A Week with Wii Music
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 10:37am by ナオミ
Since the thrilling video that introduced the future potential of a console called “Revolution,” I have been waiting for Wii Music. You might be able to tell from my profile or other posts that rhythm games is a category I follow closely, I’ve got most of them — no matter how obscure, and I’ll play them all at least once.
The hype was getting to me: as long as I had waited to play Wii Music, Nintendo’s family marketing style in the Japanese train stations with posters of pre-schoolers and geriatrics playing the same game started to bring some concern into my heart. “How is one game going to cater to such a broad audience?”
Still, I bought Wii Music on my way home from work last Thursday, the day it was released here in Japan. My local Momotaro (a game chain in Saitama) had put up orange posters with lots of Miis playing instruments — presumably the games cover — all over the store to celebrate, but when I actually saw the box, something was different… It was wrapped in another, card stock box, with spot-embossed metallic stars and music notes dancing into the center of the logo with behind a large cut-out music note that revealed the original orange cover underneath. The me that was on my way from work at the publishing company began to add up the cost of all these printable add-ons in my head; all I came away with from that video-game store is that Nintendo has an extraordinary amount of confidence in this title, and I was anxious to find out why.
The game got off to a slow start. Already my mind was wandering back to the negative hype behind Wii Music as an italian composer-muppet yammered away at me in Japanese about how much I was about to enjoy myself. “If I were a little kid I don’t know if I’d like this…” I began to wonder, cynically. I played around with some of the instruments as I had seen Miyamoto do in a demo video (with pre-schoolers). I realized at this time that there might be turntables in the game but after searching through each instrument I found no such thing — the only instrument even slightly out of the ordinary was me dressed in a dog costume, which more disturbing than it was funny. Next I tried to arrange a song, but I didn’t save it as a clip because I thought it sounded hasty and I was not a big fan of any of the five songs I had access to.
The next night I went out to meet a friend and told him candidly at the bar “So I bought Wii Music yesterday…”
“So did I!”
But we had both come to the same consensus. The game was slow and neither of us could figure out what the point of it all was. Playing along to songs and then recording them? I expressed my concern that I thought that perhaps the game was to educate very young children about music but because it cost so much to make Nintendo was trying to market it to a broader audience to make up the cost.
We both decided wistfully that we would keep playing and exchange friend codes later on.
That night I decided to go ahead and push through and record three songs no matter how terrible I thought they sounded, just to see if I could advance the game a little bit. It was pretty time consuming abut I started to like banging out the rhythm to make the recordings and I was definitely able to enjoy making a few album covers, and was then rewarded with a lesson. More reading? More instructions!? At that point it was quite late and I was out of it - so I decided to sleep instead of continuing on.
The next morning I decided to venture ahead and complete the first basic lesson. Even though the song was simple I enjoyed learning how to put all of the parts together to make the song sound whole. Then when it was done I was informed I had unlocked some stuff - so I decided to go over to browse through the instruments again. Just to the left of my piano there they were — two shiny silver platters, the wheels of steel! Not only that, but I had a variety of songs and genre sets to practice them with. In what felt like no time I had enthusiastically recorded a sweet and smooth down-tempo version of Sakura with myself on the turntables, Natsume Souseki (a famous Japanese author) on the shamisen and the Dude from the Big Lebowski on the marimba. I arranged the jacket with care so I could listen again soon, and Wii Music began to click into place for me: I was glowing.
But as much as I couldn’t wait to explore more of what Wii Music had to offer, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit shameful at this point. I had tried to put Wii Music into a box - comparing it to all these other games and genres and it just didn’t fit. It was something new and different and that bothered me when I had began playing. I now felt bad for having been so closed minded about it.
Wii Music can’t really fit into any kind of genre be it game or software related. If anything, it is a fun and educational tool that teaches you about composition, musical arrangement, rhythm and conducting while you create your own arrangements of familiar tunes. It is a comprehensive musical lesson without focusing to much on any one particular instrument. You can pick up the game and fool around for a bit but it definitely takes some time and devotion to put a solid-sounding piece together. I quickly began to realize that with each lesson my compositions were sounding better and better. I noticed after a while that the more effort I put into getting to know Wii Music, the more I got out of it — and interestingly enough the very same thing could be said about playing music on an actual instrument.
