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| Groovy! This game is weird,
baby, yeah! |
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| Ulala gets funky for the
crowd |
| TGS: Space Channel 5 First Impressions
Slip
into a latex mini-skirt and save the world in Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s
wacky new beat game!
September 17, 1999
With
the recent explosion of music-based action games in Japan, ranging
from the foot-shifting Dance Dance Revolution to the
headache-inspiring DrumMania, almost every game company worth
their salt had attempted to capitalize on the craze… except for
Sega. But the Autumn Tokyo Game Show marked the unveiling of a
sure-fire Dreamcast-seller: the beat-based Space Channel 5.
Stemming from the creative mind of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, lead
designer on Sega Rally and Sega Touring Car, Space
Channel 5 is a musical action game that combines the Simon
Says-style gameplay of PaRappa the Rapper with the funky
dance moves of Bust-a-Groove. Best of all, the art design can
only be described as Teletubbies meet Stanley Kubrick.
Here’s the set-up: you play Ulala, a spandex-clad television
reporter investigating a sudden invasion of aliens (who strangely
resemble the Intel “Bunny Suit” people). In a plot-line mysteriously
similar to Epcot Center’s Captain Eo, you must save humanity
by proving your superior dancing skills to the extraterrestrial
invaders.
Yes, it sounds a bit fruity. But Space Channel 5 pulls it
off with such style and charm, you just can’t complain. In the TGS
demo, Ulala strides into a sixties-styled space station with a sexy
strut. A group of aliens accost her, shouting “Up! Right! Left!
Left! Down!”, prompting you to punch the same key combination into
the controller. Pull it off, and Ulala cuts the rug, forcing the
aliens to melt into a pool of humility. Any humans that you rescue
in the process follow you along, copying your super-sexy moves as
you waste xenomorphs with your infallible powers of groove.
It’s weird, it’s wacky, and it looks and sounds great. The game’s
backgrounds are actually pre-rendered MPEG movies, while the
on-screen characters and effects are constructed of real-time
polygons. The overall effect is seamless – camera movements match up
perfectly with the on-screen dance troupe, and the breakneck pace of
editing make the game look like a Peter Gabriel video.
The big question is: will it come to the States? The design team
wants it to happen, though American musical tastes may dictate some
significant changes to the game’s audio content. Sega has the game
scheduled for a winter release in Japan – until then, polish up your
platform shoes, and steel yourself for battle against some of the
cutesiest scum in the universe with Space Channel 5.
-- Colin Williamson, IGNDC
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