If you already know your Sega historical past, then you probably know — and love — the maraca-shaking monkey Amigo. Samba de Amigo was a cult hit on the Dreamcast again in 1999, and this little monkey rattled his means into many a coronary heart through the years.
Laced with catchy Latin American music, pop songs, and a pair of maraca-shaped controllers, Samba de Amigo grew to become a cult hit for its arcade-style gameplay and enjoyable aesthetic. Extremely, whereas it seems like Amigo has turn into a staple in Sega’s historical past — showing in titles comparable to Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (and its Reworked sequel) — the sombrero-donning monkey’s debut sport has by no means acquired a direct sequel, with Ver. 2000 launching in arcades and in Japan, and Samba de Amigo on Wii being an enhanced port.
However don’t be concerned, 2023 is the yr of the retro return, and Samba de Amigo: Social gathering Central sees Amigo take to the worldwide stage. Sonic Workforce is bringing the beloved celebration music title again, and to inform us a bit bit concerning the sequence’ historical past is director and producer at Sonic Workforce, Shun Nakamura.
Nakamura-san made his debut as a director on the unique Samba de Amigo and has loads of attention-grabbing tidbits to share about simply how the sequence has modified from 1999 to at this time, together with some Smash Bros. needs and the way TikTok has influenced this brand-new sport…
Nintendo Life: Samba de Amigo is synonymous with the Dreamcast for a lot of Sega followers. How did you give you an thought for the sport and the character of Samba?
Shun Nakamura, Sonic Workforce producer and director: Samba de Amigo was first created as an arcade sport. On the time, it was all about cool music video games, however for me, I used to be extra into making a sport the place we are able to overlook ourselves and revel in being fun-loving – a sport the place we are able to benefit from the sounds of karaoke or reside music, quite than simply enjoying music. That’s the reason I began Samba de Amigo. Japanese folks like to make use of maracas to enliven the ambiance after they sing karaoke, and this expertise led to the introduction of the maraca controllers. On the time, the Sonic crew had no expertise with arcade video games, however we began this as an experimental undertaking, and every time we introduced the sport, it was effectively acquired, which ultimately led us to the Dreamcast model.
We selected the character Amigo as a result of we thought his cheerful picture would match the brightness of the monkey character. The ultimate touches had been finished by the character designer of the Sonic sequence.
Did you ever think about using different devices in Samba de Amigo?
Truly, when Nintendo first confirmed us the Swap {hardware}, we considered bringing again Samba, however we determined to alter it up a bit and make one thing new, so we had been engaged on one other music sport earlier than the system’s launch. However for varied causes, that undertaking did not work out. In that earlier sport, the idea was to regulate a lot of musical devices, however the design, sadly, went in so many alternative instructions, so it did not find yourself understanding.
when Nintendo first confirmed us the Swap {hardware}, we considered bringing again Samba, however we determined to alter it up a bit and make one thing new
With this expertise in thoughts, we determined to proceed with a Samba undertaking as a substitute, the place we didn’t take into consideration different devices as we needed to precise one thing foolish and satisfying when utilizing a single instrument. [Samba de Amigo: Party Central] additionally has a characteristic known as ‘happenings’, which permits the participant to take pleasure in varied rhythm video games along with the conventional efficiency. I feel this characteristic solves the issue of losing interest with enjoying the identical instrument.
Amigo has made quite a few cameo!!s and appearances in different Sonic Workforce video games such because the Sega All-Star Racing sequence. What’s your dream cameo for the character?
Amigo typically seems in different video games as a separate character, however by no means in reference to the storyline or something like that, so I hope that sooner or later they are going to be capable of be put in a key position. Nevertheless, so as to take action, I feel Amigo should turn into extra well-known, so I’ll attempt my greatest to make that occur.
Additionally, I take pleasure in Smash Bros., so I would love for Amigo to take part in that sport as effectively. I feel it will be attention-grabbing for Amigo to have these music-based assaults as a result of no different character has that. In fact, I’m joking!
Why do you suppose Samba de Amigo has a cult following amongst Dreamcast followers?
Personally, I don’t know the actual motive. Nevertheless, I imagine that those that like Samba de Amigo are those that take pleasure in having some light-hearted enjoyable. This stays crucial a part of this undertaking, and it’s additionally the half that we’ve expanded upon. I feel we had been capable of supply one thing that makes folks really feel that even simply dancing with maracas is enjoyable, nevertheless it additionally goes past that.
I feel Amigo should turn into extra well-known, so I’ll attempt my greatest to make that occur.
On this sport, we’ve this issue mode known as CRAZY, which is considerably completely different from the “issue of the sport” you’ll usually see. With CRAZY, we needed to seek out methods to get the participant to essentially transfer their physique to the rhythm. By the best way, I have not instructed anybody this, however I named it after the CRAZY TAXI’s groove and CRAZY-ness. I hope that followers will assist the brand new Samba in a cult-like means.