After only a few total hours with the game I got so excited that I unplugged the Wii from my television and stuck the Wii’s sound cables into my DJ mixer so I could actually scratch along with the “Wii Music” theme on a real turntable. A few more hours later and I began to notice new pattern and beat variations in MP3s on my computer, even though I had heard them countless times before. There is no question in my mind that Wii Music is a great jumping off point to get you excited about music and if it works with a professional scratch DJ with 5 years of violin training, I can only imagine what it will do for someone who is new to musical instruments and composition. Even writing this article I booted up the game a few times to reference a couple of menus and I had a hard time getting myself back to the keyboard.
Sean wrote about this earlier and am not going to ignore the fact that Nintendo spent a LOT of time putting together a very quality musical simulation environment that allows you to make an infinite number of arrangements of familiar songs, some of which can depart so far from the original tune that they become otherwise identifiable — but it is a shame that there is no full composition mode. I can imagine budget, time, complexity and a slew of other factors led to this feature not being included but the game has so much potential that the ability to create your own melodies almost feels conspicuously amiss.
Finally, I know a lot of people are upset with the amount of classical standards and public-domain tracks in Wii Music’s sound selection, and depending on your musical tastes you may really find a lot to dislike about the list. But I would like to add my opinion on this, and I’d like the assistance of my friend Guitar Hero to help explain. Now, I adored Guitar Hero despite not being a classic rock fan, but I’ll admit it- I only knew a handful of the tracks offered in the game before I played, and even being well versed in rhythm games couldn’t get me familiar with songs I had never heard before. Wii Music on the other hand contains almost no songs that I didn’t recognize, and for a game that throws you into freely playing a melody without any visual cues to back you up — the selection makes a lot of sense.
A couple of hours ago it occurred to me that if I had to compare Wii music to any other game it would be “Freqency” for the Playstation 2. Like Wii Music it is a rhythm game where you have to hit triggers to six or so different parts to a song, but there are elements to the songs arrangement and solos that can be improvised on the fly. As a bonus the game included a remix mode that would basically allow you to take the set note patterns and set their own rhythm to which those notes would be played. Wii Music really isn’t all that different except the importance of the game modes is flipped, and Wii Music becomes all about rearranging the tracks.
Frequency didn’t make a lot of waves or create any controversy because it was a fairly small release, developed by an up and coming developer called “Harmonix.” Yeah, you might know them as the creators of Guitar Hero.
There are going to be plenty of gamers for whom Wii Music will click, and I’m sure quite a few who just will not want to devote their time to playing around with it. But if you like music or music games and are on the fence about giving it a try — I would encourage you to do so — the worst thing that can happen is you end up improving back-up bass for Abe Lincoln while remixing a song from Animal Crossing. How could that not be fun?
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Thank you much!
I am on the fence and your review has been super-helpful.
I was sure my youngsters would enjoy it, but you have me convinced that I might just enjoy it too.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Free form versus “do as I say”
I think this is the biggest difference — and a big reason for the backlash against this title — between Guitar Hero rhythm games and Wii Music. One game has you on a track, like Time Crisis. You can only innovate so much, and there is indeed a goal: get to the end and have the highest score. You cannot add your own style to Guitar Hero, indeed the plastic instrument seems more like a ball and chain compared to the “virtual instruments” provided by the Wiimote and nunchuck.
With Wii Music, there’s no finish, and that’s exactly the point. The “goal” with this game is your own personal sense of accomplishment at literally creating something. Hence, all this “Wii Music is deeper than you think” talk that’s cropped up over the past few weeks.
Some people argue that not having a goal means the game fails some kind of video game litmus test. I strongly disagree. What Miyamoto has tried to do here is not create a game–which requires a finish line, or a final boss, or a high score–but a toy. Something you pick up and use to create an experience. People playing this title will reach the “goal” when a composition “clicks” as it did with Naomi here.
