Samba De Amigo going to the Nintendo Wii?

[Amp Divorax]

Ok, I honestly never expected to hear this, but then again weirder things have happened. For those not familiar, Samba De Amigo was a game on the ill-fated Dreamcast that used a pair of Maracas. The current rumor is that a Wii version is being developed by Gearbox Software for a 2008 release. Six months ago I would have said this is completely untrue since this is a Sega property, but due to Sega announcing Rez HD and what I've seen of the Nights sequel this actually may be happening.

[Ho]

I've been hearing rumblings about Samba de Amiga appearing on the Wii for quite some time now.

I have not had the opportunity to play the game myself, but I've wanted to for a long time. I haven't been anyplace that had an arcade machine. I've been watching auctions for the Dreamcast version off and on for ages, but they go for more than I'm willing to pay for a game I've never played. It seems like something I'd like, but I just don't know.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't think this would happen. Yes, it's a Sega product, but Sega no longer has its own console and they have already released their games (old and new) on multiple available consoles. And the Wii already has controllers that should work with the game concept (or be easily adaptable). And it seems like the type of quirky, active game that the Wii platform is known for. If they think Samba has any potential at all, Wii would be the safest platform for them to give it a try.

[Amp Divorax]

I've been hearing rumblings about Samba de Amiga appearing on the Wii for quite some time now.

I have not had the opportunity to play the game myself, but I've wanted to for a long time. I haven't been anyplace that had an arcade machine. I've been watching auctions for the Dreamcast version off and on for ages, but they go for more than I'm willing to pay for a game I've never played. It seems like something I'd like, but I just don't know.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't think this would happen. Yes, it's a Sega product, but Sega no longer has its own console and they have already released their games (old and new) on multiple available consoles. And the Wii already has controllers that should work with the game concept (or be easily adaptable). And it seems like the type of quirky, active game that the Wii platform is known for. If they think Samba has any potential at all, Wii would be the safest platform for them to give it a try.

As I stated, I would have doubted if this was true as while the game won awards and was critically acclaimed it wasn't a big hit in terms of sales unfortunately. (One problem is that this game came out right when the Dreamcast was about to be killed off.) However, with the fact that several Sega-based games have recently been revived for next gen (Nights, Rez, and Ikaruga) the idea of a Wii Samba game is more believable.

As for the controls itself, the Wiimote may have the capability necessary, but they wouldn't feel like the arcade or home maracas at all so I don't really know how that would be handled quite yet.

[Ho]

As for the controls itself, the Wiimote may have the capability necessary, but they wouldn't feel like the arcade or home maracas at all so I don't really know how that would be handled quite yet.

As I stated, I've never been able to play the game myself, so I can only speculate based on what I've seen...

You are probably quite correct that the Wiimote would not duplicate the arcade or console controller experience, but it would certainly come much closer with no modification than a Dual Shock or Six Axis (or any other standard console controller) comes to reproducing the experience of any other music game.

Basically, my point was that it seems possible for them to produce a unique experience with Samba on the Wii with very little or possibly no major development in software or hardware. This makes it a relatively low risk for them to at least try it based on the cult following the game has and its seemingly good fit with other Wii offering despite its poor past sales (probably due to other factors).

[elcuebee]

Not to derail this topic entirely, but seeing this topic reminded me of a realllly similar game (may have even been a sequel?) to Samba, and like Crackin DJ 2, the only place i've seen/played it was at Arcade Infinity.

Basically imagine Samba, except with GIGANTIC tambourines. And when I say gigantic, I mean, like, if you drew a box around them, they would be roughly about 1/3rd the size of a DDR pad.

You play the game essentially the same though, but it had a ton of eurobeat music on it (ugh), but it was hard as hell. Anyone ever seen any video of this game or anything else? That's a game i'd like to see outside of Arcade Infinity...

[MonMotha]

You're not talking about Taiko no Tatsujin, are you?

[elcuebee]

*snip*

[Ho]

No, he's not. I've heard of a tambourine game also.

A wee bit o' Googlin' turned up this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTNME4jZM-0 (Shakatta Tambourine)

I'm not sure if that's what he's referring to, but it is definitely a tambourine game and not Taiko. The gameplay appears to be very similar to what has been described/what I imagine Samba is like. It appears to also be a Sega game, so it would stand to reason that they would follow a similar formula. Konami obviously does.

[elcuebee]

Oh, and Mambo A Gogo; I kind of would have liked to see that game get around more places, on the hardest mode, you had to hit 9 seperate parts (3 sections on each of the 3 bongos), it was pretty insane.

[Ho]

It looks like it's official.

Actually, it's been official for a couple months (and about a month after this thread died). I just happened to come across the news today and thought I'd go ahead and update this thread since I remembered we had been talking about it awhile back.

[Amp Divorax]

http://www.sambadeamigogame.co.uk/en/index.html