Free PC Ouendan/EBA emulator hits public beta
by Kyle Orland 
{ Oct 18th 2007 at 8:52PM }
One thing you can count on for any decently successful rhythm game: someone will figure out a way to make a free PC clone. First there was Stepmania for DDR players, then there was Frets on Fire for Guitar Hero shredders and now there's Osu! for Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents fans.
The public beta, available since yesterday, does a remarkable job of capturing the tap-out-the-rhythm gameplay of the DS games, though the dancing cheerleaders have been replaced with static videos for each song. You can build your own levels or download over 100 "beatmaps" of primarily J-Pop songs that were made by testers.
Casual fans beware -- a lot of these fan-designed levels are killer, though there is an easy mode that makes things a little more manageable. Even if you're a master at the DS games, using the mouse takes a little getting used to. Then again, if you have a tablet PC, it's probably just like the DS games. Except, er, bigger.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kevin B @ Oct 18th 2007 9:35PM
WTF!!!!!!!! I was so excited and then......the damn program doesn't even run.
Mainman @ Oct 18th 2007 10:40PM
You'll probably have to go to the download link for the .NET framework and tell it to repair itself. That's what fixed it for me.
Howard-the-Duck @ Oct 18th 2007 9:16PM
I thought there already was an EBA simulator out there.
Mainman @ Oct 18th 2007 10:32PM
That'd be ClickBeat (thephorse.net), but it doesn't stay as close to the EBA/Ouendan formula as this version seems to.
Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Oct 18th 2007 9:31PM
Does a tablet work like a touchscreen? I mean, can you teleport your cursor by just tapping different spots like with the DS? Or does your cursor only move when you drag the penthing across it?
ThornedVenom @ Oct 18th 2007 10:42PM
It teleports (but you can see where your pen is at because the cursor moves as you hover the pen above your tablet).
Just have to watch out though: standard tablets don't have screens on them, meaning that since you're still looking at the screen, the input isn't the same as if you were playing on a touchscreen. You're not hitting those bubbles directly, you're still relying on the onscreen cursor to see where the heck you're tapping or going to tap.
Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Oct 18th 2007 10:56PM
Word. Thanks.
Shockgamer @ Oct 18th 2007 9:41PM
Looks intensely boring without the agents, the touch screen or the storylines.
Mainman @ Oct 18th 2007 10:39PM
We all know how boring it was when people hacked Guitar Hero to allow for custom songs. Totally pointless.
Shockgamer @ Oct 18th 2007 10:51PM
EBA/Ouendan loses much more in this translation than Guitar Hero does to Frets on Fire. At least you could still play the game it was meant to be played on Frets, with the friggin guitar.
I'm sure people will love to mouse click buttons to their favorite obscure J-pop song, but I just don't see the point without the agents dancing, the funny storylines or the fundamental way the game is meant to be played: with a stylus and a touch screen.
blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 18th 2007 10:11PM
nice katamari in the background of screenie :)
Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Oct 18th 2007 10:54PM
If you watch the video they're playing to one of the songs off the first game's soundtrack too!
blooh (TIDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 19th 2007 12:43AM
good soundtrack, it's on my computer
peppy @ Oct 18th 2007 10:32PM
@Shockgamer - Storyboarding is a planned addition in the near future, and in the mean time you can use a video background to make things more lively.
@Rubang B - Yes, tablets generally have drivers that make it work in a similar fashion to the DS touchscreen.
Grant @ Oct 19th 2007 7:36AM
you might want to include a "how to play section" on the site or in the game(if there is one, i couldn't find it).
It took me about my 10th attempt on a song before i realized you needed to spin the color wheel thing.
Grant @ Oct 18th 2007 10:42PM
That may have been one of the hardest things i have ever attempted.
Even some of the levels that are "easy" you can fail for missing just 5 or so of the beats.
if you serious about trying this, check the scoreboard of the song you D/L, if the completion rate stinks, you should probably avoid it.
mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Oct 18th 2007 11:01PM
Damn my computer's complete lack of a pixelshader! I can't believe it won't run on my laptop... :(
Still, I have EBA. My precious EBA.
Guiltyspark @ Oct 18th 2007 11:18PM
Aw...man
Already addicted :D
Though using the mouse can be (kind of) annoying...But it definitely works. Just takes a bit of getting used to :)
Teslavi @ Oct 18th 2007 11:22PM
In determining whether or not a song is difficult or not, star rating should be checked for HP drain, circle size, and accuracy. Some songs are a lot more forgiving than others. While most people's idea of difficulty differs, the star rating of the song as well as the three statistics noted above generally serve as a more stable indicator of difficulty.
peppy @ Oct 19th 2007 12:00AM
The star rating also gets based off the number of "notes" per second in the song, after removing any idle time.
I just added the ability to sort the songs list by difficulty, so you should have no trouble finding some easy ones to get started with!
RealTerry @ Oct 19th 2007 12:24AM
Sort of off-topic,but I just downloaded frets o' fire,and my keys don't seem to be registering.Any help?
Thomas @ Oct 19th 2007 4:55PM
Yeah, they definitly need to get this off the pc and onto a ds where it belongs
Joloto @ Oct 19th 2007 11:26AM
Oh, come on. Its not like you can't just play it on a Tablet PC for a far larger experience than the real EBA.
Oh, also... if you want agents so bad, make music videos with them.
LuigiHann @ Oct 19th 2007 6:05PM
Who needs Agents when you have Rick Astley? http://osu.ppy.sh/index.php?p=song&s=99
Metal_Link @ Oct 20th 2007 12:34AM
Rick Roll'd! XD
ShokuMasterLord @ Dec 27th 2007 11:05AM
Hmm... I don't really like the regular DDR Music Wheel being used on EBA. The Spin-The-Globe thing is a lot better. AHH! I just got it! You can tweak StepMania so that it looks like DDR EXTREME or SuperNOVA or any MIX that you prefer, right? Maybe the creator could provide a way to tweak it so it looks exactly like the original version of Ouendan or EBA! Then maybe he or she could find a way to export your game to an .NDS file so that then those that had R4's could play their own version of EBA on their DS! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!