Electroplankton

[Mockery]

Ok, so this game has piqued my curiosity. Have any of you actually played it? I hear it's not really like a game as much as it is just a little music making thing for the DS, but it still sounds pretty interesting. :o

[EisigerBiskuit]

No

save

feature

:(

That shouldn't even be a feature, I thought it was a necessity.

[MarioRPG]

I haven't played it. I can't see it being worth the cost.

[Mockery]

No

save

feature

:(

That shouldn't even be a feature, I thought it was a necessity.
Damn, you should totally be able to save your songs with it. Like it would save mp3s that you could transfer to your computer or somethin.

[executioneer]

well record it with a microphone or something you babies idk

[Black Flag]

well there has to be some way to transfer them to your computer. james kochalka just posted some songs he made with it on his website

[EverythingWillSuck]

From another forum I post at, this says a lot about the game:

I didn't get much of a chance to play last night, but here are my impressions thus far:

As everyone has been saying, this is not quite a game, yet not quite a tech-demo either. It's really more of an interesting hybrid of the two. To everyone who is thinking of picking this up because you want a portable Gitaroo Man or DDR - don't. You will be disappointed.

This is not to say that Electoplankton doesn't offer a unique or fun experience; in fact that is what it does offer. It seems to be more of a title that you pick up and play often for just brief periods each time.

Now onto what this product offers. From the start of the "game" you have two options: Performance Mode and Audience Mode. I haven't touched Audience yet, so I'll concentrate on Performance Mode (which looks to be the meat of the title anyway). After choosing your mode, you have to choose an Electoplankton to play with. There are 10 different choices, and each of them are quite varied.

Each Electoplankton is basically a vechicle for creating an aural experience. Most of them require you to touch the bottom screen in order to interact with the game and create sounds. For example, one electoplankton is simply a fish-like thing jumping at a plant. Each time the fish strikes a leaf on the plant, it makes a noise. You can touch the plant in order to adjust the angle of the leaves that results in the fish making a new sound. It's really difficult to describe without seeing.

Another cool level has four fish swimming across the bottom screen. Touching one of the fish allows you to record your voice through the use of the DS microphone. The fish then treats this recording as a sample, repeating it to a beat. After recording all four fish, you can switch the speed of them, as well as a background bass beat.

However, my favorite so far is probably the NES Electoplankton. In this "level", there are four game themes to choose from - Super Mario Bros., Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and I couldn't quite place the fourth. Anyway, the background music is a theme from the game, and there are several game sounds that you can create by touching the on-screen Electoplankton. The game will "remember" your touches for about 5 loops of the game's song. For example, in the SMB level, the game is constantly playing the "star" music. Touching the electoplankton allow you to insert the fireball noise, the jump noise, the coin collect noise, etc, etc.

Anyway, the game is really unique and I've found myself enjoying so far. I could really see people getting into this and outputting the DS sound to a PC and recording their creations. It really has potential, but you have to go into it with the right frame of mind. Don't get it looking for a game with a clearly defined goal or you will be disappointed.

I also read it's like $40. Ouch. :(