• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Furukawa Speaks! We discuss the announcement of the Nintendo Switch Successor and our June Direct Predictions on the new episode of the Famiboards Discussion Club! Check it out here!

Discussion Why did we never get Elite Beat Agents 2 and is the series lost forever?

AceBandage

AceBandage

WUST Member
Pronouns
He/Him
In the year 2005 Nintendo funded the creation of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. A rythm game for the Nintendo DS in Japan based on popular Japanese music.
A year later, the game was remade for western audiences as Elite Beat Agents. It offered engaging gameplay, controls and great music as well as telling a complete story through the missions.
It was crazy and wild and one of the best Rhythm games to Grace a console.
The original Osu game got a sequel in Japan but it was never reworked for Western audiences.
The game recieved strong critical acclaim at the time, sadly the sales were left for want.

But we are in a new golden age for rythm games. Many are seeing strong appeal on mobile and console and I believe it is time for Nintendo to revive Elite Beat Agents to once again save the world through the power of song and dance.

elitebeatagent-go.gif
 
Didn't Keiichi Yano pretty much retire from the industry after Lips for the 360?
 
Quoted by: Yzz
1
Agreed 100%. In the thread of dormant Nintendo franchises we would like to see return, this was one of my top mentions. It was a refreshing and challenging change of pace for the genre and I would like to see it adapted for either motion controls(docked mode) or touch-screen for tablet mode.

The music, the aesthetics, and even the story were fantastic, even if I would have preferred the male cheerleader plotline over the special agent plotline. To this day, I can't listen to Canned Heat without thinking of it.
 
The two Ouendan are my favorite rythm games of all time. EBA didn't quite capture the same magic for me, but it's still really good.

I think the series is dead, but more because I don't see how its gameplay could be reworked to function without a touch screen.
 
Leo said:
The two Ouendan are my favorite rythm games of all time. EBA didn't quite capture the same magic for me, but it's still really good.

I think the series is dead, but more because I don't see how its gameplay could be reworked to function without a touch screen.
Click to expand...
Have I got good news for you about the Nintendo Switch!
 
I never understand why they didn't just make another smaller game but using only Nintendo songs to save cost on music cost. I know it wouldn't be as much fun, but still better than forever losing this franchise.

EBA was one of my favorite DS games and I played the hell out of it to get to the highest rank.
 
0
They probably would have made another, if Microsoft didn't snatch iNis up to make those Lips karaoke series (they were really good but the song selection was terrible compared to Singstar).
 
I'm a little surprised that EBA itself wasn't reworked into a Japanese release as well. Maybe I'm just poorly informed on the extent of Western music's popularity in Japan, and EBA as is just wouldn't sell to justify further licensing. iNiS seemed to struggle after this period, especially with their awkward (but promising!) Project Rap Rabbit Kickstarter. I know they did some interesting toys-to-life stuff for mobile. I missed them.
 
tohlew said:
I'm a little surprised that EBA itself wasn't reworked into a Japanese release as well. Maybe I'm just poorly informed on the extent of Western music's popularity in Japan, and EBA as is just wouldn't sell to justify further licensing. iNiS seemed to struggle after this period, especially with their awkward (but promising!) Project Rap Rabbit Kickstarter. I know they did some interesting toys-to-life stuff for mobile. I missed them.
Click to expand...
The DS was still in that weird phase of gaming where companies didn't think people would buy "foreign games" that weren't big franchises. That's why Osu and EBA were two different games despite basically being the same.
Personally I would have loved a translated Osu and Osu 2.
As it was, though, EBA didn't sell enough to justify any further funding into it. I think that could change if such a game released now, especially on mobile or switch, however.
 
The game bombed unfortunately. You could find it for like £5. Reggie even remarked at the time he was disappointed it didn't take off as I expect they had high hopes for it (what with it being a bit of a cult import), hence funding a completely unique version for the West.

Though, funny story, when I was in Japan back in 2006, the first Ouendan was one of the games I wanted to buy. It took me the entire holiday, popping in and out of who knows how many store, to eventually find it. It honestly felt like I found the last copy in Japan.
 
Leo said:
The two Ouendan are my favorite rythm games of all time. EBA didn't quite capture the same magic for me, but it's still really good.

I think the series is dead, but more because I don't see how its gameplay could be reworked to function without a touch screen.
Click to expand...
AceBandage said:
Have I got good news for you about the Nintendo Switch!
Click to expand...

The Switch doesn't come with a handy little stylus like the DS did, and even if it did, I don't think I'd be willing to hammer the screen of my OLED Switch (once I get one) in the way I did with my DS.

Come to think of it, I don't use the touch screen for games much at all. It helps with placement in Mario Maker, but that's about it. Fortunately, that's gentle, careful positioning of the items, so unlikely to damage the screen.

I think the series is probably dead, unless it comes back with button-presses only, like the other rhythm games on the system.
 
0
This happens pretty often when Nintendo decides to stop working with a third party developer. Unless they start working on something else together then the relationship will end and the series they were making will come to an end as well.

Also I think it was widely said that the Elite Beat Agents game in particular didn't really pay off.
 
0
Coco said:
Didn't Keiichi Yano pretty much retire from the industry after Lips for the 360?
Click to expand...
He did the Rap Rabbit kickstarter in 2017. It didn't reach its goal.

en.wikipedia.org

Project Rap Rabbit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

tbh I remember the goals were pretty high, like $1 million USD for English localization. The platforms were only PS4 and PC, so it didn't generate interest from Nintendo fans.
 
Last edited:
0
I'm still bummed out that both EBA and Hotel Dusk died after the DS, I had a lot of great memories with both. EBA especially had one of my favourite finales ever.
 
0
Even with strong backing from Nintendo, including a demo installed on units at retail locations, Elite Beat Agents opened to disappointing sales. One month after its U.S. launch, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé told MTV's Stephen Totilo that initial sales were only 120,000 units, well below the 300,000 level that the company had expected.

Fils-Aimé conceded that the title and its concept hadn't been surefire hits, but that he was disappointed that sales had not reached what he had anticipated would be "explosive" levels.

As of January 2009, Elite Beat Agents has sold 179,000 copies in the United States, according to exclusive data supplied to Gamasutra by the NPD Group.
Click to expand...
 
0
I loved EBA. I bought it and Ace Attorney around the same time and would alternate between them. EBA was a great palette cleanser between cases.
 
0
Not that related but Osu really was popular on pc once upon a time, my go to game along with Dota2 when going to internet cafe with friends.
 
0
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom