Electroplankton (Nintendo DS, 2006)

Electroplankton is a simple music tool, that let's you use one out of ten different Electroplankton to make music. It's not a game, it doesn't have an objective. You simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the simplicity of what you do with the stylus.

The game is simple to start. You are greeted with a menu that has two options. Performance Mode, and Audience Mode. Selecting Performance Mode allows you to choose one of ten Electroplankton, and start making music. Audience Mode is a fifthteen minute demo spanning across all ten Electroplankton, that make music for you. This demo is interactive, which means you can jump in at any time if you feel you want to mix things up.

Each Electroplankton has a unique way of making music, aswell as a different tone. Such as Lumiloop, which consist of five of them, in where you use to stylus to spin them, while doing so, each admit a different relaxing "hum" the faster you spin them. Or Rec-Rec, which allows you to add your own voice into the mix.

Electroplankton is more of a toy, or music tool. It's not a game. It never was intended to have an objective. It's a rare gem that shouldn't be overlooked by collectors. There is endless ways on how you can use Electroplankton when it comes to making music. All it takes is some thought, patients, a DS, stylus, and some imagination. The rest is completely up to you, while you make the Electroplankton do the work.

I have read many reviews of this "game". Some have been very positive and some have been negative. The negative reponses were mostly because people thought that it was not very "gamelike". I understand that because it is not a "game" at all. The only thing that it has in common with other DS titles is that it is made for the DS. It is however a very intuitive piece of software that transforms your DS into an incredible "digital" instrument that anyone can enjoy. It gives any non-musician the ability to make some very complex, interesting, and modern electronic music. All while displaying some cool graphics too. In the hands of a musician it can be taken even a step further and used in conjunction with other electronic or acoustic instruments. The DS's headphone out gives Electroplankton the ability to be heard through a large PA system, recorded into a computer, or used in the studio. If you are looking to purchase this "game" and can get past the fact that it is not a game at all but a musical instrument, then I think you will get hours of enjoyment from it. And due to the fact that it is a rare find, you are virtually garenteed to be able to resell it on ebay if you don't like it. As a trained electronic musician and just a guy that loves cool gadgets, I highly recommend this title to anyone that wants to experience making cool electronic music. If you love this game then you will REALLY love the creator's other new gadget the Tenori-on. Check out the following link.

http://www.tenori-on.co.u​k/

Amazing game. There are no unlockables or anything, so if you are looking for a challenging game this isn't the game for you. However, if you love sounds and making music and playing with your voice, you'll love this game!
Volvoice is one of the 10 plankton, and this one you'll enjoy a lot. You tap the creature, speak into the mic,a dn you can play with your voice. Here are some of the ways you can change your voice. Normal, backwards, electric, high pitched, low pitched, 2 times fast, 4 times fast, a crowd (like if yuo say hi into the mic it will sound like a small crowd sometimes. Depends on what you say)
Trust me this game is very enjoyful, I suggest you play it while wearing headphones for best results.

To make things short, this game is amazingly fun.

Electroplankton, having been released in 2005 in Japan, it was one of my main targets in life to get this game. When I first saw videos of it on YouTube, I immediately fell in love with it and had to have it.

It was later released in early 2006 in North America for a very short time. I wasn't able to get my hands on this game and had been searching for the game for years with no luck. I was FINALLY able to get my hands on it in a bid here on eBay. I received my copy today in the mail...

...and let me tell you, the experience so far has been great. As the title says - it isn't actually a video game, but rather an application. It's an application where you create music, so to say.

One downside is that you cannot actually save your music - it's temporary. The creator of the game, Toshio Iwai, claims this was one important aspect in creating. Because of all the possibilities that you may create chaotic or relaxing music, it's to enjoy in the moment. And that is just what I have done. Perhaps one can use hardware to record what occurs in the DS, but until then, I still enjoy the soothing sounds of Electroplankton.

I highly recommend this game for people who enjoy creating or calming music. For gamers, not so much, but it's still something interesting to mess around with.

I think this is a wonderful game for what it is. Its definitly a kind of bold yet unique idea that is refreshing to see in a video game. Its not really meant to be a DAW or audio tracker for music creation. There is nothing in terms of data that can be saved in this game for later editing weather we are talking about sounds, samples or synth sequences. What the game consists of entirly of are musical "toys" that can be manipulated throught the touch of the DS stylus and or mic samples you record into the DS. If you are interested in something like a DAW application for your Nintendo DS try downloading NitroTracker (which I highly recommend to those music lovers out there who don't mind learning a few things to make their own songs).