It Came From The East 2: 押す! 闘え! 応援団! (Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!)
Today, a package arrived for me from Play Asia, my preferred retailer of overpriced absurdity from the Land of the Rising Sun. It contained Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, a game which is up there with your initial Katamari Damacy experience for sheer WTF value.
If you are too lazy to read the article linked above, a brief summary: this is a rhythm game for the Nintendo DS, from the makers of Gitaroo Man. In it, by assorted abuses of your touchscreen, you guide a group of Japanese male cheerleaders (Ouendan) in aiding people in their daily lives through a combination of music, choreographed motions, and burning Japanese spirit. It's harder than it sounds.
The basic setup for each stage has a brief animation showing how the person you are assisting came to cry for your presence, at which point your cheer squad, possessing remarkable teleportation capabilities, is revealed to be somewhere just off-screen. Some noteworthy stages: travel back in time and help Cleopatra lose some weight, whip her slaves into building her a shining pyramid, and win Marc Antony's heart; assist a concert violinist overcome the effects of food poisoning in the subway on his way to his performance; cheer on a pair of policemen as they fight off robot hordes from space; inspire a racehorse to help capture a robber riding a motorcycle and fleeing through the city.
The actual gameplay requires you to wield your stylus with care as you tap, slide, and spin points on screen in time to the music to increase basic levels in an ever-shrinking bar. For someone with big hands, this is more difficult than you would initially expect, due to things moving fast enough that your hand covering half the screen can seriously delay your realization of where you need to tap next.
If I had one complaint about it, it would be that it's hard enough that I cannot take my eyes off the lower screen's action to watch the hilarious animations on the upper screen - and this is mitigated by the ability to watch your performance once you complete the level.
Level of Japanese language proficiency required: not a hell of a lot. Being semi-literate (I estimate that I understand somewhere around 70% of it with my subpar comprehension) will help your enjoyment of the game, because the set-ups are even more ridiculous than they look, but it's certainly not required if you're just after an entertaining game to occupy your time with.
If you are too lazy to read the article linked above, a brief summary: this is a rhythm game for the Nintendo DS, from the makers of Gitaroo Man. In it, by assorted abuses of your touchscreen, you guide a group of Japanese male cheerleaders (Ouendan) in aiding people in their daily lives through a combination of music, choreographed motions, and burning Japanese spirit. It's harder than it sounds.
The basic setup for each stage has a brief animation showing how the person you are assisting came to cry for your presence, at which point your cheer squad, possessing remarkable teleportation capabilities, is revealed to be somewhere just off-screen. Some noteworthy stages: travel back in time and help Cleopatra lose some weight, whip her slaves into building her a shining pyramid, and win Marc Antony's heart; assist a concert violinist overcome the effects of food poisoning in the subway on his way to his performance; cheer on a pair of policemen as they fight off robot hordes from space; inspire a racehorse to help capture a robber riding a motorcycle and fleeing through the city.
The actual gameplay requires you to wield your stylus with care as you tap, slide, and spin points on screen in time to the music to increase basic levels in an ever-shrinking bar. For someone with big hands, this is more difficult than you would initially expect, due to things moving fast enough that your hand covering half the screen can seriously delay your realization of where you need to tap next.
If I had one complaint about it, it would be that it's hard enough that I cannot take my eyes off the lower screen's action to watch the hilarious animations on the upper screen - and this is mitigated by the ability to watch your performance once you complete the level.
Level of Japanese language proficiency required: not a hell of a lot. Being semi-literate (I estimate that I understand somewhere around 70% of it with my subpar comprehension) will help your enjoyment of the game, because the set-ups are even more ridiculous than they look, but it's certainly not required if you're just after an entertaining game to occupy your time with.