Space Channel 5 Part #1 - Let's Play Space Channel 5

Part 1: Let's Play Space Channel 5 - Parts 1&2!

Let's Play Space Channel 5 - Parts 1&2!

What is this game, exactly?
Space Channel 5 is a rhythm game, originally an exclusive to the Sega Dreamcast, but later ported to the PS2. You play as Ulala, a news reporter for Space Channel 5, trying to cover a strange alien invasion whilst keeping things totally stylish to keep the channel ratings up. If your audience figures are too low after one of your reports, your show gets cancelled. Simple!

So how do you play?
The entire game is played by repeating actions in time to the music. The actions correspond to directions (Up/Down/Left/Right), and 'Shoot' (aka 'Chu!', how it is most often pronounced). When shooting enemies, you have to press the X button if it's an alien, or the O button (otherwise known as the 'rescue beam') if it's a hypnotised member of the public.

Even though there are several types of scenes (shooting enemies, rescuing hostages, dance-off battles, etcetera), they all follow the same 'repeat the commands' style of gameplay.

So you'll be playing the Special Edition, right? What's so special about it?
I'll be playing the PAL PS2 versions of the games instead of the NTSC 'Special Edition' (which, essentially, was just Parts 1 and 2 in a single game case). Part 2 was never actually released in the UK; I had to import it from Australia.
Here are some photos!

Plus, a SC5-themed memory card promo slip, not thumbnailed as its height breaks the page layout!

Will you be completing this game 100%?
Both yes and no.

I will be aiming for:
- Both normal modes and extra modes played through.
- The secret paths in the extra modes shown.

However, I will not be aiming for:
- A zero-miss run. I'm only human, and in my opinion, it makes things more boring if you know you're going to be watching a perfect playthrough.
- Collecting all the character profiles. They're not very interesting, and require multiple playthroughs to find them all.
- All costumes collected. Many unlockable costumes require silly things such as 'Play the entire game 15 times so you clock up enough hours to activate it'.

If you want to see the game played flawlessly, the games themselves have a secret code so the game 'plays itself'. Essentially, this means that the game comes with its own no-miss video playthrough! You should totally buy them, as they're great games.

Normal Mode? Extra Mode?
Normal Mode is the standard playthrough of the game, where I will be making more informative subtitles and leaving most of the cutscenes free from subtitle box overlays.
Extra Mode is unlocked after you complete the game once, and has some differences in patterns as well as secret paths and other odd changes. Originally I was going to do another entire playthrough with different commentary, but I've decided to stick with montage videos to show the main differences, alongside guest commentated videos.

On with the videos!

SC5 Report 1: Introducing... Ulala!