Samba De Amigo Review

How in the Green Hills do you start a review on Samba De Amigo? Well, it began as an arcade machine on December 21, 1999. A year later, Samba De Amigo, a rhythm game, was released on the Dreamcast. The game received very positive reviews. It won “Best Social/Casual/Puzzle/Family Game” in the 2000 Game Critics Award as well as “Best Console Puzzle Game” in Gamespot’s Best and Worst of the Year. In 2008, a port of the game was released on the Wii. The port of the game wasn’t as well-received as the original due to the Wii’s controls. So, is the game an amigo o enemigo? (That is probably the only Spanish joke I can come up with.)


Note: I will be reviewing the Wii version.


You play as Amigo, a maraca-playing monkey. The main point of the game is to shake the Wii remote

Image Courtesy of Amazon

and nunchuck (you can play with two Wii remotes if you want) in the direction of the six colored circles with the rhythm of the music to gain points. The better you do, the higher your rank gets. Characters (including your Mii) will also dance along with you as you play.


There isn’t a story in this story. There are characters like Amiga, Linda, and Rio but they don’t do much besides dance along with you. I honestly feel these characters were a missed opportunity. I would love to see more of these characters and their background (except Linda, she makes me uncomfortable). I give the story a C+.


There are several modes you can play. There is the Career mode where you can play several songs. As you play, you will unlock more songs and progress through the mode. There is also the single-player mode where you can play the songs you’ve already played in different difficulty settings as well as some minigames. In the minigames, you can play Guacamole (Get it? It’s whack-a-mole.), Strike a Pose, Volleyball, etc. The main problem with the Career mode and the minigames in general is the Wii Remote’s motion controls. The moves you make with the remote will occasionally not register. The Strike a Pose is basically unbeatable since the Wii Remote won’t let you do certain poses. The Volleyball game doesn’t require any motion controls thankfully; however, a single game of that takes forever to do (either that or I am just bad at volleyball). I can’t say much about the Multiplayer as I haven’t played much of it. So overall, while the game can be fun, the motion controls ruin it. I give the gameplay a B-.


Now for the soundtrack. Honestly, I am not familiar with Latin music (or whatever it’s called), but I

Image Courtesy of Amazon

really do like the music Samba De Amigo uses. It has songs like the “Macarena,” “Bamboleo”(my favorite), “Cha Cha,” etc. My problem with the game’s soundtrack is its lack of originality. Even the main title theme is borrowing “Samba de Janeiro” by Bellini (Here is the original and here is the title screen to compare). I give the soundtrack an A-.


The game also has this style to it that is both absurd and yet charming. Some people may like the style the game goes for but I am a bit conflicted on whether or not I like it myself.


To conclude, this game is….fine. The story seems like a missed opportunity and the gameplay is ruined thanks to the motion controls. The game is saved by its sweet soundtrack despite it being unoriginal for the most part. I give the game a 6.5/10.





At a Glance: Samba De Amigo


Summary: Play as Amigo as you shake your maracas to the beat of the music.


Rated: E for Everyone: Mild Lyrics


Price: Dreamcast: $3.49 (Gamestop) Wii: $18.99 (Amazon)


Distributor: Sega


System: Dreamcast and Wii.


Release Date: Dreamcast: Oct. 16, 2000 Wii: Sept. 23, 2008

Rating: 6.5/10.