At Nintendo's 2004 E3 party I stumbled across a mysteriously placed (at the front door) kiosk. Inside was a GameCube, and on the screen was a strange little pinball game that appeared to be a tech demo. However, after playing it for several moments I realized that it was in fact a full-fledged game called Odama, and to be perfectly honest, I probably spent more time playing it than I did partying. Other staff members eventually checked it out at E3 and were so impressed that they actually considered awarding it Game of the Show. However, that never happened, and shortly after the event Odama disappeared, only to return at E3 2005 with one very special feature, that being microphone support.

In case you haven't heard of it, Odama is this bizarre fusion of pinball/RTS from Yoot Saito, who is the same developer who delivered the exquisite game Seaman to the world. In it you play as a "general" of sorts who is in control of numerous soldiers, and the goal is to basically beat the hell out of your enemies while at the same time assisting this small band of troops that are trying to carry this enormous bell to the top of the screen. Opposing you is another army that's going to attempt to make little difficult for your men, and the only way you'll be able to defeat them is to actually play pinball. Using two gigantic stone flippers, you'll bat around a stone ball known as an Odama about the battlefield, crushing trees, wooden structures, catapults, a dam, and hopefully tons of enemy soldiers. Numerous lives will in fact be snuffed out by the humongous stone ball of doom, and I've taken much glee watching as the Odama barrels into them.

When I first started playing the game I thought that the odds weren't fair because I was the one controlling the Odama, but the reality is, much like with real pinball, if you don't capitalize on getting a lot of points you might as well just take your hands off the machine and watch the ball lazily roll around the table. Similarly, if you don't crush as many of these little dudes as possible they'll overwhelm your men as well as latch onto your flippers, rendering them inoperable. If you lose the Odama you're screwed, so you're better off doing some skillful aiming to make sure you don't gently tap the stone like a sissy wiener. However, if you should find yourself in a pinch you can clear enemies from your flippers by tossing a hamburger onto the battlefield, whereupon which they'll hop off and crowd around it. Yes, I said a hamburger, because Odama wouldn't have that Japanese videogame shine if something within the title's boundaries made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Personally, I dig it.

Unlike the version that played in 2004, this new Odama features microphone support that allows you to issue orders to troops while you play. Whenever you want to issue a command you (in Seaman fashion) press and hold the X button and speak into the mic. It definitely adds another dimension to the gameplay, even though you'll definitely attract the attention of curious onlookers as you yell "CHARGE, FORM UP, RIGHT, and LEFT".

There were only three stages to check out in the Odama E3 build so I'm not sure how long the game will be. However, the concept still intrigues me and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the final version when it's released in mid November. Let's just hope that we don't see this game at E3 2006.