This is a game that I loved, that is very hard to talk about, because I know that is so fundamentally bad.
Samba De Amigo is a rhythm game by Sega, with a very heavy Latin-rhythm theme. Originally for the Dremacast, and then remade again for the Dreamcast (only in Japan), (almost) all the content in those two versions were bundled together and coupled with about 20 more songs to be remade for the Wii back in 2008.
The original game used special maraca controllers and a sensor bar to detect the actual height of each maraca, one in each hand. The Wiimotes have no such relative height detecting feature, so instead their "height" is determined by the way they're pointing, up, horizontal, or down. There in is where the game's biggest problem lies: It has the Kinect problem in that it just fundamentally doesn't work well enough to play the entire game. The Wii remotes can't detect their positions being changed quickly enough to actually play the harder modes. However, you NEED to play the single player modes on all difficulties to unlock not only all of the extra weird things, but also about a third of the songs in the game. There is NEEEEVER any reason that music should be locked out of a rhythm game, limited by skill level (broken or not). It's the exact same problem that fighting games had with their obsession with unlockable characters in the past decade: Not everyone has the time to grind for a million hours to unlock all of that shit, when they just wanna play their favorite fighter NOW. The Easy and Normal career modes are fun and well balanced, and I got through them just fine. I could barely even beat one stage on hard mode though, let alone even unlock super hard mode, so there were like 10 songs I can just never actually play.
It's such a shame too! The harder modes add a ton to the presentation, with not only the Samba De Amigo characters dancing around in the background, but you have backgrounds inspired by other Sega franchises with their characters dancing as well, from Sonic to Space Channel 5. Sadly, I only ever got to see the Sonic one :(
All that whining about gated content aside, the game is actually really good fun with what's there. I had hours of fun just playing songs on normal in the free-play mode. The presentation is fantastic: Bright and colorful characters and classic Latin rhythms coupled in with actually quality upbeat Western songs. Compared to something like Donkey Konga, this is a perfect example of how a Japanese rhythm game has songs that appeal to Western audiences properly.
Verdict: Unless you really like Latin music like I do, it's not easy to recommend this game in good faith with the knowledge that it's so broken. The music is great, and the normal modes are also great fun, but because of how it gates its content behind its broken harder difficulties, I have to give it a fairly middling review, no matter how fun the normal game might be. Granted, it's pretty easy to find for under a dollar, so if you're okay with that kind of stuff, it's a great way to spend an afternoon :)
Samba De Amigo is a rhythm game by Sega, with a very heavy Latin-rhythm theme. Originally for the Dremacast, and then remade again for the Dreamcast (only in Japan), (almost) all the content in those two versions were bundled together and coupled with about 20 more songs to be remade for the Wii back in 2008.
The original game used special maraca controllers and a sensor bar to detect the actual height of each maraca, one in each hand. The Wiimotes have no such relative height detecting feature, so instead their "height" is determined by the way they're pointing, up, horizontal, or down. There in is where the game's biggest problem lies: It has the Kinect problem in that it just fundamentally doesn't work well enough to play the entire game. The Wii remotes can't detect their positions being changed quickly enough to actually play the harder modes. However, you NEED to play the single player modes on all difficulties to unlock not only all of the extra weird things, but also about a third of the songs in the game. There is NEEEEVER any reason that music should be locked out of a rhythm game, limited by skill level (broken or not). It's the exact same problem that fighting games had with their obsession with unlockable characters in the past decade: Not everyone has the time to grind for a million hours to unlock all of that shit, when they just wanna play their favorite fighter NOW. The Easy and Normal career modes are fun and well balanced, and I got through them just fine. I could barely even beat one stage on hard mode though, let alone even unlock super hard mode, so there were like 10 songs I can just never actually play.
It's such a shame too! The harder modes add a ton to the presentation, with not only the Samba De Amigo characters dancing around in the background, but you have backgrounds inspired by other Sega franchises with their characters dancing as well, from Sonic to Space Channel 5. Sadly, I only ever got to see the Sonic one :(
All that whining about gated content aside, the game is actually really good fun with what's there. I had hours of fun just playing songs on normal in the free-play mode. The presentation is fantastic: Bright and colorful characters and classic Latin rhythms coupled in with actually quality upbeat Western songs. Compared to something like Donkey Konga, this is a perfect example of how a Japanese rhythm game has songs that appeal to Western audiences properly.
Verdict: Unless you really like Latin music like I do, it's not easy to recommend this game in good faith with the knowledge that it's so broken. The music is great, and the normal modes are also great fun, but because of how it gates its content behind its broken harder difficulties, I have to give it a fairly middling review, no matter how fun the normal game might be. Granted, it's pretty easy to find for under a dollar, so if you're okay with that kind of stuff, it's a great way to spend an afternoon :)