Kikansha Thomas: Kokugo Sansuu Eigo

‘Kikansha Thomas: Kokugo Sansuu Eigo’ is a Japanese-only edutainment release
that allows players to learn with one of the UK’s most famous locomotives:
Thomas The Tank Engine!

In this game the player can learn Japanese, arithmetic and English, as well as
solving puzzles in the fictional Island of Sodor (the main location setting of
the ‘Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends’ franchise). The subjects are split into
5 separate books found in the ‘Story’ menu: ‘こくご’ (Kokugo, teaches players the
Japanese language), ‘さんすう’ (Sansu, teaches players mathematics), ‘えいご’ (Eigo,
teaches players the English language), ‘かきかた’ (Kakikata, teaches players how
to draw) and ‘パズル’ (Pazuru, includes a variety of puzzles to solve).

Gameplay mainly involves the Nintendo DS stylus to tap the correct answers to
numerous questions, dragging, drawing numbers and so on. The Nintendo DS
microphone is also ultilised only for the ‘Kokugo’ and ‘Eigo’ categories,
where players must say the name of a word shown on the Touch Screen to open
several doors in unique mini-games within these categories.

Each story consists of Thomas carrying out several tasks on the Island of
Sodor given by the Fat Controller (known in Japan as トップハム・ハット卿). Before each
story, Percy and Gordon are also playable.

The ずかん (zukan, or reference book) is found on the main menu and includes a
short summary of all the engines in the ‘Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends’
series. To add more characters, the player must tap the horn icon on the
bottom-right of the Touch Screen while passing by several engines before each
activity.

Also on the main menu is the おまけ (omake, or bonus) menu which features a study
(allows players to play any minigame they’ve unlocked during the stories) and
even a colouring book that includes 8 character pictures.

Kikansha Thomas: Kokugo Sansuu Eigo