Hands On The Idolm@ster SP

Someone asked “what do you actually do in these [Idolm@ster] games?” yesterday so I set out to play the Idolm@ster SP, one of the three PSP Idolm@ster games, at the Asia Game Show. My time with the Idolm@ster SP: Wandering Star was brief and nearly all of it was spent in the communication phase.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Idolm@ster games you play as an agent and train imaginary pop idols. The part I tried out was where you talk to your idols to keep them happy and encourage them. I didn’t get to pick an idol from the beginning so I was stuck with Ami and Mami. In the middle of conversations you get to pick one of three things to say. Basically, this part is like a dating sim or visual novel. The Idolm@ster SP has voice acting so you get to hear your idol speak. After I earned a normal clear time passed to night and the demo was over. In the full game you get to set up other events and watch your idol perform.

Don’t make a mistake and get this or any Idolm@ster game unless you’re pretty confident reading Japanese. When I said the Idolm@ster SP was the most import friendly version I meant it was for the PSP which is region free. The Idolm@ster has tons of text, Japanese text, to wade through.

Images courtesy of Namco Bandai.