Daigasso! Band Brothers

[Impossible]

I just imported this awesome DS game from Play-Asia, and so far I haven't regretted it a bit. The language barrier doesn't cause a huge problem (and GameFAQs has a somewhat helpful translation FAQ), so I recommend anyone with a DS get it.

For those who don't know and can't be bothered reading the review, Band Brothers is a music game (which I specifically call a music game and NOT a rhythm game, it's like a genre of its own) full of J-Pop, anime openings (including Melissa and my favourite, Ready Steady Go, from FMA), and Nintendo medleys (Mario, Zelda, FE, Kirby, F-Zero, Pokemon and Famicom). There are also some crap medleys of various non-Japanese music. The only really good song in the "World" category is Smoke on the Water. >_> But we all know that the songs in the English version will just plain suck, like in DKa.

But anyway, BB in its most basic mode just involves pressing either a direction or a button to play a note, and occasionally pressing the touch screen at the right time to have a sequence of notes played automatically. Once you unlock the next mode, it looks more like this, and you have four directions and four buttons to press. As you can see in that screenshot, every note has a head and a tail, the head being when you need to press the note and the tail being when you hold it down. Nothing beats playing a high-speed sequence of various buttons and directions with all different tail lengths within 10-ish seconds. Wait, actually, I hate doing that.

In the next mode, which I think I'm a long way from being able to play at all, the life-saving touch screen parts are removed revealing some of the hardest parts of each song, and there are now 32 possible notes you can play, which involve holding down the L and/or R button as you play.

One interesting thing about the game is that as well as 20-30 songs, there are about 5-8 instrumental parts for every song, giving you a whole lot to play. Some of them have similarities, but I think the real fun will come in multiplayer - as well as having up to 8 people in a scoring game, you can have an INFINITE number of DS' playing a song with various instruments.

The game also has two music creating modes - one using the microphone, which SUCKS, and one you unlock along with the most difficult play level, which requires some musical knowledge.

I think I've explained enough, so now since I've started and I might as well finish even thought my Naruto download is done, I'll just finish off with some other random comments.
This game is getting REALLY hard. Right now I'm only even playing the medium mode in the practice thing, because otherwise I have to unlock it, and once I unlock it I can't play the beginner mode again. And messing around all at the same time with four lettered buttons which don't imply a direction as well as four arrows gets really complicated and hard at some points.
What the hell is with the Zelda medley? Main theme, Lon Lon Ranch, Zelda's Lullaby, a teeny tiny little bit of Saria's Song, main theme again, and some finale bit. What is crap like Lon Lon Ranch doing there when there's room for the Song of Storms, or LttP overworld? Mario has a decent medley, with the themes from SMB/3, SMW, SMS and Bob-omb Battlefield.
Some of the other songs are just ridiculous. Who the fuck wants to play a medley of Christmas carols or children's songs? One of the medleys in that area has an Israeli song in it, though, which is just really cool. Ironically, I mentioned that song to someone less than an hour earlier (referring to its appearance in the Simpsons, during Bart's hallucinations in the 3rd grade).

I'm sure I could go on and on forever about how awesome this game is, but then you could never buy it, and then I'd never sleep, so that's enough for now.

[Impossible]

My new plan for when I unlock the real edit mode: THE WAY MEDLEY!

[Teenr0cker]

I'm not too interested in importing stuff. Too much guess work...

[Impossible]

It's really pretty easy.

The game itself, on the other hand, is HORRENDOUSLY HORRIBLY INSANELY HARD!!! In Pro mode, two-star difficulty songs are giving me a lot of trouble, and three-star difficulty ones are leading me to a mental breakdown. I haven't even been able to unlock four or five-star ones! This game literally takes the skill of an actual musician... o_O Playing real songs, not ones you play in the first 5 or so years of playing an instrument.

[HolsteinCow]

From your description, It sounds like a cross between DDR and Sexy Beach 2.

[Inderos]

This game literally takes the skill of an actual musician... o_O Playing real songs, not ones you play in the first 5 or so years of playing an instrument.

What the fuck are you talking about? I've been playing bass for less than five years... And I play "real songs" all the time.

[Impossible]

Obviously the songs you play are about a million times easier. >_> Seriously, though, this is one of the hardest games I've ever played.

