Topic: Samba De Amigo for the Wii?

[BeautifulShy]

Eurogamer review
They gave it a 6 out of 10.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

``The most common problem, though, seemed to be that people wanted to hold their maracas upwards and doing this causes only the upper 'notes' to be detected. For side and bottom shakes you will actually have to point the remote to the side and bottom.``

http://www.vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=13330

So, do reviewers just not "get it", like what happened to SSX Blur?

[BeautifulShy]

Yes I think that is the case.

[DAaaMan64]

SSX Blur just has rediculousness, I never "got it"

[robert snodgrass]

I think NinGurl might be right - I never had the Blur issues that some reviewers/players had. Maybe I am shaped and naturally designed like a game designer or tester.

[Caterkiller]

Well you guys are giving me hope. I really really wanted a new rhythm game, getting tired of Guitar Hero

If anyone gets to play please post your impressions. Also do we get the add on maracas?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I think NinGurl might be right - I never had the Blur issues that some reviewers/players had. Maybe I am shaped and naturally designed like a game designer or tester.

There's videos of people flawlessly playing Blur, so the notion came to mind that either reviewers don't follow directions or the game's directions aren't clear enough.

[Caliban]

the game's directions aren't clear enough.

Hell if I didn't try many times and in several ways, and such a step back was what didn't allow me to enjoy the game even more or anymore, but you know what maybe I will just do what you did which was to watch other people play Blur and see what i was doing wrong all along.

[BeautifulShy]

Caterkiller from what I've seen there isn't a official set of maracas.I've seen two 3rd party maracas.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Okay if anyone is interested song pack 1 is 120 Blocks (which is around 15MB) and 500 Wii points which isn't bad for 3 songs but I wish you had the option to buy them separately songs are Mambo Mambo, Are you Gonna be my girl and I want candy.

The game is a lot of fun but the controls can be a little flaky, I can easily get As in Medium and sometimes in Hard the problem is that the controls are a little way to sensitive in both control styles.

Wiimote + Nunchuk is playable but Dual Wii Remotes are the way to go if you can.

[Jonnyboy117]

So, do reviewers just not "get it", like what happened to SSX Blur?

When you hear almost every review describing the same control problems, it's a real problem.  Maybe it's poor directions in the game or some other external factor, and maybe you and a few other people will be able to play it just fine, but obviously there are quite a few people having a problem with it.

I only played Samba at E3, but I thought it was almost unplayable due to the control recognition problem.  At the very least, it has to be played much differently than the Dreamcast originals.  At the worst, it's just trying to do things that the Wii controller wasn't designed to do.  I really wish Sega had decided to delay it until MotionPlus, because then the gyroscopes could have detected the angle while leaving the accelerometers to detect a strong shake.  Instead, you have the accelerometers trying to handle both duties at once.  I feel sorry for the programmers who had to try to make this work properly, and I feel sorry for the Samba fans who are going to suffer through it.

[Infernal Monkey]

Has it been confirmed if 'Opa-Opa' from the DC version is in here? Shaking to Fantasy Zone's theme was one of those forever YEEESSSS moments for me.

I'll buy thirty seven copies if it's back.

Just kidding.

Thirty eight

[Flames_of_chaos]

So, do reviewers just not "get it", like what happened to SSX Blur?

When you hear almost every review describing the same control problems, it's a real problem.  Maybe it's poor directions in the game or some other external factor, and maybe you and a few other people will be able to play it just fine, but obviously there are quite a few people having a problem with it.

I only played Samba at E3, but I thought it was almost unplayable due to the control recognition problem.  At the very least, it has to be played much differently than the Dreamcast originals.  At the worst, it's just trying to do things that the Wii controller wasn't designed to do.  I really wish Sega had decided to delay it until MotionPlus, because then the gyroscopes could have detected the angle while leaving the accelerometers to detect a strong shake.  Instead, you have the accelerometers trying to handle both duties at once.  I feel sorry for the programmers who had to try to make this work properly, and I feel sorry for the Samba fans who are going to suffer through it.

Jon,

In a way I disagree about the motion plus helping samba's controls and in a way you do know how to properly control the game if you bother to calibrate it before you play. The reason why motion+ wouldn't help is because that the problem is the controls are too sensitive already. My hypothesis is that the reason why the on screen markers go crazy is because your dealing with tilt and shaking at the same exact time. The controls do work, just not as smoothly as one would want. The game only cares about the top middle and bottom and if you ever ran a program like DarwiinRemote on OSX and possibly Pieglove on PC, if you study the sine waves while shaking, tilting a Wii remote the accelerometers are already sensitive enough to detect what samba wants as inputs just how demanding the game is for shaking at hard difficulty can be overkill at times especially when you have to change position so fast.

[shammack]

I'd like to see a review by someone who had never played the Dreamcast game.  When some guy from the development team was on the IGN podcast a couple of weeks ago, he made it sound like they'd put quite a bit of effort and testing into getting the controls to work right.  I have to wonder how many of the complaints about the controls come from not being able to "un-learn" the way it worked on Dreamcast.

