[Ouendan 2] 7 Cultural Observations After Playing Ouendan 2 & Elite Beat Agents

First of all, both games are awesome. I played them again and again. And I want to share with you guys a few cultural differences I notice in these 2 games.

1) In the Japanese version, a lot of the cheering is for folks doing cold, hard and honest work. e.g. One episode shows a fresh-grad interviewing for a job. Another one shows a sumo wrestler busting his big bottom to avoid the close-down of his dojo. There is another one about a passionate doctor helping out poor islanders with various problems. It is just not the same in EBA. The dancing girl is the only character that is really doing a cold, hard and honest work. And she definitely needs some cheering-up to make it to Broadway.

2) In EBA, there are a couple of episodes in which the main characters are just trying to get rich fast. One episode shows an ex-oil-tycoon trying to get back his riches through digging. Another one shows a boat captain going for lost treasure undersea. In Ouendan 2, a couple of characters do get rich. But it is only because they achieve a certain level of success in their corresponding cold, hard and honest work/job.

3) Not quite sure if everybody agree with me or not. The Japanese can sometimes need a lot of help in relationship. In Ouendan 2, there is the young boy trying to open up to his crush through some silly acts. There is also the wolfman having trouble hiding his bad side from his dream date. In EBA, love is more direct. Mr. Da Vinci is right to the point in getting to know Miss Mona Lisa in one of the earlier episodes.

4) In EBA, there are episodes in which the main character is cat or dog. I can't find similar episodes in Ouendan 2. I always think the Japanese and Americans are both very pet-friendly. Perhaps, they can add a few more "Cat"/"Dog" episodes in Ouendan 3

5) There a bunch of disasters for the heroes to save the day in EBA. One episode shows a truck driver saving a zombie-infested city with beans. Another shows a baseball player saving a kid from a fire golem. I think Ouendan 2 is more light-hearted in a relative way. The worst that happens is a giant cat roaming free in the city threatening a small factory.

6) The final episode in EBA is to fight off the aliens while the Japanese got to reverse the global warming trend in the last episode in Ouendan 2. May be it is a reflection of the biggest fear for these 2 different groups of people. I think the Japanese are always more concerned with natural disasters while the American are always more concerned to be under attack.

7) Lovely, energetic dancing girls are always a boost to morale no matter what culture you are from.

Nintendo DS Import Blog Launched!!!

Yo, sup? All you DS fan boys out there. There is a wacky world out there in the east. People there ride in bus and train everyday, with their DS on their left hand and the touch pen on their right hand. Heads down. Big smiles on their face. They are not playing the same games as we do in the States. They are much more loaded, with fun.

The Japanese are indeed a bunch of creative people. And they really know how to put it to use in this little DS platform. Too bad most of us here in the States have no hope of getting showered by these creative juices. That's right. We are screwed out of the DS gaming heaven.

And I am here to make it right for all you DS fan boys out there. To start things off, these are 3 of the very outstanding and impressive Import DS games from Japan.

Sangokushi Taisen DS - A very popular card-based realtime strategy game. It is actually ported from arcade. In the arcade version, the players actually collect real cards and play against the computer or other players on a special arcade platform. This game is vastly popular in asia and the DS provides a platform that allows a very faithful port of the arcade version. This game is really deep and keeps balance in mind in many aspects of the design. Oh. You can also go online with your own deck and play against your friends or random people.

Jump Ultimate Stars - This is the ultimate fighting game on DS. Period. There are over 300 characters from over a dozen Japanese comics. You can put up a deck of these characters based on certains rules and fight it out against the AI in story mode or battle mode. Oh. in case you can read Japanese, there is also a quiz mode in which you will be asked about the details of some of the most memorable comics in the legendary JUMP magazine. Or if you are bored, you can always go online to test out your fighting skills, too.

Ouendan 2 - This is "Elite Beat Agents" in Japanese. Actually this is already a sequel. And the sequel of the American version should be out early next year, too. Same thing here. The game play is exactly the same as "Elite Beat Agents". So you can actually just pick up this game and get right into it if you have already played EBA before. Great music, funky stories and lovely cheerleaders at the final part of the game.

My brother, this is just a sneak peak. I am going to drill more into these 3 games above in the coming weeks. And I will also be crawling through all Chinese, Korean and Japanese forums, getting you all the latest and greatest DS import game news. Whether it is the good, the bad or the ugly, as long as it is fun, I am going to talk about it. So that us US kids are not screwed as bad in the Nintendo DS heaven.