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Kororinpa: Marble Mania Hands-On

Hudson and Konami bring the roly Japanese Wii launch title to the States.

One of the games on display at Konami's recent press event was Kororinpa: Marble Mania, the Hudson-developed puzzle game that hit Japan late last year at the Wii launch. The game is a Super Monkey Ball-type puzzler that has you guiding a marble through a board by rotating the world around it. Hudson has opted to bring the game to the US to sate the puzzle-craving masses and marble enthusiasts, and Konami will be distributing the game. We tried out a localized version, and it offers the same experience as the Japanese game but is now in Western-friendly English.

The basics of gameplay are dead simple. You just tilt the remote, which in turn moves the world and sends your marble on its merry way. The maps start out simple and then become progressively more challenging, introducing all manner of hazards and rails for you to navigate as you head to the end-level goal. The catch is that you will have to activate the goal by collecting a certain number of crystals on your way. Though the crystals are typically on the way to the goal, they'll become more and more difficult to get. Your runs will be judged according to how long it took you to complete them, and if you're fast enough, you'll receive goodies in the form of trophies and unlockables. The visuals and audio in the game are low-key and stay pretty modest. The big hooks are the puzzle aspect and the increasing challenge. The board designs get crazier as they become more difficult, and they feature various themes for the backgrounds.

Kororinpa: Marble Mania should be a fine puzzle game for the Wii when it hits this spring. The game features a good amount of challenging single-player content, along with multiplayer support for some competitive maze navigating. The game still has a launch-title feel to its modest array of options, but what's available has some appeal.

10 Comments

  • DestroyAllNoobs

    Posted Apr 13, 2007 6:09 pm PT

    Now that Marble Mania's out, I am cofused...if Gamespot rated the game as mediocre (plain sucks), why do they accept to advertise it? They could have advertised better games in my opinion.

  • 1PSman

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:23 am PT

    Not sure about this game but i love the city stages.

  • madaseyer

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 6:33 pm PT

    Looks Fun! =)

  • yeahdogg

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 11:40 am PT

    I don't know. The fixed camera... (not being able to see where I'm going) doesn't appeal to me. That's the main reason I don't like the old "Resident Evil" games. I guess I'll have to play it.

  • o0_L0st_B0y_0o

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 4:16 pm PT

    looks interesting

  • Viewtiful_Joker

    Posted Feb 14, 2007 6:10 pm PT

    Can you say Super Monkey Ball?

  • ckat609

    Posted Feb 13, 2007 8:43 am PT

    this definetely looks interesting and exciting!!!!!!

  • ObiKKa

    Posted Feb 4, 2007 3:49 am PT

    Ughh... Ugly graphics. But this may interest me... But I hate those urban levels - looks so horrible.

  • NathanHawkins

    Posted Feb 3, 2007 4:10 pm PT

    I absolutely would love to try this game. As a fan of Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball..this is right up my alley.

  • Beymaster1

    Posted Feb 2, 2007 10:48 pm PT

    looks alright.

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