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Totaka’s Song found in X-Scape. Yes, it’s that catchy melody Nintendo composer Kazumi Totaka likes to hide in every game he works on (e.g. Animal Crossing, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario Paint, etc.).

I mentioned this tune’s discovery last Friday, but Pyro873 posted this clip with instructions for finding it:

Save the fake doctor from planet Mapate — he’s wearing goofy sunglasses and has his tongue sticking out. (An obvious homage to how the song was triggered in the original “X”; I’m not sure if it will work with the real doctor)
Bring him to the main base on planet Mordarl.
Continue the conversation with your robot until he asks, “What’s that?!” You’ll hear the music change to a weird distorted tune. Let it sit for roughly 2 minutes & 45 seconds and Totaka’s song will play.

Speaking of music, from what I hear, X-Scape’s soundtrack is bangin’. In JC’s interview with Q-Games (Dylan Cuthbert) and Nintendo — in which Totaka’s involvement with the project and the song’s inclusion was revealed — Cuthbert promised, “When you hear the music and sound in X-Scape, your mind will be blown.” Blown!

And while we’re talking about music in DSiWare games, Maestro! Green Groove released on the DSi’s download platform today! This contains only a fraction of the songs included in the full European release, but it’s nice that this is finally available to buy/play in the U.S.

See also: Review: Maestro: Jump In Music

Buy: Nintendo DSi XL (Burgundy and Bronze), Standard Nintendo DSi (White, Pink, Black and Blue)

[Thanks, Lurking Guest!]

tags / x-scape / totaka's song / kazumi totaka / q-games / dsiware / maestro / maestro green grove / pastagames / neko / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Pastagames’ Pix’n Love Rush

Pix’n Love Rush for iPhone. If the aesthetic and character art here look familiar to you, it’s because you’ve seen it before, in Arkedo/Pastagames’s Xbox Live Indie Games adorable release 03 Pixel!

Maestro developer Pastagames worked with awesome-looking French zine Pix’n Love, using the look and the cat from that Xbox game to make this miniature platformer, which the studio’s Fabien Delpiano called “a short, nervous, ristretto version of a platformer, a sort of cross-over between Mario and WarioWare, with a pinch of Galaxian and a hint of Game & Watch”.

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Gameplay clip from Arkedo Series: 03 Pixel! I mentioned this project last Wednesday at GameSetWatch, but since it’s a collaboration between my two favorite French DS developers, Pastagames (Maestro) and Arkedo Studio (Big Bang Mini), it seemed appropriate to share here.

Though it’s an Xbox Live Indie Games release (recently submitted for peer approval), it looks like the type of thing you characters would be into. Platforming! Cute music! Cats! Count me in!

[Update: It’s now out on Xbox Live Indie Games!]

Buy: Big Bang Mini ($19.65)

See also: Review: Maestro: Jump In Music

tags / pastagames / arkedo / xbox 360 / xbox live indie games / arkedo series / 03 pixel / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Review: Maestro: Jump In Music

Just as console rhythm games have cluttered your living room with piles of plastic instrument controllers, their portable counterparts have taken to bundling themselves with miniature accessories: guitar grips, piano peripherals, and silicon drum skins, all offering an even more inaccurate imitation of the music playing experience.

Two music games got it right on the DS this year, both eschewing fancy controllers, instead focusing on the system’s touchscreen to present their engaging concepts: Rhythm Heaven and Maestro: Jump in Music.

Developed by French studio Pastagames and released in Europe last month, Maestro has you strumming, tapping, and sliding your stylus to nearly 25 classic and somewhat contemporary tracks (e.g. “ABC”, “House of the Rising Sun”). A bird runs across your screen at a steady pace, you strum his tightrope to play a note and make him hop or drop to another string, and that’s the basic idea. It’s simple, and it’s fun like you wouldn’t believe.

Read More →

tags / maestro / big ben / pastagames / review / imports / neko / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

The best game you’re not playing right now (unless you’re also not playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii).

Maestro is a lot more fun than I anticipated, and I had very high expectations for the rhythm platformer when I popped the cart in, especially after watching these gameplay clips. Unfortunately, it’s only out in Europe (with no U.S. plans announced yet), so you’ll need to import the title from some online retailer if you want to see how great it is.

