Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

About Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is a highly addictive music/rhythm game along the lines of Dance Dance Revolution. With this game, you use the stylus exclusively to follow numbered patterns that are synchronized to background music. The game itself consists of 15, full-length songs, each with 4 varying levels of difficulty.

The game takes place in a town where there are many people with varying degrees of distress. These people call on Ouendan, a squad of male cheerleaders, to help cheer them out of their problems. Using the stylus, and an incredibly addictive element of touch screen game play, you lead these cheerleaders to victory and (hopefully) help out these poor people too.

If you are wondering about a possible localized release for areas outside of Japan, don't count on it. Not only is the game completely engulfed in crazy Japanese culture, but licensing the music itself would be a major hassle. The game is definitely import-friendly though, so go ahead and pick it up if you happen to see it.

Note: All of the information contained within this article is derived from the Japanese version of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.

How To Play
The only methods of control you will ever use for this game is the touch screen (tapping, dragging, and spinning) and the 'START' button (to pause the game).

Once you choose a person in distress, you will be treated to a manga-style comic of their dilemma. After a few panels of explanation, the song will begin and that's your cue to play.

Various visual cues will begin to appear on the screen. You follow these cues with precision timing in order to keep the music and the cheering flowing. Every song has a number of short 'intermissions'. During this time, you don't have to do anything except enjoy the music and watch the comic panels take shape. Your performance affects what will happen during these intermissions, so do well if you want to see the positive stuff (it is also recommended that you do poorly on purpose, just to see some of the hilarious negative effects).

As soon as you first touch the screen, a meter along the top of the touch screen will begin to decrease. This is basically your 'life' indicator. When it runs out, the song ends and you must start it over. For each successfuly timed hit, or for completing a track or spinner, the 'life' meter will refill slightly. For each mistake, the meter will drop dramatically, so try not to make a mistake.

At the end of the song, a few final manga panels will appear showing the results of your constant cheering. You'll then get a summary of your performance and it will also be ranked (and recorded, if you manage to make a high score).

The visual cues that appear on the screen indicate one of the following actions that you have to perform:

Tap


Simply tap the appropriate circle in the order that they are numbered with. This type of action is commonly referred to as a 'hit'.

As soon as the numbered circles start appearing, a circular border will start closing in on the numbered circle. When that border reaches the numbered circle, then you must tap the circle at that instant to get the most points.

Usually, many circles will appear on the screen at once. You must tap them in the order that they appear. Different sets of numbers are seperated by the color of the circle.

Drag


Some circles will transform into paths that you must drag the stylus along. A 'ball' indictor appears to help guide you. Keep your stylus on the ball, and lift the stylus once you reach the end of the path. The paths themselves are commonly referred to as 'tracks'.

Some paths will cycle back and forth. This is indicated with a flashing arrow sign that appears at the opposite end of the path. You need to continously go back and forth along the path until no more flashing arrows appear.

Take note that paths are not only horizontal. The track my be vertical, form a shape, or anything else. Just be sure you follow the ball indicator along the track.

Spin


At some points during a song, a circular wheel will appear. You must spin this wheel as quickly as possible to fill the energy meter that appears in the background. You also have a specific time limit to accomplish this, so spin quickly. These parts of the game are referred to as 'spinners'.

The faster you spin, the faster your meter fills up. Another of those circular borders will start to close in on the spinner; fill the meter before the border reaches the very middle of the spinner (this border indicates the amount of time you have to complete this). If you've filled the meter, and still have time left, continue to spin and you'll earn lots of bonus points for each additional full spin (or you can just stop).

Note: I find that you get the meter fills the quickest if you spin in complete circles, as opposed to just furiously spinning in any crazy pattern. It's also not necessary to push down on the touch screen incredibly hard, as this makes the spinning motion less fluid, and may even scratch your touch screen.

Translation Guide
Because this game comes from Japan, you will no doubt notice the fact that its almost all in Japanese. That makes it quite difficult read if you don't know the language. Here are a few helpful translations to get you started (at this time, I will not translate the manga/stories; they are already incredibly well drawn and easy to follow).

