Nintendo Releases Monkey Band on DSiWare

Nintendo and muumuu have teamed up to release the intriguing Monkey Band on DSiWare in Japan. Hitting the download service on 28th April, the game comes from the same Japanese team that brought Europe Make 10: A Journey of Numbers at the end of 2008.

For 800 Points, Japanese DSi owners can download Tsukatte Utau Saru Band (Make and Sing: Monkey Band), a game where you own inputted lyrics are sung back using an in-game vocoder, similar to the system used in the accessibility options on standard PCs, except with a musical theme. Set in the Sarudamon Kingdom, Prince Saruno leads the monkey populace in a parade filled with songs of your creation!

Players can 'Make a Song for a Person,' 'Make a Song from a Theme,' or 'Make a Hand-Written Song.' Details have kindly been translated by Andriasang:

Make a Song From a Theme
This option gives you a number of preset themes -- things like soccer, school life, love, and Sengoku. After selecting your theme, you select the image of your song -- things like "cute," "wild" and "bitter sweet." Based off the image you've selected, Saruno will write lyrics for you. You're free to swap lines in and out to your liking. After the song has been written, you can select an arrangement genre. Options include punk, serious, samba, enka, and hip hop. Saruno will then create your song. You can modify the song's tone, tempo and rhythm. Your songs can be saved for future listening and editing. You can store up to 120. If you don't want to go through the hassle of creating your own song, you can select to have Saurno go at it ad-lib. When listening in this mode, you can choose to save songs that you like.

Make a Song For a Person
You start this mode out by registering profiles for your friends. You can record nickname, interests, favorite foods, charm point, and other areas. The game can store up to 10 people. After selecting the person for whom you want to create your song, the process is the same as in the theme section. You select an image, edit the lyrics to your liking, and Saruno takes care of the rest.

Make a Hand Written Song
This mode lets you create a 9 line song by freely inputting text with the stylus. The monkeys will be able to sing your lyrics. Leave a line blank, and the monkeys will sing a "la la la" for that line. After creating your song, you select an arrangement, tone, tempo and rhythm, and Saruno takes care of the rest.