Odama Playthrough (Progressive Scan Mode) - Stage 1

This is part 1 of my capture of me playing through Odama for the GameCube. I'm playing the game in progressive scan mode using an actual GameCube (not the Wii).

I wasn't the biggest fan of pinball machines or pinball games growing up. To me, pinball machines were too difficult and unrewarding whereas video games were just plain fun. However, pinball-based video games could be fun at times.

As a kid I had played a bit of Kirby's Pinball Land and had seen Sonic Spinball as well, but those types of games didn't really interest me. That all changed in 2005 when Nintendo released Metroid Prime Pinball for the DS.

I was already a huge fan of the Metroid Prime games on the GameCube, so I decided to buy the pinball spinoff, especially since I loved playing the smaller, more accessible games on my DS (such as Yoshi Touch and Go and the touch-screen games in Super Mario 64 DS). Metroid Prime Pinball instantly impressed me and made me a fan of pinball games from that point forward.

When Nintendo later announced Odama, a feudal Japanese pinball game for the GameCube, I paid attention. Since I was busy finishing up college in the first half of 2006, I didn't buy Odama until about August of that year, but I managed to find the game at a discounted price of about $30, which was well worth it.

Odama turned out to be a really fun and interesting game (not to mention challenging), but its biggest flaw was that it was simply too short. This game should have had about 30 levels or so, but it ended up having only 11.

Unlike standard pinball games, Odama requires you to guide your soldiers toward pushing a bell through the enemy's gates in each stage. You also have to use the GameCube microphone to yell out specific commands to your troops such as "Press Forward." Since you can accidentally run over your troops with your pinball, you can damage their morale and cause them to start disobeying you. This makes for a wacky but hilarious game.

I hope you enjoy the footage.

In this first part I completed Stage 1: Kuruwa Plains I.

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR and the GameCube's component cables. I'm using an official GameCube controller and the GameCube microphone.