"Ouendan Leads the Way in Handheld Rhythm Games! Some Import Love."

Japan is lucky and they don't even know it. While us North American gamers scramble to find a good game in a sea of Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne and Gran Turismo clones, the Japanese are probably swimming… in a sea… of excellent and original games. The only way we will ever find out about the gems hidden in the east is through the magical internets. Besides surfing on gaming forums all day long, there is no almost other way to discover what Japan has to offer, and that is quite depressing. This reviewer was pretty lucky. I (through the help of various little forum users) found out about the magical game “Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan”, which I instantly wanted to have. Numerous import problems and weeks later, the game was mine.

What is Ouendan? Ouendan is a game. A rhythm game. For the Nintendo DS.

”A rhythm game on that hardware? What are you smokin', Sunny?

I can assure you, I am not smoking anything. Rhythm games are possible with the innovative touch screen, my friends! And the first one to be totally done with the touch screen is probably one of the best games out there right now.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan roughly translates into “Go! Fight! Cheerleading Squad” . It's a game about a squad of tall and gruff men… that dance to motivate people. Quite silly! How you will make these men dance is by tapping circles in order, following rolling balls along the tracks and spinning huge disks while in tune to a song. That's all there is to the game. The circles have little outlines that close in on the circles gradually, and you must press the circle JUST as the outline touches the rim. The better your timing with the music, the higher score you'll receive. Some circles will have a track afterwards, so after you touch the circles you will have to follow a ball along the tracks (and back, if required). The spinners are giant disks that you must spin as fast as you can, and your score increases with every spin. You also have a sort of… spirit bar at the top of the touch screen. It gradually depletes, so you must have great timing with the circles and spinners to keep it from going into the danger zones.

The game is divided into 15 stages, with 4 difficulty modes. Each of the stages includes a manga-like opening, revolving around certain characters as they encounter various obstacles in their lives. Eventually, you'll see what they need help with… whether it be a man who must save his daughter from a giant rat, a boy who wants to win the affection of a girl he likes, or even an angel who wants to go back to Earth to tell his girlfriend goodbye. By then, they call out for the assistance of the cheerleading squad!

"OOUEEEENNNNDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!"

And faster than you can say “What the hell is going on?”, the lovable team of dancing men burst into the scene and start doing their thing. How well you perform in the stages effects the story. If you're doing crappy, by the next story segment your character will utterly fail what they were trying to do. The stories are usually really funny (and sometimes even moving) and they really give you a taste of Japanese culture.

The music that you must play to in this game is essentially Japanese Rock. Very catchy and enjoyable full versions of Japanese songs are what is playing during the stages, and it's pretty clear for the DS's tiny speakers. With headphones, the game just sounds even better. It's incredibly awesome how all of the tunes are great in their own way, so it would be uncommon for someone to groan when they must play a stage again based on the fact that they don't like that particular song. It's unlike most rhythm games where people just totally skip over a lot of songs, showing that the developers didn't just slap together 15 songs from wherever. The sound effects are also quite good with the yells, grunts and whistles that are everywhere (and usually match up with the song).

Ouendan is pretty difficult. The normal mode gave me tons of problems and hard mode was a nightmare. The mode beyond that… will make me cry. The only issues I have with the game are that the perfect timing required on the later songs makes it far too difficult most of the time, and there could have been a few more songs. The game will only take a few hours to complete, making you wish there were more songs to play.

This game is VERY import friendly. I don't know any Japanese and I got along fine with it. The menus are pretty straightforward and the stories are generally easy to understand, even though the finer details go without notice.

If you're a DS owner and you are looking for a game to casually pick up time and time again, get Ouendan. It's an awesome game for short bursts of play that will last months and months. The challenge is pretty high as well, even for rhythm gaming veterans.

Osu!

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/06