THE MAKING OF 押忍! 開元! 応援団 OSU! TATAKAE! OUENDAN

OUENDAN WAS ONE OF THE EARLY IMPORT CULT HITS THAT SHOWCASED THE NINTENDO DS' TECH WITH ITS OWN DUAL FUNCTION OF RHYTHM GAMEPLAY AND STORYTELLING WITH HOTBLOODED EMOTIONS. WE SPEAK WITH FORMER TEAM MEMBERS OF INIS ON HOW THEY MADE THIS UNIQUE MANGA- INSPIRED CHEERLEADING GAME

- ALAN WEN

The Noughties was a sensational time for music-based games. But while some of the bigger headline releases like Guitar Hero and Rock Band were about simulating playing music, some of the most memorable were about synchronising the rhythm gameplay with a story that had charming characters you could easily root for. This had started back with 1996's PaRappa The Rapper on Sony's PlayStation, and other story-driven rhythm games had also originated in Japan. But Ose! Tatakae! Ouendan, as you might guess from its exclamatory title, was uniquely and culturally Japanese.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, ouendan are basically cheerleaders, usually from Japanese high school or university sporting events rallying support for a team. However, they differ from the image we tend to have of acrobatic teenage girls waving pompoms in skimpy outfits. Instead, these are usually male cheer squads making a lot of noise with taiko drums, yelling their support through megaphones with a distinctly hotblooded macho passion. They also look a lot more serious dressed in long black coats. "It was strange and unique to me but I thought it was really interesting," David Ventura tells us, as one of two foreign staff members at iNiS at the time. For people in Japan however, the concept of ouendan is very common.