Major Minor's Majestic March

Major Minor's Majestic March (メジャマジ・マーチ, Mejamaji Māchi) is a music video game for the Wii. Developed by NanaOn-Sha, it was said developer's final collaboration with Masaya Matsuura and artist Rodney Greenblat.[3]

Major Minor's Majestic March
Developer(s)NanaOn-Sha
Publisher(s)Majesco Entertainment
Designer(s)Masaya Matsuura
Artist(s)Rodney Greenblat
Platform(s)Wii
Release
Genre(s)Music
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Major Minor’s Majestic March uses the Wii Remote as a mace (a form of baton used exclusively by drum majors) that the drum major, Major Minor, uses to keep tempo, recruit new band members and pick up valuable items. While marching through eight whimsical locations that contain various hair-raising events, Major Minor strives to create the most impressive parade ever. Players can add up to 15 different instruments to their dynamic procession—including brass, woodwinds, and percussion—to alter its composition and resulting performance. Players are then scored on how well their band maintains its rhythm and manages obstacles that could otherwise throw the procession into disarray. The band keeps tempo to more than 25 popular marching band songs from around the world, composed into original medleys for each stage.

Development

Designer Masaya Matsuura had been introduced to marching band music, which, in combination with considering the Wii Remote similar to a band baton, lead him to come up with the idea for this game. However, he didn't want the game to just be about controlling the music's tempo, so he also added the ability to use magic to give animals instruments and allow them to join the band.[4]

The development was a troubled one, with the game's artist, Rodney Greenblat, expressing that "pretty much everything went wrong" and that he could write a book about what went wrong with the game.[5]

Reception

Major Minor's Majestic March sold poorly in Japan at only 600 copies in its first two days, failing to enter the Media Create top fifty for its week of release.[6] The game received a "B" from tech-gaming.com.[7] Issue number 202 of Edge Magazine scored the game 3 out of 10. Reviews on the Run gave the game 0.0 from Jose "Fubar" Sanchez, and 0.5 from Victor Lucas, two of the lowest scores possible, with the main complaints from both being that "the damn controls don't work!" Nintendo Power gave it a 6.0. According to Game Informer's Matt Helgeson, who gave the game a 3.0 out of a possible 10: "If I'm going to spend a long period of time with my hand wrapped around an oblong object, moving my arm rapidly up and down, it sure won't be with this game".[8]

Rodney Greenblat, who created the art style for the game, shared his disappointment: "No, I was not happy about MMMM. Pretty much everything went wrong. I could write a book about the compounded mistakes made by hardworking and talented people".[5]

References
  1. "Meja-Maji March (Major Minor's Majestic March)". The-MagicBox.com. January 17, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  2. "Major Minor's Majestic March - Nintendo - Games". Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  3. "Guitar Hero: Metallica, Gardening Mama, and Major Minor". Kidzworld. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  4. Alexander, Leigh (March 23, 2009). "GDC Interview: Masaya Matsuura's Musical Major Minor". Game Developer. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  5. Emily Rogers (2012-09-10). "Rodney Greenblat chats PaRappa, UmJammer Lammy, PlayStation All-Stars, and Nintendo". Archived from the original on 2013-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. Ashcraft, Brian (April 30, 2009). "Major Minor's Majestic March Sold 600 Copies In First Two Days". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  7. "Tech-Gaming: Command the Band- Major Minor's Majestic March Reviewed". Archived from the original on 2009-04-08. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  8. "Game Informer". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
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