Doraemon is a plump, blue cat that can talk to humans and pull any item he can think of from his “Miracle Pocket,” a magic pouch on his belly. On top of that, Doraemon has many young friends and is always getting into trouble, especially over paste-filled cakes called Dora-yakis.

Although Doraemon has never been formally introduced to North America, he is undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters of Japanese pop culture. The big goofy cat from the Land of the Rising Sun is the creation of famed manga artist, the late Fujiko F. Fujio. Much like Snoopy & Charlie Brown persisting after the death of Charles M. Schultz, Doraemon continues to delight the people of Japan and makes appearances in (among other things) video games.

During the N64’s early days, some N64 owners imported the first Doraemon N64 adventure, simply because 3D platformers (not to mention, games) were in short quantity following Mario 64’s explosive debut. From almost all accounts, Doraemon was a mediocre title and didn’t see a domestic release.

The latest Doraemon game is called Doraemon: Green Planet's Doki Doki Big Rescue! for Game Boy Advance. Mobile 21 is developing the game with Epoch publishing. Like previous Doraemon games, it will be another platformer, yet in 2D with an overhead view. The graphics look really colorful and already looking greatly improved from screens we saw from months back.

Although Doraemon is the star of the game, his friends take on playable roles. Screenshots indicate you may need different characters for certain parts of the game. What gameplay distinctions there are between characters, if any, is not known however.

The plot of the game seems unclear, though one screenshot implies children being influenced by some kind of mind control coming from space. Here's a quick translation of the story thanks to Babelfish:

“From girl sincere of the planet of the green which leaves far, the message which calculates help the gong obtaining reaches is. It faces to her rescue by the space lifeboat, but receiving attack from the aggressors, after crash landing, the ‚Ð to see you take the instrument. The gong obtaining it is with from the midst of the companions operating favorite the character, while the ‚Ð seeing recovering the instrument, it keeps starting helping the resident who is caught to the aggressors.”

So uh...there ya go.

Doraemon: Green Planet's Doki Doki Big Rescue! will also include 4-player mode and other interesting options like a calendar feature. On top of that, Doraemon supports the Mobile GB Adaptor for online play. The extent of these online functions is unknown.

The game will released in Japan today (April 27, 2001) and is set to retail for 4,800 yen (excluding tax). Since it is a platformer with (seemingly) little Japanese text, it is possible that this could be a game worth importing, we’ll keep our. Naturally, don’t expect this game to appear outside Japan.