Gameboy415
09-05-2007, 04:46 AM
Hi everyone.
I'm currently in Japan so I was able to nab a copy of Exclamation Warriors from Club Nintendo. I'm hoping to get into game journalism when I get back to the US next summer, so I wrote up a playtest and submitted it to a few of my favorite gaming sites. That being said, I couldn't forget CAG!
Here, for your approval, is my somewhat wordy write-up of Exclamation Warriors:
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/2007/07/04/h-103_74531_top.jpg.jpg
(Image via Famitsu.com)
Although the Power Rangers have all but disappeared from American TV, the series is still chugging along here in Japan...apparently. I haven’t seen any of the newer shows (not that I was ever really a fan to begin with), but if Nintendo went out of its way to make a game inspired by them, SOMEONE must still like them.
Zekkyou Senshi: Sakeburein, or Exclamation Warriors, is the latest exclusive DS game available to gamers in Japan in exchange for registering games on the Club Nintendo website. Seeing how the game is quite hard to come by, I was quite surprised to find out that it CANNOT BE PLAYED ALONE. On the back of the box, below the usual multiplayer and DS download icons, there is a tiny message saying “hitori de asobemasen”. For those of you who don’t habla Japanish, that means “You cannot play alone.” Luckily I had a friend over when the game arrived on my doorstop so we fired it up. Upon starting the game, you are given two options: “Download play” and “ranking”. My friend started downloading the data and after about 2 minutes we were ready to play. At this point, we could choose from “Mic Test” or “Practice” modes. Upon starting the practice mode, we could choose from 5 Rangers: Red-Suzaku, Green-Genbu, Yellow-Kirin, Pink-Byakko, and Blue-Seiryuu. Each Ranger has slightly different attributes (power, speed, and jumping ability) and a different jump-kick (fire, lightning, etc.). The practice mode consists of the Rangers’ boss teaching them how to do various moves using the DS buttons and microphone. The button controls are quite simple: D-pad controls movement, A button is jump, B button is punch, X button activates a team-up power (more on that later), and holding L and R and yelling “CHEINJI BAKURETSU!” will transform your human character into his or her Ranger counterpart. However, before transforming in a Ranger, you must fill up your power meter. This is done by yelling “action words” as you use the B button to punch. The game suggests you say “HAA!”, but states that anything is ok. I started out with some classic “POW!” and “BAM!” sound effects, and later moved into “STAB!” and “BANANA!” territory. Once you power up and transform using L and R, several new moves are at your disposal using the microphone. Yelling while pressing B to punch will result in stronger punch attacks, yelling “JAMPU-KICKU!” while in mid-jump will make you do a powered up jump-kick, yelling anything without pressing a button will make you do a spinning uppercut, and yelling “SURAIDING!” while running will make you do a slide-attack. The voice recognition works quite well, and even picks up the English counterparts of commands (“JUMP-KICK!” or “SLIDING!”). One other thing you can do with the microphone is a team-up attack. When you are standing near your partner(s), if one person presses the X button and chooses an attack (using the d-pad) the characters will prepare to launch a super-attack. To launch the attack, everyone must yell “HAA!” at the same time. My friend and I had a bit of trouble with our timing at first, but it became more natural after a bit of practice. The four super moves available are Fire, which launches a huge fireball, Rolling, which launches your partner in a rolling attack, Bomber, which launches your partner high up into the air, and Quake, which causes a small earthquake in your general vicinity. The Bomber attack can also be used to reach high ledges and rooftops throughout the game. Upon successfully performing all of these moves, you will complete practice mode and unlock the easy mode of the main game.
The goal of the main game is to collect a set number of green gears and defeat a boss within a time limit. In easy mode, you have 20 minutes to find 4 green gears and fight the boss, and hard mode drops the time limit to 15 minutes and adds an extra gear. The gears are quite easy to find since they are clearly indicated on the map on the touch screen, but each one will require you to complete a certain task before claiming it. You will have to clear the room of enemies, defeat a mid-boss, or solve a puzzle. The enemies come in a three varieties in easy mode: Colorkroids – somewhat weak purple and green enemies, Generators – round objects that spawn Colorkroids, and Gun Colorkroids – Colorkroids with guns growing out of their heads. The two mid-bosses are Benkei, who wields a large spear, and Hanzou, a Ninja who fights with clones. Hard mode adds in Orange Colorkroids, who are stronger and faster than their purple counterparts, Orange Generators, which float off the ground and spawn Orange Colorkroids, and powered-up versions of the two mid-bosses. Also, throughout the 14 or so rooms of the game, there are several barrels that can be broken to free captured villagers. It’s not necessary to free them, but it will improve your score and overall letter rank upon completing the game. After clearing all the rooms and collecting the necessary amount of gears, you will face the boss of the game. The boss is a large green creature (slightly reminiscent of Wart from Mario 2) who rides on a floating platform and fires missiles at you from his tentacles. You must continually attack the boss until he slides off his platform and then finish him with a special microphone attack in which you and your partner take turns yelling to launch a hurricane. You will get a ranking based on your play through and unlock hard mode upon beating the boss.
Apart from hard mode, which adds in a few rooms and tougher enemies, there isn’t much more to Exclamation Warriors besides an unlockable gallery. I wish there was a bit more substance to the game, but since it was essentially free I guess I can’t really complain. Also, the game is completely in Japanese and you will need to be able to read hiragana and katakana to figure out what to say for the various commands. I highly recommend trying out Exclamation Warriors since it is quite fun, but I wouldn’t drop a fortune on it unless you want it as a collectible.
