Kororinpa

Did You Know?

• The chief designer Osamu Tsuchihashi drew inspiration from his childhood, where he would hammer nails in a wooden box and put marbles inside to play.
• The team at Hudson Soft focused on motion controls after extensive contemplation of the Wii's features.
• Marble Saga: Kororinpa includes 30 special stages in the North American release and 100 special stages in the European release.

Gameplay

Kororinpa adapts the marble game Labyrinth, with the player tilting the Wii Remote to navigate a spherical object through twisted mazes to a goal. The game includes 45 levels of increasing difficulty, requiring both accuracy and speed. Some mazes let walls become floors, and objects like magnets and conveyor belts appear. Each level has orange crystals needed for progression and a green crystal that unlocks secret levels. Completing levels within time limits earns bronze, silver, or gold trophies, which unlock new balls, music, and five bonus levels. Completing all single-player levels unlocks mirror mode.

Reception

The Wii version received average reviews according to Metacritic. IGN UK found the game hard not to warm to, praising its soundtrack and level design, but criticized the lack of levels and challenge, as well as the camera. Famitsu gave it 24 out of 40. GameZone scored it 6.5 out of 10, noting it uses the Wii nicely but lacks lasting value for its price. Kororinpa sold 2,416 units on its Japanese launch day.

Sequel

In Marble Saga: Kororinpa, players guide a small ant named Anthony and his colony on a quest to recover the Golden Sunflower Seed. The main adventure spans seventy-one stages spread across nine areas, culminating in the Stump Temple. Additional special stages were included for the Wii Balance Board, with thirty in the North American version and one hundred in the European release. The game offers multiplayer races, a stage editor for sharing custom creations via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and Mii support. It launched in North America on March 17, 2009, in Europe on May 1, 2009, and in Japan on August 6, 2009. A planned sequel for the Nintendo 3DS was never released.