One Piece: Become the Pirate King!

One Piece: Become the Pirate King! is a turn-based strategy game for the handheld WonderSwan console, loosely adapting the events of the East Blue Saga (along with One Piece: The Movie). Designed by Soft Machine and published by Bandai, it was released on July 19, 2000 - the first official video game under the One Piece license.

Following the game's release, five more One Piece games would be produced for WonderSwan consoles, though Become the Pirate King! remains the only one compatible with the original monochromatic system.

Gameplay


The game mainly revolves around path-building, with players laying tiles across various sea maps. The piecemeal paths depicted on these tiles must be connected so players can reach objectives such as islands and enemy crews.

Tiles come in four basic path formations - straights, elbows, T's, and crosses - that can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise in 90-degree intervals. A tile's "strength" is determined by its texture; dark tiles (carrying "smooth" rivets) can be replaced by new tiles, while light tiles (carrying "dotted" rivets) stand permanent.

Players are limited to a pool of five tiles at any given time. After a tile has been laid, its successor must be chosen from a randomly shuffled "deal" of five new tiles.

Exploration
Exploration mainly relies on the Move (移動) command, which opens the player's current tile pool and (if applicable) replacement shuffle. One tile must be laid every turn, though it need not be connected or even adjacent to any existing tiles.

After laying the tile, the player will be granted a Jolly Roger marker to plot their destination with, and a number of movement points equal to the number on the tile; each rivet on a path costs one movement point to cross.

Once the destination is set, the player will automatically sail there, ending the current turn. Note that "leftover" movement points cannot be carried between turns; every new turn will start with zero movement points.

Combat
Combat takes place on a 3x3 grid, with the battling crews positioned on opposite ends. The top and bottom rows of this grid are pre-laid with identical paths; both sides must take turns assembling a path through the middle row that will successfully reach the enemy (or, alternatively, block the enemy's reach). A crew member who successfully reaches the enemy side will attack whichever tile they face; if no enemy occupies this tile, the attack will be made on the enemy ship instead.

Two win conditions exist: either defeat every member on the enemy crew, or sink the enemy ship.

Game Modes
Four different modes may be accessed from the Top Menu, including several multiplayer modes able to support up to four players. Note, however, that none of these modes support play via the WonderSwan's link-cable system; instead, a single WonderSwan console must be passed back and forth between players.

Solo
The Solo (一人) mode adapts the Straw Hat Pirates' East Blue adventures - including the non-canon events of One Piece: The Movie - into seven levels of exploration and combat:


 * 1) The Pirate King and the Great Swordsman (海賊王と大剣ごう)
 * 2) Femme Fatale (ましょうの女)
 * 3) 800 Lies (ウソ)
 * 4) Soup (SOUP)
 * 5) Tears (なみだ)
 * 6) The Legend Begins (伝せつははじまった)
 * 7) The Golden Isle (おうごんのしま)

Each level contains a mixture of racing missions and boss battles, interspersed with text and illustrations lifted (in most cases) directly from the original manga.

Apart from moving, the player may access the following options:
 * Tools (道具): Utilize (or discard) any items currently in possession.
 * Crew (仲間): Display (and rearrange) the current crew roster.
 * Detail (情報): Examine the capabilities and morale of current crew members.

Together
The Together (いっしょ) mode allows players to assemble custom pirate crews and race each other across eight different maps. Its combat and sailing mechanics are mostly identical to those of Solo mode; unlike Solo mode, however, it provides for several varieties of Trap (ワナ) tiles, meant to hinder the opponent rather than further the player's own movement.

Hyper Battle
An electronic adaptation of the Carddass Hyper Battle system attached to the official One Piece card game. Supports up to four players.

Trivia

 * The Solo mode depicts the Going Merry as Luffy's ship from the very beginning, rather than an acquisition from Syrup Village.
 * On its initial release, the game's instruction booklet was packaged with six exclusive Carddass cards, all based on the game's box-art. One used the box-art directly, while the other five depicted the individual Straw Hat Pirates.