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Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Day 81 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Electroplankton


One of the best things about the original Nintendo DS is the broad range of wonderfully eccentric titles. It was also plagued by shovelware however, in amongst all of the tripe was some hidden gems worth seeking out.

Electroplankton was released quite early in DS's life; it's a music synthesis game where you have to interact with a variety of aquatic creatures to produce sound. There's 10 different game modes to choose from with a different creature for each one: so let's take a look.



Tracy- this plankton is controlled by drawing lines with your stylus so Tracy can follow them. If you want any of the plankton to stop, just tap your stylus on the screen.


Hanenbow- these poor critters are constantly launched from the water to collide with a plant. When they bounce from the leaves, or the edge of the screen, they produce beautiful harp-like tones.


Luminaria- this plankton follows the path determined by the arrows on the screen. Tap the arrows to change Luminaria's direction and thus alter the sound.


Sun-animalcule- probably my favourite plankton. Tap your stylus at various points across the screen to place these little guys, as they grow they produce sound in harmony with one another.


Rec-Rec- While the fish swim by to a basic drum beat you can tap them to record your own sounds with the DS microphone.


Nano carp- This plankton forms various shapes to the sound of your voice or the clapping of your hands. After you've done that just run your stylus over the shapes to release the music.


Lumiloop- run your stylus around the Lumiloops to create some gorgeous atmospheric sounds. The sound reminds me of the original Halo theme.


Marine-Snow- there's stacks of these little fellows all over your screen. Slide your stylus over them to jumble them up and unearth some piano like tones.


Beatnes- now this one is just plain wierd. The invincibility music from Super Mario Bros plays in the background while you provide the sound effects by tapping the Beatnes with your stylus.


Volvoice- probably the most fun and possibly the most annoying when used in public places. Tap the Volvoice to record a sound and then change its shape with your stylus to discover some outlandish audio.

You can download every game mode individually on 3DS for £1.79 each. the original cartridge has retained its price tag, so buying each mode separately at this price is a pretty good deal.

A delightfully quirky game for when you're feeling creative.

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