Kororinpa: Marble Mania review

The only marble rolling game with farting panda bears

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Pinpoint control

  • +

    Demented levels

  • +

    Different marble stats

Cons

  • -

    Feels short

  • -

    Multiplayer tacked on

  • -

    Low visibility

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Somewhere in the world, there's an animal psychologist using Kororinpa: Marble Mania to determine scientifically, once and for all, if capuchin monkeys are smarter than Paris and Nicky Hilton (and after that, we're guessing, how much). The concept is dead simple - you have a marble, which you need to guide on a jewel-grabbing roll through a floating, maze-like track by tilting the Wii remote - so both groups can instantly grasp the concept.

Moreover, because the controls are so in-tune, so pinpoint accurate, only two things can be blamed when your little spherical buddy plunges off the rails to the abyss: the player's gross motor skills (which, admittedly, we'll give the monkey an edge on) and the player's strategy.

And this is where the game's MC Escher-esque labyrinths, filled with unguarded edges, moving parts, magnetized rails, cannons, stairs and other crazy obstacles come in: they'll require some actual thought to navigate at times. By the end of the 45 mazes (90 if you count the mirror image versions unlocked near the end), Kororinpa will have definitively separated the gold from the guano, the brains from the boobs, the gorillas from the gals. So to speak.

Or, it could just have created a few more Wii fans. This really is a great example of a Wii game done right- the control is perfect, and wouldn't work even with a SixAxis. In fact, the game's two-player mode proves this: if the second player uses the nunchuk controller instead of a remote, the game is harder. Then again, the two-player mode is just a bland, timed race, so that handicap should rarely be a problem.

More info

GenrePuzzle
DescriptionA hyper-cute, yet somehow hypnotic maze game in which you tilt and slide your marble around nearly 50 labyrinths, many of which would make M.C. Escher proud.
Platform"Wii"
US censor rating"Everyone"
UK censor rating""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.