Author: Alex Nelson
Contact: BigAL415@hotmail.com
I'm currently in Japan so I was able to nab a copy of Exclamation Warriors from Club Nintendo. I'm hoping to get into game journalism when I get back to the US next summer, so I wrote up a playtest and submitted it to a few of my favorite gaming sites. That being said, I couldn't forget CAG!
Here, for your approval, is my somewhat wordy write-up of Exclamation Warriors:
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/2007/07/04/h-103_74531_top.jpg.jpg
(Image via Famitsu.com)
Although the Power Rangers have all but disappeared from American TV, the series is still chugging along here in Japan...apparently. I haven’t seen any of the newer shows (not that I was ever really a fan to begin with), but if Nintendo went out of its way to make a game inspired by them, SOMEONE must still like them.
Zekkyou Senshi: Sakeburein, or Exclamation Warriors, is the latest exclusive DS game available to gamers in Japan in exchange for registering games on the Club Nintendo website. Seeing how the game is quite hard to come by, I was quite surprised to find out that it CANNOT BE PLAYED ALONE. On the back of the box, below the usual multiplayer and DS download icons, there is a tiny message saying “hitori de asobemasen”. For those of you who don’t habla Japanish, that means “You cannot play alone.” Luckily I had a friend over when the game arrived on my doorstop so we fired it up. Upon starting the game, you are given two options: “Download play” and “ranking”. My friend started downloading the data and after about 2 minutes we were ready to play. At this point, we could choose from “Mic Test” or “Practice” modes. Upon starting the practice mode, we could choose from 5 Rangers: Red-Suzaku, Green-Genbu, Yellow-Kirin, Pink-Byakko, and Blue-Seiryuu. Each Ranger has slightly different attributes (power, speed, and jumping ability) and a different jump-kick (fire, lightning, etc.). The practice mode consists of the Rangers’ boss teaching them how to do various moves using the DS buttons and microphone. The button controls are quite simple: D-pad controls movement, A button is jump, B button is punch, X button activates a team-up power (more on that later), and holding L and R and yelling “CHEINJI BAKURETSU!” will transform your human character into his or her Ranger counterpart. However, before transforming in a Ranger, you must fill up your power meter. This is done by yelling “action words” as you use the B button to punch. The game suggests you say “HAA!”, but states that anything is ok. I started out with some classic “POW!” and “BAM!” sound effects, and later moved into “STAB!” and “BANANA!” territory. Once you power up and transform using L and R, several new moves are at your disposal using the microphone. Yelling while pressing B to punch will result in stronger punch attacks, yelling “JAMPU-KICKU!” while in mid-jump will make you do a powered up jump-kick, yelling anything without pressing a button will make you do a spinning uppercut, and yelling “SURAIDING!” while running will make you do a slide-attack. The voice recognition works quite well, and even picks up the English counterparts of commands (“JUMP-KICK!” or “SLIDING!”). One other thing you can do with the microphone is a team-up attack. When you are standing near your partner(s), if one person presses the X button and chooses an attack (using the d-pad) the characters will prepare to launch a super-attack. To launch the attack, everyone must yell “HAA!” at the same time. My friend and I had a bit of trouble with our timing at first, but it became more natural after a bit of practice. The four super moves available are Fire, which launches a huge fireball, Rolling, which launches your partner in a rolling attack, Bomber, which launches your partner high up into the air, and Quake, which causes a small earthquake in your general vicinity. The Bomber attack can also be used to reach high ledges and rooftops throughout the game. Upon successfully performing all of these moves, you will complete practice mode and unlock the easy mode of the main game.
The goal of the main game is to collect a set number of green gears and defeat a boss within a time limit. In easy mode, you have 20 minutes to find 4 green gears and fight the boss, and hard mode drops the time limit to 15 minutes and adds an extra gear. The gears are quite easy to find since they are clearly indicated on the map on the touch screen, but each one will require you to complete a certain task before claiming it. You will have to clear the room of enemies, defeat a mid-boss, or solve a puzzle. The enemies come in a three varieties in easy mode: Colorkroids – somewhat weak purple and green enemies, Generators – round objects that spawn Colorkroids, and Gun Colorkroids – Colorkroids with guns growing out of their heads. The two mid-bosses are Benkei, who wields a large spear, and Hanzou, a Ninja who fights with clones. Hard mode adds in Orange Colorkroids, who are stronger and faster than their purple counterparts, Orange Generators, which float off the ground and spawn Orange Colorkroids, and powered-up versions of the two mid-bosses. Also, throughout the 14 or so rooms of the game, there are several barrels that can be broken to free captured villagers. It’s not necessary to free them, but it will improve your score and overall letter rank upon completing the game. After clearing all the rooms and collecting the necessary amount of gears, you will face the boss of the game. The boss is a large green creature (slightly reminiscent of Wart from Mario 2) who rides on a floating platform and fires missiles at you from his tentacles. You must continually attack the boss until he slides off his platform and then finish him with a special microphone attack in which you and your partner take turns yelling to launch a hurricane. You will get a ranking based on your play through and unlock hard mode upon beating the boss.
Apart from hard mode, which adds in a few rooms and tougher enemies, there isn’t much more to Exclamation Warriors besides an unlockable gallery. I wish there was a bit more substance to the game, but since it was essentially free I guess I can’t really complain. Also, the game is completely in Japanese and you will need to be able to read hiragana and katakana to figure out what to say for the various commands. I highly recommend trying out Exclamation Warriors since it is quite fun, but I wouldn’t drop a fortune on it unless you want it as a collectible.
Author: Alex Nelson
Contact: BigAL415@hotmail.com