Hands on Gabu Gabu Planet

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Gabu Gabu Planet. Was it going to be a Katamari clone? A platformer? A puzzle game? How about a four player eating battle? Yeah, it’s a multiplayer eating frenzy.

You start the game by picking one of the four alien dogs and each has a different set of stats. Gabu is red, Bari is blue, Chuchu is yellow and Pero is purple. Once you select your dog you jump right into an arena to start eating. The Tokyo Game Show demo threw me into a kitchen where you can chomp on apples and carrots. To win the game you need to eat the most food, but there is a little strategy to Gabu Gabu Planet. You could munch on the nearest meal or you can match three of the same food to get a random power up. One of the power ups shoots a gust of wind and you can knock a fellow alien off the stage with it. Another one lets you throw a bomb. After you use up the power up it’s time to collect another three of the same item to get a new random item.

While you’re busy searching for scraps, three other computer players are doing the same thing. Since the kitchen level was pretty small you would often bump into them while waiting for more food to appear. I imagine this could be a great multiplayer game, but Koei has not said if Gabu Gabu Planet is going to take advantage of Nintendo Wi-Fi or not.

Still interested? See a shaky-cam video of Gabu Gabu Planet past the break.