Pros: Very accessible for English players, as its gameplay of "keeping the beat" is simple enough for anyone to understand, with relatively easy controls and consistent gameplay the whole way through with its diverse set of kooky and fascinating "musical minigames". It's hard to describe just what these minigames are, like a music video that gives you purely visual prompts telegraphing the beats on screen, in order to assist or guide you through the gameplay in a satisfying soundscape.
Made by the same team that made WarioWare, it has its same signature quirkiness, where the actions and set pieces are oftentimes so silly they're ridiculous, but in a way that keeps you glued to the screen. And here, these aren't five second microgames, naw, you're playing through a whole, how do I put it, full length "song"... that's why I compare it to a music video. Each "song" has you performing actions to the beat depending on what the context of the game is, whether it's jumping around on turtles and whales in the ocean as a rabbit, or shooting ghosts with a bow and arrow as they try to sneak past a gate, or playing as mice running across a table-set hiding behind teacups to not get caught by a cat. And all of this, is done via the music, with the actions being on beat. The mix of that rhythm gameplay and the visual storytelling in each game is so delightful, and so unique, that you might even burst out into laughter here and there, I sure did! And after a series of musical minigames are completed, they award you with remixes and medleys to play, which are fantastically fun, going from song to song and beat to beat gameplay in succession during a single medley, is incredibly satisfying to perform, and to perfect! And yeah, the game rewards you for perfecting these songs, without missing a beat.
Cons: Some games are more obtuse than others (particularly if you don't know Japanese, as one or two games here includes non-English voice acted prompts for what button to press to a beat) but for the most part, each and every game gives enough gameplay variety, and visual and thematic variety, to keep the fun flowin' to the end. However... Unlike WarioWare, there is no centralized mascot in this game, there is a little Samurai Drummer that hosts the game, he's cool and all, but he's hardly a personality to be stamped on the cover of the box or the title screen, guiding you through this adventure. And that's another thing, whereas WarioWare patched all of its "games" together with characters and stories, with an ending even, this game doesn't do that at all, you just have separate minigames to play, fun as they may be, without a connecting story through it all. I feel this game would've been helped greatly by a strong centralized mascot character to carry you through a story of sorts, just as WarioWare did. Not saying it should've been Wario, or even any existing IP character, but somebody with enough of a presence where... Where maybe they'd have made sense as an inclusion on the roster of a future Smash Bros., if you catch my drift, heh...
What it means to me: This was the first game I ever imported from Japan, and boy what a great choice that was! I knew I'd love it, considering I loved WarioWare, but also, Emulators were a big no-no, not just because of the obvious reason, but also because timing is so incredibly important, that I wanted the authentic experience on the actual cartridge on the actual hardware. And it was worth it, this game provides hours upon hours of fun rhythmic joy, and I can go back to it time and time again. It's hard to beat!
Made by the same team that made WarioWare, it has its same signature quirkiness, where the actions and set pieces are oftentimes so silly they're ridiculous, but in a way that keeps you glued to the screen. And here, these aren't five second microgames, naw, you're playing through a whole, how do I put it, full length "song"... that's why I compare it to a music video. Each "song" has you performing actions to the beat depending on what the context of the game is, whether it's jumping around on turtles and whales in the ocean as a rabbit, or shooting ghosts with a bow and arrow as they try to sneak past a gate, or playing as mice running across a table-set hiding behind teacups to not get caught by a cat. And all of this, is done via the music, with the actions being on beat. The mix of that rhythm gameplay and the visual storytelling in each game is so delightful, and so unique, that you might even burst out into laughter here and there, I sure did! And after a series of musical minigames are completed, they award you with remixes and medleys to play, which are fantastically fun, going from song to song and beat to beat gameplay in succession during a single medley, is incredibly satisfying to perform, and to perfect! And yeah, the game rewards you for perfecting these songs, without missing a beat.
Cons: Some games are more obtuse than others (particularly if you don't know Japanese, as one or two games here includes non-English voice acted prompts for what button to press to a beat) but for the most part, each and every game gives enough gameplay variety, and visual and thematic variety, to keep the fun flowin' to the end. However... Unlike WarioWare, there is no centralized mascot in this game, there is a little Samurai Drummer that hosts the game, he's cool and all, but he's hardly a personality to be stamped on the cover of the box or the title screen, guiding you through this adventure. And that's another thing, whereas WarioWare patched all of its "games" together with characters and stories, with an ending even, this game doesn't do that at all, you just have separate minigames to play, fun as they may be, without a connecting story through it all. I feel this game would've been helped greatly by a strong centralized mascot character to carry you through a story of sorts, just as WarioWare did. Not saying it should've been Wario, or even any existing IP character, but somebody with enough of a presence where... Where maybe they'd have made sense as an inclusion on the roster of a future Smash Bros., if you catch my drift, heh...
What it means to me: This was the first game I ever imported from Japan, and boy what a great choice that was! I knew I'd love it, considering I loved WarioWare, but also, Emulators were a big no-no, not just because of the obvious reason, but also because timing is so incredibly important, that I wanted the authentic experience on the actual cartridge on the actual hardware. And it was worth it, this game provides hours upon hours of fun rhythmic joy, and I can go back to it time and time again. It's hard to beat!