Samba De Amigo

10 Review to this product

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  Instant Runoff Voting
  September 19th, 2010 on 9:47 pm

  Rating

  I loved playing Samba de Amigo on the Dreamcast; I was lucky to have 2 sets of Sega original maracas controllers, even! I was thrilled that it was making a comeback for the Wii, because this meant wireless play. However, early reviews from professional game review sources panned the Wii remake almost unanimously for one basic reason: the controls were broken. Some have even said to wait until the game is “fixed” or adapted to the Motion Plus accessory Nintendo is releasing this summer (probably).

  However, the controls are not broken, and I have some doubts that the game will be re-tooled for Motion Plus. Some reviews were pretty lazy, and the reviewers did not even try to learn how the game senses position and maraca-shaking. Indeed, you cannot play the Wii version precisely how you played the Dreamcast version and expect good results whatsoever. There are adjustments that must be made.

  Luckily, adjusting to the Wii version’s controls is not very difficult; it just requires keeping a few things in mind: 1) the height of the “maracas” is determined solely by the tilt of the controllers; 2) shaking is most successful along the plane of the controller (i.e., to hit the upper targets, thrust the controllers vertically toward the ceiling, as if you’re jabbing the balls into the rings); 3) crossing-over left and right for poses requires the controller surfaces to be facing your torso; and 4) middle target shaking is forgiving for the most part, but it’s easier if the controller surfaces are facing outward (and try to shake horizontally, tapping the balls into the targets). I started a discussion on this page with these and other tips for controls, but these 4 might be the most important tips. So far, I’ve been able to clear Career Mode on “Hard.”

  One frustration of the game is that so much is locked, until you clear certain challenges in Career mode. A huge motivation for keeping at Career mode was finally unlocking Soul Bossa Nova, although the songs in Ulala’s Challenge are also awesome. Frustrations notwithstanding, the song selection is so amazing that it’s worth the practice to get the unlocks. Unlocking new sound effects for maracas and dance moves is less compelling for me, but it is part of the career trial nonetheless. I don’t like the maraca sound effects, but the controllers vibrate on successful shakes, and that’s cool.

  The mini-games are pretty fun. To unlock Guacamolé! (Whack-a-Mole), just get a C or better in the rock busting mini-game. Really, the total content of this game is incredible: the huge number of songs are uniformly high-quality: they are Latin/mambo with some pop. Downloadable song packs are also available for purchase for 500 Nintendo points each (1 pack = 3 songs or so) within the game, and the quality of those are very high; they are the original performers (no cover/tribute bands). Multiplayer includes head-to-head, Love Mode, and Battle. Sega superstars such as Sonic and Ulala make appearances, although if you’re dancing they are hard to notice. Happily, so much is happening (visually and otherwise), that even people waiting for their turn to play (or just spectating) will stay entertained.

  The game really gets you moving, sweating, dancing, and feeling awesome. I’m stunned how far the price has fallen on Amazon, too. This game is the easiest Wii recommendation ever. Buy it while you still can. ¡Samba!
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  Justin Cordoza
  September 20th, 2010 on 8:57 am

  Rating

  This game is a blast…..but I’ve only played it when drinking with friends and family. Invite some people over, cook up some fish tacos, and blend up some margaritas. We now have regular “Margarita -n- Maracas” nights!
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  R. Alford
  September 20th, 2010 on 7:55 pm

  Rating

  WE LOVE THIS GAME. DON’T LET THE PRICE FOOL YOU. THE TEEN GIRLS PLAY THIS FOR HOURS!!
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  Christine Delacruz
  September 21st, 2010 on 8:08 am

  Rating

  This is a really fun game-my kids love it-they are ages 3-7-10, and they all can play, and really enjoy it.
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  TnShelli
  September 22nd, 2010 on 4:14 am

  Rating

  We bought this for my 8 yr old for Christmas and it was well worth it. I have never laughed so hard! My son loves it and keeps him active and occupied. The music is great and it is fun for the whole family.
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  Christine
  September 22nd, 2010 on 4:41 am

  Rating

  Even setting the price aside, this is a great game. But when you factor in that it’s only $20, it is the best game (valuewise) we own. The premise is simple — shake your remotes in the directions indicated by the flowing balls. Strike a pose when it tells you to or in hustle mode, wave your arms in a dancelike motion. It’s a rhythm game. The music selection is the best! A lot of fun, familiar, upbeat music. On easy it really is easy — but fun. It gets more challenging on medium and hard.

  One quirk: It took us some time to figure out how to get our sideways motions to register properly. The game registers the angle of your remotes. Up and down are pretty easy, but for sideways may take a little more practice to get right on the horizontal.
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  Vito Perez
  September 22nd, 2010 on 2:26 pm

  Rating

  This game is so fun to play with friends! There are little monkeys that pop up every now and then and you can beat them for extra points. I’m addicted to this game and play it when I wake up and before bed. A lot of fun!!
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  Dmitry Sh.
  September 23rd, 2010 on 2:19 pm

  Rating

  At screenshots graphics may look simple, but its nothing.
  
  Its very fun, very interesting game.

  If you not have wii console – this game is reason to buy wii.
  
  Absolutely in top row of all time game.
  
  For all ages, and simply genious game!!!
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  Betzabe Garcia
  September 24th, 2010 on 7:01 am

  Rating

  Samba de amigo is a really cool game. I buyed it and played it a lot with my friends, it’s really tropical and the music is really fun. For people like me that don’t dance too much, is great because you have the oportunity to shake your bootie… I have to tell you that it’s a really fun game to play with a bunch of friends and show your abilities with the maracas.
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  Sumsmom
  September 24th, 2010 on 8:13 am

  Rating

  My kid gives this game 5 stars for sure. She loved it. Played it the entire Christmas Day after she received it. It was also quite a workout for this out of shape mother! It really utilizes your hand-eye coordination with trying to copy the poses shown on the screen. My daughter was a whiz at them but I thought they were tough! I would recommend this game in a second.