{"id":7276,"date":"2012-02-14T05:18:54","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T11:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/?p=7276"},"modified":"2012-02-14T05:18:54","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T11:18:54","slug":"carys-top-five-favorite-musicrhythm-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/14\/carys-top-five-favorite-musicrhythm-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary’s Top Five Favorite Music\/Rhythm Games!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In honor of Rhythm Heaven Fever for Wii being released this week, I thought I\u2019d list my top five favorite music games. Believe it or not, I didn\u2019t like the Rhythm Heaven game on the DS very much for two main reasons. One, I didn\u2019t like the flicking controls. I could never get the hang of them, and it seemed like there was a delay in how the game registered how you flicked the stylus, and a delay in a precise rhythm game is a big no-no. The other reason why I didn\u2019t like it because it was too dang hard! Sure you could skip levels you had trouble with, but you never felt like you accomplished anything. And I SO wanted to like Rhythm Heaven, too, as it was made by the same folks who did WarioWare, and I love that series. That\u2019s why I\u2019m going to give Rhythm Heaven Fever on the Wii a chance, even though I didn\u2019t like the DS game. Everyone deserves a second chance!<\/p>\n

Coming Attractions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking of upcoming rhythm games, there are a couple that are coming out (or have already), that I\u2019d really like to try. One is (not sure if I\u2019m spelling this right) Theaterhythm Final Fantasy. It hasn\u2019t been announced for a US release yet, but I kind of hope it does. From what I\u2019ve seen, it looks to adopt the more classic look of older FF games, which was the time I was into the series. Plus, FF music is generally always good, so having a rhythm game with FF tunes seems like a sure win.<\/p>\n

Another music game I\u2019d like to try is already out, and it\u2019s called Groove Coaster from Taito. But it\u2019s only for smarty phones and other smart mobile devices like iPad, which I don\u2019t have. The reason why I want to try Groove Coaster is because they put songs from Arkanoid DS in it, which is great because the songs in Arkanoid DS were FANTASTIC, but nobody would know since no one played that game. But I did and I liked the songs so much I imported the Arkanoid DS soundtrack! I\u2019d love to see Groove Coaster on the DS or something.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions<\/strong><\/p>\n

And before I get started with my top five favorite music games, I wanted to give a shout-out to other music and rhythm games that didn\u2019t make the cut, but I still have respect for anyway. I guess you could say that PaRappa the Rapper started the whole music game genre (along with Dance Dance Revolution). I didn\u2019t like playing PaRappa because I wasn\u2019t familiar with the PlayStation button layout yet, so I had trouble remembering where the circle, triangle, square, and X buttons were. Plus I\u2019m not too big into rap music. But I sure did like the look and feel of the game. It was more fun to watch than to play, and I think it would\u2019ve made a great cartoon (actually I think it was in Japan).<\/p>\n

Speaking of PaRappa, I have to also mention Major Minor\u2019s Majestic March for Wii, because the characters were designed by the same person. Unfortunately, the game really sucked. But I had to try it anyway because it was a music game about being in a marching band, and I was in marching band in high school (I played bass trombone if anyone was wondering). You\u2019d think with all my experience in music, what with being in band in school, taking piano lessons before that, and even taking some music history classes in college that I\u2019d be better at music rhythm games. But I\u2019m not!<\/p>\n

And lastly, I\u2019d like to give a small bit of recognition to Rock Band. While the companies that make this and Guitar Hero have oversaturated the marketplace as of late, you have to admit that playing Rock Band with a bunch of friends, or with your family, is a heck of a lot of fun. It just cracked me up when brother Jeff and his friends were playing Beatles Rock Band one time. They were making all sorts of funny comments! For example, while playing, one of them said, \u201cYou know, the last generation had The Beatles. And what does our generation have? Lady Gaga? There\u2019s something wrong about that.\u201d I also like LEGO Rock Band because it\u2019s cute and silly, and it has more songs I like, such as Ghostbusters.<\/p>\n

Cary\u2019s Top Five Favorite Music Games<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK, finally, let\u2019s look at my top five favorite music games! These aren\u2019t in any particular order, although the ones I placed on top I tend to like more. So here they are!<\/p>\n

