Male Cheerleaders? Don't shudder yet..

Somehow the idea of having stern-faced male cheerleaders cheering people on doesn't sound very appealling to most people (it could be downright gross) but trust the Japanese, particularly the folks at iNiS and Nintendo, to come up with a Nintendo DS game based on this premise.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is the name, cheerleading is the game. Basically a rhythm game, players tap circles, spin discs, and trace paths on the touch screen while accompanied by J-pop music. Speaking of which, I used to listen to a lot of J-pop/J-rock back in college and this soundtrack gets two-thumbs up from me.

The storyline is pretty quirky, as the cheerleaders get involved in hillarious/ridiculous scenarios such as cheering a student on in his studies or an office lady in her quest to snag her dream guy. The scenarios are played out in the form of manga panels (in the top screen of the DS) and the manga panels will change depending on the player's performance (tapping circles, etc, etc).

The rule of thumb is that the worse you perform, the worse the scenario will end up (but no less hillarious).

It's a shame though that the game's difficulty will have you concentrating on the touch screen. This game is hard, and I find myself re-playing the same level over and over again as my earlier attempts fail.

Despite the difficulty, this game is addictive and alot of fun; I'm pretty stoked playing it and having purchased it yesterday for RM 80 on the secondhand market, it's a steal! New copies can be purchased at Play-Asia (here)