Throughout my music “career,” which took up a good 10 years of my early life, there were never any “boss battles” except those waged against myself. I had to practice something I enjoyed doing, and when I finally was able to play a difficult passage from memory (sheet music is for cheaters!), I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment. I had reached “the goal.” And then I moved onto the next goal. Another song. Another bar of notes. Another variation on an existing song I already knew. Grace notes on a basic song from my early years to give it a new sound. Improvisation.
All of these are near impossible with rhythm games today, which makes even mentioning this game in the same breath as GH or Rock Band spectacularly unfair. That’s not to say one is “better” than the other, either, so stop that line of attack right there.
In that respect, it sounds like Wii Music has delivered exactly what its designers had in mind. It’s not going to be for everyone, especially those who still prefer some kind of end game with their titles, but by and large I still see this game — MIDI tracks and all — as a success for Nintendo. In many respects, after reading Naomi’s thoughts above, Wii Music sounds like it will follow the same slow cooker strategy that the DS and Wii have both enjoyed over the past two years.
Ridicule, followed by word of mouth marketing, followed by early acceptance, followed by greater acceptance, and before you know it, the game is rivaling Grand Theft Auto 4 as one of THE games of the decade (case in point, Wii Fit may soon outsell GTA4. Look it up).
On a side note, I would have preferred MotionPlus controls with this title.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
looking forward for more information about this. thanks for sharing. Eugene
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
The universe has really been turning itself inside out these past few weeks.
Most of the bad reviews around seem to insist the opposite of the good reviews (directly comparing to GH and RB, using incredibly technical arguments), and it seems to me its the latter that are coming through more trustworthy, especially as more and more videos and the like come out.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
After reading this really well written review, I’ve come to the conclusion that WiiMusic is to Music as WiiFit is exorcise. Once again it seems that Nintendo has taken something that perhaps a lot of people might not do on their own (especially kids), and presented it in such a way, that makes it fun to do.
WiiFit will not take the place of going to a gym and working out, but it’s a great way to get a lot of people interested in getting some exorcise (and hopefully follow it up by going to a gym or some other real exorcises). It seems that WiiMusic might just do the same thing with music. I don’t think it’s going to take the place of actually taking lessons, and learning how to play a real instrument, but I’m sure it’s going to get a lot of people (especially kids) interested in music for the first time. I can imagine that many kids are going to want to go on and start learning how to play a real instrument after having a good time playing with WiiMusic.
A lot of people have been slamming this game because its not GH, or its not “hardcore” enough, and you know what - its not. I would say that its a whole lot better, and I for one have decided that it will be worth the money to invest in it. I’ve never been interested in buying a music game before, but I think that just changed.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
I rented Wii Music last night and popped it in. Played through the basic training, unlocked the 5 songs in the first two games. I ended up liking the way Jam mode plays, it’s exactly what I do in my head sometimes; Alter the melody (w/e) to make it sound more interesting. I saw the koto in the pitch game and wanted to unlock it, but gave up because I remembered how horrible the guitar-type controls are. Once I got the Super Mario theme I played it through on all 4 NES instrument parts. And then I’d been playing it for an hour and realized that this would be the only time I would find it fun. Unlike Guitar Hero or Rock Band, there aren’t really any songs I would find fun to listen to multiple times in a row without getting tired of them, even if I could change the arrangement. Even though the “gameplay” is “deeper” than Wii Play, it still comes off as a tech demo with nothing else to offer other than what’s on the surface. Maybe they should have packaged it alongside another controller, but it’s not worth $50.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
@Jack
“and before you know it, the game is rivaling Grand Theft Auto 4 as one of THE games of the decade (case in point, Wii Fit may soon outsell GTA4. Look it up)”
==========
Thats like saying Men in Black was a better movie than Shawshank Redemption simply because it out sold out.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Oops, in my last post, make that exercise not exorcise.
