During the Sega Dreamcast’s heyday, gamers were inundated with dedicated gaming peripherals. We fished for bass (and strained SoulCalibur) with Sega’s fish controller. We typed zombies to shreds with the official Dreamcast keyboard. Virtual-on: Oratorio Tangram was actually playable at home, thanks to the Dreamcast Twin Stick.
Then there was the Samba de Amigo maracas controller, a one-time musical peripheral that is absolutely necessary to fully enjoy Sega’s Latin music-driven rhythm playing. We may never return to that glorious era of peripherals, but Sega is shaking up the inventive rhythm game franchise one more time Samba de Amigo: Party Centralallowing Nintendo Switch owners to dance and pose with their Joy-Cons this summer.
Samba de Amigo: Party Central requires no special peripherals, just a general sense of rhythm and – this is paramount – the ability to leave any sense of embarrassment at the door. In Ubisoft’s Just Dance games, you’ll be gesturing, spinning, and violently shaking a set of Joy-Cons with unparalleled intensity, preferably in time with the beat and lined up with six on-screen markers.
The premise of Samba de Amigo is simple: Shake your controller, in the right place, when a circle enters a ring. There are two rings on the top, two in the middle and two on the bottom. In practice, you’ll be shaking all over, arms up, or crossed or twisted as you try to match a stream of beat markers pouring out from the center of the screen. Occasionally you will be asked to strike a pose while looking silly. From there, the action gets more complicated.
Based on my hands-on experience with the game, Sega has kept the soul of Samba de Amigo‘s colorful arcade antics with Party Central, but the Switch sequel (understandably) lacks the tactile feedback of the Dreamcast classic. It’s simple and satisfying, but lacks the powerful appeal of shaking two real maracas to make video game magic happen.
Samba de Amigo: Party Central features several ways to play, including a pick-up-and-play rhythm game mode where you select one of the game’s 40 songs and compete for a high score in one of four difficulty levels. Players can also shake it up in two-player mode, with optional mini-games and a “Love Checker” mode where you gauge your sync levels.
Image: Sega
There’s also online play and a battle royale mode of sorts; up to eight players can compete against each other in an elimination style game over three rounds of play. Sega has even worked in a bogus social media/streaming platform called “StreamiGo!” where players complete missions to earn more followers. (That’s kind of an alternative to streaming Samba de Amigo: Party Central on Twitch, where music games have a hard time succeeding due to copyright issues.)
Sega aims to provide longevity with a range of unlockable cosmetics – earned by spending an in-game currency – and post-launch music DLC. Players can unlock hats, costumes, and maracas inspired by other Sega franchises, such as Space Channel 5, Puyo Puyo, and Super Monkey Ball.
Samba de Amigo: Party CentralThe launch tunes list includes some classics like “La Bamba,” “Macarena,” and Ricky Martin’s “The Cup of Life.” It’s packed with danceable songs from Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen, Pitbull, and Junior Senior. But it lacks some notable ones Samba de Amigo bangers, like ‘Samba de Janeiro’ and ‘Soul Bossa Nova’. Hopefully these oversights will be addressed in future DLC.
When Samba de Amigo: Party Central launches on August 29 on Nintendo Switch. Here’s what players can expect on day one.
Samba de Amigo: Party Central launch tracklist
- “Break Free (ft. Zedd)” by Ariana Grande
- “Pompeii” from Bastille
- “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi
- “I Really Like You” by Carly Rae Jepsen
- “Payback (feat. Icona Pop)” by Cheat Codes
- “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club
- “Let You Go (feat. Kareen Lomax)” by Diplo & TSHA
- “Feel Good” by Flo Rida
- “Runaway (U&I)” by Galantis
- “I Will Survive (Eric Kupper Mix Extended)” by Gloria Gaynor
- “I Love It” by Icona Pop
- “Centerfold” by J Geils Band
- “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj
- “Sucker” by Jonas Brothers
- “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior
- “TiK ToK” by Kesha
- “Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera)” by Maroon 5
- “Panama” by Matteo
- “Pa’lla” by Max Pizzolante
- “Plastic Hearts” by Miley Cyrus
- “I Won’t Disappoint You” by OK Go
- “Four” by Pitbull
- “The Cup of Life (La Copa de la Vida)” by Ricky Martin
- “XS” by Rina Sawayama
- “Bom Bom” from Sam and the Womp
- “Get Busy” by Soolja
- “Azukita” by Steve Aoki, Daddy Yankee, Play-N-Skillz & Elvis Crespo
- Escape from the city sonic adventure 2
- “Fist Bump” by sonic powers
- “Macarena (Cover)”
- “La Bamba (Cover)”
- “Fuga (classical)”
- “Scent of Your Sweet Love” by Sega
- “Let’s Find It and Shake It” by Sega
- “Chosen Mask” by Sega
- “Wedding March” by Sega