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E3 2008: Princess Debut Hands-On

By Sophia Tong

Only in Natsume's latest rhythm game are there six princes for every girl.

Natsume is all about the adorable characters, and there definitely isn't a lack of cuteness when it comes to Princess Debut, where you play as a girl who has 30 days to win over a prince so that she may ask him to the ball. The game is primarily a ballroom dancing rhythm game, but mixed in between is a bit of story and a bit of flirting so that in the end, you have a date.

There is a map where you may travel between your home, practice halls, and different beautiful locations if there happens to be an event going on. There are six princes with a hidden prince, but what's more important are the outfits and the accessories. Each time you practice, you can doll up your dancer in lovely dresses and jewelry. There are Harvest Moon-like elements to the game; for example, when you're up late dancing, the game will let you know when you need a break and will tell you to go to bed. You will also need to spend time socializing to woo your favorite prince. Each prince has his own personality, and you have different responses to choose from when you're having a conversation. There was one prince who left in a huff because we refused to dance with him. Too bad.

The only dance we got to perform was the waltz, and we danced with a rabbit in a tuxedo. The dance moves have been motion-captured, and there are 18 styles of dance including Latin, tango, and ballroom. On the bottom touch screen, you follow the directions, which involve following a circle as it moves in a semicircle from left to right and right to left. Sometimes you'll need to draw a full circle, and it calculates your score based on your timing and how well you stay within the lines. The top screen shows your performance, and in the left corner it shows what steps are coming up next.

There are also minigames scattered throughout. We didn't get to see one work properly in this early build, but to give you an idea, it was called "He loves me," and it involved flower petals. You can also take photos during your practice sessions, and there is a photo gallery that you can access that keeps track of all your pictures. There is a music mode that we didn't see, which has all the different dances motion-captured so that if you're interested, you can also learn the steps.

There will be roughly 25 hours of gameplay depending on how much time you take to explore and socialize. It's a fun and very girly portable game for those of us who are princesses on the inside. Princess Debut is expected to ship this fall on the DS.
By Sophia Tong

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christania
christania 5 pts

OH! I almost forgot. About RE-PLAYABILITY... Any game that has 14 endings depending on who you try to end up with and answers you give certainly has re-playability value...

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christania
christania 5 pts

Yes guys this is a girly one. It may seem like it is mainly for very young girls, but I think anyone who really likes a super cute game is going to be able to enjoy this. PLUS, this game has the added bonus of being the closest thing to what is called "otome" to be released in the US for the console gaming crowd. Period. In Japan there is a pretty big market for these sorts of games which center around a female protagonist trying to woo a guy, and a lot of them aren't for just the really young girls. They cover all ages even 18+, which aren't released on console versions of otome games but instead for the PC. They range from visual novel style to having rpg elements and some have different mini games mixed in. If you look at websites like play-asia you will see tons of these sorts of games for the PS2, PSP, and DS being sold. I actually hope this opens up a market for these types of games in the US, and prompts companies to translate these into English. I think this would also be a neat way to bring more females in the US to gaming. Of course, I play all kinds including the ones that are heavily geared towards males which is what the US market is mainly saturated with. However, since I AM female I think it would be so nice to see games being released that are certainly geared towards a female audience like "otome" is.

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tyzwain
tyzwain 5 pts

Looks cute, but no replayibility value.

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death_godlet
death_godlet 5 pts

I might actually check this out for the heck of it!

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gmax
gmax 5 pts

Heh. It's like Dancing with the Stars!

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Ryosagi
Ryosagi 5 pts

Very interested in this game! I'm a sucker for accessories and getting to dance with that dream guy is auto win for me! Nice to have a game like this than one of those shock types out there.

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Macgyver40
Macgyver40 5 pts

Ballroom dancing, oh god i hate ballroom dancing j/k

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Hungry_bunny
Hungry_bunny 5 pts

:lol: I had a hunch this was for ds when I read the description. Way too many music games in e3 this year.

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jakeboudville
jakeboudville 5 pts

probably for little girls maybe..i'll pass

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WizengamotX
WizengamotX 5 pts

There really are way to many dance and rhythm oriented games. The real reason why such games were are so popular, ignoring the fact that music rings a tone with the human soul, is that music games were unique. It is getting old, or at least in my opinion. To those who love it and keep buying more - keep doing what you do, but I won't be playing against you online or off. Have fun guys, and try not to fanboy/girl me with (-5) or other bogus. Have fun.

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grambyte
grambyte 5 pts

Showing this game to my cuteness-addictive girl will definitely increase the danger of this game ending up in my household. So I'll quickly move far away from this article/page.

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playstation_wii
playstation_wii 5 pts

There are a million rhythm games coming out, and there is a good chance that I will pass on this one.

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