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The Lowdown
Pros: Lots of different games, excellent sprites, trading cards with
friends
Cons: Games are as simplistic as a tiger handheld, can't play what game
you want when you want
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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The Game Boy Advance has its fair share of game diversity. It has its
own niche sports genre, which has a few decent titles. The system also
features a couple of "communication" style games starring everyone's
favorite (and only) animated Hamster that stars in his own TV show. When
Nintendo decided to blend the sports genre with Hamtaro it was a bit of
a surprise.Most people didn't know what to expect in Hamtaro: Ham Ham
Sports. The simplest way to explain it would be to imagine a fifth grade
field day that has Hamtaro and company instead of kids. Hamtaro and his
friends compete in different events for medals against other hamster
filled teams. There are a whole bunch of different events in the game.
Some like a 100 meter dash, tennis, hurdles and swimming you would
expect. Others that you wouldn't think of are events like a carrot pull,
beach volleyball and bird riding. All of the events regardless of what
they are share one thing in common simplicity.
Games like tennis and beach volleyball are really simple mini games.
In these games you move Hamtaro or Bijou around and hit a ball back and
forth by pressing a button. The game has a little mark that shows where
to expect the ball to land. There aren't any special moves, just bare
bone gameplay. Most of the other games don't play like a "sports" game.
Instead they play like a "press the button at the right time" game. For
the hundred meter dash there is a little meter that represents Hamtaro's
running speed. All you do in the game is press the A button when the
moving cursor is at the end of the meter. The diving game is equally as
simple. To make Hamtaro's friend Cappy do spins while he dives you have
to press the button displayed as soon as it comes up. Games like these
are pretty much reaction based games.
One problem with having all these mini games is learning and
mastering each individual game. Each game has a different set of rules,
which will require most players to play through a tutorial and a couple
of practice rounds. I have to emphasize the practice rounds because the
computer plays each event near perfectly. If you don't have at least the
basic controls of the mini game you'll lose hands down. You'll need to
practice against the computer's flawless performances many times just to
get a measly gold medal.
Another problem with the whole event system is the game has a built
in schedule. Instead of letting players freely select events and play at
their own pace you have to follow Hamtaro's schedule. Each day in the Ham
games starts with some free time. During free time you can run around,
watch TV, request songs, get your fortune told and shop at the Ham Ham
shopping network. You can also opt to go to your event, compete and
eliminate the whole free time idea all together. When you go to an event
you can only play the assigned event, no other games. Even during free
time you can't select any events except the upcoming event. The problem
with this is that you can't play your favorite events over and over
again. You have to play what the game wants you to play next, which is
an annoying feature.
Since you won't be able to practice the Carrot Pull a thousand times
after you beat it there is an emphasis on getting a gold trophy the
first time around. You might wonder why to even care about getting a
gold trophy. The answer is for sunflower seeds, the treasure of the
hamsters. Sunflower seeds allow you to personalize your player card.
Each game has one player card, that is like a trading card. You can
customize your card with costumes you purchase from the Ham Ham shopping
network and even add in a quote. These cards can be traded with friends,
allowing you to build a database of your real buddies.
The costumes are something that would cover a Japanese stuffed
animal. All that you can see exposed from the costume is the face of
your hamster and the body of an animal. They're pretty cute and there is
a wide variety of them for you to pick from. One great thing about the
graphics in Hamtaro: Ham Ham Sports is that the sprites in the game are
large. The large sprites allow players to see the amount of detail in
drawing the thirty or so hamsters in the game. All of the hamsters even
have their own simple animations, which are a kin to the TV show. The
detail and the animation makes the translation of the Hamtaro show to
the GBA an excellent one. The music and sound effects in the game didn't
quite get the same treatment. Many sound effects like the one when a
hamster gets a good idea and one where a hamster is shocked sounds like
it comes from the show. While other effects sound like generic sound
bytes. Hamtaro has a certain style subtle style with the effects and
background audio that a GBA cart just can't emulate perfectly.
Hamtaro: Ham Ham Sports is a game that kids and fans of the series
will love. It has enough characters for show fans to enjoy and there is
enough difficulty in each mini game to engage a child for hours. Maybe
the way to look at Hamtaro: Ham Ham Sports is a ménage of mini games
redesigned so they star Hamtaro. Even if this was the case, the polish
that Alphadream and Nintendo put in this game makes a simple game and
cute game easily sold to gamers of all ages.
The Japanese version has the brilliant option of a language select.
This means you can play the game in Japanese or play a fully translated
English version!
US Bound?
Nintendo has Hamtaro: Ham Ham Games ready for a release on July 27, 2004.
Overall
Hamtaro: Ham Ham Sports is a nice diversion from other taxing games.
It also makes a great mini game for the road, but if you're looking for
something that will last for over 20 hours look for another game.
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