Patapon came out in Japan recently.  I played it.

IT'S AWESOME.

It's a strange rhythm/real-time-strategy game and I say this loosely.  You play as this weird tribal race (they remind me of Vikings mixed with Indians) called Patapon that was nearly wiped out in a war.  You play as God who beats on godly drums that guides the Patapons to rebuild their lost civilization. 



To do this, you play the magic drums to the rhythm of the music.  Each drum (coordinated with the face buttons) issues a specific order.  For example, playing Pata Pata Pata Pon (square square square circle) moves your troop forward while playing Pon Pon Pata Pon (circle circle square circle) issues an attack.  Chain your moves high enough earns you FURRY which causes the music to speed up but your orders have more effect.



Each "mission" has you collecting gold (used to build troops), items or advancing the storyline to rebuild your civilization.  You use these items to build troops by combining materials to craft new Patapon.  You have various troops such as Speer-chuckers, melee-combatants, and archers.  In addition, troops can be customized; not only do the materials you choose to build your troops affect their stats (and you can create super units in this method).  Troops can also be equipped with items; for example, melee troops can be equipped with various weapons like axes and swords which affect different armors and enemies to certain degree.



At first I thought the game was going to be repetitive but it slowly introduces you to new elements and troop combinations as well as new challenges.  There's mini-games that net you new items (such as having a rock contest with a singing tree) and some of the bigger enemies and bosses are pretty tough.  The levels get really hectic and the more badguys you hack through, the tougher it gets to keep up the beat.



The music is awesome.  It's like, straight Celtic style music with heavy emphasis on war drums.  I love the simple graphics and even though most of the game's characters consist of like... one color, it moves incredibly fluidly.  I haven't traditional animation this fluid since Wind Waker and the style is crisp and sharp on the PSP's screen. 

The game comes out in the US in February.  It's definitely a fine addition to the PSP's library and is perfect as a handheld game.

This game looks amazing.

Simply...amazing.

Definately original!

But I can't help but feel that its going to get blown over, which is gonna be sad.

oh fuck

i am totally going to get this when its out in eu/us

edit: although, everyone looks english in those screens?

this is made by locoroco? excellent, i loved locoroco.

This is the type of game that makes me want to play it just from seeing screens cause it just looks like a lot of FUN

I don't own a psp or know anyone with a psp though so I guess I'm outa luck

I lost my PSP charger so...

But man, this looks pretty fun.

It doesn't look like a lot of fun to me but definitely looks very beautiful.

Alright, it's settled, I NEED to get a PSP sometime.

It's actually made by a subsidiary of SCEJ.  They didn't make LocoRoco but they made the port of it on the PS3 and developed Eye of Judgement (that card game).  The game is based on the art of some Japanese webcomic artist who makes interactive comics in flash.  I used to have the link to his website but lost it.

I thought the game would get repetitive quick, but it does a really good job balancing the gameplay.  Every level you get something new, fight a new adversary, or have access to a new ability or item so it's really motivating to push forward.  I can't say that I'll play the game a second time once I beat it (although I don't know if there's unlock able stuff who knows) but the fact that it's a handheld game and it's really easy to get into, it has high "pick-up-and-play" value.

Check Out The Trailer Here

That's one of the better trailers.  It shows you character creation, drum playing, some of the kickass music, character customization, and some of the better BIG battles where you get flying units, siege engines, and you're fighting these Colossus monsters.

so what is actually in japanese in the japanese version? all the non-mainscreen text or none of it (im hoping none of it but that wouldnt make any sense)?

The only things in english so far is the status screen where you check the strength of your army.  All the item names, text, and dialog is in Japanese but they use distinctive icons for everything so it's been one of the fastest games I've learned without actually knowing what they fuck they're saying.  You're never left in the dark about what to do because if you're stuck, the Patapons literally start shouting button commands at you.

ah fuck stupid japanese language

oh well waiting until feb then :/

Just a bump to say this is out in EUR and is out in the US tomorrow.

I .. bought the EUR version and it is excellent. Obviously only get if you like rhythm games, but yeah it's nice to have a rhythm game with a GOAL other than FINISH THIS SONG!!! for once.

I downloaded the EUR version and it doesn't work on my PSP. I can get to the main screen, and it asks me if I want to save, but when it gets past a loading screen or two, it just loads forever (the eye spinning animation for loading still goes).

This is a sad day.

you might need to upgrade your firmware buddy.

I downloaded the EUR version and it doesn't work on my PSP. I can get to the main screen, and it asks me if I want to save, but when it gets past a loading screen or two, it just loads forever (the eye spinning animation for loading still goes).

This is a sad day.

search the web, this problem is EVERYWHERE

you need two things to run patamon:
3.90 m33-2 firmware
set umd mode to.. sony.. n9660 or something in the recovery console (hard boot psp with r held down)