By Jeremy Johnson

Space Channel 5 - Dreamcast / Playstation 2 (2000)

American Cover

Japanese Cover

European Cover

Back in the day of the Dreamcast, Sega published a number of fantastic, innovative games. Despite the Dreamcast initially selling well, many of these titles went unrecognized. In this vein was Sega's attempt at a rhythm game. Space Channel 5 is the brainchild of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who went on to create Sega's Rez, as well as the PSP puzzler Lumines. The game was developed by United Game Artists (UGA), which later merged into Sonic Team after Sammy took over Sega. With its North American release in June 2000, Space Channel 5 sported a full-on advertising campaign, and subsequently flopped very hard. Pretty sad considering its semi-innovative gameplay when compared to the earlier Parappa the Rapper. While the setting was entirely futuristic, having taken place in the year 2499, it had a very 70s retro feel to it, making it feel right at home with the likes of Austin Powers. All of the game's areas boast bright colors and a certain natural, appropriate groove. The story involved an alien invasion from the colorful little race of Morolians. Their sinister plot? Force everyone to dance against their own will. Space Channel 5 used to be one of the top broadcasting networks, but their popularity has quickly diminished as other networks have stolen the ratings. The player takes on the role of Ulala, a foxy reporter as SC5's last hope with Fuse, her unseen constant companion. You not only need to keep the show on the air, but defeat the Morolians and save mankind. Ulala(Age 22) She was saved from an explosion on a space station by a Space Channel 5 reporter when she was 12. Influenced by this, she became a foxy investigative reporter herself for SP5. Unfortunately, her career hasn't exactly taken off. However, because all the network's reporters have been captured and forced to dance, she is their last hope to save SP5 and boost the ratings. She wears plastic mini skirts and high heels, and damn she can dance. Voice Actress: Apollo Smile Fuse (Age 35) He's on the edge of his career as Space Channel 5's director, being pushed aside as the network went downhill. As his last resort, he supports Ulala fully when she's the only reporter left, always leading her through levels and helping her when she needs it. His name goes well with his short fuse as he'll get mad at Ulala for dancing poorly. Like Charlie from Charlie's Angels, he is never seen at all, but is only known through his groovy voice. Voice Actor: David Nowlin/Part 2: Kerry Shale Pudding (Age 19) A former teen idol turned reporter, she's quite jealous of Ulala stealing what little fame she has left, and declares herself to be her rival. It's just too bad she needs saving later AND has an annoying voice. What's more, her role as Ulala's rival is somewhat more prominent in Part 2, but her voice isn't as soul crushing (thank God). Despite all that, she still helps Ulala when needed. Voice Actress: Sumalee Montano/Part 2: Larissa Murray Jaguar (Age: 35) He comes and goes mysteriously like a ninja, but is actually a pirate out to be hating on Space Channel 5 and Ulala. Comes through eventually to help though and, unlike Pudding, actually stays conciously good. Always in search of truth, this gets him in quite some trouble in Part 2. Voice Actor: Jeff Kramer/ Part 2: Tom Clarke Hill Morolians These cute little creatures often "attack" in groups. They're mischeivious, yet possess high intelligence. Often seen plotting by using super space creatures(the end level bosses), only to be quickly foiled as Ulala defeats them. Space Michael (Age: Over 500) Midway through development Michael Jackson expressed an interest in the project. Because of his late interest, all that became of it was a brief cameo in the final level. He's given a far more prominent role in Part 2 as the head of SC5. In the Japanese versions he speaks English that's subtitled. Voice Actor: Michael Jackson The gameplay is a very simple variation on Simon Says - your opponent does some dance moves, and then you have to copy them. They'll call out any of the four cardinal directions - Up, Down, Left, Right - or "CHU!", which means a button press. Unlike similar games like Parappa the Rapper, there's no visual indication of when you need to time your button presses - so not only do you need to remember the moves, but also be able to replicate their rhythm. If even a single move is missed, you'll lose a heart, and fail the segment. Additionally, since you're technically on a TV show, you need to keep your ratings up. At the end of each stage, you need to meet a minumum quota, otherwise you start the stage from scratch. At 95% or above (usually only achievable in the final level or second playthrough) Ulala will glow fiery pink. Naturally, all of this happens to some spectacularly groovy music. Throughout each level, Ulala either dances to defeat Morolians or save a variety of dazed hostages. Once you free them, they join Ulala and march behind her in unison. By the end of each stage, she has screen wide choreography. Some even add extra beats to the music. Every character saved adds to your file's profile list, which has lots of useless (if humorous) descriptions about each NPC. At the end of each level of the game's four reports, you'll fight a glorious boss battle. But herein lies one of the main problems: Space Channel 5 is INCREDIBLY short. The game can easily be beaten in less than one hour. For a little more value one would think some sort of 2 player would be implented. It's overall genre only appeals to a certain niche to begin with, so Sega certainly jumped the gun when they sold the game at $30 for less than two hours of entertainment. There's some replayability found in extra mode, but it's partially the same levels with more difficult paths taken to reach the boss. Still, the presentation is gorgeous. Most of the characters are realtime polygon models, while all of the backgrounds are prerendered. The dance moves are all very well choreographed, while feeling both fluid and alive without looking robotic and clunky. Progression from area to area is smoothly done, as Fuse guides Ulala along. The English voice acting is very well executed and sounds extremely natural, which is wholly important. Because of her fame at the time of being a "Live Anime Girl," Apollo Smile was chosen to voice Ulala, and she does a terrific job. After the Dreamcast met its demise, Space Channel 5 was popular enough in Europe for Sega to port it to the Playstation 2 in March 2002 and Japan in December 2002. It later came out in North America as part of Space Channel 5 Special Edition for the PS2, released by Agetec in November 2003. For the most part, the game is the same. However, the Dreamcast version had an issue where the pre-rendered backgrounds would often lose sync with the characters - although this wasn't completely fixed in the Playstation 2 version, it's far less noticeable. MP3s Introducing Ulala

