Elite Beat Agents Postmortem

7/25/2019 Elite Beat Agents Postmortem

1/8

A lot of the sessions I went to at GDC were focussed on Intel related stuff mostly

threading and multicore. But all work and no play makes Josh a dull boy and there were

a lot of really cool interesting sessions a!ailable that I "ust had to go to. #ne of them

was titled $%rom #uendan to &elp' (he )tory of the *lite Beat Agents+.

If you,!e ne!er played it or heard of it *lite Beat Agentsis a music game where the

Agents go around helping people in !arious comical -and serious situations. It,s based

on a Japanese game called $#su' (atakae' #uendan'$. It,s not a direct translation

because well there,s no way the original would translate to the /est. It,s kind of the

same concept e0cept featuring ouendan which are um well male cheerleaders.

(hey,re part of the Japanese culture and it was really cool to hear the creator of the

game 1eiichi 2ano talk about how #uendan came to be -their only pre!ious game was

the cult fa!orite Gitaroo 3an which was a commercial flop and what inspired them to

make *lite Beat Agents for the American audience.

I own and lo!e *lite Beat Agents and I want to import #uendan -e!en moreso now'

so I really en"oyed hearing 1eiichi tell the story of how it all came to be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Beat_Agentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouendanhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414812492/in/set-72157594572570799/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Beat_Agentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouendan


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In one of the original concepts which i4i) -2ano,s company pitched to 4intendo the

#uendan had to stop a speeding bullet train before it hit a cute little puppy sitting on the

train tracks. (his le!el ne!er made it to the final game -I think I ha!en,t played it yet

because of they would ha!e had to answer the disturbing 5uestion of $what happens ifyou don,t stop the train in time6+

(his is some concept art of the #uendan the main characters in the Japanese game.

2ano showed some !ideo of real ouendan in action of which I captured a little and

might post later. Because there really is no way to describe it. I,m not e!en sure I

understand what they really are but hey they look cool they dance and they,re secure

in their masculinity while they,re doing it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414812279/in/set-72157594572570799/http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414812367/in/set-72157594572570799/


3/8

/hen #uendan was enough of a success for i4i) to consider doing an American

!ersion it was pretty ob!ious that they wouldn,t be able to "ust do a regular

locali7ation8translation of the game. (he characters music and pretty much e!erything

about the game were !ery Japanese and there "ust wasn,t much to relate to for the

typical American gamer.

During the session 2ano spent some time talking about what inspired him to create

what would become the *lite Beat Agents. Belie!e it or not the first idea he had was to

base them on the 9illage :eople;

I mean who doesn,t lo!e the 9illage :eople right6 After -thankfully reali7ing that

wasn,t such a good idea 2ano pondered some other teams that had elements of what he

was looking for a $motley crew+ cool strong on a mission to help etc. &e listed the

Ghostbusters 3en in Black and the Blues Brothersas sources of these ideas.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414812008/in/set-72157594572570799/http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414812171/in/set-72157594572570799/http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414812008/in/set-72157594572570799/


4/8

(hat,s some original concept art for *BA and here 2ano talked about what the

similarities and differences were between the ouendan and the Agents. &e also listed the

original Charlie,s Angels (9 show as a source of the idea that there was a boss

-Commander 1ahn in the game who was ne!er really part of the action but who ga!e

the Agents their missions and sent them on their way. In that art you also see the

monogram $DAsession someone asked him what D< meant -it showed up in !arious places in the

concept art and 2ano sheepishly admitted that the *lite Beat Agents were originally

going to be called the $Disco


5/8

/hile showing this piece of concept art 2ano admited that Commander 1ahn owes a

lot of his appearance to the $cop+ member of the 9illage :eople. Can you see the

resemblance6

(he room -one of the large combinations of three rooms at 3oscone /est was packed

almost to capacity for this session and you could tell that almost e!eryone there
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414810924/in/set-72157594572570799/http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/414811093/in/set-72157594572570799/


6/8

-including me was a big fan. At the end 2ano broke the e0clusi!e news that i4i) is

hard at work on a se5uel to #uendan and showed some concept art featuring a ri!al

group of ouendan that you compete against and e!en play as. 3y camera was on !ideo

mode for that part so I,ll try to post the !ideo later. (here wasn,t much besides a title a

few screenshots but people were e0cited and while he didn,t confirm that there would

also be a se5uel to *lite Beat Agents he hinted at the possibility and I for one hopethat it becomes a reality.

