Rhythm Game Review: Space Channel 5: Part 2

Space Channel 5: Part 2 was the sequel to the Seminal musical rhythm game starring Ulala, a reporter of the titular Space Channel 5. It had a lot live up to, as the original game served up a near-perfect blend of button-timing, pop rock dancing, alien shooting, psychedelic 1960's fun.

In the second part, the wonderful wackiness is kicked up a notch. A group of pirate broadcasters known as the Rhythm Rogues are led by a pirate news anchor named Purge. They kidnapped the Space President and inflicted innocent people with dancing madness. Ulala once again has to match the up, down, right, and left motions as well as the chu and hey motions that once again are performed by pressing the A and B buttons.

This time around, however, portions of the broadcast don't just have those dance moves, adding in instrument riffs into the mix. These are still performed with the same buttons, but it becomes a play-off alongside the usual rival station dance-offs.

The package is enhanced beyond the usual game this time around with the addition of the Ulala's Dance mode. This is a difficult one-hundred stage dance battle that becomes progressively harder as it goes on. It is made even more difficult by the fact that Ulala only has a single heart on her life meter. So, one mistake wrecks the whole run. If you do win progressive stages, you will be rewarded with unlocked costumes and accessories for Ulala. Some of the unlocks can also be found by finding hidden moves in the story stages.

As this is a Space Channel 5 game, the swinging sixties is in full force, with Ulala's signature miniskirt and high-heeled thigh-high boot outfit, psychedelic backdrops, and fun 60's pop-flavored music. The signature song, Ken Woodman's 1966 song Mexican Flyer returns. So too, thankfully do Naofumi Hataya and Kenichi Tokoi return, joined by erstwhile composers Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba. The music is just as groovy as the original, and make you want to get up and dance with Ulala in full Austin Powers mode, saying "Yeah, Baby!" as you chu and hey your way through enemy hordes.

The game presentation is made even more joyful by the return of Ulala actresses Mineko Okamura in the Japanese version and the effervescent Apollo Smile in English. Plus, the game is made even more pop-tastic by the reappearance of Michael Jackson as Space Michael.

Space Channel 5: Part Two outdoes the original in every way possible. Plus, the fact that it was released as a high-definition remaster fourteen years ago means it's available on more than just the original Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 releases. The story is funkier this time, in a good way, the music is just as 60's-flavored as the original with musical instrument sections that give it a new flavor, the voices are once again fantastic and the return of Michael Jackson is goofy fun. The original game was already a treat, but the additions this game provides makes this one a must play for rhythm game fans.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Space Channel 5 Review

Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash Review coming soon

Rhythm Game Review: Space Channel 5

Space Channel 5 is a unique rhythm game that came out in 1999, during the period where Sega was arguably the most experimental. The game was created by Sega Software R&D 9, the team which would become United Game Artists. The same team brought the world the wonderfully psychedelic musical rail shooter Rez, so the team definitely knew what it was doing when it came to music-based gameplay.

Space Channel 5 follows a space reporter for the titular Space Channel 5 news station. The reporter in question is Ulala, pronounced Ooh-La-La or You-La-La if you are Michael Jackson. The latter is actually part of the game, as the King of Pop was a fan of Sega and voiced himself in this game. Ulala's aesthetic is very 1960s, as she dons miniskirts and high heeled thigh-high platform boots in a sheen akin to rubber and latex. 

The music is also decidedly psychedelic 60's, with songs that sound like they came straight out of Mike Myer's then-recently released spy spoof film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. This is especially true of Ken Woodman's 1966 song Mexican Flyer, which serves as the game's theme tune. The other songs in the game, composed by Naofumi Hataya and Kenichi Tokoi, fit right in with the 60s theme the game is espousing.

The plot is suitably silly for such an outlandish presentation. Ulala reports all across space fighting aliens known as Morolians, which attack her and kidnap humans should she fail to stop them. Fittingly for a game such as this, she fights by dancing. She has to match the movements of the aliens and other enemies which shout commands such as "up, down, left, right", which have to be pressed accordingly with the corresponding controller buttons. Occasionally, Ulala has to match the "chu" or "hey" shouted by the enemies, which correspond to the A and B buttons on the controller.

The characters are in the early 3D of the era, but with the plastic aesthetic of the clothing, the limitations actually worked in their favor, much like the plastic 3D of the time worked well for Pixar's Toy Story a mere four years earlier. Most of the game uses the same polygonal look for the backgrounds, which worked well with retro TV-inspired backdrops. However, when the backgrounds moved, they used pre-rendered 3D in compressed videos. This looked nice on the CRT TVs of the Dreamcast era, but has unfortunately kept the game from being remade in high definition like its sequel.

The game can be upscaled on emulators of course, and the game looks fantastic when done so, but the pre-rendered videos still look a bit muddled as there isn't much to be done with those, at least until AI video upscaling improves to a point where the videos can be converted convincingly. This obviously wasn't even an option when Space Channel 5: Part 2 was released as part of the Dreamcast Collection for consoles fourteen years ago.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

Space Channel 5: Part 2 Review