If you recognize your Sega historical past, then you probably know — and love — the maraca-shaking monkey Amigo. Samba de Amigo was a cult hit on the Dreamcast again in 1999, and this little monkey rattled his means into many a coronary heart through the years.
Laced with catchy Latin American music, pop songs, and a pair of maraca-shaped controllers, Samba de Amigo turned a cult hit for its arcade-style gameplay and enjoyable aesthetic. Incredibly, whereas it appears like Amigo has turn into a staple in Sega’s historical past — showing in titles resembling Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (and its Transformed sequel) — the sombrero-donning monkey’s debut recreation has by no means acquired a direct sequel, with Ver. 2000 launching in arcades and in Japan, and Samba de Amigo on Wii being an enhanced port.
But don’t fret, 2023 is the 12 months of the retro return, and Samba de Amigo: Party Central sees Amigo take to the worldwide stage. Sonic Team is bringing the beloved social gathering music title again, and to inform us a bit of bit concerning the collection’ historical past is director and producer at Sonic Team, Shun Nakamura.
Nakamura-san made his debut as a director on the unique Samba de Amigo and has loads of attention-grabbing tidbits to share about simply how the collection has modified from 1999 to as we speak, together with some Smash Bros. needs and the way TikTok has influenced this brand-new recreation…
Nintendo Life: Samba de Amigo is synonymous with the Dreamcast for a lot of Sega followers. How did you give you an concept for the sport and the character of Samba?
Shun Nakamura, Sonic Team producer and director: Samba de Amigo was first created as an arcade recreation. At the time, it was all about cool music video games, however for me, I used to be extra into making a recreation the place we will overlook ourselves and revel in being fun-loving – a recreation the place we will benefit from the sounds of karaoke or dwell music, moderately than simply enjoying music. That is why I began Samba de Amigo. Japanese folks like to make use of maracas to enliven the ambiance once they sing karaoke, and this expertise led to the introduction of the maraca controllers. At the time, the Sonic workforce had no expertise with arcade video games, however we began this as an experimental venture, and every time we introduced the sport, it was nicely acquired, which finally led us to the Dreamcast model.
We selected the character Amigo as a result of we thought his cheerful picture would match the brightness of the monkey character. The ultimate touches had been accomplished by the character designer of the Sonic collection.
Did you ever think about using different devices in Samba de Amigo?
Actually, when Nintendo first confirmed us the Switch {hardware}, we thought of bringing again Samba, however we determined to vary it up a bit and make one thing new, so we had been engaged on one other music recreation earlier than the system’s launch. But for numerous causes, that venture did not work out. In that earlier recreation, the idea was to regulate numerous musical devices, however the design, sadly, went in so many various instructions, so it did not find yourself understanding.
when Nintendo first confirmed us the Switch {hardware}, we thought of bringing again Samba, however we determined to vary it up a bit and make one thing new
With this expertise in thoughts, we determined to proceed with a Samba venture as a substitute, the place we didn’t take into consideration different devices as we needed to precise one thing foolish and fulfilling when utilizing a single instrument. [Samba de Amigo: Party Central] additionally has a characteristic known as ‘happenings’, which permits the participant to get pleasure from numerous rhythm video games along with the traditional efficiency. I believe this characteristic solves the issue of losing interest with enjoying the identical instrument.
Amigo has made quite a few cameo!!s and appearances in different Sonic Team video games such because the Sega All-Star Racing collection. What’s your dream cameo for the character?
Amigo typically seems in different video games as a separate character, however by no means in reference to the storyline or something like that, so I hope that sooner or later they may have the ability to be put in a key function. However, so as to take action, I believe Amigo should turn into extra well-known, so I’ll attempt my greatest to make that occur.
Also, I get pleasure from Smash Bros., so I would really like for Amigo to take part in that recreation as nicely. I believe it could be attention-grabbing for Amigo to have these music-based assaults as a result of no different character has that. Of course, I’m joking!
Why do you suppose Samba de Amigo has a cult following amongst Dreamcast followers?
Personally, I don’t know the true purpose. However, I imagine that those that like Samba de Amigo are those that get pleasure from having some light-hearted enjoyable. This stays a very powerful a part of this venture, and it’s additionally the half that we now have expanded upon. I believe we had been capable of provide one thing that makes folks really feel that even simply dancing with maracas is enjoyable, but it surely additionally goes past that.
I believe Amigo should turn into extra well-known, so I’ll attempt my greatest to make that occur.
In this recreation, we now have this problem mode known as CRAZY, which is considerably completely different from the “difficulty of the game” you’d usually see. With CRAZY, we needed to seek out methods to get the participant to essentially transfer their physique to the rhythm. By the best way, I have never advised anybody this, however I named it after the CRAZY TAXI’s groove and CRAZY-ness. I hope that followers will help the brand new Samba in a cult-like means.
