Elite Beat Agents

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Elite Beat Agents

Developer(s)	iNiS
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Engine	Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan engine
Release date(s)	November 6, 2006 May 3, 2007 July 1, 2007
Genre(s)	Rhythm
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer (1-4)
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone 10+ (E10+) OFLC (AU): PG [1]
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS

Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm game developed by iNiS for the Nintendo DS. It is a spiritual sequel to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, a Japanese rhythm game released in 2005. The game was released on November 6, 2006 in North America and is scheduled for release in Australia on May 3, 2007.

Elite Beat Agents was released under Nintendo's Touch! Generations label, which markets games to audiences outside of the traditional gaming community.

1 Background
2 Story
3 Gameplay
- 3.1 Multiplayer
4 Track listing
- 4.1 Missing song
5 Agents
- 5.1 Elite Beat Agents
- 5.2 Elite Beat Divas
6 Reception & awards
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Background

Due to the surprisingly high import rate of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Nintendo and iNiS began discussing the possibility of officially exporting the game to other regions. However, as Keiichi Yano, vice president of iNiS and director of the game explained in an interview with 1UP.com, selling the game at retail in Western markets would have been infeasible due to the game's innate reliance on Japanese popular music and cultural references.^[1] It was due to this fact that when Yano and iNiS began work on the North American version, the black-clad cheerleaders of Ouendan were removed and work began on a replacement. The first concepts were of a trio of dancers styled after the Village People [2], before the final decision of a trio of men styled after government agents, using distinctly Western references such as the Ghostbusters, Blues Brothers, and Austin Powers series for inspiration. In addition, the concept of Commander Kahn directing the group would come from Charlie's Angels.

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The main characters of Elite Beat Agents are members of a fictional government agency responsible for helping those in need. When someone facing a crisis reaches the end of their rope and cries out for help, the agents arrive on the scene to help them succeed. Through the dancing of the agents, the people they assist are instilled with motivation that helps them overcome various obstacles.

Several of the levels in Elite Beat Agents are thematically similar to those found in Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan; for instance, a level where the agents help a white blood cell named Cap White eliminate a virus inside of an athlete's body shares similarities to a level where the cheer squad (the main characters of Ouendan) must assist super-heroesque medicine as it fights a virus in a violinist's body. In addition, some of the story characters from Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan show up in the stories for Elite Beat Agents. The individual stories are not linked by an overarching narrative, but all of the characters in the game reappear in the final stage, when the agents must face a worldwide threat.

Like Ouendan, the tone of the stories told in Elite Beat Agents is primarily humorous. Although some stage scenarios are fairly mundane, such as helping a babysitter control a trio of rowdy children, others are far more fantastic, such as a stage in which a washed-up professional baseball player battles a fire-breathing golem in a theme park. The one notable difference to this trend in the game is the stage "A Christmas Gift," in which the agents assist a young girl in reuniting with the spirit of her deceased father. This shift in tone is further marked by the game's "clap" gameplay sound effect being replaced with more subtle chimes accompanying the stage song, "You're the Inspiration."

The final levels in the game involve all of the characters previously helped by the Elite Beat Agents joining together to help eradicate a music-hating race of aliens from Earth.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Gameplay

A scene from the second level of Elite Beat Agents

The fundamental aspects of gameplay are unchanged from Ouendan to Elite Beat Agents. The stages of Elite Beat Agents are presented in a comic book fashion. After the introduction to a character and their problem, the agents are deployed and the action begins. The play mechanics involve performing one of three actions with the stylus in various combinations.

Hit Markers - Operated by tapping numbered circles.
Phrase Markers - Operated by tapping and holding the stylus on a ball within a circle while following it along a path.
Spin Markers - Operated by spinning the stylus around the on-screen disc until bars on either side light up.

To successfully perform each action one must complete it as a timed circle converges on each main circle. The timing follows the rhythm of the music. The Hit and Phrase markers must be hit in numbered sequence. The markers are arranged in 'tracks' which range from one to about fifteen markers in length. Success is monitored by the "Elite-O-Meter", a gauge at the top of the touch screen that is constantly draining at a rate based on the difficulty level. Successful actions, such as tapping the Hit Markers in sync with the music, will keep the gauge filled, while missing a marker will partially deplete the gauge. If the meter empties completely, the stage ends prematurely in failure. The first three levels of Breezin' mode feature an on-screen indicator to highlight the order in which the markers must be hit.

Each stage is divided into multiple gameplay sections separated by story sequences, the specific number of which varying by stage. If the Elite-O-Meter is in the yellow when the player reaches one of these breaks, the story will depict the person in need making significant progress towards his or her goal. If it is in the red, the scene will instead depict the person encountering a setback. In between breaks, during the gameplay, the top screen shows the person attempting to accomplish what they need to do at that time. The scene depicted changes every beat, or when the markers switch color, depending on the player's progress. If the player scores an "Elite Beat" by scoring 300 points on each marker in a single beat, then the person makes a lot of progress very enthusiastically. If the player scores a "Beat" (no score lower than 100, but not all 300), the person will be shown making average progress on their goal. However, if the player does not score a special beat bonus at all by scoring a 50 on a marker or missing it entirely, the person on the top screen will encounter difficulties and setbacks. The player will receive bonuses to the final grade and unlock artwork for completing a stage with positive outcomes at all stage breaks.

