Get those maracas ready... Samba de Amigo coming to Wii

I preordered from Amazon credit I got from Trainn...and was waiting for the reviews to decide.

I love Samba so much...but if they are right about the controls, I'm sure it will affect me. I was going to start on the highest difficulty to begin with.

Maybe I will keep my preorder...since it "technically" only cost me a few bucks. Still mad though.
 
Awaiting firsthand reports. Since I suck at music games and probably would never get out of "Easy" mode anyway, the controls might not be an issue.

--R.J.
 
[quote name='4tygames']Disappointing.... I can't believe the developers did not spend more time on the controls.[/QUOTE]
Don't blame the developers:

Beyond that, the limitations of the Wii remote's motion sensing capabilities become apparent at the exact point you really need them to be reliable. Try as Gearbox might, the bald truth is that the Wiimote is far from an exact instrument in precisely judging where you're shaking. Time and again, just as you're building up a great multiplier, a simple repetitive moment can be misinterpreted, leaving you staring balefully at your hands, wondering why thatshake was deemed incorrect when all the others were fine. At lower skill levels, you can afford the odd hardware-related slip-up; you'll make it through anyway. But, really, the routines are basic enough that you shouldn't be making any mistakes.

Needless to say, the imprecise nature of the controls starts to weigh heavily once you're faced with more complex routines and manoeuvres. You'll go from being able to do each song with pretty much with your eyes shut to hitting a brick wall the minute you progress to Hard mode. The games almost works perfectly when asking the player to perform very deliberate actions, but demands an unreasonable level of precision later on - a level of precision that is currently beyond the Wiimote.
Click to expand...

Eurogamer - 6/10
 
Well, then, isn't it the job of the developers to implement the game in such a way that the limitations of the controls are taken into account?

I know that some people would be outraged if they changed the game too much in order to make it work correctly on the Wii. But they already changed it pretty significantly in order to track high, medium, and low. I know I would rather have a game that works, even if it's different than the original, than a game that is impossible to play.

Sigh. At least I still have my original.
 
That's what I was thinking, blandstalker.

Would MotionControl+ (or whatever) had helped? If it had, I wish they would've pushed this and waited for it.

That, or make something that got it right.
 
That's what I'm thinking.

Once the WiiMotion+ comes out, the Wii is kinda pointless right now. I am getting hype over thing with motion control until this comes out. Maybe then our games will be decent and NOT broken.
 
[quote name='blandstalker']Well, then, isn't it the job of the developers to implement the game in such a way that the limitations of the controls are taken into account?[/QUOTE]
It is, but they aren't miracle workers.
 
[quote name='pete5883']It is, but they aren't miracle workers.[/quote]
Some developers have been able to work within these limitations to achieve great results. I'll wait to judge until I play this, as it seems to be varied enough in reviews that it sounds like one of the Wii games where reviewers don't naturally adapt to the control scheme and rather than change their play style (like you would with a traditional controller) they blame the game.

I never played the original though, so I don't have any expectations.
 
[quote name='wii skiier']I'll wait to judge until I play this, as it seems to be varied enough in reviews that it sounds like one of the Wii games where reviewers don't naturally adapt to the control scheme and rather than change their play style (like you would with a traditional controller) they blame the game.
[/QUOTE]
:roll:
 
[quote name='pete5883']:roll:[/quote]
I can't tell if your little man is rolling his eyes at my stupidity or smirking in solidarity. Given the nature of the medium, I'll assume it's the former. I'll hold further comment until I get first-hand experience with the game.
 
Dueling firsthand impressions of Samba (not by me, I just wanted to share):
EmCeeGramr:
Thats all folks. This is going back pronto. Ive tried the same song on hard like ten times and feel like I'm making no progress. Gearbox and their disengenous claims of getting the controls right is what pisses me off the most. As far as I can tell the calibration doesnt make a lick of difference either.
Click to expand...
vs.
HUELEN10:
Just got it about 3 hours ago and I am loving it.

Well that is after a 70 minute learning curve..............


No game should have a learning curve this huge, but once you nail it, you "get" it. It is very awkward at first.
Click to expand...
HUELEN10:
(After playing on "Hard"):
IMG_0753.jpg

And I ALMOST made an "A" rank had it not been for some stupid mistakes on my part near the beginning.

