Not your normal game
You can not beat it and you can not lose to it, Electroplankton is a game that can only be experienced. The concept of the game revolves around using different Electroplankton to make and manipulate music and by doing so you also create a visual spectacle to go along with the music. In more ways than one, Electroplankton is an art game and a necessary addition to the collection of anyone searching for a game that is different than the norm.

In Love
ElectroPlankton is not a game...it's a sensitive software !
I will not explain why i'm in love, just buy it or try it ...you just will never finish to play with it !

Very clever and lush, but too expensive
First things first: this is a very unique and special game. This is not a game for everyone, no widespread appeal, no casual gamer appeal, etc. What it is, however, is a very unique, lush experience that needs to be experienced by all who call themselves hardcore gamers. Is that you?

I paid around $51 USD, including shipping, and that was too much, even with the included headphones. I would put this at a $30 game, tops. This is only the second game, both here at Play-Asia, I have paid full price for (over $50) and the other being DJ Max Portable for the PSP is no comparison to this game.

If you have extra cash, are independently wealthy, or just a big fan of this genre, check it out. Otherwise, look for a Stateside bargain. If you're lucky. Last time I checked this was going for $50 plus. Good luck!

MC White says 3 1/2 stars only.

Brilliant
This game is an amazing musical experience. Play with little water creatures that make music... sounds boring right? Well it's actually really fun and addicting and it uses all the features of the DS. Worth getting.

Still worth importing!
A fantastic piece of software for the DS as it makes great use of the hardware. I'd still recommend the Japanese version despite the release in the US, because you get the nice presentation box and free headphones which are lacking in the American version. Plus it's the most import friendly title ever!

The novelty does wear off pretty soon but it's one of these things you'll keep coming back to over time, compositions can't be saved to the game card but it's possible to hook it up to a PC or HiFi and record that way so it's not really too much of a problem.

If you want something to chill out to, you can’t go wrong with Electroplankton.

FUN BUT TOO SHORT
This is definetely fun, but there should have been more to play around with on this musical interaction program. Still, this is no doubt a lot of fun and you'll play around with it whenever you're bored. Hearing your voice backwards, slowed down, sped up and in another dozen or so effects is a great idea. Especially since you see the plankton's mouth move to the words you say. You'll laugh at how cute they can be. I don't regret buying it at all, actually I'm glad I did.

Electroplankton is Touchable Media Art...NOT a game!
It has finally happened... I am now hooked on Electroplankton. I have really been sucked into experimenting with all the plankton. It is a shame you can't save your creations, but really experimenting is half the fun. There are ten different plankton to create music with. I will list each plankton and give you a description of them.

Tracy: There are six plankton on the screen to create with. The speed and sound of the notes of each of the six depends on your strokes made with the stylus. A slow stroke makes less notes that are held out for longer and a fast stroke makes more notes that aren't held out as long. A way to get some cool sounds is to start out with drawing a small U shape with the first plankton and then surrounding it with the other five plankton in U shapes around it (with the U starting at the opposite end as the one next to it). Using a protractor is also fun;)

Hanebow: This level if you will, consists of one leaf on the left side of the screen that shoots out little plankton at a plant with six leaves on it. You can adjust the angle of the leaf that shoots out the plankton and the angles of the leaves on the plant to force the little flying plankton to hit the notes you want.

Luminaria: This is probably my personal favorite level. The screen consists of four plankton and 36 arrows. The arrows are set up as a path for the plankton to follow. You can change the direction the arrows point to lead each plankton on its own path. Two of the plankton in this level move fast and the other two hit the notes slower. As the plankton travel different paths you set up for them the notes change.

Sun-Animalcule: In this level you simply touch the screen with the stylus and a little plankton pops up. The plankton continually get larger and eventually pop, so you must keep touching the screen to add more plankton to keep the music going. When you first start out the plankton look like little suns, but over time the new plankton you add look like little moons and the music changes when that time comes. They eventually go back to the suns and the music continues to sound cooler the longer you experiment with this plankton.