BTW daverage
If you ask 100 men which would they rather watch Men in Black or Shawshank redemption, I imagine that about 85% would say Men in Black. It’s all a matter of opinion as to which movie is better (there are tons of so-called great movies that I just can’t stand), and I think the same applies to this game. Millions of people are going to buy WiiMusic (as they already have bought WiiFit) who wouldn’t buy GT4. So for them it is a better game.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
If, on average, 85% of men would rather watch MiB over Shawshank, then I hope the world-destroying aliens are on their way, because we have clearly failed as a species.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
@Richter
Amen!
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
So then Wii Music is closer to Mario Paint than Guitar Hero.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I’m glad I read this article, I had only read insanely negative reviews of the game thus far, and as a student in music education at the moment and a Nintendo fan, this being viewed as a good game is a good thing. I will most definitely be purchasing it if I can scratch up some dough.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Also:
I own and love both MIB AND Shawshank Redemption, and I think they’re both equally awesome. I found the argument between them (which I don’t even know if it was originally intended to be an argument) humorous.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
By george I think he’s got it. This was a well written and rather uplifting review. As a serious music lover, hearing that the author began noticing new things in music he already knew well has really impressed me, and makes me want to try wii music alot more now. Reading reviews like IGN’s again, it’s utterly pitiful how little they actually understand about this concept, and music in general. Comparing something like this to other rhythm games is ridiculous, other games are little more than simon says button matching games, they have little to do with music other than having music IN them.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
“Comparing something like this to other rhythm games is ridiculous, other games are little more than simon says button matching games, they have little to do with music other than having music IN them.”
BINGO.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
But as much as I couldn’t wait to explore more of what Wii Music had to offer, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit shameful at this point. I had tried to put Wii Music into a box - comparing it to all these other games and genres and it just didn’t fit. It was something new and different and that bothered me when I had began playing. I now felt bad for having been so closed minded about it.
Wii Music can’t really fit into any kind of genre be it game or software related. If anything, it is a fun and educational tool that teaches you about composition, musical arrangement, rhythm and conducting while you create your own arrangements of familiar tunes. It is a comprehensive musical lesson without focusing to much on any one particular instrument. You can pick up the game and fool around for a bit but it definitely takes some time and devotion to put a solid-sounding piece together. I quickly began to realize that with each lesson my compositions were sounding better and better. I noticed after a while that the more effort I put into getting to know Wii Music, the more I got out of it — and interestingly enough the very same thing could be said about playing music on an actual instrument.
You readin’ this, Derek?
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
What a refreshing read
Beautifully constructed and an absolute joy to read.
Welcome back Infendo!
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’ve been on the fence on Wii Music for a loong time. I was thinking about not getting after reading IGN’s review, then I read 1UP’s review and this article, and I might be getting it again.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
daverage, learn to read. Jack never made a qualifying statement about GTA4 vs. Wii Fit. He just said it seems that Wii Fit will be one of THE games of the generation, and states its widespread popularity through sales numbers in comparison to another game thought to be representative of this generation too.
And WTF. “Men in Black?” “Shawshank Redemption?” Talk about being “out of touch,” eh? What the hell are these dinosaur movies? Maybe you should have picked something more contemporary.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Definitely a buy for me, as a musically oriented person.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Jeff, learn to comment.
Jack premise for Wii Fit and Wii Music being one of THE games of our decade was based solely on sales. Thats like saying McDonalds is “THE store of the decade” based solely on their billions and billions served.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Wow! This game has gone from an absolute not buy to probably will. I like the creativity the game allows. I lost a lot of respect for Matt at IGN after the Wii Music review. He seemed to have his mind made up before giving the game the time it deserves and was determined to compare it to other music games. While it might not be a 10, it certainly isn’t a 5.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
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October 22nd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
This was, indeed, very well written!
I really enjoyed this article, and I am now, kind of considering buying the game myself.
有り難う、ナオミさん。。。
良い記事ですね。
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Reynard, the author is a girl, not a guy. Maybe the Japanese correspondents’ names should have romaji next to them just to clarify. Ex. ナオミ (Naomi)
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
It’s great to hear some good impressions of this but i can’t shake the feeling that the fun in this game would fade pretty darn quickly once you’ve messed around with the songs you can tolerate on the soundtrack until you’ve got tired of them.
