Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Ever since it's been rumored, the whole team has been patiently awaiting PaRappa creator Masaya Matsuura's next project. Once it was revealed, I found myself puzzled as to what to expect. Would it be as good as PaRappa? Has Matsuura lost it? Well, that confusion is gone now that I've had time to play the game at E3.

Is it good? Well, read on and find out!

We won't even front -- this rhythm game's cartoonish design isn't for everyone, and there are a lot of you who won't appreciate the "Dreamcast-era" graphics, either -- but we still think Major Minor's Majestic March looks like the cat's pajamas. If you need any proof, there are actually saxophone-playing cats in striped sleepwear in the clip above.

We can't tell you how many nights we've spent marching in place to the tune of some distant melody in our living room, waving an imagined, magical baton and granting tubas to dancing pigs. It has been a fantasy we've indulged in for years.

The first actual screens of Major Minor's Majestic March have arrived, and we've been anticipating the first look at the new collaboration between Masaya Matsuura (and his NanaOn-Sha development studio) and Parappa character designer Rodney Alan Greenblat for some time. It's really weird seeing Greenblat characters in full 3D!

The game partitions the screen into two areas: on the top, Major Minor walks through the town, gathering up new musicians. Also, there's some kind of ... gumball machine meter? On the bottom, your current band of animals is presented in side view.

We're hoping that the return of Greenblat will help make Majestic March a work of Parappa-level excellence instead of another Tamagotchi Corner Shop.

We knew the folks behind one of the best and earliest rhythm-based video games around were thinking about working their magic with the Wii, but now word has hit the street that Majesco will be handling publishing duties for the new game, which is being made exclusively for the Wii.

Sweet, right? Well, it gets better. The new game is in the rhythm-based genre. That's right, the folks behind one of the most influential and amazing rhythm-based titles ever created are working to repeat that kind of success on the Wii.

Head past the break for the full press release.

PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura recently spoke with gamesindustry.BIZ about the current state of consoles and revealed that NanaOn-Sha is in the planning stages for a new game on the Wii. We couldn't be happier to inform you of this news, as PaRappa the Rapper was one sweet piece of gaming. Why not go with the PS3 for your new project though? "It's too big for the Japanese."

OK, so the physical size of the console is preventing the Japanese from enjoying it? Sure, we'll go with it (we thought it was the price tag). So, the Wii should be just right? "Wii is a very good piece of hardware. Many talented people from Nintendo make great ideas for game hardware, of course. Already I've been starting to think about Wii software, but it's very hard sometimes. Because can you keep shaking the controller for hours? Players can't spend a long time on gameplay, so this can be tough. So I respect Nintendo's activities, but for software designers like us, it's very hard."

We'll relay information on this new game as it comes in.