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> Results: Space Channel 5: Ulala's Cosmic Attack
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Ulalaﾒs Swinginﾒ Report Show!Ulalaﾒs Cosmic Attack for Game Boy Advance is a conversion of the Dreamcastﾒs Space Channel 5. Itﾒs the same game shrunken down to fit on the GBA. Everything from the character models to the dance moves and timings is virtually identical and it retains a lot of the sheer enjoyment that rippled through Ulalaﾒs debut. You may never have as much fun playing follow the leader as you will have in this game.  There are problems though. Bringing the game to the GBA required stripping out a lot of the great animation that made the first game so enjoyable. For a dance game, thatﾒs not a good foot to put forward first. There are also some issues with control. You often feel like you got the rhythm right on and pushed the buttons at the exact moment theyﾒre needed only to hear the dreaded razz sound marking your supposed mistake. It becomes pretty clear after repeated play that the game simply doesnﾒt keep up with your button presses during quick strings leading to failed dance steps. That stinks. Eventually, the gameﾒs exuberance lures you in and precise timing leads to less failed moves but itﾒs doubtful youﾒll ever play a perfect game. The music, while not identical, is top notch for a Game Boy Advance effort. Slap on your headphones and youﾒll find out it even plays back in stereo which definitely adds to the experience. Youﾒll probably want to use headphones too. Youﾒve got to listen carefully to the direction given by your opponents so any ambient sounds (like a loud car driving by while playing outdoors) that blot out the ups, downs, lefts, rights and shoots are bad news. If youﾒve got a GBA SP, that headphone adapter is a wise investment to play this game. Since many other games on the portable can be played silently, this is a big consideration before making a purchase because you absolutely need to hear this game to play it successfully.  Ulalaﾒs Cosmic Attack is really short and thereﾒs not a lot of reward for completion, but somehow it manages to endear itself to you just like the Dreamcast original. Ulala is a wonderful character and her opponents the Morolians as well as rival reporters Jaguar and Pudding have similarly superb design. Itﾒs one of those games that just kind of yells at the top of its lungs that ﾓTHIS IS FUN!ﾔ and you roll with it and play again and again. Thatﾒs especially true of this GBA effort even though the graphics are nothing to shout about and the animation is sometimes pretty poor. Even a nasty bug that screws up all the controls may not be enough to put you off the game entirely. (If the controls stop responding during gameplay right after youﾒve turned on the GBA, just go to the options and reset the default button configuration.) Thereﾒs just something about pushing buttons to music thatﾒs tough to put down. Kid Factor: Your kids have to know up, down, left and right to play this game. In experimentation with it, this is harder than you might think. Itﾒs not that pushing in a particular direction is hard to do. Itﾒs that kids seem to want to do it when they choose and not in follow the leader style. Theyﾒre likely to get impatient with it at first. Provided they can get over this hump, girls especially are going to dig Ulala and her game. Itﾒs wacky fun that just about any kid over the age of six can enjoy. The control issue is the only glaring one and it definitely hurts. The Dreamcast game was more responsive and seemed more forgiving than this version. That one obviously has better looks too. But for a portable version of the game, this still fits the bill reasonably well for both young and old despite its problems. Ages: 6+ ESRB Rating: E Publisher: THQ/Sega Developer: United Game Artists/ART 
Your kids have to know up, down, left and right to play this game. In experimentation with it, this is harder than you might think. Itﾒs not that pushing in a particular direction is hard to do. Itﾒs that kids seem to want to do it when they choose and not in follow the leader style. Theyﾒre likely to get impatient with it at first. Provided they can get over this hump, girls especially are going to dig Ulala and her game. Itﾒs wacky fun that just about any kid over the age of six can enjoy. The control issue is the only glaring one and it definitely hurts. The Dreamcast game was more responsive and seemed more forgiving than this version. That one obviously has better looks too. But for a portable version of the game, this still fits the bill reasonably well for both young and old despite its problems.
Kid Factor by Dave Long
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