The most recent entry within the franchise – Samba de Amigo: Social gathering Central – is being billed as a follow-up to the unique Dreamcast sport. Why is now the time to revisit the sequence?
In recent times, I feel there have been plenty of new remakes of previous titles within the sport trade. This Samba de Amigo was created with that development in thoughts, with the concept that it will be extra attention-grabbing if it had been tailored to at this time’s market. The Pleasure-Con and VR controllers had been a giant a part of this title, and whereas the Dreamcast model was enjoyable with the separate maraca controllers, they had been very costly and couldn’t be utilized by many individuals. This time, the {hardware} comes with the movement controllers, so I feel many individuals will be capable of benefit from the sport with a low threshold.
When it comes to content material, we’ve maintained the bottom gameplay, whereas additionally making essential adjustments which might be in tune with the present period and that can make the sport much more entertaining. It isn’t a easy music sport, however quite an expertise that permits everybody to benefit from the “foolish enjoyable” that solely Samba can supply.
What influenced the choice to pivot to standard music for Social gathering Central?
Initially, many followers expressed the need to take pleasure in different genres of music in Samba de Amigo, even throughout previous productions. Definitely, musical style varies from individual to individual, so whereas placing collectively a set of music from the identical style may give it a way of unity, it additionally means chances are you’ll not be capable of pull in those that produce other tastes. That’s why we made it a precedence to broaden the variety of genres featured within the sport in order that much more folks can take pleasure in it.
we made it a precedence to broaden the variety of genres featured within the sport in order that much more folks can take pleasure in it.
We moved much more in that course by difficult ourselves to create extra varieties of music with the DLC. We even included gospel music within the sport’s unique tracks, so we imagine that gamers will take pleasure in all the brand new points of the track listing. In fact, we at all times ensure to ask ourselves, “Can this track be loved as a Samba track?”. We imagine each track within the sport has that enjoyable groove that’s distinctive to this sequence, so please don’t worry.
On the similar time, the “world setting” can also be constructed round the truth that Amigo has stepped out of the surroundings of previous video games and turn into a beloved performer world wide. Though chances are you’ll not usually take note of this sort of factor when enjoying a music sport, we’ve ready quite a lot of thrilling conditions, and we hope that it is possible for you to to witness Amigo’s world debut.
Are you able to discuss any challenges you confronted whereas creating the sport for Swap?
As you’ll be able to think about, essentially the most troublesome half was adapting the Pleasure-Con controllers. In Social gathering Central, there are these ‘rhythm balls’ that fly in the direction of rings which might be proven on each the higher, center, and decrease sides of the display screen. The participant’s aim is to shake the controllers within the course of the goal simply as every rhythm ball passes by the goal. That’s why we wanted to ensure the Pleasure-Con’s responsiveness was in sync with the participant, which in the end proved difficult. We made plenty of changes to the Pleasure-Con settings proper up till the very finish. We additionally examined this with plenty of completely different folks and acquired their suggestions all through the method.
How do you suppose new audiences will react to Samba de Amigo’s return?
When fascinated by the fitting strategy to the “foolish enjoyable” idea, I checked out TikTok as a spot that incorporates comparable components. TikTok has plenty of movies which have creators who carry out with completely different sorts of music, and people watching them will snigger and simply have a good time. That is really near what we had been initially aiming for with the primary Samba. Right here, we targeted on making a sport that will be satisfying for youthful folks by mixing the brand new Samba with sure points of TikTok.
we targeted on making a sport that will be satisfying for youthful folks by mixing the brand new Samba with sure points of TikTok.
One instance is the ‘taking place’ factor I talked about earlier. Often, in music video games, you play what you might be presupposed to play in a sure means – mainly, issues are very simple. However on this sport, we determined to include a roulette factor as we needed to emphasise the spontaneous moments and the enjoyment that comes from it quite than following the conventional guidelines. I hope that Samba, which was as soon as thought of a cult traditional, will turn into a serious music sport within the trendy period.
I additionally wish to observe, that for individuals who wish to take pleasure in Social gathering Central as a conventional music sport, whether or not for informal play or when competing for a excessive rating, you’ll be able to at all times flip the ‘taking place’ settings off within the choices.
Social gathering Central might be getting a number of Sonic the Hedgehog songs. Are there another Sega franchises that you simply wish to embody music from sooner or later?
A lot of Sega’s songs are beloved by its followers, and we’ve an amazing variety of tracks we wish to use. This time, we’ve ready music from Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza / Like a Dragon sequence), Area Channel 5: Half 2, and Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure, and we wish to increase this even additional. Please stay up for the songs we’ve already ready, and in case you ship us your requests by way of Twitter and elsewhere, we could possibly enhance the probabilities of much more music…
This interview has been frivolously edited for readability.
Thanks to the crew at Sega and to Namakura-san for taking the time to reply our questions. Samba de Amigo: Social gathering Central is out on Nintendo Swap on thirty first August. A free demo is offered to obtain now from the Swap eShop.
Will you be becoming a member of Amigo’s return later this month? Shake it down within the feedback.