Music Games Don’t Get More Moe Than Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai

Sega is working on a new Hatsune Miku game for the Nintendo 3DS and Good Smile company is connected to it. While Hatsune Miku: Project Diva for PSP and arcades has an anime look to it, Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai stars a Nendoroid Hatsune Miku.

I played a demo of Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai at Tokyo Game Show, which had two difficulty levels. Easy was a one button (A only) rhythm game and Normal was two buttons (A and B). After choosing a song, an adorable Miku danced on the screen, but I was too busy following notes to watch her. Instead of falling buttons, Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai has pop up clocks with As and Bs replacing numbers. A hand moves clockwise to the beat and players press notes when the hand moves over them. It was easy to catch on, maybe even too easy compared to some of the difficult Hatsune Miku: Project Diva songs.

Clear one clock full of notes and another pops up. Each one takes up about half of the screen and when you hit a note on time there’s a tiny 3D explosion. The demo ended after I cleared the song with a "Thanks for playing!" message. Features like augmented reality Hatsune Miku were not available to try.

I think Sega’s focus with this Hatsune Miku title is they’re trying to turn the cuteness dial to the max. However, Miku’s background pom pom dancing is lost when a player’s attention is turned to the notes.

Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai is slated for release in March 2012 for Japan.