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Major Minor’s Majestic March, Dawn of Heroes, Gardening Mama, and more

The other day the folks from Majesco came by and took us through a whirlwind of games in development, mostly aimed at the younger crowd or family-friendly party scene. We’ve got a lot to talk about so let’s get cracking:

Major Minor’s Majestic March (Wii)
Conceived by the same minds that brought us the much-beloved Parappa the Rapper, Major Minor focuses on using the Wii remote like a baton as you lead a marching band of anthropomorphic animals. Before each march you can set the tempo how you want it by hefting the baton to a comfortable rhythm, and then you’re off on a journey through a colorful world, recruiting band members along with way with a quick flick in their direction.

As band members join the march, the music gains new layers of instruments. You’ve got to keep the pace steady, and various band members, displayed in the bottom of the screen, have colored icons to let you know if they want the tempo sped up or slowed down. There are also bonus stages where you order the marching band into formations in the vein of what you’d see on your average high school football field.

Our House: Party (Wii)
In this Mario Party-ish (could you tell?) four-player competition, everyone is scrambling to build and renovate homes. Players choose from characters that have special abilities that give them certain advantages (having a jackhammer when no one else does will be useful). Everyone “votes” on what minigame to play by walking their characters around a grid and standing on their chosen game – at least two people have to agree.

Minigames range from shopping for tools to building foundations all the way up to the finished product. Each player gets to pick their motif for their house such as Victorian, Post-modern, or Japanese. Once players have constructed a house they particularly like, they can use WiiConnect24 to post it online and show it off to their friends.

Matthew Keast
Matthew Keast
My new approach to play all games on Hard mode straight off the bat has proven satisfying. Sure there is some frustration, but I've decided it's the lesser of two evils when weighed against the boredom of easiness that Normal difficulty has become in the era of casual gaming.