Kororinpa: Marble Mania Review - Wii

Wii launch game Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz gave gamers exactly what they didn't want out of a Super Monkey Ball game – a story. Nobody actually cares about the little chimps inside those spheres. Sure they're cute and all, but let's be honest with ourselves. The Monkey Ball masses want to use the Wii remote to tilt up a storm in mazes, mini-games and multi-player. Kororinpa Marble Mania (the launch game that the Japanese market scored) keeps it simple. There's no boss battles, overworlds or fetch quests to get in the way of the good times. The game is the fat-free marble-rolling experiences that we've been clamoring for. But is Kororinpa Marble Mania so lean that it borders on bare bones? And what the heck is a Kororinpa anyway?

What's the Sound of One Marble Rolling?

There's only one kind of game play in Kororinpa Marble Mania. You tilt the Wii remote to guide your marble from point “A” to point “B.” There are crystals to collect along the way, adding another layer of depth for completionists. But that's about it. Once you've mastered the game's fairly meager collection of mazes there's not much else going on. The big reward for beating all the levels is getting to play them flipped over in “mirror mode.” While it lasts, though, the game is fairly charming. New soundtracks and marbles get unlocked as you work your way through the levels. These earnings aren't just cosmetic either. Some marbles roll faster, others handle better. And, of course, the kitty cat one meows when you bump into stuff. Adorable.

Tilt, Rattle and Roll

The Wii's motion-sensing controls work well in this simple setting. Players tilt the remote as if they're tilting the in-game maze and the marble responds accordingly. The mechanic feels very responsive and becomes second nature very quickly. It's a shame that the levels peter out just as they start to get challenging. A couple more scenery changes would have been nice. The game's opening Pikmin vibe and a latter candy-themed level really stir the imagination. There are so many additional themes they could have gone with, but after a handful the level designers seemed to just throw in the towel.

Mania? More Like a Mild Spell

And speaking of level design; how hard would it have been to give the user the ability to create their own mazes? Kororinpa Marble Mania inspires an annoying amount of these  kinds of “what ifs.” So while the game doesn't go feature crazy like Sega's monkey handlers, it under-delivers, leaving players with a mile-long wish list of mini-games, activities and unlockables they long to see included in the sequel. Who wouldn't want a dung beetle marble, or a maze that rolls through a transparent person's internal organs? Until then we'll have to settle for this diverting, but all too fleeting puzzler. And we still don't know what a Kororinpa is.

Article by: Gus Mastrapa
Video produced by: Mark Fahey