Kororinpa: Marble Mania Review

Few genres fit the Wii as perfectly as this. You’re going to see a lot of tilt puzzles in the future, if you haven’t seen enough already. Unlike the Wii’s mini-game fetish, though, there’s still room to love those games that twist your stomach in a knot and get your hands a sweatin’ as you guide a marble across a dangerously thin pathway. Kororinpa certainly has that effect. Tilt puzzles are already nerve-racking, but, coupled with the Wii remote, this game makes every twitch count. If you shake when you’re nervous, you’d better not apply.

But that same uneasiness, that same sickening anxiety, is also incredibly rewarding. Kororinpa has some truly devious level designs, and making it to the goal is an achievement worth jumping up and down for. While there are very few innovative obstacles to get in the way of your marble–just your typical moving platforms, swinging boxes, and conveyor belts–these courses do defy the definition of up and down. By tilting the remote on its side, what was once a wall has now become the floor. If you’re crafty enough, you can even ride around on the bottom of the course.

The problem with having to tilt the remote like this is that it puts a lot of stress on your wrist. Bending forward is painful, and tilting to the side feels like you’re going to rotate your arm right off. You could conceivably play with two hands and roll the remote in your fingers, but it doesn’t feel as natural. Many times, I finally said uncle and just gave up, because I couldn’t physically take it anymore.

For as frustrating as this may sound, it’s really not. Kororinpa is a forgiving game, despite that it is wacky and disorienting, and that you fall off the course a lot. Bigger levels have multiple checkpoint pads in them, and you can continue as many times as you want. Continuing is instantaneous, too. As soon as your ball is out of commission, it is immediately brought back to the last checkpoint. These quick restarts are great. They keep you focused on the puzzle and don’t tick you off with aggravating replays of your mistake and self-defeating Game Over screens. The timer’s still going, though, so falling off still penalizes you and keeps you from obtaining a gold trophy.

This is not your straightforward game of “reach the goal,” however. Red jewels are scattered around the course, and you can’t step on the goal until you’ve collected them all. This setup is okay, but it would have been nice to be able to try for insane time trial scores by making ridiculous shortcuts. Instead, you have to follow the path of jewels. Once you’ve collected a jewel, though, it’s yours to keep. So if you fall off, no worries: just focus on getting from point A to point B, now. And this is where the fun truly begins. Every level in Kororinpa has several possible shortcuts, some obvious and some so far-out, nobody will believe you when you tell them what you did. There were times when I sent my marble from the beginning of the maze to the end with one quick flick. That– is awesome.

Unfortunately, you can’t save replays to show friends at a later time. In fact, there are no replays. Kororinpa is pretty scarce on content and options, in general. The game may boast 50 levels plus some bonus stages, but the majority of these can be whisked through in 1-2 minutes. Tilt games really need to have at least 100 levels, because, too often, most of the levels are too easy. But to open all the courses, you’ll have to get at least 25 gold trophies, and that takes a bit more time. What’s nice is that a second player can play against you while you do this. You are supposed to race each other, but you can still open up new courses and earn trophies in the two-player mode. It’s like co-op, and co-op is good no matter where it comes from. It’s too bad there isn’t 4-player support. Seriously, why do so few Wii games have this?

There’s not much to keep you entertained in the long run, then, but, as a last resort, it’s kind of fun to tinker with some of the different marbles. There are slow and easy marbles and fast and slick marbles that are nearly impossible to control. My personal favorite: a penguin mashed up in a ball that makes “cute noises” when it rolls around. The sound in this game is actually pretty impressive. Each ball makes different noises when it rolls and hits other surfaces, and it all sounds believable and solid. Hearing the “plink” of a glass marble is quite satisfying, but maybe that’s because it means your ball actually landed on something and didn’t go sailing into the abyss. The background music, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. Some songs are very catchy, energetic, and kooky. Others are amateurish and annoying, and you always hope you don’t get a bad song when you’re stuck in a 24-minute level. The graphics are fitting, though. They aren’t spectacular by any means, but a marble game only needs to look so good.

Final Comments

After playing Kororinpa, I don’t think I can go back to Super Monkey Ball. Kororinpa isn’t nearly as frustrating as the monkeys but still provides that same level of challenge and sense of accomplishment. The crazy level designs and many possibilities for off-the-wall shortcuts make this a good choice for people who like tilt-the-world puzzles. Kororinpa doesn’t feel complete, though. There are so few levels and so few options in this package, it’s hard to recommend shelling out even the already bargain price of $40. Wait it out and pick this one up when it’s a bit cheaper. You’ll like it, but you’ll feel like you only got half of a game.