Also, how awesome is my Game Center CX charm? (previously seen in this post) Thanks, JC!

See also: Maestro screenshots, artwork

tags / maestro / pastagames / neko / game center cx / accessories / strap / mobile / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Maestro: Jump in Music’s tutorial, palace, outer space, and Wild West areas. The rhythm platformer features a total of 24 songs/stages split into these six themed stages.

Pastagames just put out Maestro’s full tracklist, and while it’s filled with classic (royalty free) songs for the most part, there are also a few contemporary pieces like “House Of The Rising Sun” and “ABC”. Yubaba Smith & Fortune, which also composed music for Big Bang Mini and Soul Bubbles, is handling the re-interpreted pieces, some of which you can download here.

I discovered another interesting bit of media at the game’s official site — the Sesame Street animation that helped inspire Pastagames to develop Maestro:

This releases pretty soon in Europe, but I still haven’t heard any news of Maestro picking up a U.S. publisher, so you might have to suck it up and import this if you want to play the game this year. Why not pick up Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland, Giana Sisters DS, and 100 Classic Book Collection while you’re at it?

tags / maestro jump in music / pastagames / neko / imports / yubaba smith and fortune / soundtrack / sesame street / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Maestro: Jump in Music artwork. I adore the Castlevania parody and Presto’s pose straight out of the original NES game’s box. The Commando and Wild West pieces are goofy, too, considering there’s very little if any gunplay in this music-based platformer.

I’m clueless on what’s going on in the Super Mario Galaxy-esque art — a fleet of carrot ships piloted by rabbits are attacking a moon? And somehow a miniature galaxy wandered into the solar system? How is that possible?

I would be thrilled if any of these paintings somehow factored into Maestro: Jump in Music’s storyline.

tags / big ben interactive / maestro jump in music / neko / pastagames / castlevania

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Maestro: Jump in Music’s new trailer. Notice that Pastagames added indicators to the tightrope/strings that let you know when you should strum. Neat!

The singing bit around 1:18 warmed my usually bleak heart, so I’m less upset now about the studio cutting the planned multiplayer mode (it may reappear in a possible sequel).

Still no word on whether Maestro has a U.S. publisher. :o/

[Via GoNintendo]

tags / pastagames / maestro jump in music / neko / big ben interactive / import / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Maestro releasing for DS, DSiWare

Parisian outfit Pastagames hasn’t yet announced a U.S. publisher for its very promising rhythm platformer Maestro: Jump in Music, but Neko Entertainment hopes to release it for the DS in Europe sometime during the third quarter of 2009 (in the next month or so, then?).

The developer will later port a condensed version of the game to DSiWare with a planned price of 200 Nintendo Points. iPhone and iPod Touch are also in the works — I suspect the App Store will receive the full retail version.

The DS game includes 18 tracks/stages and 7 boss fights. Though I remember single-cart multiplayer modes were initially announced (as well as beat-box and chorus modes), the company now says it’s saving multiplayer for a potential sequel due to budget concerns. :o(

If you haven’t heard of Maestro, by the way, make sure you get familiar with this wonderful trailer:

Buy: U.S. Matte Black and Blue DSi

Import: Japanese Nintendo DSi (White, Black, Pink, Red, Lime Green, Metallic Blue)

See also: Maestro! Jump in Music trailers

[Via Gamespot, GoNintendo, PlanetDS]

tags / maestro jump in music / neko / pastagames / dsiware / iphone / import / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Eight minutes of Maestro! Jump in Music.

The title, the fact it’s developed by a Parisian studio you’ve likely never heard of (Pastagames), and the video’s first 20 seconds all point to this being a cheap, terrible game, but if you stick with it, you’ll see it’s amazing. Around the 1:20 mark, you’ll wonder where this music-based platformer has been all your life. It’s been in France, apparently.

Maestro will feature six different worlds and 18 music tracks, including classic songs like Beethoven’s 5th Symphony as well as contemporary tunes such as”Our House” (Not sure if this is the Madness or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young version) and The Jackson 5’s “ABC”.

Publisher Neko Entertainment plans to release the game some time this Autumn. Here’s another video of Maestro, which shows off the only awesome underwater area that has ever existed (an exaggeration, of course).

[Via GBAtemp]

tags / pastagames / neko / maestro jump in music / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

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