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Space Channel 5 Part 2 - Dreamcast / Playstation 2 (2000)

Japanese Cover (First Game)

Japanese Cover

European Promo Cover

Space Channel 5 Part 2 was initially released on the Dreamcast and PS2 on Valentine's Day 2002 in Japan only. While the game was released in Europe for the PS2, it was in limited quantities as a "promo edition" from Sony and is thusly very difficult to find without a large price tag. Because it was localized in Europe first, all the voice actors besides Apollo Smile are British, speaking in American accents for continuity sake. For it's belated North American release in November 2003, the original and Part 2 were sold in one compilation by Agetec (though still on 2 separate discs). Sadly, it still sold poorly and can often be found for bargin bin prices - notably on ebay. By all means, it's certainly worth it for such an awesome and unique game. Part 2 featured the same great music and action of the first while adding more and fixing previous problems. First off, whenever the player would hit a button in the first game, Ulala had to go through her whole animation for a direction or for the CHU command. Although a minor problem, it made the game feel a bit laggy with more complex sequences, even though her animation had nothing to do with how fast you could press buttons. Still, this was fixed in Part 2 by having Ulala instantly move in the direction the player pressed. The result is a much smoother game. Also, a new move, "HEY!" was added. It's now the same button used to rescue hostages in the first game, both making it easier to understand who to shoot and who to save, while adding more to dance combos. There's also occasional singing incorporated in with the dance moves, as well as some incredibly cool insturment duels between Ulala and various foes. The progression to the next level is no longer determined by a minimum rating. Instead, if you run out of hearts, you simply lose on the spot. The ratings meter now extends to one decimal place, giving a better sense of where you stand as it constantly fluctuates after every sequence, unlike the first game where it would remain static and change only after a few sequences. For boss battles, your rating is converted to an equal amount of stars which replaces Ulala's normal heart meter. If the amount of stars given can be retained, then the ratings will soar when they are converted back after the battle. On the flip side, you'll lose a good chunk of ratings if even a single star is lost. Every report starts off at a set rating that can be boosted to a max of 100% provided the player performs it with zero mistake and finds all the hidden times to press CHU given in several NPC descriptions (save more hostages, get more secrets). Also, instead of the linear path needed to take in the first game, all stages are now selectable and display the highest rating attained. All graphics are now rendered in real-time, so the characters stand out less from the scenery. The backgrounds are brighter and vastly more detailed while the character models look substantially better and more varied. The dance numbers are more impressive than ever with absolutely grand choreography at several points. Many of the tracks are remixes from the original, while the new songs feature the same great up beat style of the first game. The game is also much longer with six reports, doubled when adding in extra mode, which feels far more worth it as even it's improved. Especially since the player can unlock 40 outfits and 12 accessories (which substitutes for the microphone) completing various achievements hinted at on the Dressing Room screen. The story involved Ulala saving the galaxy from a new band calling themselves the "Rhythm Rogues." Once again, they're handing out jitterbug fever to the general populace, and only Ulala can stop them. It also sports a new cast of characters in addition to the old ones. Characters Shadow (Age 35) Basically the major hindrance who tries to stop Ulala on several occasions. He is a big surbordinate of Purge in the Rhythem Rogues and an awesome singer. Voice Actor: Tom Clarke Hill Purge (Age 18) The leader of the Rhythm Rogues, he seeks to overthrow President Peace and force the whole galaxy to dance for him by stealing Space Channel 5's satellite. He amazes himself. Voice Actor: Eric Myers II President Peace The main man in the galaxy, Purge seeks to overthrow him since, being the President and all, stands in his way of total control. Quite the nice guy, he always wants to make people happy. His singing voice has enough energy to melt rock and make hearts cry. Voice Actor: Bob Sherman Noize Ulala's assistant, he basically drives that blue thing she rides around and helps her in one report. Also, he acts as the main helper for Ulala when Fuse, erm...goes away. Voice Actor: Alan Marriott Hoorg While in the first game as the Morolian Boss(of which he still holds the title to), he actually becomes the main Morolian reporter used in all the inbetween-level cutscenes. He's nice enough to help Ulala in the end like every other freaking person in the game. Pine Sexy space cowboy and part of the Eastern Venus Space Police. A super drummer, Ulala and Noize have to face her after they tread into forbidden territory for a good scoop. Of course, she helps Ulala in the end. Voice Actress: Toni Barry Also new is the Ulala Dance mode. a 100 dance trial with no chances to mess up. This is only made more difficult when 'CHU' and 'HEY' are changed to 'WOOF' and 'MEOW' or 'HONDA', and 'TOYOTA.' Additionally, two players can now participate in the normal game mode and Ulala Dance. The first player controls the directional buttons and second player controls the CHU and HEY buttons. It makes for weird gameplay, but it's not a bad way to get other people involved and learn cooperation. Overall, it's a quality sequel, even though it still won't attract anyone who didn't like the original.