- Main Menu -

After you've gotten past the title screen, you'll find a simple set of options available on the bottom screen (and cheerleaders dancing on the top screen).


 * Single Player. The top-most button lets you start single player games.


 * Multiplayer. The button right under the single player button lets you play in multiplayer mode.


 * Options. The bottom left button lets you set options, view records, and prepare the tutorial for wireless download.


 * Tutorial. The bottom right button begins the tutorial that teaches you how to play Ouendan.

- Options Menu -


 * Rankings. The top left button will let you view the ranks that you have achieved.


 * High Scores. The top right button lets you see all your high scores.


 * Tutorial Transfer. The bottom left button will send the Ouendan tutorial to another DS for download.


 * More Options. The bottom right button lets you choose the hand you play with, and backlight options.

- Single Player Menu -


 * Insane. This first button lets you play in the Insane difficulty mode. This option does not appear until you complete Hard mode.


 * Hard. The second option lets you play in the Hard difficulty mode. This option does not appear until you complete Normal mode.


 * Normal. The third option lets you play in the Normal difficulty mode. This difficulty option is available by default.


 * Easy. This last button lets you play in the Easy difficulty mode. This difficulty option is available by default.

Tips and Tricks
- Reset All Game Data -

Resetting your game data will erase anything you have done including your high scores. Only perform this if you really want to erase your data.

Restart the game, and when the Nintendo/Inis screen appears, press and hold down A, B, X, Y, L and R all at the same time. A confirmation message (in Japanese) will appear. The left button is 'YES', the right button is 'NO'. If you press 'YES', another confirmation message will ask you if you are sure. Once again, the left button is 'YES', and the right button is 'NO'. Tap the buttons to make your selection.

Scoring
- Hits -

Hits are the circles that you must follow in a specific numbered order.


 * 300 points for a 'Perfect'
 * 100 points for a 'Good'
 * 50 points for a 'OK'
 * 0 points for a 'Miss'

- Tracks -

Tracks are paths that you must follow with you your stylus.


 * Reaching the end of a track will earn you 30 points each.
 * Each 'dot' along the track will earn you 30 points.
 * Completing a track without any mistakes and with perfect timing will earn you 300 points.
 * Completing a track with mistakes or not with perfect timing will earn you 100 points.
 * Completely missing a track will result in a Miss (X).

- Spinners -

Spinners are the circles that you must spin in order to fill up the meter.


 * You earn 100 points for every full spin.
 * You'll earn 100-300 points when you've successfully filled up the meter.
 * After you fill the meter, each full spin will earn you 1000 bonus points.
 * If you don't fill the meter before time runs out, it will result in a Miss (X).

Unlockables
- Hard Mode -

Complete Normal Mode to unlock the Hard difficulty.

- Insane Mode -

Complete Hard Mode to unlock the Insane difficulty.

- Ranks -

After reaching a certain amount of points, at specific points, you will unlock new 'ranks'.

Track List
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan includes 15 full-length songs to which all this tapping chaos is synchronized to. There are many great songs, including the very popular 'READY STEADY GO' from the Fullmetal Alchemist television animation. In addition to these songs, you can also play through the Ouendan theme song that appears during the tutorial.


 * Asian Kung-Fu Generation - "Loop & Loop"


 * Morning Musume - "Koi no Dance Site"


 * 175R - "Melody"


 * Ulfuls - "Guts Da Ze!!"


 * The Blue Hearts - "Linda Linda"


 * Tomoyasu Hotei - "Thrill"


 * nobodyknows+ - "Kokoro Odoru"


 * B'z - "Atsuki kodo no hate"


 * Linda Yamamoto - "Horiuchi"


 * Kishidan - "One Night Carnival"


 * Road of Major - "Taisetsuna mono"


 * Yaida Hitomi - "Over The Distance"


 * Orange Range - "Shanghai Honey"


 * The Yellow Monkey - "Taiyou ga Moeteiru"


 * L'Arc~En~Ciel - "READY STEADY GO"

Links and Resources

 * Official Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan Website (Japan)
 * Full gameplay footage of "READY STEADY GO" (Insane Difficulty)
 * Import site that sells Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan