Software:Ontamarama

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Ontamarama
Developer(s)Noise Factory
Publisher(s)
Director(s)N. Shinoda
Producer(s)K. Ijyu
Programmer(s)N. Shinoda
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: July 7, 2007
  • NA: November 6, 2007
Genre(s)Music video game
Mode(s)Single player

Ontamarama (おんたま♪おんぷ島へん Ontama Onputouhen) is a rhythm game published by Atlus for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan in July 2007, and in North America on November 6, 2007. The game uses both of the DS's screens, touch functionality, and the microphone during game play.[1] The story revolves around colorful spirits called Ontama, who live on a tropical island and can create music. The player must quickly capture Ontama with the stylus while keeping up with the beat.

Plot

Taking place on a tropical island, the focus of the story are the Ontama spirits. Someone steals the Ontama by hypnotizing the island's people. Beat and Rest, the main characters, are both "Ontamaestros" and they attempt to free the Ontama by battling the islanders in musical fights.

Storyline

Ontama are colorful musical spirits that exist in the world of Ontamarama, a peaceful world of beauty and natural rhythm. Ontama are extremely precious to the people there because their playful nature and soothing music bring happiness to everyone; Ontamaestros devote their lives to study the Ontama and learn how to orchestrate them to make music.

A young boy and girl, Beat and Rest live on a small tropical island in this world. As childhood friends as well as friendly rivals who aspire to become famous Ontamaestros, they compete to see who will be the one to achieve their dream first. One day, on their way back home from the OntaConservatory, where they study to become Ontamaestros, Beat and Rest find a weakened Otama in the middle of the road. This surprises them because Otama rarely appear in these places. It turns out that Blast, a demon seeking power, is capturing all of the Otamas. The player picks to play as either Beat or Rest, and must play against various enemy ontamaestros who use captured Otamas.[2]

Characters

Beat: A high spirited boy who is studying to become an Ontamaestro. He is good at sports and has the ability to communicate with Ontamas.

Rest: A smart girl who thinks before she acts instead of relying on her instincts like Beat does. She is studying to become an Ontamaestro.

Coda: The teacher at the OntaConservatory. She has a friendly face but strict personality. She teaches the player how to conduct music with Ontama in tutorial mode.

Alto: A fairy who, while taking a nap with the Ontamas, was woken up by a terrible noise. She becomes hypnotized by a robot and is forced to capture Ontamas.

Aria: A maid in the village inn who follows a strange woman outside the window at night. It turns out the woman is playing a mysterious melody to capture Ontamas. When the woman discovers that Aria had followed her, she placed a Track Disk into Aria's necklace, causing her to fall unconscious.

Gig and Club: Club and his pet alligator, Gig, grew up together. Although Gig was too wild to be a house pet, Club found a way to calm Gig down using the music of Ontamas. The two of them are in search of an Ontama that will play music by itself without having to be conducted.

Elegy: An infernal robot created by Blast to collect the Ontamas. Elegy cannot speak but is able to fly.

Poco: A boy who lives in the jungle. While investigating the cause of strange phenomena in the jungle, Poco meets a boy who tells Poco that the strangeness is caused by the Ontama. The boy hands a track disk to Poco, tricking him into capturing Ontamas in order to save the jungle.

Dia and Tonic: A boy who was adopted by a wealthy family and led an extravagant, but boring, life. While strolling through the forest hoping to find some excitement, he finds Blast, who convinces Tonic to work with him.

Suite: A fangirl of Blast from the demonic realm. She decides to follow and help Blast when she accidentally sees him go into the human world.

Rubato: A butler who has served and raised many princes in the demonic realm. He follows Blast in order to keep an eye on him.

Blast: A prince of demons who yearns for greater power because he is insecure about his short stature and weaknesses. He escaped to the human world in order to gather Ontama to strengthen his powers.[2]

Gameplay

Ontamarama's gameplay is a combination of games like Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and Elite Beat Agents.[3] The player must hit a D-pad direction as it passes through a circle, similar to DDR, but with the stylus. Each arrow has a color and will only register if enough colored energy is stored. To store energy, the player must touch colored Ontama that move across the touch screen. Black Ontamas may appear and block the colored ones, and some Ontama need to be touched twice.[3] Blowing into the microphone allows the player to clear the screen of all Ontama, but this can only be used a limited number of times.

