Kororinpa Marble Mania

Let's skip the small talk and head right to what you're wondering: why would anyone want to play a marble puzzle game when we have Super Monkey Ball? The experience, of course! Kororinpa Marble Mania begins where Marble Madness from the Nintendo Entertainment System left off 17 years ago. Sure, the games might have been made by totally different developers (and companies, for that matter) but the premise is simple: get your marble past the ridiculous stages within a decent amount of time. There are quite a few surprises with this game, so don't hit that close button yet.

The first and most important aspect of this game are the controls, and they're excellent. While some Wii puzzle games use a steering wheel control scheme, the Wii Remote faces the television for this one. Instead of controlling the ball, players control the stage. Players of Archer Maclean's Mercury might think they have this one figured out by now, but Marble Mania is far more complicated than one might think.

When a stage looks like this, you know you're going to have fun!

The controller can be tilted in every which way, meaning the game excels beyond three-dimensional puzzles. If there's nothing but a wall in front of your marble, twist the controller to rotate the stage around and make that wall a floor. Hole in the ground? Twist the Wii Remote as far left as possible and then jerk the controller to the other side, flinging your marble from one side to the other.

An experience like this is nothing short of fun and entertaining, but entertaining in a dollar-bin-marble-maze sort of way with twice the difficulty. Not only are players trying to reach the goals in the shortest amount of time, but find any means of shortcuts from point A to point B.

If this sounds too complicated, no worries. The game deals out very easy stages at first and progressively becomes more difficult. The learning curve is nicely implemented and can have players rotating the screen around in a day. For dedicated players who can withstand some frustration and have six or seven hours to kill, this game's 40 general stages can be finished off without too much difficulty.

The real difference between this game and similar ones like the aforementioned Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and Mercury is the absence of a timer and the unlimited number of attempts per stage. Sound too easy? It's not. It can take up to 10 minutes trying to move the marble across the platforms (mastering each motion along the way), even on a stage seemingly designed for 30 seconds of play. While defeating the game is the easy part, the real challenge is winning a gold trophy at the end of each stage. Doing so unlocks new marbles, secret stages, new music and other goodies.

That circular wall to your left will eventually become your floor.

Players not too interested in the puzzle genre won't find any additional mini-games worth having. The game is short and sweet with the same goal in every stage, but still proves entertaining for hours when attempting to beat a difficult stage for a gold trophy.

The Dolby Pro Logic II music and last-generation graphics are decent for this game. Neither aspect of the presentation is spectacular, but each one reinforces the simple appeal. After all, you're not trying to save an immersive world. You're a marble, marbles don't care, get over it.

For those interested in multiplayer action, Marble Mania lets two players play a stage simultaneously and beat the snot out of those 40 levels just as you unlock them. How well does it work? Look for Stage 2 to find out!

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