Ouendan Import Hands-On

First, the types of hit… you’ve got odd beats, that just appear as a 1 with a circle around them. The circle gets smaller and when it reaches the size of the number, you have to hit it. Then there’s the sequences going 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. again with the circles that diminish in size until the beat hits. Third kind of hit is a rolling hit. A circle shrinks around the number and when you hit, you keep hold of the ball that appears and roll it along a line, keeping your pen inside the ball space, and letting go at the end of the path. Finally there’s the spinning disc. Every now and then a disc will take up the bottom screen and you have to spin it as quickly as possible (either clockwise or anti-clockwise is ok) to build up excitement.

The story is told like an interactive manga. Squares appear telling the story, you do your rhythm thing and in between parts of the song, more manga appears. The story depends on your progression in the song, and there are different degrees of failure and success. Your “life” is measured by a spirit bar which automatically ticks down with time and you must keep it filling up by getting good scores. When it runs out, you fail totally and have to start again.

Levels can be chosen freely to some extent. At the start of the game, there’s a map of a city which you can slide around the screen, and there are four people you can help at first. Succeed with all of them and another five open up. It’s worth pointing out that the first four are quite straightforward and I passed them all on the first or second try. However, the second group of people are all die bitch hard… really. I’ve tried a few of them several times and still can’t get past them. You Gitarooman fans are gonna love this! You really have to get to know the song well to succeed, which is a satisfying requirement for this type of game.

The music so far has been pretty good j-pop. If you hate j-pop, you’d best avoid this, but it seems that j-pop and the rhythm action genre have a long history together, so it’s not really anything to be surprised by. The songs fit well with the stories told and there’s some classic slapstick humour going on.

I’ve spent about an hour with this game, and it’s far and away the most fun I’ve had with my Nintendo DS. Anyone who likes music games like Gitaroo Man or Um Jammer Lammy owes it to themselves to check this game out. It’s from Gitaroo Man staff and so far seems every bit as good–and from me, that’s damn high praise.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (“Hey! Fight! Cheer Squad!”) is a rhythm-action game about a cheer squad that goes around Japan helping people in need. Though they wear high school cheering uniforms (in Japan, cheerleaders wear long black trenchcoats, are usually male, and “cheer” by screaming at the top of their lungs like it’s the end of the world), they don’t seem to be affiliated with any particular high school. There seem to be a lot of people in trouble in Japan, so the Ouendan has their work cut out for them.

Gameplay consists of three basic moves: tap, trace, and spin. The basic “notes” you hit are on-screen circles surrounded by contracting “rings.” When the ring hits the circle, you tap. Some of these circles are connected to one another, and hitting all the circles in a “phrase” results in bonus points. Sometimes, after tapping a circle, gamers will need to “trace” the circle (now a ball) through a line. This is similar to the “hold and analog stick” movements of Gitaroo Man. Finally, sometimes you have to spin a circle around really, really fast. Like most rhythm action games, from these simple beginnings come devious rhythms and patterns that must be defeated.

Music in the game is licensed J-ROCK. It’s played by soundalikes, but good soundalikes; I couldn’t tell the difference. The songs all have full lyrics and decent sound quality. It’s not CD-quality, of course, but neither does it sound like super muffled N64 samples or lousy MIDI recreations. It’s definitely the best sound and music on the DS so far.

One of the coolest features of the game is the “dynamic manga” on the top screen. As you play through the song, your performance affects the story of the person you’re trying to help that’s unfolding on the top screen. For example, the first stage has you helping 3rd year student trying to study for difficult entrance exams. His family won’t shut up, he can’t study, and he calls upon the OUENDAN!! They cheer him up with a rousing rock song and powerful routine. As you play, each member of the family arrives to do their part to help (or hinder) the son. I did pretty well, so the mother made him an energy-filled dinner, the father stayed out of his way, and the younger son helped him exercise while studying, so he could power his mind and body together. At the end of the song, the student travels to the Big Board, number in hand, to find out if he made it … success! “Gameplay” animations are interspersed with short, fast “story” segments that unfold at a breakneck pace over just a handful of musical measures bars. The only thing I’ve ever seen like this before is the “video manga” in the FLCL anime. It’s dynamic and hilarious, but you really need to be able to read Japanese to get the most out of it.