Octomania Game Sample - Wii
0Octomania or "Sharuui * Takoron" is an enhanced version of one of Compile Hearts' (a newly established company seeking to revive the original "Compile" and their IPs as well as make new games) first games, a game in Japanese Arcades known as "Nou Cone-Puzzle: Takoron" which ran on Sega's NAOMI hardware. As Compile Heart doesn't directly work on Puyo Puyo games since the original company went defunct in 2003 (since Sega and Sonic Team now have primary ownership of the franchise), they sought to develop a game with a similar "personality" to Puyo Puyo but with a different gameplay engine and "Octomania" was the result. The game(s) were supervised by the original creator of Puyo Puyo, Moo Niitani, and Compile Heart works closely with "Idea Factory" these days. It is a rather crude but interesting and fairly enjoyable puzzle game.
The game features an eccentric cast of characters, the star of which is a young apprentice magician (surprise surprise) named Kari who resides in the kingdom of Lonropia (also seen as Ronropia) who loves fried Takoyaki (Octopus) and is the self-proclaimed greatest fan of Takoyaki in the kingdom. She's probably serious too, as she loves it so much that she casted a spell to summon so and created a swarm of living Octopi instead that are all over the land. Now, due to the nagging of others like "Angelique the Angel", she has to find Exaltus, the young prince of the Demon King, who may know of a way to get rid of them.
With some exceptions, much of this game could be reproduced quite faithfully on a 16-bit or 32-bit platform... yes, it's really that simple in the audio / visual department. This isn't to say that it's bad, but honestly... you'd expect more. Thankfully, this game WAS a budget release when it originally released, and it's fair to say that you at least get your money's worth. I like just how different yet similar the presentation is to older Puyo Puyo games; from the way characters mutter extensive phrases as they intiate chains to the standoffish manner in which characters meet and greet each other, it instills a genuine feeling of nostalgia and pays proper respect to the classics. The conversations characters share is no less nonsensical than Puyo Puyo too (many statements are arguably more absurd) and the game has voice-overs in Original Mode along with a few extra features, and the voices... well, you decide.
The gameplay is pretty neat. Each character you play as (including the various unlockable characters) have a favorite color which is more beneficial when removed from play as well as a special Diamond Ability. The object of the game is to remove Octopi by pairing a specified number into different nets. Once done, they leave a trail of bubbles which you must guide Octopi of the same color towards. Doing so will eliminate them and extend your chain, where you power-up to throw down "Urchins" (junk) on your opponent. If a player's field is full for more than three seconds, they lose. Arcade Mode has different dialogue from Original Mode, but Original Mode also has "Chain Explosions" (which capture Octopi near the net and add them to a chain) and different character characteristics. The nets are harder to eliminate and trails fade faster on higher difficulties. Besides Online Play and Original Mode, there are Endless Modes and the cool feature to have two players work cooperatively to take on an opponent. The opponents are kinda easy early on even on high difficulties, but the late opponents offer a real challenge and are fun to compete against.
This is a video of the game in action in high quality. Enjoy.