3D Dot Game Heroes [PS3/2009]

System Played: Playstation 3

Year Released: 2009

Year Reviewed: 2021

3D Dot Game Heroes is a heavily early Zelda-inspired adventure game from Silicon Studio, differentiated by its highly pixelated 3D aesthetic.


There’s no mistaking the definite Zelda influence here. The structure, mechanics, enemies, weapons, in fact just about everything about the game is lifted verbatim from Nintendo’s famous series.

One of only a couple of elements which makes it (slightly) different is that everything in the world, including its inhabitants, look like they’re made of Lego, or 3D “blocks” anyway. I suppose you could also say it looks a bit like Minecraft.

In fact, if you took a middle point between the original Game Boy Link’s Awakening and the Switch remake, it would probably look something like this.


The world is a familiar fantasy kingdom called Dotnia, with the intro sequence telling of a peace maintained by six sages and their magic orbs, until one day some baddies showed up with monsters, and it was up to a young lad with a sword to defeat them... Even the music in the intro sounds like Zelda.

Jump forward however many years, and the baddies are back. You are the descendent of the legendary hero, so only you can stop them. Again.

The world has also gone through a change during this time, after the king realised that no one appreciates 2D anymore, so proclaimed that everything needs to be 3D now, to keep up with the times. The game is full of humour and “meta” elements like this.


Your first job is to pick a character from a long list of premade ones or use the editor to sculpt your own.

There’s some that look very much like the sprites from early Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, (actual) Rikimaru from Tenchu, even Santa Claus.

Each time you load the game, you can select a different character to continue with.


At the risk of this review just becoming a list of “things that are exactly like Zelda”, there are a lot of them…

Pig-like enemies throwing spears are dead ringers for Moblins, there’s also Tekties, Darknuts, Lynels, and they all look and act exactly the same enemies as in the original Zelda.

As you progress you’ll acquire new items like a Boomerang, Bombs, Bow & Arrows, Dash Boots which work almost exactly the same way as Pegasus Boots. The Wire Rod is the same as the Hookshot.

There’s caves with fairies that refill your health. Even the screen transitions like 8-bit Zelda, purely for aesthetic reasons here, since it is fully 3D.


In Zelda, when you had full health, your sword would fire out a projectile. In 3D Dot Game Heroes when you have full health, your sword grows to crazy large proportions, filling up the majority of the screen.

When you’ve not got full health, it’s more restrained, with a shorter sword shooting out in front of you, a straight prod (like it the first Zelda) rather than a 90 degree swipe (as in Link’s Awakening). This does feel a bit “stunted” sometimes, and a huge comedown from the full-life sword.

Swords can be upgraded further at the blacksmith, adding length, girth and additional attributes like “Spin” which allows you to wipe it left and right in an arc, and “Pierce” which allows the sword to go through obstacles.

Combine these abilities with the full life BIG sword and the game becomes a bit of a joke. You can just walk into any room and wipe out every enemy from the entrance in a second by swinging the sword around a few times. The game should have just been called “MASSIVE SWORD!!!”


The 3D perspective isn’t always ideal.

You can think you’re lined up with an enemy and start stabbing, but your sword fails to appear because you’re one pixel too far up or down, and actually in-line with a tree or rock which is blocking you. So the enemy just walks into you.

This can frustrate (to put it nicely), as there are some enemies who can reduce a full health meter down to half of a heart and take all of your magic in one touch. Fuck off!


Six orbs = six dungeons (or temples as they’re called here).

The overworld map is also constructed in the familiar Zelda way, with certain bits inaccessible until you obtain the right item (like the Hookshot). There’s your usual villages, plenty of hidden bits, and side quests to discover.

The temple layout and structure are again extremely like “you know what”. Interconnected enemy-filled rooms, locked doors, chests containing keys, different floors, lite puzzle solving.

As with Nintendo’s series, the dungeon designs are the highlight of the experience, though perhaps aren’t quite as masterfully realised in 3D Dot Game Heroes. It sticks so close to the formula that it feels like a bit of an imitator.


The frame rate in dungeons is surprisingly choppy.

Enemies typically explode into tiny cubes which scatter around with some degree of (unnecessary) physics, plus the temples have special lighting and reflective floors, the combination of which seems to be a bit too much. You wouldn’t think the PS3 would struggle with a game that looks like Minecraft, but it does.

It did crash a few times too, typically when I hadn’t saved my progress for a while.


3D Dot Game Heroes doesn’t improve on anything Zelda did.

It still has its charms. Extra effort seems to have gone into the English localisation, filling it with game and other pop references that a western audience would get.

The massive sword and its upgrade mechanic unbalances the game. You feel massively overpowered with full life and underpowered when not. It’s about the only thing that makes the game “a bit” different, but also the thing that kind of breaks it.

Nintendo’s games are much better balanced. Still, I enjoyed it.

6/10