That being said - i’m not really the target market for this, kids might have a lot more fun.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 am
@ daverage and richter.
you guys are idiots. the analogy wasn’t a good one, with MIB vs shawshank, but it still proves the point. ok, so how about star wars vs forest gump. star wars is the mother of all movies. but anyone that knows anything that none of the star wars movies, even the original trilogy were particularly critic proof. so i believe that is a good analogy. star wars, any of the movies are box office monsters, and almost everyone will tell you is a better movie than forest gump. you might be a self proclaimed elitist and say forrest gump is better, but majority rules. sorry, just the way it is. if wii music outsells GTA4 in lifetime sales, then wii music is the better game, voted by the people with their wallets. and sorry both you guys are in the minority, which is too bad for you.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 am
daverage, so tell me, ps2 was the best console last generation, based on SALES, hardware and software. was it the best last gen? of course it was. your mcdonalds analogy, you are talking about food, which cannot be any more different than video games. great analogy on your part. mcD’s burgers are the cheapest food on the planet. i can buy a double cheesburger on the dollar menu. a gourmet burger @ the 99? probably about 8 bucks. how much is wii fit, $70? wii music, $50? gta4, $60. they are all fair comparisons.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:35 am
muggins, many people’s first impressions are that the game is simple. if you’re a creative person that likes to play with music, change it up, experiment, remix, etc, it seems that most people who get over the hump, begin to realize the depth behind this game. give it a chance. the trend seems that people change their minds on the title after putting some time into it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:52 am
I had written this game off after watching the E3 presentation. I don’t know what it was but I felt immediately embarrassed watching it played live on stage.
The more I thought about it though, I really enjoy “pointless” games like animal crossing and endless ocean. So I decided to try out Wii Music.
It’s amazingly fun. So fun. It really captures the joy of playing music. I hope my family will like to play, too, so we can jam together. I already know of one relative who never plays games and hates electronic music but who will absolutely love playing.
Kudos Nintendo.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:33 am
“Jeff, learn to comment.
Jack premise for Wii Fit and Wii Music being one of THE games of our decade was based solely on sales. Thats like saying McDonalds is “THE store of the decade” based solely on their billions and billions served.”
Oh HO! The turn of phrase! You are trying to do a simple logical substitution but are failing, mainly because it isn’t JUST sales numbers Jack is citing when he talks about Wii Fit being important. But you keep bringing up something popular that’s “double plus uncool” and saying something snarky about it like it makes it all better. It’s pretty crass elitism and it doesn’t favor you well.
I mean, is popularity bad? If one of your favorite games was a quadrillion seller, would you be happy for it, or would you suddenly feel your video game “street cred” be threatened and try to go more obscure? It sounds like someone has an image problem, and it isn’t the non-gamers or Nintendo fans this time.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
You guys are right, I stand corrected. I’ve repented and I will buy Wii Music day one, and learn to enjoy it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Very nice review, indeed. I’m still on the fence. I have to choose between this and other great games I want right now, but it’s very likely I’ll buy it sooner or later.
If they announce new songs over DLC it will be an instant buy for me, as much as I don’t like DLC in general (since my only concern right now about the game is its longevity).
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:35 am
Now I’m really considering purchasing this title..I really, from the beginning knew that WiiMusic wasn’t going to be something that you can easily judge just by watching it on TV, or watching someone play…It clearly something that you must experience for yourself and open your mind to. I used to be in a band in middle school, and I really enjoyed those times in the band room, I really hope this game, can sorta bring me back to that..
October 27th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
At first I wasn’t going to buy this game in a million years.Then I thought “maybe this game won’t be so bad after all”. Now that I’ve seen this review and that video you posted a while back, I’ve gone back to “this game sucks”. Oh,and you guys have been saying it’s for kids, specifically it’s for little kids because I’m 12 and I would not enjoy it at all.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:18 am
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