Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is a Nintendo DS game that was released in 2006. It is a spin off of the immensely popular Dragon Quest series of RPGs. Rocket Slime is for the most part not an RPG at all, but an action/adventure game. The player controls Rocket, a citizen of the city of Boingburg, a city of Slimes. The city is attacked by a group of evildoers known as the Plob. Of the 101 citizens of Boingburg, only Rocket escapes, and he is charged with the task of rescuing all of his friends.

Players adventure through various areas searching for the treasure chests that other slimes are being held in, using some standard jumping as well as Rocket's Elasto Blast technique to travel around. The Elasto Blast has players hold a button and a direction for a moment and then release, flinging Rocket in any direction. This is useful for getting around as well as defending against monsters. When players use the Elasto Blast, any enemies or items they hit fly into the air. By watching the shadows on the ground the Rocket can catch any of these items and balance them on his head (up to three at a time) and can use various carts throughout levels to send these enemies and items back to town. Collecting enemies has its own rewards, but the advantages of collecting items are more immediately clear. Early on Rocket obtains the Schleiman tank and must use it do battle with enemy tanks throughout the game. Players can use literally any items that they obtain as ammunition in tank battles, and as players free more Slimes they choose a crew of up to three members to assist them in battle.

Educationally Rocket Slime's strengths lie in designer and player creativity. Between the adventuring portions of the game and the intense tank battles, Rocket Slime is a unique experience, and choosing various types of ammo as well as a crew for tank battles helps lend to the power that the player has over how things pan out.

Rocket Slime is set in a totally fantastic setting and as such features very little in the way of classroom facts. Reading is required to play the game and there is some math involved as well.

By the Player:

The various areas Rocket will visit are, for the most part, pretty open to exploration. The player is free to explore parts of it in any area he or she wishes and may or may not be thorough about it. The meat of the player creativity comes in during the tank battles. Players must make up a set of 100 different pieces of ammunition to be used in battle and can choose from any of the items they've collected throughout the game. The player also chooses a set of three crew members from a group of select rescued Slimes, each of which has two different talents the player can choose from. These choices help the tank battles - which happen frequently - to be the most creative aspect of the game.

By the Developer:

Rocket Slime is a pretty original title and boasts some fresh ideas. It is based on the Dragon Quest series and uses a number of items and enemies found in those games, but they idea of playing as a Slime (usually the lowest of enemies in main Dragon Quest titles) in a city of other classic Dragon Quest enemies is original and, for fans of the series, fun. The adventuring gameplay, which would be considered pretty standard, is spiced up by the use of the unique Elasto Blast technique as well as the goal of collecting any and all items and enemies that can be found. The tank battles are a totally new concept, and the intensity and variety that they add to the game only add to the already creative package.

Rocket Slime uses some simple business skills throughout itself. Players give money as well as a certain set of items for each tank enhancement that they purchase, and a store eventually opens up where basic buying and selling of goods takes place.

People skills don't really come into play in Rocket Slime. Players may converse with other members of Boingburg as they begin returning to the city, but players never have any dialogue choices or any real say in what happens.

There are two main problems presented to the player. The first is finding other Slimes during the adventuring portions of the game. Players may have to do standard switch hitting tasks and some pathfinding in order to find various Slimes, and they will also have to defend themselves from attackers and avoid various obstacles. The tank battle sequences are a bit more complicated, as players must throw the various ammo types available into one of the cannon's two guns while commanding other crew members. These are the only real problems the player needs to tackle during the game, but they are different enough from one another to keep things interesting.

Rocket Slime is not a simulation game.

Rocket Slime was relatively well reviewed at its release, generally earning scores around 80%.

Rocket Slime does not feature many options outside keeping multiple save files and standard audio options.

Rocket Slime received an E from the ESRB with descriptors for Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief and Use of Tobacco.