Taiko Drum Master<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a drumming game that is huge in Japan in both arcades and home consoles. You drum on a Japanese Taiko drum to the beat of the music. It\u2019s kind of like the drum sections on Rock Band, except a lot less complicated (but still no less hard, just try the difficult Oni modes). It was so popular that Nintendo wanted a piece of the action, so they hired the makers of the Taiko games: Namco, to develop one of their own for GameCube. That\u2019s where Donkey Konga came from! But the Taiko games were still better. Namco took a chance and released a Taiko game in the US on the PS2, but it bombed. Guess Americans would rather play a guitar than a Taiko drum (can\u2019t really blame \u2018em, though). But I loved it and now anytime a Taiko game comes out for a region free console like the PSP or DS, I\u2019ll import it (and have reviewed them, too).<\/p>\n

I think the two main reasons why I like the Taiko games so much is that, one, they have a lot of cute and colorful characters and graphics. And you know I like that stuff. The other reason why I enjoy the Taiko games is the variety of music. Rock Band is great, but you really only play rock songs (it\u2019s called Rock Band for a reason). But the Taiko games have rock songs, folk songs, tunes from video games, classical, and many more. As a big fan of anything Namco, I also appreciated all the songs from Namco games, which is why I liked another music game called Technic Beat.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the imported\u00a0Taikos have some J-Pop songs, too, which I\u2019m not a big fan of. But the game is so much fun anyway that I don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

Samba de Amigo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the Taiko games came along, I think Samba de Amigo was my favorite music rhythm game. It was originally a Japanese arcade game where you shook maracas to the beat of the music and at different heights, but they brought it home to the Dreamcast even in the US. That\u2019s one of the things that was so cool about the Dreamcast is Sega took a lot of chances with it. Guess it cost them in the end, but I enjoyed it at the time! Like the Taiko games, Samba de Amigo had plenty of bright and colorful cute characters, and a wide selection of peppy samba and Latin tunes. I still have my DC maracas under my bed! There is a Wii version of the game, but surprisingly, the DC one still works better. Really the only cool thing about the Wii Samba game is that they put Ulala in it.<\/p>\n

Space Channel 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

And speaking of which, this was also a music game originally on the Dreamcast. Gameplay is a pretty basic Simon Says affair where you must repeat button presses in time with the music. Unfortunately I wasn\u2019t very good at it, but boy did this game have style! Forget the post-apocalyptic future found in other games, I\u2019d rather live in the obnoxiously bright future of Space Channel 5! That\u2019s another thing about DC games is that they did exuberate a lot of style! And you can play Space Channel 5 and its sequel on modern consoles now, too! I also really liked the characters in the games, like the cute little Morolian aliens and Ulala was a neat lady character, too!<\/p>\n

Mad Maestro<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might\u2019ve not have heard of this PS2 gem, but it was released in the US under a company that Eidos started to released niche quirky titles like this and Mister Mosquito. In Mad Maestro, you play as a conductor for a silly orchestra that includes circus animals and aliens. In the game, a dot travels around four corners, and you have to tap the button for each beat, like a real conductor does. You have to watch out for tempo changes and held notes, too. This game was one of the few that used the analog buttons on the controller, as pressing them softly and hard would dictate how loud the orchestra played. I enjoyed this game for the quirky characters and classical tunes, but also because it wasn\u2019t THAT difficult. I\u2019m not too good at music and rhythm games, so it was nice to have one I could actually beat and unlock everything.<\/p>\n

Elite Beat Agents<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally is this DS gem. I was a little late to the party with this one, but once I finally played it, I understood what the big deal was. I know purists may say the Japanese version, Ouendan, is better, but you know what? Importing games is expensive so I\u2019ll gladly take the changed US one. It was still pretty quirky with a wide variety of songs that I know (I\u2019m partial to songs from the 80\u2019s and 70\u2019s myself). After this game came out, a lot of other companies made DS imitators of this gameplay style. I will say that ones that Natsume released, like Princess Debut and Gabrielle\u2019s Ghostly Groove, were actually pretty good for kids.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all I feel like talking about music games right now. In the comments section, let me know YOUR favorite music and rhythm games. Hopefully I\u2019ll get Rhythm Heaven Fever soon, and maybe if I\u2019m in a good mood I\u2019ll write a review on it! Later! –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of Rhythm Heaven Fever for Wii being released this week, I thought I\u2019d list my top five favorite music games. Believe it or not, I didn\u2019t like the Rhythm Heaven game on the DS very much for two main reasons. One, I didn\u2019t like the flicking controls. I could never get the hang […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}