David Bowie and Cher become Elite Beat Agents

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Oct 16th 2006 at 5:40PM }

Glancing at the newly revealed track listing for Elite Beat Agents instills some sort of inescapable fear of impending doom and cataclysm. There's every reason to suggest that lumping songs from Madonna, David Bowie, Chicago, Cher and Earth, Wind and Fire (ask your parents) onto a single storage medium could run the risk of melting the entire universe into an amorphous puddle of writhing pain. Oh, Ashlee Simpson's on there too. She usually has that effect all on her own.

Chris Kohler at Game|Life has scooped the entire song list for the upcoming DS game -- which, by the way, is the English spin-offy version of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, a music-and-rhythm masterpiece made most memorable by its screen-tapping J-pop tunes, inspired humor and screaming male cheerleaders. Instead of trying to twist the game into a shape more suitable for the Western market, Elite Beat Agents aims to present the same gameplay (insidious spinners included), but with new scenarios, secret agents instead of cheerleaders, and different music. Different here having the definition of fruity and from a strange time.

Discovering how these "college frat party" songs (says the game's designer, Keiichi Yano) match up with the visuals and gameplay will no doubt amuse us to no end, especially when it comes to hits like Y.M.C.A., ABC and (gngghh) Sk8er Boi.

[Thanks, JKTrix. You're the inspiration.]

Tags: Ashlee Simpson, AshleeSimpson, Chicago, David Bowie, DavidBowie, Elite Beat Agents, EliteBeatAgents, Madonna, music-and-rhythm, Osu Tatakae Ouendan, OsuTatakaeOuendan, Queen

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Strike Man @ Oct 16th 2006 5:53PM

The track list looks pretty good overall, and in many ways faithful to the tone that INiS set with the original Ouendan, but I do admit having more than a few reservations on a couple of the tracks ("Sk8ter Boi" being an obvious one).

For someone like myself, who rarely imports games (a 0% knowledge of the Japanese language may be a factor in that), Ouendan is easily one of my favorite DS titles, despite the fact that I usually stay away from touch-screen-only titles. The music and the humor were a HUGE part of that, and I have faith that Nintendo won't let me down on localizing this one.

*In before the 400 "ZOMG THIES SUXXX GODDAM AMERIECANIEZED POP BS, ALWAYS RUENING MY JAPANIESE GAEMS!" comments*

1up_clock @ Oct 16th 2006 5:54PM

Why do I have the feeling to boycott this game while telling everybody to get the Japanese version instead?

lorben @ Oct 16th 2006 6:00PM

Urge to buy game fading...fading...RISING...fading...fading...gone

Invader Alex @ Oct 16th 2006 6:01PM

NO daft punk?
NO!!!!!
Sorry but I really don't like the list... Most of the song on that list are songs I wouldn't be proud of listening too...

Tarmicle Roving @ Oct 16th 2006 6:07PM

The hell? I ended up never importing Ouenden because the bloody awful J-rock soundtrack, but this...atleast it's 20 dollars cheaper. Hopefully Bowie, EWF, and the gameplay make up for the rest. I'm interested in how a few of these will play now.

pete @ Oct 16th 2006 6:07PM

i feeling the eart wind fire angle but i would have to see a complete track list, joystiq u listening

Brian @ Oct 16th 2006 6:19PM

How did they get Bowie to let himself be surrounded by such crap (Earth WInd, and Fire excepted)?

The man made Lodger, he should have his own game.

Franky Digital @ Oct 16th 2006 6:20PM

Oh wow. This game has liscenced music - and shitty liscenced music at that? GG Lumines 2 syndrome. Guess that rules this game off my list.

muppy @ Oct 16th 2006 6:22PM

half those titles look fine, the other half look shit.

ill try my best to hold back my complaints. im sure some of the songs on Ouendan were seen as overplayed and trendy by the average japanese gamer. im just glad its more Ouendan! and its still iNiS!

Judd @ Oct 16th 2006 6:23PM

Whoa, don't knock Bowie!

jpxdude @ Oct 16th 2006 6:31PM

I think the songs fit the themes for the game, even if they seem awfully for how we know them. After a few plays, I bet people will start tearing their hair out when they find the songs they've always hated start to become insanely catchy...I never thought that would be the case with J-POP tunes, but the game made all the songs memorable for me.

