After playing Elite Beat Agents at D.I.C.E., I decided that it was finally time to buy myself a Nintendo DS. Of course, I tried out my DS with that very game. Since the day I got my DS, I’ve suffered from a case of Elite Beat Addiction.

I’ve never had a handheld console (unless you count those silly one-game devices from the early 1990’s). I thought that they weren’t as good as “real” consoles because the games were often less serious and much shorter. Fortunately, I was wrong. The DS has a wide variety of games that I am very excited to play. It is highly portable as well, meaning I can game on the go. It has also drastically changed my gaming habits in the last week.

One of the greatest advantages of the DS Lite is its size. I cautiously stuck it in my school bag a couple of days ago and found myself pulling it out to play between classes. This method of breaking up my play sessions was very helpful for beating the Elite Beat Agents on the first difficulty level. It took me several tries, but the shorter sessions were much easier on my brain and hands.

Part of the charm of Elite Beat Agents is in the songs. They’re really catchy and most of them are very fun to play. I was playing a punk song on the second difficulty level and it was so fast that I couldn’t think. I just had to go with the rhythm. Experiences like that allow me to internalize the music and make the game my own. I will never hear those songs again without thinking of Elite Beat Agents.

You know you’re addicted to a game when it begins creeping into other areas of your life. I find myself singing the songs from the game as I get ready in the morning. Then I listen to those songs on my way to class. When I am in class, I sit there, thinking, “I’d really like an Elite Beat Agents break right now.” It is now one of the first things I do when I come home.

After so many disappointments in games lately, it has been great to find a new game to obsess over. I used to come home and play RPGs for an hour or two. Now, Elite Beat Agents has helped me rediscover the joy of daily gaming. Even if I don’t have a large block of time, I can still play my DS.  

I had the privilege of going to the D.I.C.E. Summit this year. (It’s basically a video game conference and awards show hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.) I helped out behind the scenes as an intern and got to see a lot of cool things. One of them was the game Elite Beat Agents, developed by iNiS.

I had never heard much about Elite Beat Agents or iNiS before D.I.C.E. What I did know was that there was a speaker from Japan. He had made a game I had heard of (Guitaroo Man) and this other game, Elite Beat Agents. I didn’t really know what Elite Beat Agents was about, but one of the other interns at D.I.C.E. had a DS and let me play their copy.

I wasn’t expecting much, but I really liked this game. It was a rhythm game, which is one of my favorite genres. Unlike tradition rhythm games, however, you got to touch the screen in the right place at the right time (instead of just hitting the right button at the right time). It was interactive in a new way, and had fun extras like spinning wheels and good stories.

I was really impressed by the stories, especially since each was very short and very simple. Regular problems, such as a lost puppy or putting kids to sleep, were shown in cute little manga-style sequences. The sounds were great and the scenes were short and sweet. There was a good bit of creativity involved as well, such as having animals or former enemies dancing with the protagonists of the stories. After talking again and again about cutscenes in my classes, I was very impressed by the concise stories in this game. They were simple, fun, and, most importantly, could be skipped easily (a great feature when replaying levels).

Fortunately, I was able to sit in on Keiichi Yano’s speech. He feels that music and games are naturally suited to each other. His presentation emphasized the idea that harmonies and dissonances in music can easily accompany tension and release in stories. He was a charismatic speak with simple but effective ideas. I really enjoyed his presentation.

After the session was over, I had the opportunity to talk to Keiichi Yano. I told him how much I enjoyed his game. I also explained how refreshing it was to play a game with such simple, effective stories. My fellow intern and fan of Elite Beat Agents got his copy of the game signed. Keiichi Yano seemed like a really neat person, and I was so grateful that I had been able to play Elite Beat Agents earlier. If not, I would have missed out on something really special.