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Space Channel 5: Ulala's Cosmic Attack - Gameboy Advance (2000)

American Cover

Space Channel 5 GBA

Space Channel 5 GBA

Sega had an agreement with various development houses to create handheld versions of their Dreamcast franchises, all to be published by THQ in North America. This resulted in some decent to great titles (Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Advance) and some not so decent ones (Revenge of Shinobi, Altered Beast). Space Channel 5: Ulala's Cosmic Attack falls in the latter category, but not for lack of trying. Let me start off by saying, there is very little different from the console version of Space Channel 5. The story is the same, all 4 levels are still intact (even extra mode), character profiles are the same, hell, even most dance patterns are the same. It's the same game made portable. Naturally the game suffers from extreme downsizing which is expected, though still disappointing. All of the characters are well animated sprites, but all of the backgrounds have been turned into static pictures. Unfortunately, they lose most of the color, and the result pales in comparison to the original. Also those you rescue cycle through pretty quickly, as no longer does Ulala have large groups of people dancing along with her, but usually only the most recent saved. Besides a few voice clips and the dance moves, nothing is voice acted. All the lines appear in color-coded text (orange for Ulala speaking, green for Fuse, etc) which would be expected, but the text at some points is poorly timed so it can disappear before it's fully read. Easily the worst ported is the music. The songs all sound like crappy midi tracks which is dull considering a game like Golden Sun could pull off such orchestral music to the best of the little machine's ability. Besides the bad, there's not much else to say. Space Channel 5's appeal lies in its style, presentation, and music. Dumb all that down and there's not much left other than a barebones rhythm game. One could be compelled to buy it as a rhythm game fan, actually deserving of a bargin bin price; regardless, it still has the charm of being portable and is only truely awful when compared to the original. Also worth mention is a cell phone game, Space Channel J, for UK based company Vodafone.