[Greatchickenman]

I've been playing my oboe for 5 years and I can play some really badass classical music on it. So there.

Besides, playing a video game is hardly like playing an instrument.


Oboe: The second least manly instrument ever.





second only to the flute... those damn flutes....

Give me the names of some of the hardest songs you have on there. I will be able to play it on my fucking oboe, bitch.

[Impossible]

Um... most of the hardest songs in the game are J-Pop, or are gaming medleys exclusive to the game. And classical music doesn't count. >_> All the classical music in BB is easy.

[Greatchickenman]

Just print up some of the sheet music for it. it must be easy to transpose for a musical genius such as yourself, correct? After all, you're the one that stated that the music is harder than what you'll learn after 5 years of playing an instrument.

[Teenr0cker]

This game literally takes the skill of an actual musician... o_O Playing real songs, not ones you play in the first 5 or so years of playing an instrument.

What the fuck are you talking about? I've been playing bass for less than five years... And I play "real songs" all the time.

no, no, no. A musician is good when they bust out their own stuff. Whether it's Jazz improv, busting out a badass solo, or laying out a sweet harmonic in a good duet: it doesn't matter. Those are all signs of experience. "But Teen," You might say" I know the circle of fifths and know a whole bunch of relative pitch patterns for each key!" That means nothing to me. It's being able to apply those skills in sightreading and writing music that matter. And playing another bands song is just mocking them by not being able to fully appreciate the songs meaning. That is why I recognise Porter as a true music artist. But that's not why I hate you. Just remember that.











PS: I hate you because you suck.

[Porter]

I don't care if any guitarist can play "Eruption" perfectly or play some insane Red Hot Chili Peppers song on bass. Whoopdee doo. What musician has achieved true greatness by copying someone else? Sure you have a successful cover song or two, but even then you can't call yourself a musician if you don't write a riff and brag about how you play other shit.

[Impossible]

Just print up some of the sheet music for it. it must be easy to transpose for a musical genius such as yourself, correct? After all, you're the one that stated that the music is harder than what you'll learn after 5 years of playing an instrument.

I didn't say I could correctly play any songs in Pro mode, dumbass.
And I don't have any program to create sheet music, nor would I be bothered to change each of the buttons into their proper notes - and it's irrelevant, because the difficulty in BB isn't JUST because of the notes - it's the tempo and use of shoulder buttons, too.

[Guest]

Performance and composition are two separate talents. Interpreting / playing a piece of music with emotion isn't something every great composer is able to do. Likewise, some of the best singers and musicians aren't songwriters. I think what you see in modern music, for the most part, are mediocre musicians who are far less than mediocre songwriters being praised because, hey, they "write their own music." So what? It still sucks.

I play guitar (classical), and I mostly play my own material. What I mean by "my own material" is that I make shit up as I go along because I'm too lazy to do any formal songwriting or learn other people's complicated pieces (for the most part, that is. I do know a few.) I've written pieces, yes, but none that I haven't abandoned over time, and none were big losses truthfully.

But I sure can improvise. It's about the only thing on guitar that I do really well. And you know what? It's not really as -made up on the spur of the moment- as you might think. You take a scale. You go up and down and back and forth, you do a little bend, you skip a note, you shift positions, switch to a different root at the next part of the song, whatever you want to. But did I make up that scale or any of the techniques for manipulating it? Nope.

And more importantly than that, is what I'm playing by improvising "better" because it's unrehearsed? If not, then what's the purpose of improvisation? Its fun, and I think it has its place, but it's not an end-all-be-all "you're not a musician unless you do this," type of thing.

There's whole genres where improvisation would have no place at all. Is there not a single musician to be found in the world's orchestras because they're just following the sheet music? Is opera an invalid art form because each line and note should, ideally, be exactly the same at each performance?

OK, I know opera sucks. I was just making a point. Sorry to go all crazy on you guys, but ex-roommate used to say the same stuff to me when critiquing my guitar playing. And he was a fucking DJ! Talk about hypocrisy.

[Parhelion]

That was me. I forgot to log in again. Every time . . . .

My wife was bitching at me today. I had to vent on someone.

My buddy just bought Dance-Dance-Revolution. He's been playing it non-stop for four days now. I think a hostile alien may have taken over his body. He just didn't seem like the dancing type.