Oshare Majo: Love and Berry
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Oshare Majo: Love and Berry (オシャレ魔女 ラブandベリー Fashionable Witches: Love and Berry?) is a cross between an arcade game and collectible card game from Sega, targeted toward girls usually between ages six and twelve years. The game was first shown in amusement arcades on October 30, 2004, and becoming very popular among the target market in late 2005 through 2006. Game machines were installed in many department stores and children's play areas. Players play mini-games, and if they win, they get cards with barcodes on them that store information for new outfits, accessories, and hairstyles for the game characters. As of January 2006, approximately 6,800 machines had been installed, and 104,000,000 cards printed.
The game costs ¥100 per play. By swiping previously won cards, players can change the hair, dress, shoes and make-up of the two characters, Love and Berry. The game then proceeds to a rhythm and dancing game.
The dancing game is played by tapping one of the buttons in time to the tambourine tapping on the screen. If you get a high enough score you will be rewarded with a secret code used to access some secrets on the website.
By choosing certain combinations of clothes, players can increase their "fashion power" and proceed to higher levels more easily. There are as of April 2006 180 different collectible cards. The structure of the game is similar to Mushiking: King of the Beetles, and machines are often placed together.
On an episode of Haromoni@, a show featuring the J-pop group Morning Musume, shown on September 2, 2007, the group visited the studio of the game sharing their ideas on how to improve the game.
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[edit] The girls
Love and Berry are magical princesses who possess the power of "Fashion Magic," which allows them to change clothes instantaneously. Both girls love dressing up and dancing. Though they are friends, they are rivals when it comes to being the most noticeable girl on the dance floor.
Love is said to be 14 years old and born on September 16. She is 150 cm tall, and has blood type O. Her style is "cute". She is dubbed by voice actress Hiromi Konno. Berry is more "cool" than Love. She is also 14 years old and born on November 11. Her blood type is A. She is dubbed by Hisayo Yanai.
[edit] Love
- Age: 14 (in Fashion Magic years)
- Birthday: September 16
- Blood Type: Type O
- Height: 150 cm
- Weight: Secret
- Style: Cute
- Hobbies: Dancing, window shopping
- Favorite food: Shortcake
- Favorite flower: Sunflower
- Charming features: Eyes, cheeks
[edit] Berry
- Age: 14 (in Fashion Magic years)
- Birthday: November 11
- Blood Type: Type A
- Height: 152 cm
- Weight: Secret
- Style: Cool
- Hobbies: Dancing, making sweets
- Favorite food: Cinnamon rolls
- Favorite flower:Lily
- Charming features: Star-shaped beauty mark under left eye
[edit] Gameplay
Gameplay is simplistic as the player would just scan their fashion magic cards to dress up and tap the yellow button to the beat of the tambourine.
Every time a player inserts credits into the machine, a card is dispensed for the player to use and collect. This can range from a Dress Up, Hair & Makeup, Footwear or Special card. When the card is retrieved, the player can select from six different game modes. After selecting a game mode, the player can select one of five locations. With the exception of Dress Up Research and 2-Player Competition, the player can pick whether they like to play as Love or Berry.
It is important that the player must take the card out as soon as it comes out. If it is not taken out from the machine for a very long time, the machine would register the situation as a "stuck-up card" and halt the game for an attendant to check the machine. Also, the game will not run if there are no cards left inside the machine.
The player can scan any type of cards in any particular order within the time limit. Every time a card is scanned, the player's selected girl will perform a transformation with the recently scanned card and the game will calculate the Dress Up power of the overall appearance of the girl through a bar on the side of the screen (Left for Love, right for Berry). When the player is satisfied with their girl's appearance by pressing both buttons or when time has run out, the girl gets transported to selected stage and displays the Dress Up power in a numerical value and shows the rating of the overall appearance. The girl will react on how well the player coordinated her appearance to the stage.
The game now turns into a rhythm and dance game, where the player must press the button to the beat of the tambourine. The girls dance and lyrics are displayed as the song plays while the player taps the button to the beat of the tambourine. The better the player's percentage in hitting the tambourine on time, the more the cool points the player can receive (depending on how much the Dress Up power the player has). However, that alone cannot guarantee a winning situation as the player must outmatch their girl's rival in sense of coordinating fashion.
Once the dance is finished, the results are given to indicate who wins and who loses. The winning girl reacts first with the losing girl lamenting her loss afterward. If the player wins the game, it is possible to continue if the game allows, but if one reaches the last possible stage, the game will end. The game can also end if the player loses in any stage.
[edit] Features
[edit] Bonus Time
Gives the player a boost in accumulating cool points in the dance. The camera will completely focus on the player's selected girl as a sign of the player's girl being noticeable. This is accomplished by making a chain of "OK" rating in tapping the button to the beat of the tambourine. This can be broken by making a "miss."
[edit] Special Bonus
Only available in Recommended Easy, Super Hard, and Contest Practice, this allows the player to accumulate more cool points than in Bonus Time. This is achieved by making successful taps during Bonus Time and the stage will suddenly turn into an empty space to indicate the success of the Special Bonus. Like the Bonus Time, this can be broken by making a "miss."
[edit] Ranking
In the last stage of Recommended Easy and Super Hard, the game will give display a rank on how well the player dressed up and dance at the stages he/she selected. If 1st rank is achieved, the player is given an extra stage to play. This is not available for "Contest Practice."
