I died on level seventeen last night. That’s the furthest I’ve ever got. I’ll do that again, though, one day. I might even get as far as level eighteen!

After that, my wife needed rescuing. She’d died on level three but had already found some cool stuff, so wanted reviving. She sent me a request using the DS wireless connection and I went off in search of her. Found her limp body surrounded by monsters, but managed to kill them all and revive her. That done, it was back to the main menu to send her a revival scroll. Job done.

Later, though, she died on level thirteen, again with a whole bunch of cool items, and asked my help again. That’s a long way down, so I grabbed all the items from my warehouse and set off. I didn’t find a single weapon until level eight, but I was doing okay, until I reached level twelve. Went down the stairs and found myself in a tiny room surrounded by monsters. Five of them. I killed three, but a couple of tanks brought me down. Dead.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it was one of the most intense bits of gaming I’ve ever had. Just knowing that death lurked around every corner, having to use every item at my disposal to make it to the next floor and then – bam! – dead.

You get three tries to rescue someone. So all was not lost.

On my second try I died on level one. Level one! That never happens!

And on my third try… I died on level one. Again. The game obviously had it in for me.

Oh well, I did my best to try and rescue the damsel in distress. I guess it was not to be.