Rec-Rec: In this level there are four plankton swimming across the screen. The entire time this is happening there is a drum beat playing. You touch one of the four plankton and it turns red and once it gets to the left side of the screen it begins recording. You can record about 5 seconds of sounds with each of the four plankton. They will continue to be looped along with the drum beat until you touch the plankton again (thus initiating the recording process).

Nanocarp: In this level there are sixteen little plankton in a straight line on the screen. They constantly move around and will create music even if you don't touch them, but it is much more fun to touch;) Say you touch a plankton in the middle of the line, well he starts to spin around starting a chain reaction with the plankton around him. So anytime you touch a plankton it starts that same domino-type effect with the plankton around it.

Lumiloop: This level has five circular plankton on screen (they almost look like little tires with eyes and a mouth...lol). You use the stylus to spin each of the five around clockwise or counter-clockwise. The longer you spin them the longer the sound lasts. The notes and colors of the plankton change depending on which way you spin them.

Marine-Snow: There are thirty-five snowflake shaped plankton on the screen in this level. Each time you touch a plankton it switches places with another one. Each plankton sounds like a different note on a piano. The more you touch the plankton, the more the different notes get mixed up in a sea of little plankton. This is defintely a fun level to experiment with;)

Beatnes: This level plays a loop of the good old Mario music. You have five plankton on screen swaying back an forth. Each has a head and a tail. There are ten spots to touch on each of these five plankton. The heads are sounds like getting a coin, or mushroom, etc. The end of the tails have sounds like spinning, jumping, etc. The spots in between the head and tail are notes. This plankton is really fun to experiment with as well... be prepared to get the Mario theme (or really your version of it) stuck in your head for hours with this one;)

Volvoice: Another plankton that makes use of the DS mic. There are sixteen different plankton on the screen in this level. Pick one of the plankton and it shows up in the middle of the screen. Once it is in the middle of the screen you touch it again, it turns red and you can record your voice (or whatever sound you want) for about five seconds. Once you get this intial recording you can touch any of the other plankton on the screen to put different effects on what you just recorded. You can play it backwards, with distortion, or make the recording sound really low, or even chipmunk speed. It is quite fun to hear your voice at mach chipmunk speed;)

These "desriptions" of each plankton are from when I first began experimenting with the game... and as experimenting with anything goes, the more you do it, the more you figure out. That said, there are other little "hidden" things to figure out through experimentation, but I'll leave that for you to figure out when you test out this gem for DS.

A wonderful musical diversion
** Electroplankton is not "a music-based game." **

I'm reiterating this for a reason; there are no goals, unlockables or deep overarching gameplay elements. If anything, it can be compared to an instrument, but even then there are so many random elements that it's very difficult to play the same exact thing twice in a row.

What Electroplankton is, however, is a great experiment in musical entertainment -- part instrument, part light show, part ambient noise, part sandbox. Every single time you turn on the game, you start from scratch, and with each 'plankton you build various levels of musical sounds until you've assembled a very thick composition. It's not for all musical types -- you'll be more inclined to the game if you like electronica, jazz or any other types of music that involve looping and repetition.

I think the game works best in short bursts -- maybe 10-20 minutes within one 'plankton. But there are 10 different types of 'plankton, and each one differs in tonal quality and how you play with them.

Is the gameplay deep? No, not particularly. But it's so immensely broad in scope that you can create an unlimited number of musical compositions -- and each time you sit down, you create something new, and once you're done you can switch to something else and build up a new composition within seconds. I highly recommend this for anyone who really enjoys listening to and creating music.

Is this a game?
This question seems to have caused intersting discussion in forums in the last few months. In my opinion it's not. This doesn't make it any less enjoyable or worthy of your hard earned, but it makes it harder to quantify it in a 'review'.

You get out of this title what you put in. If you want to record your creations, layer them, multiply them, you can make some interesting music. Nothing close to any, even slightly serious audio creation/mixing tools available. But that's not what it's about.

It's about the experience. The fact that you cannot save any of your music is a sticking point with people that have bought this title. But in my opinion, it's not about that. It's about relaxing, whittling away an hour or two experimenting and forgetting about...well...everything. Let's face it, this is one of the biggest reasons we indulge in this pasttime. To immerse ourselves in another world to relieve the stresses and strains of our humdrum lives. Listen to me get all maudlin!