Detecting shaking and orientation-changing at once does sound like a nightmare, though.  Maybe it's one of those cases where everyone was like "The Wii is perfect for this!" and then once they started trying to do it they found out it really wasn't, but they were already committed to it.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

One thing's for sure, Gearbox makes me sad.

[Caterkiller]

Ok, I think im just going to have to pick it up. I saw some realy cool seemingly officialy muracas as well. Hopefully It's another case with me and SA2, most people could not play that game to save there lives because of the controles,  but I mastered it to the max.

[Kairon]

I only played Samba at E3, but I thought it was almost unplayable due to the control recognition problem.  At the very least, it has to be played much differently than the Dreamcast originals.

I played Samba at both the Nintendo media Event in Spring AND at E3.

Oddly enough... it was almost perfect at the Nintendo Media Event in the Spring. And then playing it at E3 felt much worse.

I seriously am confused about what might have possibly happened to make it less enjoyable for me at E3 than a couple months earlier...

[LuigiHann]

I actually kind of wish they would have scrapped the original Dreamcast design, and instead of saying "how can we recreate the original controls on Wii," they should have said "how can we make a kickass maraca game on Wii" They could have pitched it as a Samba de Amigo sequel instead of a pseudo-remake, and it probably would have been a better game for it. The Wii remote can't do exactly what the Dreamcast Maracas did, but the Wii remote can do a lot of things that those maracas couldn't do, so it's a shame they didn't take advantage of that.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Even if controls aren't the best, hustle mode is a bunch of fun.

[Jonnyboy117]

I'd like to see a review by someone who had never played the Dreamcast game.  I have to wonder how many of the complaints about the controls come from not being able to "un-learn" the way it worked on Dreamcast.

Problem is that they're still using the Dreamcast interface, so you know have visual indicators that no longer match how the game is actually played.  It's pretty confusing, and even more so for people who have played the original games.

Maybe it's one of those cases where everyone was like "The Wii is perfect for this!" and then once they started trying to do it they found out it really wasn't, but they were already committed to it.

I think you're exactly right here.  I'd be fascinated to hear a developer's post-mortem on the game in a year's time.

[BeautifulShy]

 I have not played this on the DC.

I got this game and I beat easy and normal in career. The controllers detect the Pointer and wiimote placement.When I started playing my stance was open than it should of been.I found I had to have my upper arms close to the side of my body.After some experimentation I just had to tilt the wiimote so that the pointer would go  in the desired direction.I haven't played other modes yet, but I will later.Overall it is fun thus far.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I picked up the game and HOPE to play it this weekend with my family. Should be interesting.

[LuigiHann]

A friend of mine bought this, and he also bought the silly, 3rd-party maraca shells for the Wii remote and nunchuk (the "samba samba" ones). Inexplicably, the game controls much, much better with the maraca shells on. Maybe it's just the extra weight and length making them feel more like maracas, and forcing the player to point the controllers properly, but the fact is... the game is a lot of fun with those shells on. Playing with two Wii remotes but without the shells, I found the controls to be less responsive, oddly.

[Kairon]

A friend of mine bought this, and he also bought the silly, 3rd-party maraca shells for the Wii remote and nunchuk (the "samba samba" ones). Inexplicably, the game controls much, much better with the maraca shells on. Maybe it's just the extra weight and length making them feel more like maracas, and forcing the player to point the controllers properly, but the fact is... the game is a lot of fun with those shells on. Playing with two Wii remotes but without the shells, I found the controls to be less responsive, oddly.

Strange things going on with this game.... I'll recommend the maracas to a friend of mine who's also wrestling with it.

[Caterkiller]

Sorry to bring up this old topic but man am I excited about this game!

My girl friend just got it for me for Christmas, and so far I am absolutely loving it! Your not cool playing a rhythm game unless you can move! That's why Guitar hero has just about faded away in my mind.

Anywho, like everyone else I was super worried about how the game would play. Now then to play this game one must absolutely use the maracas. The weight makes it feel so much better. But you need 2 remotes. I can't play at all with the nunchuk. As a matter of fact my maracas were made for the nunchuk combo but I just held the remote and maraca in the same hand, a little uncomfortable but it worked. Getting more today.

Before I go on, keep in mind I have never played the original title before. I have been playing for 2 says now and have scored A's with 97 percent in SUPER HARD mode. If I can do it, so can you my friends. I found that the remotes need to be clearly pointed forward, up or down to make the different motions work right. With that being said, I found it allot easier to stand up and play. I don't know how the rest of you feel about that, but its easier to point your hands downward and diagonal when you are standing up with your legs out of the way.

The controles do work pretty well, but what gets me the most, is not the lower green notes, its the poses. Specifically the same direction pose on the same circle. I still don't quite understand exactly were I should be most of the time.

I have to get going, but I will continue this a bit later. If any of you are looking for a great rhythm, that's not guitar related, this is a fantastic one.