Have you ever played with one of those wooden marble maze games where you have to tilt it around to roll the ball to the goal? The Nintendo Wii certainly has its share of titles that simulate that classic game, using the Wii remote to tilt the environment around. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Dewey’s Adventure…but the best and most fun example of this style of game was a little known early Wii title called Korornipa: Marble Mania. This spring, we’ll see a sequel called Marble Saga: Kororinpa. I recently got a chance to try a short demo of this upcoming game, read on to find out how it rolls:

Just as in the first Kororinpa, move the Wii remote to tilt a maze on screen and roll a marble past obstacles and pitfalls. Collect all the crystals in each level and head for the goal. Tilting control is as solid as ever, and now you can even choose to hold the remote sideways like a classic controller. If you want your marble to roll up a wall, no problem! Just tilt the remote sideways and now the wall is a floor to roll on. Heck, you can even flip the maze upside down by turning the remote that way also. You’ll probably send your marble to oblivion, but you can still do it if you want to!

It was a little hard to get a good impression of what the final game will be like from the short, five level demo. And it just seemed like more of the same, really. But since the first game was so much fun, more of the same won’t be so bad. One of the problems with the first Korornipa game was it was a little bit too simplistic for its own good. The sequel looks to rectify that with scads of added features that’ll be in the final game.

For starters, Marble Saga will have more stages than the original, wrapped around a world map with a storyline about Anthony the Ant trying to obtain the Golden Sunflower and save his colony. Not sure what rolling a ball around a maze has to do with an ant’s adventure, or if a marble maze game really needs a story at all, but oh well. There is also up to four player split screen support, and tons of marbles to choose from. My favorite marble in the demo was a round little UFO with aliens peeking out from it. In the final game, you’ll even be able to put your Mii inside a marble to roll around.

Also in the final game, there will be Wii Balance Board support for a handful of levels where you can shift your weight to tilt the maze. And you’ll also be able to design your own marble mazes to show off to others as well as display your high scores through WiFi Wii Connect 24 online learderboards. Maybe Hudson themselves will add more levels through DLC later on, too. Marble Saga: Kororinpa is coming out this spring, and I’ll definitely be getting it soon after release. Because of the easy to get into, non-violent gameplay, I bet it’ll be a great game for kids, too.

Tags: Game Reviews