Games to Chipper Moods: Part II

Published June 7, 2012 | By Fatima Zenine Villanueva

5. Just Dance

Dance Dance Revolution is nearing its end. The only venue DDR is still kickin’ are in good ol’ fashioned arcades, but even arcades are diminishing amongst this ever-progressive technology submerged society; constantly being replaced by videogame lounges which hosts LAN parties and other PC/console tournaments. Especially with the emergence of motion control technology, dance pads are no longer needed to flaunt your impressive dance moves.

So it is time to move on and “Just Dance.” With motion sensor technology, dance moves are not just limited to the feet, now everyone can shake their whole body and experience the full choreography of their favorite songs.

4. Robot Unicorn Attack

Whenever I see a rainbow, I always think of leprechauns, and when I think of leprechauns, I think of that horrible movie (Leprechauns in the Hood, Leprechauns, and etc.) that came out during the 90’s. Those movies really gave me the heebie-jeebies.

It is easy to associate leprechauns with rainbows, but if you’re like me, and your leprechaun reference is not Lucky and it’s a homicidal wrinkly gremlin, then it is better to associate rainbows with a robot unicorn. All it took was a speed run on Robot Unicorn Attack and it left me bracketing rainbows and robot unicorns together–which is a wonderful phenomenon because I can now look at rainbows and think of silver-spit shined unicorns that shoots multi-hued lasers.

3. Viva Piñata

Cannibalism never looked so adorable. Viva Piñata adorns a vibrant environment filled with neon-bright colors and excessive cutesy-patootie piñata animals. The whole premise of the game revolves around farm building and expanding farm stock. It is a life simulation game that has no rigorous losing or winning requirements.

The game is purely open-ended and there are endless possibilities in arranging your farm. The more aesthetic and pleasing your farm looks, the more piñatas will come. The game has no goal-driven objective except to create, even if the farm remains stagnant and dull, there are always tiny amusements lurking about; such as smacking a piñata and watching other piñatas nibble on the remnants of the clouted one.

2. Beautiful Katamari

Remember when you were a kid and you discovered the blissful nature of playdough? Alright, now do you remember when you rolled different colors together and found it maddening to separate them? Well, those playdough days are long and gone.

Beautiful Katamari lets you roll as many random objects (including people) as you want without having to worry about separating and organizing them in the end. Just like playdough, Beautiful Katamari would have you rolling for hours. The story behind the game is pretty whimsical and simple: The King of all Cosmos was playing a lovely game of tennis with his wife and son; in the midst of the game the King serves a heavy hitter, ripping through the fabric of time. A blackhole is then conceived and sucked everything but Earth. The task has been appointed to you to roll up katamaris big enough to recreate celestial objects and to plug the blackhole. Okay, so maybe it is not simple… but it is simple enough to follow along!

1. PaRappa the Rapper

There is nothing flat about this world. The characters resemble walking pancakes which could look sluggish and dry at times but once the rapping begins, these walking pancakes don’t look so bad after all .

PaRappa the Rapper was indubitably pretty advanced for its time. It explored the less-ventured side of video gaming by exploiting rhythm and clever lyrical script. Back then, the only formidable name in music-driven videogame was Dance Dance Revolution. There were other videogames before PaRappa the Rapper that incorporated music, such as Otocky for Famicom. But really, who here has ever played Otocky? Or for that matter, even heard of the game. Regardless, PaRappa the Rapper revolutionized the videogame industry by utilizing videogames as a medium for orchestrating music (in this instance: constructing delicious raps); creating a benchmark for future developers to emulate.