The Idolm @ ster
The Idolm @ ster is a raising sim that was released as an arcade and console game . The game was first published as an arcade by Namco (now Namco Bandai Games) on July 26, 2005. It was first published on January 25, 2007 for the Xbox 360 . The game follows the career of a producer who works for the fictional studio 765 Production and has to deal with a group of younger women in order to turn them into pop idols , whereby he can concentrate on one of the characters.
In the course of the success of the computer game, there were the adaptations The Idolm @ ster SP for the PSP and The Idolm @ ster: Dearly Stars for the Nintendo DS , as well as the sequels The Idolm @ ster: Live For You! and The Idolm @ ster 2 . The South Korean television series The [email protected] was also released in 2017 .
Game mechanics
Game start
First of all, the player has to enter his own name and choose a female main character who is to become an idol. The player has the choice between nine (actually ten, since there are twins) characters, including the classic archetypes, such as a tomboy , a dojikko , a tsundere , an extremely scaredy rabbit and so on. These properties are recorded in various statistics, so that each figure has a different starting situation and needs for improvement.
After the selection, the player is introduced to the character of his choice, whereby he has to choose the right questions and answers in order to find the weaknesses of his new challenge and thereby make himself as popular as possible with her. The would-be idol then has to take various “lessons” that are completed as a series of mini-games. For example, the figure has to be controlled in such a way that it always looks into the right camera when posing or that it hits the right pitch and beat during singing lessons. In the case of Arcade, input is made via the touchscreen , while the controller has to be used in a somewhat simplified form on the console socket. The aim of these games is to improve the status points of the main character through training, whereby good results in the games naturally also have a greater influence on the statistics.
After completing this phase, the player has the opportunity to improve their relationship with the girl. So the player has to find the right answers - the right tone - in a conversation with the girl. While fanfares are played with well-chosen answers, the player is exposed to curses or the silence of the protagonist animated in 3D with typical stylistic elements of manga and anime when the answers are bad . This ends the first virtual day and the player begins the actual course of the game / cycle, which is also divided into days.
Daily history
preparation
The first phase of each subsequent day is optional and gives the player the opportunity to work on the image of his idol. So you can choose one of ten songs from a list that she should sing or adapt her costume. The costumes are divided into three different types. There are cute (child-like, feminine), riotous (cool, sexy) and unusual (funny) pieces of clothing. The former have numerous decorative elements such as ruffles , the latter partly show the underwear or are tight-fitting. The latter genre is mixed somewhat at random and ranges from oversized hearts to flashing lights that make the figures appear like a Christmas tree. In addition, the figures can also be equipped with additional accessories. These range from the obligatory cat or rabbit ears to the cowbell that is worn around the neck. Although this phase of the game is optional, it still has meaning. The choice of clothing influences the statistics, which means that significantly better values can be achieved.
From this point on, the player has the choice of either training his idol or having them attend a casting . There are five different exercises that are implemented as a mini-game. One is about improving the language by putting given syllables and words in the correct order. The second is dedicated to singing and corresponds to a rhythm game in which the buttons shown on the display must be pressed to the corresponding notes. The third mini-game, dedicated to pure rhythm, behaves very similarly. You don't have to hit the right pitch here, but the requirement to stay in the right beat is higher. In the fourth mini-game, dancing is trained. It can best be compared to opening locks in role-playing games . To do this, the dance steps displayed must be compared with a specification, whereby the steps shown influence each other and require a planned procedure. The last game of this kind is supposed to improve expressiveness. The goal here is to choose the right emotion for the piece of music being played and its text. The matter is complicated by the fact that the emotions to be selected fly across the screen.
competition
The essential part of The Idolm @ ster, however, is the participation in the castings, whereby the idol can get new fans and also rise in the ranking of the idols. A massively multiplayer online role playing game component is revealed here . Because every machine is connected to a national network. Not only is there a list of the best, but also a kind of television station that shows the best performances and, above all, enables competitions against other human players. There is also a list of numerous competitions that are constantly updated and into which you can send your idol (or, if you have a higher rank, your idols). To ensure that the competitions are fair, they are tailored to certain ranks so that roughly equal participants compete against each other.
Before the actual casting starts, the rivals and their idol (or idols) are introduced. Among other things, you can see where the other players come from and you can also have a short message sent to you. If the competition room is not completely filled, it will be filled with additional computer opponents, but this hardly happened at the height of the game. The casting itself is, in turn, a series of mini-games. In these, the girl's characteristics can be temporarily increased and the player tries to adapt them to the expectations of the jury. As soon as she's on stage, it's about showing your best side and collecting points in the categories optics, dance and singing. In order to keep the interest of the jury at a high level, they can use their good memories from the preliminary round games to hold out longer on stage. At the end, the points will be compared and the winner will be shown on "TV".
End of the day
From this point on, the winner can sit back and watch his girl perform. Depending on her status points, she stumbles her way across the stage, which is not uncommon in the beginning, or she shines with a flawless appearance with numerous variations, very clean movements and a big smile on her face. The player can no longer influence the performance itself. However, he has the option of aligning a camera and taking a picture as a memory, which from now on represents his account.
The losers, on the other hand, feel compelled to take care of their girl's cracked ego. Depending on the selected character, this degenerates into different forms of communication (further mini-games). Things like a massage, help with makeup or wiping off sweat are not uncommon. - It is not without reason that guests of an arcade are given a rag to clean the monitor.
As the last act of one day, the producer has to take care of the fan mail, which is a gamble in some ways. These can be gifts with special bonuses as well as letters from stalkers that make the girl's stress soar . From here on, the daily attempt to put your idol in the spotlight and to hone the statistics is repeated more or less.
Characters
Haruka Amami
- 天 海 春香 , Amami Haruka , voiced by: Eriko Nakamura
Haruka is the most balanced figure and has neither particular strengths nor weaknesses. She is described as a sixteen / seventeen year old girl with medium length auburn hair who is just as enthusiastic about singing as she is about making sweets, although she has a reputation for being a poor cook. In addition, she is quick to inspire and does her best to please her producer. Although Haruka is not a real dojikko (a sincere but extremely clumsy girl), she always makes a mistake where she seems to trip over 'nothing' at least once a day. In the game it is symbolized by a red color (Image Color), but still prefers pink clothing. Like all characters, she has a few pieces of music that are tailored to her, which she shares with Irori. These are: Taiyō no Jealousy , I Want and Watashi wa Idol .
Chihaya Kisaragi
- 如月 千 早 , Kisaragi Chihaya , spoken by: Asami Imai
Chihaya has a great preference for singing and has the best prerequisites for it. The fifteen / sixteen year old is described as having a very strong personality, but who would rather die than not be able to sing. Accordingly, she shows very little interest in dancing or even being an idol. She therefore calls herself a 'singer' and tries to avoid the other aspects of an idol. During her free time she prefers to listen to classical music and spends most of the time with herself. This gives Chihaya, depicted with long dark blue hair, a very adult impression, although she has her difficulties in communicating with other people and least of all characters is developed. According to her hair color, she is also symbolized in the game by the color blue and prefers the titles Aoi Tori , Me ga Au Toki and Omoide o Arigatō, which she shares with Miki.
Web links
- Game Series Website (Japanese)
- Anime website (Japanese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Chris Baker: The iDOLM @ STER: Massively Multiplayer J-Pop Teen Idol Career Building Sim. Wired.com, January 28, 2007, accessed August 1, 2011 .