Early Thoughts - Aikatsu! My No.1 Stage!

Released November 26th, 2015 is the fourth entry into the series of Aikatsu! 3DS games. After only just releasing getting my copy and spending a little time with it, I thought I'd go ahead and let you all know my early thoughts on the game.

Are you all ready for some Idol Activities?

Let me start off with a word of warning for all of those looking to import the game.
You'll need to be very careful unless you have a Japanese Region 3DS. Unless you have some pretty heavy hacks on your own 3DS (Which we do not condone, mind you!) you won't be able to play it even if you can bypass the region free, due to the game requiring Kana input for your name. So again Aikatsu fans, take caution. Now with that out of the way, lets get on to what I think of the game so far.

Lets start off with the main mode. I'm honestly not sure what it's called, but lets just go with "story mode" for now. Even though there isn't really a story. It's structured almost like a board game, but plays nothing like one. You control a cute little aphorism cut-out of the idol you choose at the beginning of the game and traverse the game board, each step along the way has a different icon and each icon symbolizes the type of Activity you'll be doing (Things from songs to dramas, which are basically the same thing anyway..). You can move freely and wherever you want, you don't even need to move just one space a time (There is a limit to how far you can go in one move, though). But finishing different Activities will net you different rewards. On top of that there are other Idols on the board too, and occasionally they'll come out and you can have a showdown with them, if you want you unlock them for play. To top it off there are 4 "boards" in all, one for each type of Idol with the idols of that type on it to unlock.

What do I think of it all? It's fun. It's nothing special or in-depth, there are no penalties for missing or skipping anything, or even really when you lose since you can immediately replay an Activity, but given this is a game for a younger audience I don't think it's much of a problem. There is a bit of a repetitive factor though from doing the same songs over and over, but if you enjoy the music like I do it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The Rhythm game itself is basically just a straight up port of the Arcade Game from what I can tell. It plays well, a bit repetitive again because of the song selection being so small, but it's not really a deal breaker. I was expecting to go in with it being super easy but came out surprised with the higher difficulties; They can be challenging, but nothing you're not used too if you play Rhythm games. The game looks great of course, the models look good and the motions are all carried out well, making it satisfying to watch them perform.

Lets talk about the song selection for a second. It's not small per se, but with such a wide variety of songs in the series it does seem very limited. There are a total of 16 songs in the game, featuring newer songs such as "START DASH SENSATION" and classics like "Diamond Happy", making the lineup, while a bit limited, quite enjoyable. I should mention now although there are only 16 songs in the game there are a total of 30 DLC songs and 4 Fan favorite bonus songs available with the limited edition (Including Calender Girl, thank god.).


I don't think there's a lot left to talk about, there's a karaoke mode I haven't tried yet, there seem to be a wide variety of Aikatsu cards available in the game (As well as being able to scan the QR codes on your own). All in all the game has been a lot of fun for now, but I can see how it might get repetitive in the future and become a chore when it comes to unlocking the extra idols down the track. But all in all, it's an enjoyable game full of "Aikatsu" and is something I can easily recommend at this point to any other fans. I'd go ahead and do a full review once I'm finished but I am not sure there'll be much more to say about it.

Next up will hopefully be another import, so until then, I'll see you guys later!