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Samba de Amigo is widely considered a gem of the Sega Dreamcast era due to its fun gameplay and unique maraca controllers. However,Samba de Amigo: Party Centralis the first official sequel since the original title launched in arcades in 1999. So, it’s understandable if you find yourself lost figuring out this game.
Related:All Dreamcast Games Developed By Sonic Team, Ranked
Fortunately, we joined Amigo and his happy band of anthropomorphic animals in rounds of maraca-shaking revelry. In the process, we picked up several notable tricks and tips that will help you nail an S Rank on any song!Samba!
Focus On Moving Your Wrists, Not Your Arms
When you first play Samba de Amigo, you’ll likely feel compelled to move your arms to mirror the on-screen targets. While that approach is not entirely wrong, it will rob you of accuracy. It would be best if you focused on the position of your wrists and how it affects yourJoy-Con.
Think ofZL and ZRas theheads of your maracas. It’s important to aim the head of the maraca in the correct direction when you shake it, as follows:
So, if you move your arms low to the ground but face the Joy-Con directly forward, they’ll still count asmid-levelshakes. This is why small, focused movements stemming from the wrists will give you higher scores than forcefully wailing your arms.
One method that helped us focus our wrist movement was imagining ourselves hitting the rhythm targets with the Joy-Con like one woulddrumsticks on a drum set.
Check Your Joy-Con Positioning With The On-Screen Maracas
Samba de Amigo: Party Central’smotion controlsare impressive compared to other Switch games in the genre (looking at you,Taiko), but they’re not impeccable. It’s helpful to know how the Joy-Con gyroscopes read your movements and where there are discrepancies.
Fortunately, the game hason-screen maracas that mirror the gyroscope’s readings. Before a stage starts, you must aim your Joy-Con up, which you’ll see reflected in the virtual maracas. Then, whenever you’re lost, refer to these guide maracas to see how your wrists direct the controllers.
You may alsotoggle the maraca guide off via the Options menuif it becomes too distracting.
When using the maraca guide,ensure Amigo equips traditional maracas with wide tops and narrow bottoms. Those lightsaber maracas may look cool, but you won’t be able to tell where the head and the handle of your maracas are. They’ll look like two thin rods. And once you enter a Fever, they’ll turn a uniform gold color, making them even harder to read.
Related:Best Rhythm Games On iOS And Android
The Roulette Mini Games Are Rhythm-Based
Were you wondering what the deal was with those oddquestion-mark rhythm balls? Those areRoulette rhythm ballsthat randomlyassign you aminigamemidstage. Doing well in the minigame significantly raises your score.
You’ll encounter all sorts of minigames via the Roulette ball.Some minigames add challenge modsto the current gameplay, like increasing the song speed or making the targets look smaller. Then there are thestandalone minigames, where you’ll get tasked with hittingbaseballs, giving high fives, or another random goal.
Roulette games like the song modifiers are straightforward. After all, challenge modifiers are a standard mechanic in rhythm games. The standalone minigames are harder to read. Take the baseball minigame, for instance. How do you know when to swing the bat? And does your joy-con grip matter?
All the standalone minigames (except forFast Dash)draw from Samba de Amigo fundamentals. The song’s rhythm dictates the timing for hitting a home run or meeting your friends' high fives. Games like Pose and High Five test your maraca positioning by giving you specific targets to aim toward.
From this perspective, you’re still playing Samba de Amigo. It’s just that the parameters are a tad different.
What if you don’t want to play the rhythm minigames? In that case, you cantoggle the Roulette ball on and off before starting a songin Rhythm Game mode.
Look At The Center To See Which Notes Come First
Samba de Amigo is not the only rhythm game whererhythm markers travel from the center out to a circle of targets. Consider games like Superbeat: Xonic and thePersona Dancing series. All three series have the same problem. Once charts get more complex, it’s harder to tell the spacing and order between notes.
You could try increasing the rhythm ball speed so the notes appear further apart. Unfortunately, the notes will also pass by the screen faster, leading to missed shakes.
However, if you train your eyes to focus on the center of the screen, you’ll see exactly when each note enters the playfield. You won’t get lost measuring how close each ball is to the target because you’ll already know which ball came first.
Switch To Button Mode To Practice Complicated Charts
There are several points of focus in Samba de Amigo: Party Central. You must keep rhythm, shake your maracas in the right direction, mirrorposes, follow gliding notes, and play through minigames, to name a few of them. Unfortunately, all those focus points can distract you from the most crucial aspect: the music.
Switch to Button mode via the options menuwhen a chart becomes too difficult. This change will allow you to focus almost exclusively on the rhythm and ball patterns. Then, once you become more confident with the chart, you canadd the physical layer back on and return to Shake mode.