(he world needs more fun wacky cool games like *BA. Bring it on 1eiichi

NiS VP of development Keichi Yano addressed this year's GDC crowd with atalk entitled "rom '!endan#' to '$%&P#' (nside the Elite Beat Agents)" wherehe detailed the developer history that lead to last year's release of Nintendo's hitrhythm *ame for the Nintendo DS+ ,ith him were two flly-dressed oendan -.apanese male cheerleaders - who occasionally cheered him on) a la theori*inal *ame's premise+

Before Ouendan

/efore the Koei-p0lished PlayStation 1 rhythm title GitarooMan) iNiS hadnever developed a *ame+ "( remem0er we called Sony ot of the 0le) when westarted thinkin* a0ot developin*) and said '2m) can we make a PlayStation*ame3' said Yano+

",e had never made a *ame 0efore) mch less a PS1 *ame#" 4his lack ofe5perienced was o0vios in the team's nm0ers+ "( was the *ame desi*ner) andat the same time ( was the lead pro*rammer)" Yano admitted+ "( stdied all thetime) read 0ooks) came to GDC) and at the end of the development cycle wetho*ht we had a *ood) innovative *ame+"

$avin* sccessflly completed GitarooMan) iNiS was inspired 0y the msic*enre) and ready to tackle their ne5t challen*e+ $owever) there was onepro0lem+ "(t sold) like) nothin*#" e5claimed Yano+ "6ny confidence that we had0ilt was 7st completely crshed like a fly+ 6t this point we had lost allconfidence in the msic *ame *enre) and at the time) the .apanese *ameindstry as a whole lost confidence in msic *ames too+"

8ather than a pre msic-0ased *ame) iNiS created a prototype of an action*ame that sed msical elements+ (t was this prototype that was the 0asis forthe developer's first interaction with Nintendo+

"4o make a lon* story short) they tho*ht or idea scked)" said Yano+ 4heycontined to pitch the prototype) 0t "to make a lon* story short) it neverhappened)" he e5plained+ ",hat's worse is that it took a0ot three months for0oth parties to come to that conclsion+"

Hot-Blooded Cheer Squad

,hile waitin* arond to fi*re ot their ne5t move) iNiS C%! 9asako $aradarecommended that the company make an appearance at %:+ "(n hindsi*ht) (


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really thank her for that)" said Yano+ 4his was %: 1;;


8/8

",e tho*ht that a team with *ys like the Villa*e People wold 0e interestin*and fn to play)" said Yano+ "( tho*ht it was pre *enis at the time+" 4he initial*ame concept replaced the three to*h) hot-0looded oendan with an afroedman in a sailor sit) a cow0oy) and a mstachiod man in leather+ 4he msic inthis *ame was set to consist entirely of disco hits) and was codenamed Disco

Squad+

",e went too far)" admitted Yano+

4he character concept that wold ltimately 0ecome the %lite /eat 6*ents cameafter Yano tried to pictre what kind of team he mi*ht personally en7oy playin*as in a *ame+ 2ltimately) he decided on a com0ination of the Ghost0sters) the9en (n /lack) and the /les /rothers+

"4here are a cople thin*s that are similar to the oendan)" said Yano+ "4hey'redressed in 0lack+ 4his was a very important desi*n decision) 0ecase when yo

have colorfl markers) yo want to make sre the *amer can see thosecharacters+ 6nd also that they were a motley crew+ 4he differences are thatthey're a*ents) and instead of hot-0looded) they're cool+" Yano also tookinspiration from the 6stin Powers series of movies+

Yano reali@ed that characters were only half of the eAationB motivation was 7stas important+ "/les 0rothers were on a mission from *od) astin powers wason a mission to *roove+ ( tho*ht that as cool as those mi*ht 0e) it mi*ht not 0eeno*h for the player) so ( knew we needed one last element+ 6nd ( came pwith Charlie's 6n*els+ ( envisioned that it wold 0e cool if yo cold have acharacter like Charlie command the a*ents and *ive these *ys orders+ 6nd (tho*ht it wold *ive the a*ents a little more credi0ility+ So mission from God)mission to *roove) and mission from Charlie+"

Ouendan 2

Yano took the opportnity of this talk to officially annonce the seAel to Osu!Tatake! Ouendan) which is officially titled Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashi Osu! Tatake! Ouendan + "&oosely)" said Yano) "that translates to '/rn# $ot-/looded 8hythm Sol+'"

iNiS added "a lot of featres" to this pcomin* seAel) which they arenfortnately na0le to talk a0ot+ 4hey also revamped the character desi*n ofthe oendan themselves) makin* them more matre and to*h+ 6dditionally) theoendan will compete with a competin* cheer sAad+ Concept art andscreenshots were shown depictin* this rival *rop) which dresses in 0le andhas fair hair) rather than the 0lack otfits and strikin* featres of the ori*inalsAad+

4wo screenshots were shown) clearly showin* that the new cheer sAad areplaya0le characters+ 4hese shots depicted a level scenario in which a0sinessman has prchased too many shoes) and has to nload them

somehow+ $is desperation takes him as far as oter space) where he tries tosell shoes to alien creatres+

Elite Beat Agents Postmortem

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