Nintendo DS

Daigasso! Band Brothers

Band Bros. was clearly made by musicians with a vision. The game embodies everything that is Nintendo DS and should have been promoted as a flagship title. From its addictive multiplayer jam sessions to its ambitious editing software the game is superbly executed. Band Bros. deserves an import, but DS owners should at least pick it up when it is released locally.

Daigasso! Band Brothers is not a game that will age quickly, so here’s hoping with the DS taking off in the west that Nintendo bring it over, possibly revamping the song list for us in the process. There’s an expansion GBA cartridge out in Japan that adds an extra thirty songs, and I didn’t even mention the music authoring tool built in where you can set up your own pieces to play together. Like music, this game is all about the fun of participating, or playing, not really about score or achievement, and that’s what gaming’s all about in my book.

Daigasso! spielt sich klasse! Das Gameplay ist durchdacht und die beiden Bildschirme des DS werden gut genutzt, wenngleich der Touchscreen eher selten zum Einsatz kommt. Das Faszinierende sind die vielen Musikstücke. Spätestens im Amateur-Modus müsst ihr euch so konzentrieren, dass ihr euch fast in Trance spielt und alles um euch herum vergesst. Besonders genial ist der Mehrspieler-Modus: Mit bis zu acht Spielern gleichzeitig läuft Daigasso! zur Höchstform auf. Witzige Ideen bringen den Spieler zum Schmunzeln. Beispielsweise unterzeichnet ihr nach dem Probeauftritt im Plattenstudio euren ersten Plattenvertrag. Und das macht ihr womit? Richtig, mit dem Stylus setzt ihr eure persönliche Signatur unter den Vertrag! Solche kleinen Ideen tragen hervorragend zur Spielatmosphäre bei. Wer schon mit Musikspielen wie Pop & Music seine helle Freude hatte, ist hier allerbestens aufgehoben.

Now, is Daigasso! Band Brothers worth it to you? Really difficult to say. It’s fairly easy to get into, but the setup is counter-intuitive at times. It has plenty of great options, but you have to play a bit to get to them and even then they’re tricky to use if you don’t read up on sheet music. The multiplayer is great but can be a pain to set up properly. The music selection is decent, but the actual sound quality is a bit lagging. I guess the best answer is that if you’re really into rhythm games or music in general, it can be a fun pickup. However, if you’re only a sporadic rhythm game player or don’t care much about music, there are better titles to pick up on the DS. The idea behind Daigasso! Has a lot of potential, but it’s only half-realized and thus is only for the truly dedicated music makers.