"SNK's Cool attempt at a dance game!"

While in my local import game store I stumbled upon this gem of a game in the bargain bin for 29.95.I always wanted to play SNK's attempt of adding to the Beat/Rhythm genre of videogames.As quoted in the latest Vanilla Coke commercials my curiosity was rewarded with a frustrating yet rewarding gameplay experience.

Visuals/Graphics::I know most of you are asking how does this game compare visually with the Bust A Grooves,DDR's,and even Britney Dance Beats of the music genre of games.Visually is seems to have all the elements of the games I mentioned.It has the smooth motion capture dances of Britney's Dance beat.Combined with the quirky songs and character designs of Bust A Groove and DDR.Only the Quirky is cranked up 3 notches.
The Characters designs range from Super deformed as in the case of two of the main characters Amp and Spica.To ugly (Zombie girls ) and and cute(Teenage Yussa).The art direction have a Graffiti base to it added to the Cell shaded like 3D models.The characters are not as urban in design as the Jet Grind Radio crew but there are similarities.The scary thing is that all the characters animate very well.The motion capture is very smooth and melds well with each 3D model no matter how weird,ugly,or cute it is.Let me also say that pretty well known Japanese dance groups provided excellent routines for the motion capture directors.Very top notch work.Seeing these characters in motion is scary.The motion capture surpasses the foundation laid by Bust A Groove.
The backgrounds and color of the game is very bright.There is alot of interactivity in the background stages.The stages are pretty large because on quite a few occasions it will be more than 3 people dancing in a stage at one time.For some the stages and the characters of Cool Cool Toon are very bizarre and may turn them off to the game.But I figure if you can tolerate a CG Britney and a young woman dancing in a rubber baby suit a la Kelly of Bust A Groove.You should have no problem with Cool Cool Toon visually.9/10

Sound/Audio::Sound quality is very good.But the song selection is a very mixed bag.Music stylings range from African beats to Techno.Frankly it has every music style except Rap,Gospel,Country,and latin.Some song tracks I enjoyed were Marionette(Smooth J pop with good vocals),Yellow Dog(Hard Rock like beats laced with some Hip Hop boom and base),and a track called sHu(Techno Metal laced with a little Hip Hop base).Some very scary tracks are some classical/rave songs and very bad vocals on a wannabe R&B track.Trust me you won't be bumping the soundtrack to this game in your car stereo.The soundtrack fits the very quirky style of the game.So those kinda wary about the soundtrack shouldn't worry.8/10

Controls::Since the gameplay is kinda complex I decided to make it easier on you, the reader and I, the reviewer by making control a separate issue from the gameplay.The controls just like the gameplay in the beginning will be very frustrating.The controls consist of the analog stick and all the buttons except the D-pad on your dreamcast controller.Most Rhythm/Groove games consist with either simple button presses to the beat of the music or d-pad and button presses.Cool Cool Toon one ups this by having you use the analog stick,button presses,and your R and L triggers.All this and you must also use these controls to the beat of the music.Sounds Tedious doesn't?Well it is extremely frustrating during your first 30 min to an hour of gameplay.The analog stick allows you to Flitz on over to certain button Presses on the screen.This in itself is pretty tedious and requires a steady thumb.It takes some getting used but once you get the hang of the controls the game rewards you with a unique gameplay experience.What the heck is Flitz you ask?Lets discuss this in Gameplay shall we^_^.6/10

Gameplay::The whole point of the of Story mode and the game overall is for you to Flitz to your butt off.The better you Flitz the better your character will keep up with the other characters in dance routines or beat other characters in a Flitz off.
Flitzing consist of a medium sized clear circle on the screen.When the music starts.Button presses A,B,X,and Y will show up on the circle in a clock wise fashion.Your job is to use the Analog stick to aim your little bulls eye like marker over the button press letters and push the the right button according to the letters.There will be a red outline closing in on the Button press letters around the circle.To get the high scores you must wait until the outline gets close to the A,B,X,and Y button press around the circle.Your timing is based on Cool(perfect timing)Nice(good timing,)Okay(just ok timing), Poor(below par timing),and an X if you missed the beat all together.The Red outline represents the timing of the beat in which you have to press on order to keep the character moving smoothly.Another variation is that a long string of beats will go around the circle.You must use the Analog stick and follow a faint yet noticeable trail to that coincide with the Rhythm of the music.Not only that but after hitting at least 20 beats in a row you get a shot at a Boon chance that multiplies your next button press scores.To execute a Boon Chance you must press the Right or left trigger when Boon Chance is announced at the top of your side of the screen.When a Boon Chance is activated an explosion will sound off and surround your character.Boon Chances can go up to 4 levels.This sounds hard doesn't it?Well it is considering the computer is not very merciful when it comes to you as a player screwing up.You have to maintain at least a level for Flitz rating.Your Flitz rating is emphasized by a meter at the lower portion of the screen.It goes from 1 to 9.If your Flitz meter reaches level 9 the background as in Bust A Groove starts grooving and moving along with you.If you get elow level 1 its game over.Which you will be seeing alot of when you first power up the game.
Another aspect to the game is a portion called Notty in which you match the music notes on screen with Button presses.These usually appear in story mode and require you to know japanese in order to know the right button to push.The games text is a mixture of Japanese text containing Hira gana,Kanji,and Kata kana.It just adds some what to the frustration as you play through story mode.
Story mode is the meat of the game as far as unlocking new characters and new costumes for the main characters.I'm not fully up to speed of truly understanding the story but it consists of you choosing between two characters.Amp is the character and Spica is the girl.Both stories are the same. In which you are being sucked through your T.V by a little cute pink bunny to save a world by flitzing pretty much.There are some characters you meet that are different and song selection is different as well.Game modes consist of Story,Single Flitz(Basically an Arcade mode in which you battle other characters),VS mode,Duel Flitz mode(You and a friend both Flitz in order to get high level)and Notty(which is like Simon says only using button presses to match the music notes on screen.
The Gameplay is not the kind you can just pick up and play.So not only will the games quirkiness rub most casual gamers the wrong way but the tedious controls combined with some intuitive gameplay will likely earn you ''The what the heck is this crap'' response from your friends^_^.7/10

Closing Statements::
This game takes the whole diamond in the Rough cliche' to a whole new level.The game will reward you if your stubborn enough to learn the controls.There is a total of 30 wacky cool crazy characters to unlock.As well as songs and costumes for the main two characters.If your expecting a Bust A Groove like experience you will be disappointed since no characters have a distinct dance style.Your dancing style depends on the stage music.To me this offers a lot more variety as far as seeing different dance styles in a game.Instead of each individual character having a certain style.
Cool Cool Toon is truly the Black sheep of the Rhythm/dance genre of the video game industry.I feel it is definitely worth purchase more so than a rent.It blows Space Channel 5 away in terms of style and gameplay.It gives the motion capture animation of Bust A Groove a run for its money.And I'll definitely prefer the look of Yussa a cute bunny over Cyber Britney any day.^_^.8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/21/02, Updated 08/21/02