Elite Beat Agents has the ability to save replays, and shows how many Elite Beats and Beats the player hit during a song.

Each stage has three possible endings for its story. The ending depends on the number of gameplay sections passed. If all gameplay sections are passed the story will have the best ending, with the main character succeeding in its challenge. If at least one section is passed, but not all of them, then the story will have the average ending, where the main character succeeds with moderate success. If all sections are failed, however, the story will have the worst outcome,where the main character finishes his endeavor but still fails.

High scores are acquired by achieving combos, or stringing together a series of successful actions. The longer the player is able to maintain a combo, the greater the multiplier applied to each successful action. Should the player miss a marker completely, the multiplier will stop and the player must start a new one. The game keeps track of individual stage high scores for all difficulty levels, as well as a cumulative high score that affects the player's "Agent Rank." The Agent Rank is a special title such as "Soldier of Song" or "God of Groove" that will change as the player's cumulative high score reaches specific milestones. Elite Beat Agents features three bonus stages that are unlocked when three such ranks are achieved.

The player's performance in each stage is rated on a letter-grade scale, with "D" being the lowest possible rank and S being the best. To achieve an S-rank in a level, at least 90% of all beats must be 300, another 9% must be at least 100, and no more than 1% may be 50. The player must end with a "Perfect", obtained by missing no beats throughout the entire song. However, it is possible to break a combo by missing a dot on a Phrase Marker track and still get an S-rank. Due to the nature of the game's scoring mechanic, it is possible to achieve a new high score in a stage while simultaneously earning a lower grade than the previous high score performance, although this is somewhat rare.

A few additional features have been introduced to Elite Beat Agents from the game play in Ouendan. Primarily, these include the ability to reveal more statistics about a player's performance when they complete a song and the ability to save their performance as "ghost" data that they can later use in a "Vs. Ghost" multiplayer mode, and the ability to review the last few moments of a failed performance.

[edit] Multiplayer

Up to four players can compete against each other using the ad hoc wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS using one or more copies of the game with 2-4 Nintendo DS consoles. The same song list is used, but the stage is set using one of five predetermined, competition-based scenarios.

Only songs that the "host" player has completed are available for play. Each player attempts to perform the song in the same manner as the single player mode. There is no Elite-O-Meter, but instead, the cumulative performance of each player is tracked during the game. At the normal break points for the song, the scene depicts which player is ahead, though it is possible for both players to be tied at this point. During the song, each player can fill a star meter by completing Elite Beats; when the star meter is full, the screens of the opposing players will shake for a few moments, and the on-screen markers will be reduced in size for a short time, making them more difficult to hit. The winner is the player with the best cumulative performance at the end of the song.

When utilizing single-card multiplayer, only five songs are available on "Cruisin'" and "Breezin'" difficulties:

Walkie Talkie Man
Makes No Difference
Y.M.C.A.
Material Girl
La La

When all players have a copy of the game, all of the songs and difficulties become available, but each scenario is still assigned to a certain song.

This mode can also be played by a single player against a saved replay for any song.

There is also a cooperative mode, in which players take turns to play. Each user must have a copy of the game to do this. Each song uses the same scenarios as the single player game, but only the stages the host has completed in single player are available. Both players share a single Elite-O-Meter, so if one person fails, the game ends for both players. The players take turns playing certain segments of the song, as well as Spin Markers. When it is not the player's turn to play, the markers are grayed out.

[edit] Track listing

All of the tracks that appear in Elite Beat Agents are cover versions (cover artists in parentheses).[3]

Steriogram - "Walkie Talkie Man" (by Jason Paige)
Sum 41 - "Makes No Difference" (by Vinn Lombardo)
Avril Lavigne - "Sk8er Boi" (by Angela Michael)
Freddie Mercury/Queen - "I Was Born to Love You" (by Paul Vician)
Stray Cats - "Rock This Town" (by Mark Latham)
Deep Purple - "Highway Star" (by Kaleb James)
Village People - "Y.M.C.A." (by TC Moses)
Earth, Wind and Fire - "September" (by TC Moses)
Jamiroquai - "Canned Heat" (by Jason Paige)
Madonna - "Material Girl" (by Melissa Garber)
Ashlee Simpson - "La La" (by Laura Jane)
Chicago - "You're the Inspiration" (by Julian Miranda)
David Bowie - "Let's Dance" (by Delaney Wolff)
Good Charlotte - "The Anthem" (by Kevin Ridel)
Hoobastank - "Without a Fight" (by Kevin Ridel)
The Rolling Stones - "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (by Billy Fogarty)

The following three songs are unlockable within the course of the game by achieving cumulative high scores across all difficulty levels and stages. As certain high score totals are reached, the player will move up in rank, and by achieving certain ranks, a bonus stage and song is unlocked. In the order in which they are unlocked, they are:

Cher - "Believe" (by Lynn Rose)
Jackson Five - "ABC" (by TC Moses and Brittany Kertesz)
Destiny's Child - "Survivor" (by April Harmony)

[edit] Missing song

During development, 1UP.com listed "Livin' la Vida Loca" as one of the tracks included in the game [4], but did not appear. In the words of Chris Kohler, the writer of the previous article, "If you remember my E3 posts, you might also be saying, 'Where the heck is "Livin' La Vida Loca"?' A fair question. Near as I can figure, the song was dropped from the game. Blame it on the confusion of E3. I'll try and fix the internet."