I don't think the controls are shit, I think the learning curve is just way too fucking high.
Click to expand...

--R.J.
 
Sigh, I came very close to blind buying this but there was a nagging feeling they'd screw something up....

I guess I wait for the (probably fairly rapid) descent to the bargain bin. :(
 
As soon as my Amazon copy ships, I will definitely be giving it a rigorous play through.

Too bad Super Saver shows shipping on the 29th...blah.
 
[quote name='Rig']As soon as my Amazon copy ships, I will definitely be giving it a rigorous play through.

Too bad Super Saver shows shipping on the 29th...blah.[/QUOTE]

I see what you did there. :cool:
 
Im laughing at how thoses Dreamcast pros at Samba can't get a A rank on easy mode while Im first time player in the Samba series and have done almost all A ranks on my Easy mode.:p
 
Yeah, from the impressions I'm reading, experienced Samba players are having more problems adjusting to the Wii controls than the newbies.

--R.J.
 
[quote name='lilboo']I see what you did there. :cool:[/quote]

Yes sir!

[quote name='snowmint']Im laughing at how thoses Dreamcast pros at Samba can't get a A rank on easy mode while Im first time player in the Samba series and have done almost all A ranks on my Easy mode.:p[/quote]

Damn. I probably shouldn't have got the DC version out and played it all week. :l
 
I've never played Samba de Amigo so I figured I'd give this a rent from Gamefly. I'm no stranger to DDR or Ouendan games.

Having just completed hard mode I'd say that the controls are indeed frustrating at times. But once you figure out how to hold the wii remotes (and it seems to vary from song to song) you can get a whole rhythm going and do quite well. I got a few As and mostly Bs through most of the songs on hard mode.
I only failed a song once, and then I re-played it and got a B.

I haven't attempted Super Hard mode, I don't think my arms can take it right now. The songs seem short though. I expected DDR length. I've played it twice. Completed easy mode in one sitting and then medium and hard mode just now in my second sitting.

Controls,
The left side is fine. The right side targets give me problems :bomb: I'm using two Wii remotes and having to hold the right remote as if it's laying on its right side. Actually, standing sideways seems to give me more accuracy at times :lol:
--

The fun factor is definitely there. And the copy I got from GF is brand new. I'm considering buying it, unless you guys think there's going to be a significant price drop on this like with the Donkey Kong music game for the game cube. What is that one, like $10?
 
[quote name='Daisydog']
The fun factor is definitely there. And the copy I got from GF is brand new. I'm considering buying it, unless you guys think there's going to be a significant price drop on this like with the Donkey Kong music game for the game cube. What is that one, like $10?[/quote]
It'll drop, and pretty fast. Did you notice how fast Sega Superstars Tennis dropped? Of the Sega ports so far, only House of the Dead has really held it's original MSRP and that's probably thanks to name recognition from years in the arcades. Unless Gamefly is offering you a really good deal, you could probably hold out on this one.
 
Super hard mode was pretty difficult. It kept taking me 2-3 tries to beat a song, but then I calibrated the controllers and was able to start beating songs on the first try again :cool: Although barely! A C is a passing grade, so i need to work on getting better grades.

[quote name='wii skiier']It'll drop, and pretty fast. Did you notice how fast Sega Superstars Tennis dropped? Of the Sega ports so far, only House of the Dead has really held it's original MSRP and that's probably thanks to name recognition from years in the arcades. Unless Gamefly is offering you a really good deal, you could probably hold out on this one.[/quote]
Heh, you're probably right.
 
[quote name='Daisydog']
Controls,
The left side is fine. The right side targets give me problems :bomb: I'm using two Wii remotes and having to hold the right remote as if it's laying on its right side. Actually, standing sideways seems to give me more accuracy at times :lol: ?[/QUOTE]

I'm having the same problems as well. The right side is giving me problems when I'm using remote with nunchuck. Do two Wii remotes actually fix the problem? I'm going to recalibrate it and give it another shot.
 
[quote name='fatbeer']I'm having the same problems as well. The right side is giving me problems when I'm using remote with nunchuck. Do two Wii remotes actually fix the problem? I'm going to recalibrate it and give it another shot.[/quote]
I haven't tried it with the nunchuck cause I just know I'm going to forget and rip them too far apart, and ruin another nunchuck. :lol:

Calibrating it made my play area quite small. That makes things a lot better because now I don't lose track of the indicator at all, and I can easily adjust to the right position when I need to.
 
