Fresh Fish Served Daily

My copy of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan arrived this weekend. It is completely amazing, and once again I must thank Nintendo for making the DS region free so I could import this gem. It’s a rhythm game by the people who brought you Gitaroo Man. The title translates into something like “Go! Fight! Cheer Squad”, and that’s a pretty good description. Instead of a cheerleading squad of ditzy girls in short skirts you get a trio of tough looking guys in long black coats. Each stage has a person in some kind of everyday crisis, from a man who can’t find his inspiration for pottery-making to a girl’s rush to finish work early so she can ask out the hot guy at the office. The cheer squad shows up to guide them through their difficulties by doing some kind of weird dance. Gameplay is easy: you use the stylus to tap the numbered circles in time to the beat. Some of the songs do get pretty difficult. The stories are made clear through the pictures, so it’s not necessary to be able to read Japanese. Give it a whirl if you are into imports and enjoy the quirkier DS titles.