With the 3DS in stores and in people’s hands, it’s only a matter of time before Nintendo begins their eventual ratcheting down of support for the DS line. Despite the lack of a great launch lineup (although I would whole-heartedly recommend Super Street Fighter 4 3D and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars,) the Big N has a ton of quality games coming out in their ever-expanding “launch window.”

But third-dimension holdouts shouldn’t be feeling console envy just yet, not when their dual-screened system of choice has one of the best platformers ever made gracing it near the end of its lifetime.

I’m talking about Monster Tale by DreamRift, made up of members of the development team who created another awesome platformer mashup, Henry Hatsworth.

Haven’t heard of Monster Tale? I’m not surprised, as it’s one of the worst marketed games I’ve seen in my life.

Look at this boxart. I've felt more adult when buying Pokemon games.

In addition, it’s being published by Majesco (aka, the people who left Psychonauts for dead,) and is dubbed as an “Adventure/Pet Simulator” game (which sounds less than enticing,) but I assure you Nintendogs this is not.

Monster Tale has more in common with Castlevania and Metroid than anything. Players control Ellie, a small girl with a big wallop, on the top screen while Chomp, the mysterious monster you discover early in the game, patrols the bottom – though he can be summoned to the top to assist in combat when things get hairy. The items you find from fallen enemies can be thrown down for Chomp to either play with or eat, which raises his stats and even evolves him into his various forms, each with unique powers, almost like A Boy and His Blob.

The controls come straight out of Hatsworth as you melee or shoot enemies, trying to combo them in the air for as long as possible to get the best loot to throw down to Chomp. Everything feels very tight and tidy, which is absolutely necessary as Monster Tale retains quite a bit of Hatsworth’s difficulty (though thankfully, it’s not nearly as soul-crushing.)

The graphics and animations have an air of Scott Pilgrim to them, looking clean and colorful with each area appearing quite distinct. There are plenty of staples of japanimation (you’re welcome Mr. Hiscock,) on display as well, lending a bit of punch to the game’s somewhat kiddie looks.

In fact, the only things I can fault Monster Tale on are its slightly clunky menus. Having to press start every time you want to see the map can be a pain and switching between Chomp’s forms takes a bit too much time, but these only become issues once you’ve spent a few hours with the game – when you’re already too hooked to care.

So three parts Castlevania, two parts Henry Hatsworth, two parts A Boy and His Blob and a sprinkling of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World all in a wholly original feeling package? What more could you want really?