[quote name='Daisydog']I haven't tried it with the nunchuck cause I just know I'm going to forget and rip them too far apart, and ruin another nunchuck. :lol:

Calibrating it made my play area quite small. That makes things a lot better because now I don't lose track of the indicator at all, and I can easily adjust to the right position when I need to.[/QUOTE]

Hmm.. I should put that in consideration. I don't want to replace broken controllers. There are few moments my nunchuck/remote became unattached when moving in frantic pace. And this coming from easy mode. I bet it's going to be a lot worse if I play on harder difficulty.
 
I finally got this today. Two weeks with Amazon's Super Saver shipping. (I need to learn to not be such a tightwad!)

Impressions:

This is still a great game....especially if you have never played the DC version. You won't know what you're missing that way. ;)

I dove right into the original mode, on hard difficulty (super hard is locked). On the DC, I could pull off 100%'s on most of the songs. On here, I was ending up with 96-99%'s. I played the DC version so much, I know the note patterns for the older songs! :lol:

Yes, the controls are not perfect. The complaining was valid. However, it is not too noticeable. In fact, if you aren't a "score-whore", you probably won't care about the occasional missed note.

Sadly, I am a score-whore. :l

In the original (and in this one), you could get more points by pointing both maracas at a single note. What I mean is:

O O

O -> OO

O O

In this case, one blue note is headed for the right side. To get more points, you can place both maracas at that note, and by shaking them together, you get extra points. That's how you get higher scores. In this Wii version it is much harder, and riskier, to do this. Returning both maracas to their default locations takes an extra second after performing this move. On fast songs, it's almost deadly to your combo to try it. Maybe with more practice, I can perform it better. Still, I'm a bit spoiled by the DC version.

Hustle mode is a whole different beast. I never owned version 2000, but did get to play it a few times (friends of friends). The controls are definitely harder to get used to in Hustle mode. You are flung between exaggerated dance moves (which are FUN!), back to regular notes much too quickly for the Wiimotes. This mode will certainly be the most annoying for the score-whores.

Please buy this game. Pretty, pretty please? Especially if you:

have friends
and/or
never played the DC version

Though I haven't played multiplayer with friends yet (I just got it today!), I know they are gonna love this. Music games are the genre that I can get all the friends playing.

This is the first game in a while that has put Brawl back in its case. I plan on doing some side-by-side scores from both versions (DC and Wii).

And I want some friends on my list!
Friend Code: 3480-5440-5849

EDIT: Ugh. My diagram isn't formatting right. It looks good until I save my post. :l Ah well, you can figure it out.
 
Probably really dumb question here-- I just got my Samba + maracas bundle order from Best Buy and the maracas are just called "Samba Samba", made by a company called "Game On" and say they are not endorsed or licenced by Sega or Nintendo.

Did Sega make an "official" set of maracas for the game, or are these it? Just making sure I didn't pay for "real" Sega maracas (Which I thought DID exist but maybe they don't?) and got 3rd party ones.
 
[quote name='Justin42']Probably really dumb question here-- I just got my Samba + maracas bundle order from Best Buy and the maracas are just called "Samba Samba", made by a company called "Game On" and say they are not endorsed or licenced by Sega or Nintendo.

Did Sega make an "official" set of maracas for the game, or are these it? Just making sure I didn't pay for "real" Sega maracas (Which I thought DID exist but maybe they don't?) and got 3rd party ones.[/QUOTE]

I believe the only maracas are third party.
 
Not licensed. Says it on the box that they're not endorsed by Nintendo or SEGA. And they are indeed the only ones made. Oh well. I got mine for $5 at Best Buy when I got the game on the release week.

Good fun, but two gripes. One about the maracas, the other about the game. After just one song, your hands will HURT from tying to keep a grip around those huge handles. I found myself taking the maracas off and just playing with my Wiimote and nunchuck.

As for the game, as mentioned before, the controls are far from perfect. It gets very annoying pointing the control in the CORRECT direction and the game not recognizing it or thinking you're pointing in the wrong direction. Especially annoying when you have to shake the maracas rapidly to hit the red notes and the game decides not to register one of them (usually the Wiimote) being shaken and gives you a fat ol' X for it.

