ShiroiHikari wrote:What kind of game is this? I dig the character art.
In Japan, they have cheerleaders like we do in America and Europe, but instead of girls in skirts and holding poms poms while acting sweet, the cheerleaders in Japan, or Ouendan as they're called, are adult males, that are intensely serious to the extent of it being like a war. Because in Japan, honor and the act of sport is taken with very intense seriousness.
[Real life Ouendan]
In 2005, a small company named iNiS came up with the concept of making a rhythm game that had Ouendan cheerleaders. But instead of them cheering in sports, they would cheer for normal people in need of help. A boy trying to enter for his school exams, or a man trying to get back to Earth to tell his wife that he loves her for one last time.
The game play worked with the touchscreen only. The three parts of the game play included: The Hit Markers, The Phrase Markers, and the Spinners. It works like this: When a hit marker shows on the screen, another circle comes around it. When the outer circle gets smaller, the time to tap the marker, in tune with the music, comes closer. When the outer circle is just on the edge of the hit marker, that's when it's time to tap. If you get it perfect, it's a 300 score, less then perfect is a 100 score, and off beat is a 50 score or a miss. The Phrase Markers worked similar except you would have to drag a ball along the screen, and the spinners just required you to spin a giant wheel fast enough so the meter would go up completely. If you missed, it was be a failure.
The game never made it out of Japan because of its deep Japanese culture and music, nor did it sell well in Japan, but to those who played it and imported it fell in love with it immediately. While the game play was simple, it was extremely fun. Some called it the best DS game of all time, others one of the greatest games of all time. Me being the latter. And gained a cult following to those who played it.
The number of people who imported Ouendan (around 6,000) was so enormous that Nintendo asked iNiS if they could make a game similar to Ouendan for America, the result was Elite Beat Agents in 2006.
The game play was exactly the same to Ouendan, but the style and culture atmosphere was so different from Ouendan that it almost felt like a completely different game. As for which one is better, it's all about personal tastes. I personally still prefer Ouendan for the Japanese culture and I love the music more, but EBA is very good too.
After both games came out, and EBA also suffered from low sales (120,000) many people felt that the continuation of Ouendan/EBA would no longer be. However, in March, iNiS announced Ouendan 2 would be coming, to which the cult followers considered the greatest day ever.
And so, here we are today with this topic. I've finally been able to save up $50 for this game, but I'm going to hold off just in case of an emergency. But if you own a DS, don't hesitate buying it. It really is one of the greatest games of all time.
