While they got better as time went on (and this one ditched the friendship glove in favour of favourite items a la romances... something I am not entirely convinced by) I would say the Rune Factory games were very much a jack of all trades, master of none affair. If you are going to compare it to something like Monster Rancher then not a chance.
If monster rancher is not your thing then I am not sure what I would suggest for the DS. I will skip pokemon and digimon, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 might be of interest. I would almost be tempted to ROM hack either one of the 1000 games about ponies, vets and pets aimed at young girls or possibly Nintendogs. The Japanese fighting beetle games are not so bad for this sort of thing either. Fossil Fighters was not bad but that is getting slightly into the weeds. Maybe have a look at Spectrobes. If you have the GBA or GBC as options then you get a few more there, probably should note https://gbatemp.net/threads/telefang-2-full-translation-patch.346322/ as part of that one.
It's the first Nintendo Switch firmware update of 2024. Made available as of today is system software version 18.0.0, marking a new milestone. According to the patch...
After a couple days of Nintendo releasing their 18.0.0 firmware update, @SciresM releases a brand new update to his Atmosphere NX custom firmware for the Nintendo...
Today, April 8th, 2024, at 4PM PT, marks the day in which Nintendo permanently ends support for both the 3DS and the Wii U online services, which include co-op play...
Hello, GBAtemp members! After a prolonged absence, I am delighted to announce my return and upgraded form to you today...
Introducing tempBOT AI 🤖
As the embodiment...
Yet another casualty goes down in the never-ending battle of copyright enforcement, and this time, it hit a big website which was the host for many fangames based and...
With Apple having recently updated their guidelines for the App Store, iOS users have been left to speculate on specific wording and whether retro emulators as we...
The highly popular and accurate FPGA hardware, MisterFGPA, has received today a brand new update with a long-awaited feature, or rather, a new core for hardcore...
The time has finally come, and after many, many years (if not decades) of Apple users having to side load emulator apps into their iOS devices through unofficial...
The romhacking community is always a source for new ways to play retro games, from completely new levels or stages, characters, quality of life improvements, to flat...
Retro handheld manufacturer Anbernic is releasing a refreshed model of its RG35XX handheld line. This new model, named RG35XX 2024 Edition, features the same...
It's the first Nintendo Switch firmware update of 2024. Made available as of today is system software version 18.0.0, marking a new milestone. According to the patch...
Today, April 8th, 2024, at 4PM PT, marks the day in which Nintendo permanently ends support for both the 3DS and the Wii U online services, which include co-op play...
Hello, GBAtemp members! After a prolonged absence, I am delighted to announce my return and upgraded form to you today...
Introducing tempBOT AI 🤖
As the embodiment...
With Apple having recently updated their guidelines for the App Store, iOS users have been left to speculate on specific wording and whether retro emulators as we...
The time has finally come, and after many, many years (if not decades) of Apple users having to side load emulator apps into their iOS devices through unofficial...
After a couple days of Nintendo releasing their 18.0.0 firmware update, @SciresM releases a brand new update to his Atmosphere NX custom firmware for the Nintendo...
Yet another casualty goes down in the never-ending battle of copyright enforcement, and this time, it hit a big website which was the host for many fangames based and...
Nintendo has recently announced through their social media accounts that a new Indie World stream will be airing tomorrow, scheduled for April 17th, 2024 at 7 a.m. PT...
The highly popular and accurate FPGA hardware, MisterFGPA, has received today a brand new update with a long-awaited feature, or rather, a new core for hardcore...
Apple has long been known for jailing off several off from its App Store according to their guidelines, and one such type of applications was video-game emulators...