Gamertell

Title: Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Night
Price: Game: $48.90. Game w/figure: $64.90. Paired with Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Hour: $74.90
System(s): Nintendo DS
Release Date: 12/20/07
Publisher (Developer): Dimple Entertainment (HuneX)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: Challenging, cute music, adorable graphics, lots of clothing options, loads of replay value
Cons: Can’t raise the difficulty level after the first playthrough, the music isn’t MP3 quality
Overall Score: 9/10

While it may be impossible to have a game like Dance Dance Revolution on a portable system, Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Night comes close. The title, which features a young woman trying to become a famous dancer in the fictional Rainbow City, offers more challenges and depth than a casual observer would expect. Rather than being some lighthearted girly game, which its excessively purple packaging and adorable art would suggest, the title requires keen observational skills, rhythm, style and hand-eye co-ordination. This sequel is even more entertaining and challenging than the original.

The story is slightly fluffy, but unexpectedly funny and snarky as well. In the previous game, Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Hour, the “Green Girl” Pucchi succeeded in beating her mentor, Ange, and becoming the lead dancer at the club Angela. This doesn’t sit too well with Evil, Pucchi’s rival, who spent all of the previous game trying to out-dance Pucchi in hopes of becoming the best. So now Evil sets off on her own to dance-off against the other districts’ best dancers to improve herself and prove she’s the star.

The basic gist is that you visit each of the districts in game and engage in dance battles with the resident dancers. Initially only a few areas are open, but winning opens up more places and opponents. Depending on the difficulty level chosen at the beginning of the game, you will either need to tap the three different areas at the right times or tap and slide at the right moments in order to dance. If you win, you earn money, more clothing and maybe a new title or P-coins.

Of course winning isn’t as simple as just dancing to the beat. Even if you get a great score, like an “A” or an “S”, your opponent can still win. Fashion is just as important as skill in Rainbow City. Evil must collect outfit pieces and dress the part for each area. If you do, then the battle will already begin with the crowd in your favor. Clothes can be won through battles or bought in stores, and accessories can be gotten from machines by spending P-coins.

There is a lot of replay value in Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Night. There are eight different districts in Rainbow City, including the home district where the Angela club is located. Each of the six main clubs (Girl’s a Go-Go, St. Megroad School, Electron, Black Diamond, Twin Death Co and Rockin Bell) have their own style and four songs to battle the resident dancers in. After you beat the four songs, Miki, Ako or O-hara will appear in that district to challenge Evil. There are also two tracks to master in the ‘secret’ D51 district and some rival dance battles with Pucchi at Angela. After you beat each district, you can revisit them to challenge the dancers at the club for additional free clothes, titles and money.

There are some areas where the sequel surpasses the original, and a few where it falters. Music Hour was slightly better as it had five songs for each of the six main areas, compared to the four per area in Music Night. Both games allow you to save and replay after the first play-through with the items you’ve earned so far, but only Music Hour allowed players to increase the difficulty in the second run-through. On the other hand, Music Night is much more organized, has more clothing for Evil and also has better quality songs. Music Night also has more Angela songs than there were in the original game.

There are quite a few buying options for this game, so it is worth explaining what each one is about. There’s the Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Night game, which is just the game. There is also the first, limited edition game with the Evil Pinky. St doll. The Evil doll comes with a moving head, interchangeable parts, white bat-wing backpack, sunglasses and stand. I sprang for this version and totally love it. She looks really good with the Pucchi doll I got with the first game. The final edition is the “Kira Kira Rainbow Pack” that contains Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Hour and Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Night. It also is very import friendly, as a lot of the menu options feature images and all controls are handled with tapping the touch screen.

Site [Pinky St. Kira Kira Music Night]