What's that? You didn't know SNK had developed games that were not
released in the arcade first? Then you must be doubly shocked to find
out SNK had made a dancing game. That's right, forget about fighting and
strap on those dancing shoes.
Overview
There's a couple different ways to hit the dance floor in this game.
Your first choice is the story mode... and yeah you're thinking "how
much of a story can a dancing game have", but I was surprised. You'll
need a basic knowledge of japanese to follow what's going on, but at
least all the dialogue is verbal for those who can't read kanji. You
choose either Amp, a baseball cap wearing boy, or Spica, the girl with
giant blue pigtails. While you're at home watching TV (they sneak in
shots of SNK fighters on the TV screen) a pink bunny named Yusa jumps
out of your TV and pulls you into another world... you know everyday
normal stuff. From there you progress through the game by beating
characters in dance competitions or "flitzes". There's also a Single
Flitz mode that lets you challenge 5 characters without any story line,
there's up to 30 playable characters you can unlock for this mode. If
your friends like fruity dance games, then the Duel Flitz is right up
your alley. There's also a co-op mode called Double Flitz. I use the
term "Dancing Game" lightly because even though the characters dance in
this game, you're actually following the beat of the music and have no
actual control over the dance moves, that's why I labeled the game as
music action.
Graphics 7.5/10
Without a doubt this is the best looking 3d game ever made by SNK. It's
no surprise with the Dreamcast being a far superior system to PSX and
Hyper Neo Geo 64 where past 3d SNK games have appeared. From a visual
standpoint it even stands on it's own compared to the entire Dreamcast
library. Cool Cool Toon was the second game on the DC to make use of 3d
models given a flat, cartoonish look- the first game being Sega's Jet
Set Radio which came out 2 months before this game. The design of the
characters is simple yet very stylish, much like the characters from
Parappa the Rapper and the Pop n' Music series. These characters are
distinctly SNK though, from really hot mummy chicks, to disco zombies,
to anatomically correct fish people, to a break dancing werewolf, to
even a boss who looks like he stepped out of Samurai Shodown 64. The
animation is as smooth as butter, every single movement was done with
motion capture technology and is even better than the dancing in Enix's
Bust a Move series. However, unlike Bust a Move each character does not
have their own distinct dance style, the dance moves are choreographed
to the background music. The game also has full 3d backgrounds with
insane animations that get wilder as you dance better. It's the perfect
amount of vibrant eye candy that's nice to look at, but doesn't distract
you from playing the game.
Gameplay/Controls 10/10
There's a bit of a steep learning curve in this game, especially if
you're not into music games that much. With practice though, the control
becomes very natural and is really brilliantly done by SNK. What you
actually control in the game is a giant circle in the center of the
screen. Inside of that circle appears a smaller circle with a controller
button assign to it. A red ring gradually shrinks around this button
until it becomes white, this is when you know to press that button,
which also corresponds to the beat of the music. Confused yet? Well on
top of that the button not only appears in the center of the circle, but
along the edges as well with many red rings closing in on them fast.
Unlike any music game ever, this game makes use of the analog stick.
When circles appear on the edges, you must move the crosshairs from the
center of the main circle to your targeted button. On top of that
there's a sort of wave effect. Occasionally a shockwave is sent from the
center of the main circle and you must run the crosshairs along the edge
of the circle as the shockwave collides with it. It's really unlike
anything ever done before and makes much more sense when you actually
see it than reading about it.
Besides the main circle in the screen, there's also a colored bar
running across the bottom of the screen. Your little circle starts on
the left and as you progress it works it's way up right. This effects
how well your character dances, how crazy the background gets, and even
if it falls short, the music changes to a bunch of goofy farting sounds.
In story mode there's a mark on this bar that you must be above when you
complete the dance to progress. In the Single and Duel Flitzes there's 2
circles representing you and your opponent. Naturally you want your
circle to be the farthest right. In the Double Flitz mode it's 2 players
that move the same circle on the bar, so in order to progress you need
to co-operate with a partner. As you build up with successful hits on
the beat you're given a "Boon Chance" Pressing L or R activates a super
mode of sorts that builds up higher and higher as you keep hitting
beats. You can go all the way up to a level 4 Boon that scores some
major points. There's also several mini games along the way in story
mode that uses controls just like Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy.
Sound/Music 8/10
You can't have dancing without good music right? While I'll admit the
soundtrack falls short of the unforgettable songs of the Bust a Move
series, the game has some good tunes. The music range is actually very
wide... including techno, rock, african/jungle, R&B, hip hop, and even a
couple jpop tracks. Each song matches it's stage very well. The game is
also full of popping and boingy sound effects that fits the cartoon
image well. There's voice in all of the story dialogue with talent from
the anime industry. Characters even exchange comments during the dancing
itself.
Replay Value 8/10
This game is packed with extras. There's 30 playable characters you can
unlock by going through the story modes. The main characters have
multiple costumes that you buy with j points you earn from dancing.
There's also a web browser in the game that lets you buy costumes online
with j points and even a music track. If you have Cool Cool Jam for Neo
Geo Pocket Color, you can connect the games and exchange data.
Fortunately all the extras can be unlocked just by playing the normal
game though. The Story modes are kind of short, only 6 episodes per
character. There are 2 multiplayer modes to play against or with your
friends. There's even a method to play this game with the Samba De Amigo
maracas if you're really bored.
Overall 9/10
To me personally I think it's 10/10, but this game isn't for everyone.
You can get by without knowing any japanese, but an understanding of the
language makes the game much more enjoyable. The look and feel of this
game is so far away from anything SNK has ever done before, so hardcore
SNK fans might want to stay with the MVS. The game is definitely
challenging, I had gotten stuck halfway through and hadn't played the
game in over a year. I started playing again to write this review and I
cleared that part easily and finished the game with Amp. I'm now playing
through with Spica to unlock the Single Flitz characters and costumes. I
love the stylish characters, you might have noticed that Amp, Yusa, and
Spica are the mascots of SNK NeoGeo's new fanclub site
http://www.snkworld.com. Like I mentioned, the boss character of this
game, King, would fit well into a fighting game.. and knowing SNK, I
wouldn't be surprised if he or any other Cool Cool Toon character make a
surprise guest appearance in future titles. While certain elements of
this game resemble Bust a Move or Pop n' Music, there's enough unique
elements to make this game stand out on it's own. If you want to dance
on your DC, forget about DDR, forget that slut Ulala, this is the only
game you'll need.
- By Shiroi Kaze
