Unless anyone wants to bring up some forgotten title, I’m certain that Ouendan was the first rhythm game to rely entirely on using a touch screen for input. The Ouendan have to deal with plenty of seemingly mundane problems, like a kid trying to woo a girl by winning a game of dodgeball, but the way the game presents these rather trite dilemmas with the hot-blooded passion of a sh?nen manga never fails to be entertaining. The game has a reputation for how ridiculous the scenarios are, but that’s not strictly true. Each stage is its own self-contained story, beginning with a manga-style cutscene showing some stressed-out soul screaming for the Ouendan. With their goofy mix of ridiculous hairstyles, distinctive sideburns and massive eyebrows, the Ouendan are far from the usual American depiction of cheerleaders, but that’s part of the charm (and that’s not to say that the skirt-wearing, pom-pom-waving variation don’t show up). The titular Ouendan are a specialized squad of cheerleaders who show up out of the blue to help drive ordinary (and a few extraordinary) citizens to succeed in their goals – whether that be taking a university entrance exam or fighting off a giant rat. None of their games exemplify this approach quite as well as Ouendan because, really, who can express and incite passion quite like a good cheer squad? Rather than making games as pure entertainment, he wants to create experiences that “make people feel good”. Case in point: their 2005, Nintendo-published title – Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (“Yeah! Fight! Cheer Squad”, if you were wondering why nobody ever translates its name) In an interview with 1UP, the game’s director Keiichi Yano stated that iNiS’s philosophy was to create games with “passion” – both in terms of the act of making the games and the actual content. As a development team that takes a clear musical direction with each of their games (iNiS itself stands for Infinite Noise of the Inner Soul), they understand how to create a perfect blend of personality and compelling gameplay unlike anything else out there. I hope you all like anime cheerleaders and J-pop, because this week I’m taking a look back at a pair (or is it a trio?) of quirky rhythm games produced by iNiS that are up there as personally my favourite games on the Nintendo DS.
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