This week in America, the DS game ‘Elite Beat Agents‘ is being released to stores nationwide. The reason why this is so exciting is that it is actually a copy of a completely different game available only in Japan, but they are actually very similar at heart.

What is interesting about this is that the game was released in Japan back in July 2005 and wasn’t very well received only selling approximately 60,000 copies. The game works by following the story of a group of ‘freelancers’ who go around helping people who are troubled or in need of help. The game was developed by INiS who also developed ‘Guitaroo Man’, so you can assume the sort of rhythm game that this is. It works by pressing along certain buttons on the touch screen of the DS in time to j-pop songs by popular Japanese bands such as ‘Asian Kung-fu Generation’, ‘Orange Range’ and ‘L’arc en Ciel’. Perhaps this then was the reason why it became a huge success over seas and also due to the availability of import sites such as Lik-Sang (now bricked by Sony) and PlayAsia, many westerners were able to get their hands on this brilliant game.

This leads me back to the original point that I made; this week sees the release of the game ‘Elite Beat Agents’ in America. On the surface, this game has the same style and system as ‘Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan’ but it is actually a very much westernised version of the game. For example, all of the stories have been cut out from the original and replaced with stereotypically western stories (the one shown in the video is based on a babysitter and her boyfriend). As well as this, the soundtrack has been completely replaced by a very western soundtrack with songs by ‘Sum41′, ‘Good Charlotte’, ‘Jamiroquai’ and ‘Avril Lavigne’. Also, the main characters of the game have been replaced by ‘Agents’ who, i’m assuming also take on the same role as the guys from ‘Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan’.

I have yet to play either of these games but I am certainly very excited to play both versions of it and see how the developers are trying to reach different audiences by changing a game significantly. It will certainly be interesting if ‘Elite Beat Agents’ manages to sell more copies than the original due to its worldwide release and ‘Touch Generations‘ label.

trailer videos after the jump!

Osu ! Tatakae! Ouendan Trailer
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=-_Z85RIYYRA]

Elite Beat Agents E3 Trailer
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-BdYCbnDaw]

[This piece also posted on Rhythm Gamer]

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