The player should focus on clearing all the Ontamas on the screen. Ontama can be freed by tapping them with the stylus or drawing a circle around a group of Ontama of the same color. The player can also hold or swing Otama to clear them. Points are rewarded when Ontama are freed. However, Black Ontamas penalize the player for clearing them. Chains and bonus multipliers increase the score. For example, three Ontama cleared in a row gives the player a 3× multiplier. Once an Otama is freed, it fills its corresponding colored note, which corresponds to an arrow on the control pad that must be pressed at the time when it reaches the circle at the end. Hold notes require the player to press the button down at the start of the note and release it at the end of the note. Depending on the player's timing, a score (Good/Great/Master) is added to the overall performance score.

There is a performance gauge that indicates how well the player is doing. The player will have to replay the song if performance falls to zero.[4]

In addition to gameplay, Ontama Points can be used to buy items from the shop.

Ontama

Different colored Otamas have different abilities.

White: Do not correspond to any notes, but give a boost to the performance gauge.

Black: Do not correspond to any notes and lower the performance gauge.

Red, Blue, Green, Yellow: Normal Ontama that correspond to notes.

Modes

Tutorial mode is for beginners to learn the basic gameplay. Story mode is the only mode available at the start; it goes through 12 stages. There are three levels of difficulty. Free mode is unlocked following the first time Story mode is beaten. It gives the player access to play any of the songs from Story mode, including bonus tracks. There are multiple modes to unlock, such as Challenge mode and Random mode.

Song List

The song, "Let's Go Onmyoji!" is a recognizable song for fans of J-Pop. The other songs were created solely for the game.[5]

Script error: No such module "Track listing".

Development

According to Atlus USA, Ontamarama was a worthy project for them to take on because "it stood out as a lively and fun game that is easy to learn, yet challenging to master."

The North American version of the game has almost all the same songs as the Japanese release. However, a few songs had to be dropped due to licensing issues.[5]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic71/100[1]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid7/10[6]
Famitsu23/40[7]
GameSpot7/10[8]
IGN7.3/10[3]
Nintendo Power7/10[9]
Nintendo World Report7/10[10]

Ontamarama received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[1] IGN felt that the gameplay was too complicated, but that the game had plenty of charm.[3] Aaron Kaluszka, a reviewer from Nintendo World Report, said, "Ontamarama is certainly no Elite Beat Agents, but its style of gameplay is definitely unique."[10] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one seven, one four, and two sixes, for a total of 23 out of 40.[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Ontamarama for DS Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/ontamarama/critic-reviews/?platform=ds. Retrieved October 15, 2016. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Official Ontamarama Website". Atlus USA. 2007. http://www.atlus.com/ontamarama/. Retrieved February 4, 2013. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Pereira, Michael (November 20, 2007). "Ontamarama Review". http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/11/21/ontamarama-review. Retrieved October 15, 2016. 
  4. ↑ Wang, Bo (Anjelous) (November 20, 2007). "Ontamarama FAQ for DS by Anjelous". http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/941964-ontamarama/faqs/50786. Retrieved February 4, 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Spencer (October 8, 2007). "On-talking-marama! Atlus discusses Ontamarama". Siliconera. http://www.siliconera.com/2007/10/08/on-talking-marama-atlus-discusses-ontamarama/#vAhOjbup52aLYgaU.99. Retrieved February 4, 2013. 
  6. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (December 7, 2007). "Destructoid review: Ontamarama". https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-review-ontamarama-58073.phtml. Retrieved October 15, 2016. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 rawmeatcowboy (May 29, 2007). "Famitsu review scores". GoNintendo. http://www.gonintendo.com/stories/30336-famitsu-review-scores. Retrieved October 15, 2016. 
  8. ↑ VanOrd, Kevin (December 6, 2007). "Ontamarama Review". http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/ontamarama-review/1900-6183757/. Retrieved October 15, 2016. 
  9. ↑ "Ontamarama". Nintendo Power 223: 86. December 25, 2007. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kaluszka, Aaron (November 30, 2007). "Ontamarama". Nintendo World Report. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/14708/ontamarama-nintendo-ds. Retrieved October 15, 2016. 
  • Official website
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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