Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi: Genie and the Amp

by JohnnyK
June 09, 2006 00:00 AM PST

Cartoon Network's girliest pop stars rock the DS. We hit the high notes in a first preview

Perhaps no Japanese band has found a home in the US as successfully as Puffy AmiYumi. From sold-out concerts to a popular cartoon show, the duo is popping up pretty much everywhere, including your Nintendo DS. Their upcoming game, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Genie and the Amp, is scheduled to release later this month, so we took the game for a short spin to see what awaits fans of the series.

Staying true to the cartoon show's trademark look and attitude, The Genie and the Amp features colorful graphics and cute characters. It seems that the two rockers have hit a creative wall. Unable to come up with new songs, they just so happen to come across a mysterious genie that grants them the ability to travel through time in order to collect special music notes. Once they've collected enough, the genie promises that they'll be able to embark on the ultimate musical tour. The worlds are filled with quirky and sometimes hilarious enemies, so tracking down the notes ends up being pretty darn enjoyable.

The story, however, isn't the real draw of the game. Taking a cue from the band's musical talents, all attacks in the game are initiated via a unique guitar-like interface. The bottom touch-screen on the DS display four guitar strings. Touching one string will initiate an attack, while touching multiple strings in succession will let you pull off combo attacks. It's a pretty unique and intuitive system, although if you're not touch-screen savvy, you can use the regular DS face-buttons to pull off the same maneuvers.

You can play as either Ami or Yumi, and a quick tap of the Right shoulder button will swap in one character for another. You can only play as one character at a time, but there are some distinct advantages for doing so. Each character has her own life bar, so if you run out of life with one, the other character will take her place. Also, Ami and Yumi have their own unique attacks, although they don't really differ in how much damage they inflict. You can, however, upgrade each character's attacks and abilities by collecting pieces of sushi that are sometimes dropped by defeated enemies.

While Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is more certainly geared towards a younger audience, it seems to be skirting the trend of being overly simple or downright terrible. The touch-screen attacks are a blast to pull off, and the game's quirky visuals and pop soundtrack are good enough for even older gamers who are in for something different.

Look for Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi to release on Jun 27th, 2006, exclusively for the Nintendo DS.