It’s been seven years since PaRappa the Rapper 2 hit the Playstation 2 with a wet thud. Five years after the little dog, so confident in his mic skills that he walked around in a hat with his own face on it, brought rhythm games into the mainstream, the world moved on. PaRappa just didn’t have the flow he once did and when PaRappa left the gaming scene, so did the mad creative duo that birthed him. Game design maverick Masaya Matsuura went on to make new variations on his other creation, Vib Ribbon, while artist Rodney Greenblat disappeared from gaming altogether. Leave it the Wii’s wacky controller to bring these fellas back together for some more music-based shenanigans.
Of course, their new Wii game, Major Minor’s Majestic March, looks like it could have been made during the heyday of Greenblat and Matsuura’s collaboration. Foregoing the paper-style 2D of PaRappa and UmJammer Lammy, Major Minor’s rough 3D graphics would look more at home in a Dreamcast launch title than they do on hardware with more horsepower than the Gamecube. At least at first. Major Minor is a deceptive game and one that you really need to play or even see played in person to really appreciate. After a few minutes, you find yourself endeared to the game’s rough appearance, its low texture environments revealing more character and detail as they progress than they ever could in a screenshot. One level I saw demoed found Major Minor leading his band of anthropomorphics down into the ocean and subsequently marching towards the surface, walking on water. It’s moments like this that make it clear Matsuura and Greenblat haven’t lost their peculiar, psychedelic touch, washing away any earlier perceived ugliness.
The gameplay is equally misleading. Raising the Wiimote up and down like a drum major’s baton seems almost idiotically simplistic until you actually see it in action. Rest assured, the Majestic March is every bit as challenging as UmJammer or PaRappa were. (I’d even go as far as to say that it’s harder. Muscle exhaustion wasn’t really a concern when training with Chop Chop Master Onion.) The march moves at a brisk pace, demanding you keep a consistent tempo going at the same time as flicking your remote at pedestrians to recruit them into your band as well as at items like jellybeans to keep the band happy. Yeah, the adorable pigs and bears you’re John Philip Sousa-ing out with? Their mood is essential to play. Go too fast and the tuba playing pigs can’t keep up, too slow and the drumming bears get restless. That’s why you got to keep it consistent and majestic. You also have to worry about the, um, Evil Eggplant Fox. The latest member of gaming’s storied brotherhood of eggplant-based villains, the Evil Eggplant Fox will, if accidentally recruited into your band, kidnap your musicians. Sinister business.
I’m the first to admit that I was skeptical when Major Minor’s Majestic March was announced last January and even more skeptical after its showing at E3. But seeing, as they say, is believing and Major Minor’s now one of the few Wii games on the horizon that I’m legitimately excited for. The boys are back in town and they’ve gotten the band back together. This is exciting, creative gaming.
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