The latest entry within the franchise – Samba de Amigo: Party Central – is being billed as a follow-up to the unique Dreamcast recreation. Why is now the time to revisit the collection?
In current years, I believe there have been lots of new remakes of previous titles within the recreation business. This Samba de Amigo was created with that pattern in thoughts, with the concept that it could be extra attention-grabbing if it had been tailored to as we speak’s market. The Joy-Con and VR controllers had been a giant a part of this title, and whereas the Dreamcast model was enjoyable with the separate maraca controllers, they had been very costly and couldn’t be utilized by many individuals. This time, the {hardware} comes with the movement controllers, so I believe many individuals will have the ability to benefit from the recreation with a low threshold.
In phrases of content material, we now have maintained the bottom gameplay, whereas additionally making necessary modifications which might be in tune with the present period and that can make the sport much more entertaining. It shouldn’t be a easy music recreation, however moderately an expertise that enables everybody to benefit from the “silly fun” that solely Samba can provide.
What influenced the choice to pivot to fashionable music for Party Central?
Originally, many followers expressed the need to get pleasure from different genres of music in Samba de Amigo, even throughout previous productions. Certainly, musical style varies from individual to individual, so whereas placing collectively a group of music from the identical style can provide it a way of unity, it additionally means chances are you’ll not have the ability to pull in those that produce other tastes. That’s why we made it a precedence to broaden the variety of genres featured within the recreation in order that much more folks can get pleasure from it.
we made it a precedence to broaden the variety of genres featured within the recreation in order that much more folks can get pleasure from it.
We moved much more in that course by difficult ourselves to create extra sorts of music with the DLC. We even included gospel music within the recreation’s authentic tracks, so we imagine that gamers will get pleasure from all the brand new facets of the track checklist. Of course, we all the time ensure to ask ourselves, “Can this track be loved as a Samba track?”. We imagine each track within the recreation has that enjoyable groove that’s distinctive to this collection, so please don’t worry.
At the identical time, the “world setting” can be constructed round the truth that Amigo has stepped out of the setting of previous video games and turn into a beloved performer around the globe. Although chances are you’ll not usually take note of this type of factor when enjoying a music recreation, we now have ready quite a lot of thrilling conditions, and we hope that it is possible for you to to witness Amigo’s international debut.
Can you speak about any challenges you confronted whereas creating the sport for Switch?
As you possibly can think about, probably the most tough half was adapting the Joy-Con controllers. In Party Central, there are these ‘rhythm balls’ that fly in the direction of rings which might be proven on each the higher, center, and decrease sides of the display screen. The participant’s objective is to shake the controllers within the course of the goal simply as every rhythm ball passes via the goal. That’s why we wanted to ensure the Joy-Con’s responsiveness was in sync with the participant, which in the end proved difficult. We made lots of changes to the Joy-Con settings proper up till the very finish. We additionally examined this with lots of completely different folks and acquired their suggestions all through the method.
How do you suppose new audiences will react to Samba de Amigo’s return?
When excited about the precise strategy to the “silly fun” idea, I checked out TikTok as a spot that comprises related components. TikTok has lots of movies which have creators who carry out with completely different sorts of music, and people watching them will chuckle and simply have a good time. This is definitely near what we had been initially aiming for with the primary Samba. Here, we centered on making a recreation that may be fulfilling for youthful folks by mixing the brand new Samba with sure facets of TikTok.
we centered on making a recreation that may be fulfilling for youthful folks by mixing the brand new Samba with sure facets of TikTok.
One instance is the ‘occurring’ aspect I talked about earlier. Usually, in music video games, you play what you’re speculated to play in a sure means – principally, issues are very easy. But on this recreation, we determined to include a roulette aspect as we needed to emphasise the spontaneous moments and the enjoyment that comes from it moderately than following the traditional guidelines. I hope that Samba, which was as soon as thought-about a cult traditional, will turn into a serious music recreation within the trendy period.
I additionally need to observe, that for individuals who need to get pleasure from Party Central as a standard music recreation, whether or not for informal play or when competing for a excessive rating, you possibly can all the time flip the ‘occurring’ settings off within the choices.
Party Central will likely be getting a number of Sonic the Hedgehog songs. Are there another Sega franchises that you simply need to embody music from sooner or later?
Many of Sega’s songs are beloved by its followers, and we now have an incredible variety of tracks we want to use. This time, we now have ready music from Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza / Like a Dragon collection), Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure, and we want to increase this even additional. Please look ahead to the songs we now have already ready, and when you ship us your requests through Twitter and elsewhere, we could possibly improve the probabilities of much more music…
This interview has been frivolously edited for readability.
Thank you to the workforce at Sega and to Namakura-san for taking the time to reply our questions. Samba de Amigo: Party Central is out on Nintendo Switch on thirty first August. A free demo is accessible to obtain now from the Switch eShop.
Will you be becoming a member of Amigo’s return later this month? Shake it down within the feedback.
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