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Legal Troubles

Kier Kirby, a former pop idol in the United Kingdom from the band Deee-lite, claimed Sega had offered her $16,000 to use her image for Ulala's character design. When she refused, and Sega went ahead and used that design for Ulala anyway, Kirby decided to sue. In 2003, she claimed over $750,000 in damages. In the end, in 2006, she lost the case and had to pay Sega for damages. Thanks to Kitsunexus for the update regarding Kier Kirby. Read more here.

Lady Miss Kier

Soundtracks

There are six soundtracks total. None have been released Stateside ,which would seem weird considering Sega went to such great lengths to promote the first game in North America. The first game's OST includes all the tracks throughout the levels (22 total). Of course, it includes the original version of Mexican Flyer (the series signature song) and a remix. Also, a series of short little drama "programs" are thrown in. Of course, these are performed by the Japanese voice actors which would be super if you understand the language. A remix CD exclusively for Mexican Flyer was released including five remixes and the original version. Yes, an entire six tracks. They're certainly unique if nothing else, but otherwise not the greatest remixes. Let's just say you're not exactly missing out if you never get the chance to hear them. You could just settle for the other 20 billion remixes Mexican Flyer has endured. Part 2 took it further. Since the game was longer, of course it had more music; or at least enough for two full albums. The first, CHU!!!, contains 27 tracks. It has Report's 1-3 music as well as several extras including one of three fully vocalized songs (the others being Pine's and Purge's Themes, but they're not as important), "This Is My Happiness" (President Peace's signature song) is sung in Engrish by a Japanese voice actor. The second album, HEY!!!, has yet another 27 tracks. It includes Report's 4-6 music as well as several more extras and "This Is My Happiness", sung by an actual native English speaker (and the version used in Space Channel 5 Special Edition). Two remix albums were made. The first, Can't Stop Remix, has 23 tracks. About half are more of those fun little drama programs, but the remix part of the album is still very well done and in a nice variety of the songs. All three vocalized songs (remember, Pine's Theme, Purge's Theme, and This Is My Happiness) are featured as super remixes and nicely done (such as Pine's voice being slowed down or Peace's voice echoing in the background). The second remix album, Non-Stop Megamix, connects several songs and vocals (including the directional buttons thrown in on several occasions) together to make unique sounding songs. One remix actually includes a bit from Rez, also developed by UGA. There's a couple of Mexican Flyer remixes put in for good measure, which completes an already superb album.

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Cameos

-Ulala's outfits are unlockable in the Gamecube volleyball game Beach Spikers. -In Rez, also developed by UGA, there's an unlockable Morolian form. -If you have the Ulala's Cosmic Attack catridge in your DS with Feel the Magic, you can unlock Ulala's hair for the female lead. Also, a mini-game similar to SP5 gameplay is included. -Ulala appears as an unlockable in Sonic Riders with Japanese voice clips retained for the North American release. Former UGA employees are part of Sonic Team now, which is why this is so. -SP5 appeared as a mini game in the Eye Toy game Sega Superstars. Considering the eyetoy's...unique needs for an enourmously bright room and blank wall background, it's a bit unwieldy and, at least to me, not really worth it (though I did try). The North American release uses English voice samples from Part 2 for Ulala and Fuse. -Ulala and Pudding are control-type players in Sega Superstars Tennis released on multiple platforms (remains unreleased in Japan unusually enough), once again with English voice acting taken from Part 2. Also a SP5 themed court appears. -In Phantasy Star Universe, a girl appearing like Ulala and with her theme is included and branded as a reporter for the games Channel 5 news show. -In a discontinued online golf game called Sega Splash! Golf, Ulala was among the Sega themed caddies. -You can dress up virtual idol Hatsune Miku as Ulala in the PSP "game" Project Diva.

Sonic Riders Project Diva

Space Channel 5 almost seems like the spiritual twin to Jet Grind Radio - even though they're completely different genres made by completely different teams, they both share a similar theme of pushing towards stylistic visuals and music. Unfortunately, neither of these took off, especially in America, relegating them to cult status. With Mizuguchi having left Sega, it's unlikely we'll ever see another true appearance of Ulala. Thanks to Daijoubu for the Project Diva pics. Links SpaceChannel5.org A fansite in the making. They have some great downloads and a nice gallery. Space Channel 5 Images from Cheep Productions Just a big gallery of images. Nice if you're looking for all of Ulala's poses.

Space Channel 5 Part 2