[edit] Agents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Commander Kahn: The leader of the Elite Beat Agents. He briefs new players on how to play the game in the tutorial and makes appearances at the beginning and end of each mission. When every level on all difficulty settings is complete players have the option to use Commander Kahn instead of Starr in the "Hard ROCK!" setting. Kahn still uses the animations from the female divas, but he does not replace Starr in the story cutscenes.

Mr. X: An unlockable agent only playable in Multiplayer after unlocking "Hard ROCK!" mode, but before unlocking Commander Kahn. He has Kahn's body and a feline head.

[edit] Elite Beat Agents

The male agents of the game. Agents "Chieftain", "J" and "Spin" are the lead agents on a single difficulty. Agents "Morris" and "Derek" are the backup agents in all difficulties except "Hard ROCK!"

Agent BA-1 "Chieftain": The lead agent on the hard difficulty setting ("Sweatin'"). Chieftain possesses a muscular frame and wears a cowboy hat.

Agent BA-2 "J": The lead agent on the normal difficulty setting ("Cruisin'"), J is distinguished by his large pompadour and by his appearance as the central figure on the game's cover art.

Agent BA-3 "Morris": The left male backup agent. He is easily distinguished by his black afro and fedora.

Agent BA-4 "Derek": The right male backup agent. He is easily distinguished by his large, red afro.

Agent BA-5 "Spin": The newcomer to the Elite Beat Agents. He is the lead agent on the easiest difficulty setting ("Breezin'") and is distinguished by the large headphones he always wears.

[edit] Elite Beat Divas

The following three female agents (along with Commander Kahn, once unlocked) are only playable on the game's hardest difficulty ("Hard ROCK!").

Agent BD-1 "Starr": The leader. She is distinguished by her blond hair.

Agent BD-2 "Foxx": The right backup diva. She is distinguished by her silver-white, straight hair and by her laptop computer, which she can be seen frequently using.

Agent BD-3 "Missy": The left backup diva. She is distinguished by her brown hair, two pigtails, and round glasses.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Reception & awards

Elite Beat Agents has an average review ratio of 87.7% on Game Rankings, including such web sites as IGN (9.5/10) and GameSpot (8.9/10), and magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly (8.5/10, 9/10, 9/10), and Nintendo Power(9.5/10).[5] The TV show X-Play rated the game a 4 out of 5.[6] The game has also been received well on reputable UK gaming websites, such as Gamestyle(9/10).

Elite Beat Agents has the distinction of being the first winner of GameSpot's Best Rhythm/Music Game award, handed out for the first time as part of GameSpot´s 2006 Best and Worst Awards [7]. The other games nominated for the award included Guitar Hero II, SingStar Rocks!, and another iNiS-developed title, Gitaroo Man Lives!.

From the date of its release to November 28, 2006, Elite Beat Agents sold 120,000 copies. Reggie Fils-Aime has stated that while sales were strong, he was disappointed that they were not better, having expected 300,000 copies sold in light of critical acclaim. He has also stated that he hopes that Nintendo can work with iNiS on a sequel.

IGN awards:
- 2006 Game of The Year (Nintendo DS) [8]
- Best Music Game (Nintendo DS) [9]
- Best Artistic Design (Nintendo DS) [10]
- Best Story (Nintendo DS) [11]
- Most Innovative Design (Nintendo DS) [12]
- Best Licensed Soundtrack (Nintendo DS) [13]
- Best Developer (Nintendo DS) [14]
- Best Music Game (Overall) (Nominee) [15]
- Best Licensed Soundtrack (Overall) (Nominee) [16]
- Most Innovative Design (Overall) (Nominee) [17]
GameSpot awards:
- 2006 Best Music/Rhythm Game of the Year
- Best Nintendo DS Game of 2006 [18]
- Funniest Game (Nominee)
Gaming Target - 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006 selection [19].
GameTrailers Game of the Year Awards 2006:
- Best Puzzle Game (Overall) [20]
- Best Nintendo DS Game (Nominee) [21]
- Best Story (Overall) (Nominee) [22]
Electronic Gaming Monthly Game of the Year Awards 2006
- Quirkiest Game (Overall)
Nintendo Power Awards:
- 2006 Nintendo DS Game Of The Year(Nintendo Power's Pick)
- Best Music (Overall)(Nintendo Power's Pick)
- Best Alternative Game (Overall)(Nintendo Power's Pick)
- Best New Character (Overall) (Nintendo Power's Pick)