Space Channel 5 (2000)
System: Dreamcast
Developer: Sega
Official US Website
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Released in 2000 to great industry fanfare and rave reviews Space Channel 5 ultimately didn't make the huge impact Sega was hoping it would with gamers accross the United States. To this day I am as perplexed as the Sega marketing executives probably were by this market's response as Space Channel 5 is without a doubt one of the true jewels to have been originally developed for the Dreamcast and to be born out of the now popular Music/Rhythm game genre.

The Story

“It’s the 25th century, and planet Earth is in a state of crisis. An alien race, the Morolians, have launched an invasion against the Earth, randomly shooting innocent victims with a mysterious ray gun. The effect of the ray is rather unusual as it forces people to dance uncontrollably, and enslaves them to alien rhythms. Of course, their attack has caused a widespread panic. The first station to grab the scoop is a little watched space broadcaster, “Space Channel 5.”

Sensing a golden opportunity to boost ratings, the director, Fuse, has sent Ulala, the only reporter who hasn’t been captured, to the scene. The broadcast begins at the location of the first incident – Spaceport 9. Ulala must copy the Morolian’s dance steps – Up! Down! Right! Left! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Ulala is the only hope we have to defeat the Morolians and free the human victims. The future of the Earth is in her hands!” -- From the game’s instruction sheet

Review

As soon as this game is booted up you know you are in for one fun and rather unique video gaming experience! With its retro-futuristic stylings and hip 60's inspired music this game demands to be played!

Basically the way Space Channel 5 works is akin to a musical version of Simon says. In each of the 4 stages in the game you are challenged again and again to several dance duels, which basically boil down to imitating the alien’s dance moves perfectly each time. When this is successfully accomplished Ulala is able to either free the hostages from the aliens’ grip or to take down the challengers using her ray gun.

While on the surface, this is a very simple setup for a game, it does make for some very addictive gameplay, much like Parappa the Rapper and many other games in this genre especially since Space Channel 5 compensates for the simple play mechanics and short number of levels by upping the difficulty factor. You won’t beat Space Channel 5 in your first seating, but you’ll have a lot of fun trying and ultimately that’s what this game is all about.

No matter how many times I initially failed to even reach level 2 I kept on playing because it was just so darned fun! The music, characters and graphic design made for some dangerously addictive and amusing gameplay! Needless to say that the challenge was worth going through as each level revealed more pieces of the Space Channel 5 story.

Conclusion

What else can I say? This is one heck of a fun game! If you don’t have a Dreamcast available to you, make sure to pick up the recently released Space Channel 5 Special Edition port for the Playstation 2, which also contains the sequel to the original game and is also an amazing game in its own right. we’ll have to save that one for another review!

Jeffrey Couto