I have already proclaimed my unabashed love for Elite Beat Agents (EBA), so it should come as no surprise that Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! found its way into my mailbox. As the original Japanese game that inspired EBA, Ouendan has been critically acclaimed and developed a large fan base, both in its native Japan and foreign countries. I couldn’t wait to try it out.

When I began on the easiest level, I was a little surprised. Like EBA, it was hard when it was too slow (you have to concentrate to hit the sparse buttons, a drastic change from the more constant buttons that practically keep the tempo of the later levels). However, the overall pacing of the difficulties was much, much better. Levels progressed at an accelerated rate to that of the Westernized EBA. While it may be challenging for the new player, I felt that there was less of a plateau in difficulty among the levels. While in EBA there would seem to be a couple easy songs and many harder songs (in each of the four difficulty levels), Ouendan provided levels that progressed more steadily. As a player (and an EBA veteran), I felt respected. The game adjusts to the player’s rising skill, making it more fun.

Also high on the fun factor were the charts themselves. By charts, I mean the layout and pacing of the touch buttons and other devices during the songs. They were laid out in such a way so that they were not frustrating (such as not placing buttons all the way across the screen so you have to rush over to that spot) but high on the fun factor (such as laying out a string of buttons for a fun little drum solo). Perhaps it was the songs themselves, as many felt more like dance songs than those in EBA. Overall, there were fewer tricky rhythms to stumble over (like triplets in even time signatures) and the beat patterns fit the songs really well.

One you get past the fantastic gameplay, the main difference between EBA and Ouendan is the language. Ouendan is in Japanese. While I know some Japanese, I cannot read most of this game. The stories are still fairly easy to figure out from the pictures alone, but it appears the there are some stories that I may not understand due to language and/or cultural barriers. Keiichi Yano described how he changed the stories entriely for EBA because some problems just don’t suit Western audiences, such as the student having trouble focusing to study for an important exam. I have to admit, I found the stories for EBA to be much easier to relate to, perhaps because I’d seen stories like them so many times (the oil tycoon falls from power, the stealthy ninja steals secret plans, the lost puppy must find his way home).

Considering that I skip past most of the story animation after watching it once or twice, I really believe that the gameplay is the most important aspect of these iNiS games. If I had to pick between the two, I’d say Ouendan is definitely the more solid of the two and more fun in terms of gameplay. However, I’d definitely recommend Elite Beat Agents to most of my friends first since it is much more accessible. I am really glad that I played EBA first because it seems less difficult in general, making Ouendan quite a treat.