Kororinpa: Marble Mania (Wii, 2007)

Similar to Atari's 1984 classic Marble Madness and Sega's recent Wii offering, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Kororinpa: Marble Mania challenges people to maneuver a marble through an environment, dodging hazards and making hairpin turns en route to a goal, except in this case, with 360 degrees of control. It'll appeal to those looking to show off the Wii's motion sensing abilities, but lack of challenge and modes make it a short-lived experience.


Unlike the aforementioned games, Konami's Marble Mania allows players to tilt 3-D boards in any direction, even upside down. Each of the game's boards offer a different type of challenge. Some lack bumpers, others feature sticky goo and others sport nifty magnets that allow people to navigate chasms. Furthermore, gamers can unlock 20 marbles as they complete these stages and some of them have different properties. The cat marble, while especially cute, meows and has superb handling, while the Candy marble rolls faster. None of them differ drastically from the others, but this gives Marble Mania some depth.


The same cannot be said for the rest of the game. While rolling marbles proves enjoyable, most people probably could beat the game in less than two hours. Don't attempt to locate bonus modes. The game has none, other than a limited multiplayer mode in which two people race via split screen. Konami encourages people to replay the stages to beat their high scores, but there's only so much of that gamers can stand. Before long, Marble Mania grows tedious; a shame, considering its $39.99 MSRP.


Kids will no doubt love the game, as it follows a simple premise and packs a cute appearance. Adults with adequate motor skills, however, should rent it or wait for a price drop. Had Konami pumped over 100 unique levels into the game and programmed some mini challenges, Marble Mania would've been one of the Wii's best games instead of just being decent.

Super game. If you like the puzzle/skill type of games then you should like this one. It is similar to a Monkey ball type of thing only I like this one better. You can select from a number of balls that each have their own individual handling styles. The tracks are easy at first but do get gradually harder. One could spend hours running the little balls around the tracks and learning how each ball responds.

When I saw this game I had to have it. As an old school gamer it brought back memories of Marble Madness and that game was a lot of fun. I got my Wii after they stopped making this game so I had to get it here on ebay.Luckily I found a copy for a great price that was like new and it's nearly impossible to stop playing once you start. I often find myself saying "just one more board then I'll quit for a while",which never happens. The only thing I don't like about it is the animal marble sounds can get very irritating and distracting after a while. Because of that I find myself using other marbles. But other than that this game hands down logs the most playing time in my family.

I bought Marble Mania for my nephew, because we had it for our Wii, and he couldn't get enough of it. It's a clever, Escher-esque series of mazes through which you must move a ball (lots of options of balls for different speeds, sound effects, and fun). You unlock more mazes the better you get. We found a whole second board of mazes that we did not know about. You can control the music as well, which is also a neat option. Our whole family plays it at parties and has a great time. The only warning I have is to make sure you save your progress, or else you lose access to new mazes and balls. The other problem is that I don't know that this game is made any more, which is why I had to find it on ebay.

This game is a lot of fun. I bought it for my [soon to be] niece as a birthday present, and I think I love the game just as much as she does! Very simple game to learn, but difficult to master. You tilt the controller which tilts the world, and the goal is to guide your marble to its destination. Marble can take on several shapes, can make lots of cute noises, and makes for a fun game at any age.

It's a shame the game is out of print; something this awesome should be more widely distributed and produced!