E3 2008: Sonic Music in Samba de Amigo is Coolest Idea Ever

Hey now, I’m not saying it’s going to happen. However, I had the chance to play some Samba de Amigo yesterday and have to tell you it’s a lot of fun. Unfortunately the maraca peripherals that have been hinted at were not shown, but I still found myself fully enjoying the experience.

So why the talk of Sonic the Hedgehog? Well, Samba is going to be one of the first games on the Wii to feature downloadable content, so I naturally asked, “How about a SEGA classics pack?,” to which I received a brief pause before, “That’s a great idea! Doing this to Green Hill Zone or something like that… I’ll have to take this back to the team!” He was likely just humoring me, but we can keep dreaming, right? Keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway, you can read our impressions and find out a couple of the songs that will be in the game after the jump.

I’ll say right from the start that Samba takes some getting used to. While I didn’t bother calibrating the game for my height, etc., I found some of the mid-ranged movements to not register frequently. That didn’t stop me from having fun, and after a few minutes, it was pretty easy to catch on. Those who are familiar with Samba de Amigo on the Dreamcast should feel right at home. Players take a Wii Remote in each hand and shake them either up, down, or to the side in time with cues on the screen. However, the team at Gearbox has added the “Hustle Mode” that utilizes the motion controls of the Wii, having players wave the Wii Remote in a given direction rather than simply strike a pose at various points in the song as was customary in the original.

Even more, half of the game’s 40+ songs will be from the original Samba, with the other half being new to the Wii version. What songs are included? Well, I didn’t know most of them, as they were various sambas, mambos, and bossa nova outings, but I did recognize the classic “Wedding March” and the “Theme of Rocky.” There are some pop and rock tracks as well.

I can’t wait to see the final version of this game. The music, visuals, and quirkiness of a game that focuses on maracas of all instruments fit together perfectly. The promise of DLC is also encouraging, and I hope that SEGA gives us some love and lets us shake it to Sonic and other greats in the SEGA library.

Are there any SEGA tracks you’d like to see in Samba de Amigo? Are you looking forward to shaking the night away when the title is released?