for the destiny of Earth awaits you!

Final Verdict
Towelket One More Time 3 is a cool, charming game. I loved it, I am going to give a 4.5/5 (but I should be more impartial!), anyway I want to play some more of the series. Anyway it deserve a 4.5/5 for the unique graphics, the translation is very good and there are just some minor issues like a bugged skill that does not work (and was indicated by the translators) or the lack of a tutorial (the expanded menu is not explained in game but it's all pretty easy to figure out!), but nothing much else (also look elsewhere if you want an original gameplay, complex puzzles or real challenges). Maybe it's too easy, but for this reason I was able to focus on the story, since it's a game about going around, fighting enemies and watching cutscenes. And upgrading the team between events since you'll always encounters places to rest and buy upgrades here and there.

All classic, what makes the game stand out is the wacky story and characters: from the brave and strong Cochelle (hot tempered Tsundere) to hopeless Pon Groom, the android Pucchi and the magic Heart cat Nekoashi-Konbu, but let's not forget the fish-hat baddies! It's also fun to play and entertaining in my opinion. Oh and this great adventure took me about 4-5 hours to complete, never getting boring or uninteresting!

Anyway we'll see what happens next in Towelket One More Time 2, that it seems it's set about 20 years after Towelket One More Time 3! But this is a story for another review!