It works (ironically) as a nice break from those teeth clenching Halo 2/RE4/Battlefield 2 sessions. A nice friendly, soothing place to relax and play.

"Bring the noise." - Chuck D, 1988.

mmmm!
the biggest mistake i've made with my ds is buying electroplankton (ive already sold it on).

dont get me wrong, its a nice little toy, but in my opinion worth no more than $20/£12!

as i said its a toy, not a game and a very shallow one at that!

if you have never touched a instrument or played a bemani game, then it will be alot of fun, but i craved for alot more!

basically all you can create is loops, ambient sounds and melodic rhythms, but they are very limited.

i did enjoy it, but for such a shallow piece of kit, $50/£30 is a joke!

the killer ap for DS (aside from nintendogs! :P )
many are of the opinion that this is merely a tech-demo, and i can understand why they would think this - electroplankton takes a unique understanding to truly appreciate its philosophy.

firstly, the japanese version is very import friendly - ntsc-uk have a link in their forums to a translation of the booklet that comes with it, but you can probably find this in several places now. there is minimal text in the game itself, but you don't need it. electroplankton is all about experimentation - try something and you never know, it might work. nanocarp especially will have a few surprises in store for you, and to be honest, it was better discovering them without reading about how to do them.

however - all postmodern prose aside, to put it simply, if you're the curious inventive type, and you like to have fun, it's fantastic. you honestly do spend hours and hours just messing around with the planktons and having a ball.

back to that postmodernism... the more you understand about what's happening in electroplankton, the more you'll appreciate it. it isn't as detailed as some of the progressive math presentations out there, but what it is, is functional. perhaps some of you have been to those modern technology-art exhibitions where an artists has studdied math for years and has created visual representations of life-forms that change and animate, evolving to their surroundings... the thing is, no-matter what your opinion or appreciation of the visual style is, it just doesn't connect with you.
electroplankton is a practical application you can hold in your hand, and pay enough attention to it, and you'll see each element change as what you do is enacted.

hanenbow is perhaps the easiest example - the planktons will make a certain sound when they strike a certain leaf. that sound however will change if the plankton strikes the same leaf immediately - it will change again if it strikes another leaf first, it will change depending on how many times the leaf is struck - it isn't as complicated as modern-art, but it's inventive, fun, and actually produces pleasing sounds.

not every plankton is about math functions enacting on math functions - some like lumiloop are just about creating surreal ambient sounds from a selection of different sound-sets - but if you're as abstract as i am, you'll still appreciate this kind of thing.

the only two planktons i was less impressed with, but that are still plenty of fun, were rec rec and volvoice. while they are very cool little apps, their appeal is more novel and hence they turn into cool things to show other people rather than mess around with yourself. that being said i'm sure others have spent plenty of time with them.

not for everyone, but i assume if you have a DS, then you're not the everyday FPS/GTA gamer already. apparently a localised version is comming, but it's simply more elite to have the japanese version XD

Excellent!!! Plain and simple
This game is fantastic. My only problem with it is that you can't save on the cartridge. That really doesn't bother me a whole lot seeing as how if I want to save it I just record it into my computer. It comes in beutiful packaging and with a set of earbud head phones. Awsome buy Highly recomended!!!

ELECTROPLANKTON
the most AMAZING item to get for yoour DS............if you get any one game for the system get this one...the guy that put this together please do a version 2, and 3 and so on.....we love it.....the most relaxing, stress reducing, wonder of the world.....God bless the inventor of Electroplankton..make sure you order it.......it will become a part of your heart..........in total peace

Einfach Fun
Das Spiel ist wirklich hübsch. Es hat zwar nicht so viel Spielumfang, wird aber länger zum Spielen motivieren, als manch andere Spiele. Mit der Sprache gibt es kein Problem, nach kurzer Zeit schon hat man die Grundlagen durch Experimentieren verstanden. Wer Rhytmus und schöne Klänge mag sollte auf jeden Fall zuschlagen.