PsionStorm @ Oct 16th 2006 6:36PM

Sadly, most of the songs on the list I hear on a daily basis at work. Three times a day. I'm not looking forward to those.

But I'd be lying if the classic prog rock inner child isn't excited about frantically tapping my DS screen to "Highway Star."

32_Footsteps @ Oct 16th 2006 6:39PM

About what I expected, to be honest. You've got a mix of cool titles (Now I've got "September" stuck in my head) with crap ones meant to appeal to the pop music crowd.

Seriously, the Japanese release is the same way. The difference is, since we don't follow Japanese tabloids and most of us don't speak Japanese, we don't realize that we're getting into the Land of the Rising Sun's answer to Britney Spears.

Remember - people have a remarkable tolerance for bubblegum pop when they have no idea what anyone is singing about.

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Oct 16th 2006 6:42PM

I'm actually still pretty excited about the game, it's just that the combination of songs strikes me as truly bizarre and frightening (hence its ability to melt the universe). I'm pretty sure the music will end up suiting the visuals just fine.

Props for putting in Bowie and Queen, but I really can't get over Destiny's Child, Ashlee Simpson, Hoobastank, Ashlee Simpson, Avril Lavigne, Ashlee Simpson. Also, Ashlee Simpson. :)

Kaemon @ Oct 16th 2006 6:45PM

"Remember - people have a remarkable tolerance for bubblegum pop when they have no idea what anyone is singing about."

Ahaha, Morning Musume :>

Yaeh >_>;; I dont know anything about American music, I have tons of Japanese, Chinese, German, and blah blah blah, but hardly anything in English... (Oh and spanish, I hate the language) so I dunno whats good and whats bad, so I'll probobly just not care, gonna get it anyway.

mykie @ Oct 16th 2006 7:15PM

Hey, I like Morning Masume!

Of course, if you listen to too much of them, you're liable to come down with an onset of diabetes.

Richard Mitchell @ Oct 16th 2006 7:25PM

David Bowie can't be an Elite Beat Agent. Everyone knows he's the Sovereign of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

:)

rockintom99 @ Oct 16th 2006 7:35PM

Deep Purple? Guh? How the heck does this fit in with the other songs? (of course, highway star is one of my favorites, I just don't see how it fits...)

Kaemon @ Oct 16th 2006 7:40PM

#16, yeah, I like them too, but Morning Musume IS bubblegum pop, its just in japanese, which makes it fun. (Though it starts to make less of a differnce as I progress though college japanese and actualy understand what they say >>;;)

Sol.. @ Oct 16th 2006 7:40PM

David Bowie, Cher, and Madonna

The transexual inside of me screams with glee!

Points to Richard Mitchell for the Venture Bros Reference!!!

Leo @ Oct 16th 2006 9:07PM

Sure, not all the songs are going to be our favorites. Personally, I would just want a bunch of dance/techno/trance crap to keep me obsessed. However, I've played the VERY brief demo from the Download Station and I CANNOT wait for this game to be released. It's very fun. Don't let the tracks keep you from buying it because "tapping" to the beat w/ the stylus is soooo addictive.

therpham @ Oct 16th 2006 10:33PM

Walkie-Talkie Man is a cool song (with a cool video) that I only know about because it was on some version of Pump It Up I played once. Other than that, this isn't really looking too exciting.

Besides, will any of the stories be as cool as helping the guy get his ramen shop off the ground, or helping in a float race at a matsuri? And how can you save the earth from a giant meteor without L'Arc~en~ciel?

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

Carmine @ Oct 16th 2006 11:07PM

I don't think even Lambda Lambda Lambda would be caught dead rocking Sk8er Boi and Ashlee Simpson.

Merus @ Oct 17th 2006 12:52AM

Ha! It's the old localisation issue rearing its head once again: this is what Ouendan! appeared as to the Japanese, but to American otaku not immersed in that culture, it's weird, harmless fun. When they try to translate it so that the intent is intact, everyone complains because the otaku didn't understand the Japanese version and are horrified when they find out what it was actually about.

That said, the idea of secret agents singing along to sk8er boi is really, really funny. Which is the whole point, I think.