[edit] Pajama Miss
Only available in Super Hard, Contest Practice and 2-Player Competition, if the player makes a single mistake (by missing a tambourine beat or tapping the button with no beat) their girl ends up in their pajamas and messy hair. This "miss" makes the game challenging since it delays the cool points to accumulate while in pajamas. Missing too often will mean an obvious losing situation. On rare occasions, Love will end up in ladybug suit.
[edit] Lucky Color
When dressing up, a Lucky Color is randomly selected. The Lucky Color's rating will depend on the fashion magic cards used. This triggers a "Lucky" situation when a player makes a mistake in tapping to the beat of the tamboruine, retaining the chain in getting or staying in Bonus Time or Special Bonus. The better the Lucky Color rating, the higher the chance the player can get "Lucky."
[edit] Game modes
[edit] Super Easy
This game mode is for beginners. The player can select from all available six stages and the rival girl's dress up power is low, allowing first-timers and beginners to get a feel of the game. The tambourine patterns are relatively easy to perform and Bonus Time can be achieved. If the player does well on the first stage, he/she can play another stage for a possible maximum total of two stages.
[edit] Recommended Easy
This game mode is for intermediate players. The player is limited in selecting the first two venues for the first stage. The tambourine patterns are now in their original version since they follow a specific rhythm in the songs and can be trickier for beginners. If the player does well on the first stage, the player can have access to the other venues for the second stage. It is possible to get a third stage if the player's rank is first (see Ranking under Features in this article).
[edit] Super Hard
This game mode is designed for experienced players, since this implements the "Pajama Miss" feature. The original tambourine patterns are used here as well. The player will be limited to the "Street Court" and "Fashion Street" and "Disco" on the first stage, then "Seaside Stage", "Idol Stage" and "The Ball" if the player makes it to the second round. The "Ball" can be access if the player makes it to the third round. It is possible to play the "Special Stage" if the player's rank is first (see Ranking under Features in this article).
[edit] Contest Practice
This game mode is for practicing for the official Dress Up Contest. Players have only one stage (even if the English website states two) to play and see if the have the coordination and skills for the Dress Up Contest.
[edit] Dress Up Research
This allows the player to select one stage and dress up with a longer time limit than those in the other modes. The player can alternate between Love and Berry and change the Lucky Color in the Dress Up phase. However, it is not possible to actually "dance" in this mode as it will end after showing the Dress Up power and overall rating. The features experienced in the dance phase are not used here as well.
[edit] 2-Player Competition
This allows two players to play the game in one stage. The first player (left side) plays as Love while the second player (right side) plays as Berry. The first player gets to scan his/her cards before the second player can. The Bonus Time alternates between the players to take advantage of and the "Pajama Miss" is implemented here.
[edit] Venues
There are five different venues to dance on. Each venue has a particular theme and players must dress accordingly to have better points.
[edit] Street Court
- Song: ABCD Everything's Okay
A basketball court with a hot dog stand and large speakers to give it's sporty theme.
[edit] Fashion Street
- Song: Talk of the town...
A fashionable part of town where fashion is the theme of the venue.
[edit] Seaside Stage
- Song: Sparkle Sparkle Mermaid
This venue takes place on a marine amusement park with a stage. The girls are accompanied by tanned backup dancers wielding pompoms.
[edit] Idol Stage
- Song: See You Again Tomorrow
This venue symbolizes the Japanese Idol setting in front of a live audience. The girls are accompanied by backup dancers wielding pompoms.
[edit] Ball
- Song: Voices of Spring (Frühlingsstimmen)
The formal setting of the game. The venue is held at a castle ball were players must dress in formal attire and dance the waltz accompanied with a matching male partner and other pairs.
[edit] Disco
- Song: Operation mirror ball
[edit] Special Stage
- Song: Love Magic
[edit] Cards
There are different cards to collect and use in order to play Love and Berry. The barcodes are located on one side of the card for the player to swipe into the machine via a built-in scanner. There are four categories of cards used in this game. Each card has an indicated set of "Lucky Colors."
[edit] Hair & Makeup cards
These cards feature the hairstyles for the girls to use. The Lucky Colors are Love and Berry's original hair colors. Certain Hair & Makeup cards are actually hats and have one Lucky Color for both girls if there is no hat.
[edit] Dress Up cards
These cards feature either matching top and leggings or a full one-piece attire. Dress Up cards always have two Lucky Colors.
[edit] Footwear cards
These cards features different styles of shoes ranging from platforms to sneakers and heels. Footwear cards always have one Lucky Color
[edit] Special cards
These cards are considered rare and possess the ability to improve (or disimprove) the overall appearance by mostly changing colors of certain parts.
[edit] Love and Berry DS Collection
The Love and Berry DS Collection is a version of the game for the Nintendo DS. It features a DS peripheral that can read the barcodes of the Love and Berry cards acquired from the arcade and features the same gameplay mechanics. Added in this version is a story mode, a new rival and boys. Accessories and a specially pink-colored Nintendo DS Lite is also sold to promote the game.
[edit] LB Style Square
SEGA has launched a fashion line of Love and Berry featuring clothes from the game as well as accessories and sundries with Love and Berry designs. The fashion line features four collections:
- Natural
- Sports
- Lovely
- Elegance