Definitly Awesome
My order hasn´t arrived yet, but I´m waiting to play this fantastic game.
Thanks Play-Asia

Toll!
Electroplankton überzeugt voll und ganz. Absolute Kaufempfehlung für alle, die ein bisschen was mit abgefahrenen Spielkonzepten und mit Musik anfangen können!

Simply awesome
VERY cool, very original. Hardly any Japanese (expect for the manual, but instructions are on GameFAQs if you need it - but it's more fun to experiment) so that shouldn't be a problem.

At first, you'll either be confused, wondering why you bought it, or loving every second of it. Once you come back to it, and you've got the hang of it, I guarentee you'll absolutely love it.

You should definitely get this, there's nothing else quite like it.

An enjoyable and relaxing experience
It's fun. It's addictive. And it really isn't a game. But this "game" is a must own. Whenever I'm stressed, tired, or just need a break, I play Electroplankton and I feel great.

Just..One...more...go!
Brilliant. This is really lovely. 10 different plankton to play with, and each will bring joy to your heart!

Don't go into this expecting a game - you'll be dissapointed. Instead, take it for what it is, and you'll love every minute - or more likely, hour.

Thanks play-asia or quick delivery and great service!

No title
WoooooooooooooooooooW

it's Great

No title
This game is tight, but not as much as cheddar cheese

Truly bizarre
...But brilliant. Not really a game, more a toy. A musical toy, and one for all ages. Playing with the plankton is just fun, plain and simple. I think the trick is to dip in to it from time to time, when you've got a spare minute or two. Watch the time though, because a spare minute or two could easily become a joyful half-hour.

Thanks again to Play Asia for great service and a quick delivery!

throw them anti-depresants away!
this game purely and simply soothes your soul...
import this great app for the ds RIGHT NOW!

The coolest game all over the world!!!!!
Electroplanton!!! It´s the funniest and coolest game all over the world!!!

If you haven´t got it, order it, NOW!!!

The Headphones are not the best, but the design (light-blue) is very cool!

It´s soooooooo cool!

Wonderous playabilty, hours of fun.
This is simply one of the most enjoyable "games" I've played in a long while! Two of the toys to look out for are Beatnes, a series of amusing nes sound effects mixed together with old Nes music like from Super Mario Bros, and VolVoice, which lets you record your voice and play it back at the most amusing of mutations, what's more is if you have a stereo jack (like one the end of the head phones, but one with two ends) you can connect Electroplankton to your PC and record the music you make! Wonderful!

Fantastic!
Never played a thing what's so amazing and where I become so relaxe. Well, in fact, it's not a game (you can't beat the highscore or something like this). If you wanna have legal drogs, buy Electroplankton!

Electroplankton
A wonderful experience. Capable of raising a bigger smile as Wario Ware: Touched!!. Speaking as a UK customer, the interface is easy to understand

Fantastic Electroplankton
The beautifully packaged and highly original Electroplankton is very easy to pick up. There are ten activities where you interact with unique types of plankton, to make music! Two activities use the microphone to sample sounds, which are looped or transformed, and all use the touch screen to vary the sounds you hear. Everyone who enjoys making music will find Electroplankton a fantastic toy. A couple of the screens present a challenge that adds some gameplay to the mix, but the whole experience is all about being creative. There are stereo earphones and a 60 page booklet full of colour artwork in the box as well! You can tell that the inventor, Toshio Iwai is a famous music and graphics artist. With no news of an English release, so you should import it now!

Wonderful!!
Truthfully I was a little worried since this was my first DS import game purchase, but Electroplankton proved me utterly wrong !!! A truly hypnotic experience, where you can create so many different types of music with just a simple touch!! Fully utilizes the use of the DS, with sound, whisper, blowing into the mic, and of course, touch! The earphones that come with it are a pretty blue just like Electroplankton, not the best but they do their job!!

Whether this is your first import or not, Electroplankton highly accentuates the DS's features with beautiful ease! The graphics and creatures are soooo cute!! Highly irresistable gameplay!!

WOW
What an amazing experience ! brillaint ! must have for DS owners !!

Really New
Fun to play and So Different it will enchant you