So, yes, I'm a little behind the times, as it were; but I finally got my hands on the Marble Saga Kororinpa demo yesterday. This disc contains a very, very small portion of the game, but it's very clear from what I played that Hudson realizes the folly of messing too much with a classic.
The five levels contained within are a sampling of what appears to be four worlds from the game. The visual quality shows a marked improvement over the original, and what few levels there are retain some of Kororinpa: Marble Mania's most impressive tricks, like rolling marbles on a perpendicularly-oriented plane. The one thing I did note that I didn't remember seeing before were some accelerating tunnels—presumably one of the 40 new gadgets promised for the full game. They felt really smooth to use; they're clearly finely tuned to keep from interrupting the flow of a speed run.
Speaking of those perpendicularly-oriented portions of levels, I seem to recall the original game (which I've got loaned out at the moment) would sort of freak out a little if you turned the Remote completely upside-down. (Wrote as much in my review, actually.) Marble Saga has no such problem. No level in the demo actually requires you to be upside-down to complete it, but I did try a little bit to get my marble on the underside of a level anyway. Unfortunately, I'm getting a little too much airtime in trying to make it happen and so the game is counting my marble a loss. I've run out of time for now, but I will be trying again tomorrow to make it happen.
The full game, which hits shelves March 17, has a lot more than 5 levels; and for that matter, more than double what Marble Mania had, clocking in at 150—a good thing, because the only universal complaint being levelled at the original was that it ended too early. More levels will be coming after release straight from Hudson, and if that's not enough, you can even build your own and trade with friends.
All that on top of the solid foundation from the original makes Marble Saga look like it's going to add up to a great sequel.
The five levels contained within are a sampling of what appears to be four worlds from the game. The visual quality shows a marked improvement over the original, and what few levels there are retain some of Kororinpa: Marble Mania's most impressive tricks, like rolling marbles on a perpendicularly-oriented plane. The one thing I did note that I didn't remember seeing before were some accelerating tunnels—presumably one of the 40 new gadgets promised for the full game. They felt really smooth to use; they're clearly finely tuned to keep from interrupting the flow of a speed run.
Speaking of those perpendicularly-oriented portions of levels, I seem to recall the original game (which I've got loaned out at the moment) would sort of freak out a little if you turned the Remote completely upside-down. (Wrote as much in my review, actually.) Marble Saga has no such problem. No level in the demo actually requires you to be upside-down to complete it, but I did try a little bit to get my marble on the underside of a level anyway. Unfortunately, I'm getting a little too much airtime in trying to make it happen and so the game is counting my marble a loss. I've run out of time for now, but I will be trying again tomorrow to make it happen.
The full game, which hits shelves March 17, has a lot more than 5 levels; and for that matter, more than double what Marble Mania had, clocking in at 150—a good thing, because the only universal complaint being levelled at the original was that it ended too early. More levels will be coming after release straight from Hudson, and if that's not enough, you can even build your own and trade with friends.
All that on top of the solid foundation from the original makes Marble Saga look like it's going to add up to a great sequel.