Electroplankton is a fairly old (by video game standards) music game for the NDS, and more importantly it was one of the first “art” over “game” kind of games that would be released for the system. Which is why it is so surprising and strange that back in 2005 it was Nintendo, the evil corporate
franchise exploiters that they are, published and even developed it. Most people may know of this game as the echoing plant/water level from Smash Bros. Brawl, but it was a lot more than that. It was a game that broke the conventions of what a game can be. Does there need to be some sort of linear plot? Does there need to be goals and achievements? Not for Electroplankton.The lack of the above linearity and feeling of progression is probably one of the reasons why Electroplankton could be grouped into the casual market. A reason we may have never seen a sequel is because the game is annoyingly short, and you can probably see everything there is to see within the first thirty minutes of play. However, if you are the type that loves to create all kinds of interesting sounds and music than you are probably the person that this was made for. There are a variety of levels in the game (each one open from the beginning) for you to experiment with different kinds of sounds and create your own music with. There’s no way to collect and save the music to show off or listen to later, but that could be a slight boon for the game. It’s not a CD player; it’s not there for you to listen to. You’re the conductor and and each time you play you’re creating something new.
That’s not to say that the game gives the player complete freedom. You’re limited to the certain type of translucent sea creatures that are in each level. Some of them aren’t very diverse, and some of the levels are hard or frustrating to figure out just what you should be doing. But for every one of those there are two levels of original, experimental play, like the fish that repeat musical patterns to how far and how quickly you move the stylus across the screen, and the Mario theme music level that takes a basic song from the older games and allows you to insert classic gameplay sounds into it to make a unique Mario beat – similar to Mario Paint’s music player, but maybe not as sophisticated (which is probably not a compliment).
Like I said, the game is incredibly short, and you might not get as much out of it as a game with linearity and goals. But it is original and by far the only game truly like itself. The gameplay doesn’t stack up to anything worth the big bucks, so if you can find it than try to find it cheap (if possible). It’s a great addition to a gamer’s library, though it may have functioned better as a cheap iPhone app. It’s not the easiest game to find so it might not come cheap, but it’s a worthwhile experience, though not the always the deepest.
Love it! Good find there Chad.