Other than that, the game's great and the bigger music library's definitely a step up from the first game. Glad to see there's music from the second game as well. Hopefully we'll see some SEGA music pop up as DLC.
 
It's funny considering SEGA sold out of the Samba de Amigo maracas/mats back on the Dreamcast back in the day. You'd figure they'd try it again. Maybe it would've helped since the Wii's waggling detection isn't anywhere as good as the Dreamcast's detection was.
 
I don't really get the control complaints. I was willing to give reviewers a chance thinking maybe they were right and I'd realize it once I hit the harder difficulty levels, but now that I've actually made it to superhard, I have no choice but to say the reviewers that claimed the controls were broken are just wrong.

It is true that on occasion the game will fail to register one of the remotes, but this happens maybe once out of every 10 songs or so, and it's preventable if you're careful. This is a minor annoyance, but at most it will cause you to miss one shake very infrequently.

All I'm saying is, I've never played Samba before and I've only had this game a week. If the controls are broken, I shouldn't be able to 100% some songs on hard on my first try, or get A's on superhard on my first try.

I will say that there is a big learning curve because it takes a little while to get used to the controls and get a feel for where you should be shaking. Once you get it down though, the game controls great, as good as I could expect it to anyway, and a lot better than some other Wii games I've played with motion control.

A few songs really are just really hard. I don't blame the controls for that though, those specific songs are just difficult.

The game does control a lot better with two remotes. I started out with the nunchuk/remote, but once I tried it with two remotes I'm never going back to that again.
 
[quote name='pygmy carnotaur']I don't really get the control complaints. I was willing to give reviewers a chance thinking maybe they were right and I'd realize it once I hit the harder difficulty levels, but now that I've actually made it to superhard, I have no choice but to say the reviewers that claimed the controls were broken are just wrong.

It is true that on occasion the game will fail to register one of the remotes, but this happens maybe once out of every 10 songs or so, and it's preventable if you're careful. This is a minor annoyance, but at most it will cause you to miss one shake very infrequently.

All I'm saying is, I've never played Samba before and I've only had this game a week. If the controls are broken, I shouldn't be able to 100% some songs on hard on my first try, or get A's on superhard on my first try.

I will say that there is a big learning curve because it takes a little while to get used to the controls and get a feel for where you should be shaking. Once you get it down though, the game controls great, as good as I could expect it to anyway, and a lot better than some other Wii games I've played with motion control.

A few songs really are just really hard. I don't blame the controls for that though, those specific songs are just difficult.

The game does control a lot better with two remotes. I started out with the nunchuk/remote, but once I tried it with two remotes I'm never going back to that again.[/QUOTE]

Seems to me that the people who are having the most problems are the people who played the Dreamcast game first. Maybe it's just that the controls are very different in this new version - so the rules/technique from the DC game don't apply.
 
[quote name='tsmvengy']Seems to me that the people who are having the most problems are the people who played the Dreamcast game first. Maybe it's just that the controls are very different in this new version - so the rules/technique from the DC game don't apply.[/quote]
I think you're right. I'm still waiting on a price drop/sale on Samba, but in the meantime I've been playing my $7 clearance copy of Battle of the Bands (which has the same basic gameplay mechanic) and I have to say I've been very happy with it.

One thing I've found in BotB that may apply to Samba is that I get much better results (timing and sensitivity) if I hold the remote as low as possible on the shaft and flick rather than make a huge gesture. So that's my shaft advice if you are having sensitivity issues.
 
Based on a few positive impressions in this thread, I'll give this game a rental.

At one time, this was a must-buy but lots of negative web reviews turned me off. Hopefully after the rental, I will be impressed.

Btw, I never played Samba before and a rhythm game based on maracas seems quite intriguing. :D
 
[quote name='tsmvengy']Seems to me that the people who are having the most problems are the people who played the Dreamcast game first. Maybe it's just that the controls are very different in this new version - so the rules/technique from the DC game don't apply.[/quote]
That is definitely for sure. The blame most likely rests on the sensor bar and Wii remote, rather than the game itself. The controls and sensor are far from being as accurate and precise as the Dreamcast ones.

