Muscle March
Muscle March[lower-alpha 1] is a video game by Namco Bandai Games for WiiWare. It was released in Japan on May 26, 2009, in North America on January 18, 2010 and the PAL region on March 19, 2010.[1]
| Muscle March | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Namco Bandai Games |
| Publisher(s) | Namco Bandai Games |
| Composer(s) | Akitaka Tohyama Yoshihito Yano |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gameplay
Each of the game's three levels involves players chasing after a thief, who has stolen their bodybuilding friends' tub of protein powder, through a number of environments. The premise is similar to Hole in the Wall in which players follow the thief as they crash through walls, leaving holes in the form of bodybuilding poses, which the player must make their character squeeze through by gesturing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to match the pose. At the end of the level, players must shake the controllers to catch up and tackle the thief.
Players can choose from a number of flamboyant characters including an American boxer, a British female bodybuilder, a top hat wearing Spaniard, a Norwegian polar bear, a Ghanaian bodybuilder with an afro and a rubber ducky on top, a Russian bodybuilder with a mohawk and headphones, and a Japanese bodybuilder with goofy goggles and a topknot. The game features the standard arcade mode and a time attack mode that sees players trying to survive for as long as possible against increasingly faster speeds.[2]
Development
Muscle March is based on an unreleased arcade game of the same name.[3] Instead of the motion detecting controls in the WiiWare version, the arcade version used two large joysticks for control.
Reception
Although initially drawn to the game's more camp elements, Wired's Chris Kohler thought Muscle March was "terrible", suffering from limited replay value and overly simple gameplay. He also felt that Namco Bandai was ripping off Wii owners by releasing it for 800 Nintendo Points.[3] The game was only 500 points upon its American release.
Kotaku considered the game to be creative because of its unusual style.