TGS 2008: Patapon 2: Don Chaka First Look

TOKYO--Patapon was a quirky, charming little PSP game that combined two disparate genres that most sane people would never have thought of putting together: strategy and rhythm games. And yet this mishmash of styles went on to become quite the critical success, so it's no surprise that Sony is aiming to repeat itself with a sequel. Earlier today at the Tokyo Game Show, we had our first look at Patapon 2: Don Chaka.

The primary focus of Sony's demo was the four-person multiplayer mode. The ability to use rhythmic drum beats to plow through enemies on the game's signature stylish 2D plane was a feature missing in the original Patapon, but now you'll be able to take part in the action with three more heroes. The mode we were shown had a simple goal attached to it: Four players need to work together to lift a giant egg and bring it to a special zone so they can crack it open and obtain the magical mask inside.

Whoever's doing the hosting will be the leader hero, a powerful little critter on horseback who is granted the ability to do charging lance kills on enemies. Joining it in the demo were three others: a robot and a magician, both of whom are on feet, and a bird rider who's able to throw handfuls of spears from on high. Every player needs to tap the face buttons in unison to produce the "pata pata pata pon" required to lift and move the egg, but there are a few nasty enemies on the way to the goal.

The two enemies that we saw were giant, round birds--perhaps the proud parents of the egg--looking to attack the little heroes with sheer brute force. Attacking enemies in multiplayer is similar to single-player: You'll need to tap the buttons to make special beats that let you do various attacks. Don't worry if you aren't too successful, because death here is only a temporary affliction, given that you'll be revived after a short time has passed.

Once your team brings the egg to the goal, the rhythm hits an apex as you go from using drum beats to move and fight to engaging in a full-on tribal drumming challenge. It's a sort of rhythmic boss fight in which you need to put your drumming skills to the test in a couple of challenges that are more complex than that of the traditional gameplay. The first is a Simon Says-type game in which a voice will shout a random collection of patas, pons, and other phrases, and with no button prompt shown, you need to use your ears to tell which words they are and respond accordingly. The other game is a scrolling-note affair in which you need to match the buttons as they hit a particular point on the left side of the screen.

That's how the multiplayer demo went, but the folks from Sony were sure to mention a few details about how the single-player mode will be enhanced. In the sequel, you'll find 48 rare patapons, twice the amount of weapons and equipment to use, 500 items and weapons, and 80+ missions overall. Altogether, it looks as if Patapon 2 will offer quite a bit of new content compared to its predecessor. You can expect to see it released sometime in 2009.