Especially considering instead of just shaking the maracas in certain spots, you have to face the remote up, down or towards the screen as well as move it in the direction you want. Sometimes, this can be a problem using the nunchuck, which is tethered to the remote, which will likely throw the sensor off and make it think you swinging in different directions.
 
I have never played DC, and the control frustrates me

it is too in-consistent. It works really well with Easy / Normal, but on Super Hard and Hard it is extremely frustrating.

The white circle is either too sensitive or too slow, and trust me, I have re-caliberate like every song and tested out the maricas / 2x wii remote / wii remote and nunchuk combo.

There are times the controls are perfect, but once I restart the Wii, the control became flawed again.

I wish Nintendo can update the firmware to improve the infra red focus point or the sensory in general, because this is such a waste of a great game.

On a side note, we never got any DLC like they promised.
 
I've had a blast playing this game so far. The controls aren't perfect but most of the time they work well enough to not be too frustrating. I don't know many of the songs very well but they're fun to play. And Hustle mode is a blast. The songs could be a little bit longer, maybe 3 minutes instead of 2, but honestly I prefer that over the excessively long songs in guitar hero that get old half way through the song.

What's up with DLC? I don't have internet for my Wii until I go home in November but I was hoping to have songs to download by then.
 
I was playing this a bit yesterday. Only played a few songs since my batteries where dying and I need to get around to charging another batch. Decent no major complaints, I can agree with most points already said. Just another fun game to go with the rest of the Wii arcades hits I'll play for 30 mins every now and then.
 
Holy shit.

So we went out and rented this tonight.

This game is so broken. This is a disgrace. How the HELL did they think this was ok?? It's amazing. It is absolutely amazing the kind of GARBAGE that gets released on the Wii.

I never played the original so I had nothing to compared it to. It's def a game with a ton of potential, but holy shit, this is crazy at how awful the controls are.. :whistle2:|
 
You sound like the magazine reviewers, Boo. :razz:

It certainly is no DC version...but I don't think the controls are horrible with a little practice. Granted, they aren't great, and I would definitely want them to be better, but I think it received too much hate.

Did you run the calibration test? That helps out quite a bit (and is definitely needed to be run with each person playing).

I had a friend that was getting 95-98% after a couple songs...and he is by far not a music genre player. I really don't think the controls take much to get down.
 
[quote name='Rig']You sound like the magazine reviewers, Boo. :razz:

It certainly is no DC version...but I don't think the controls are horrible with a little practice. Granted, they aren't great, and I would definitely want them to be better, but I think it received too much hate.

Did you run the calibration test? That helps out quite a bit (and is definitely needed to be run with each person playing).

I had a friend that was getting 95-98% after a couple songs...and he is by far not a music genre player. I really don't think the controls take much to get down.[/quote]

Well the controls seem to be okay in the lower mediocre levels of the game, but even with the calibration it is pretty much trash. the sensitivity is just terrible and on the harder levels you are constantly doing stances and the controls are very delayed to a point that the sensors cant reach to each circle fast enough after each pose. I mean its not the worst game in the world, but compared to the DC version, it is just terrible.
 
I DID calibrate.. I just think it was more frustrating then anything. We played for about 2 hours now, giving it a good amount of time..and yeah, we do OK, but it's not really about the score...it's about going "WTF I HIT THOSE NOTES!"

I dunno. It just seems broken :eek:(
 
Just tried this game out today. Usually I'm pretty good at understanding and getting the hang of Wii controls when most people don't (i.e. SSX Blur, Wii Boxing, Sonic/Monkey minigames). But hell, anything above normal is incredibly frustrating. I don't want have to preposition the wiimote before shaking, but that's how it seems to work.

I'm surprised they still pushed this game out. Even on paper, using the accelerometers to detect both position and shaking doesn't sound too easy (or possible) to implement well at all.

Love the music though.
 
I am still confused at the people who have trouble with the controls on this. All I can figure is that I have the same natural movements as the designers/testers or something and just lucked out. I've played almost all the songs on this and can almost always get 95% or better. I don't doubt that the controls don't work for a lot of you (I've seen the same thing happen on other games like SSX Blur), it's just strange when that kind of schism happens. I have noticed that holding the remotes as low as possible helps with the sensitivity.

I never played the DC version so I didn't have any expectations. I love the music and feel of this game. It's so gushingly cheerful.
 
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