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                               Electroplankton
                                  FAQ  v1.0
                               for Ninteno DS

                             by Lance E. McDonald
                          www.HollywoodRocketRide.com
                           [email protected]
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Introduction
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Welcome to my FAQ for Electroplantkon. Electroplankton is a pseudo-game for
Nintedo DS which is more often placed under the genre of "Touchable Media Art".
In Electroplankton, you choose from ten types of Electroplankton to use in a
musical environment. Each type of Electroplankton has it's own way of making
musical notes and sounds, as well as interacting with a musical environment.

There are very few accomplishable goals in Electroplankton, but for what there
is, I've decided to put together a good way to achieve what can be done in the
game in the form of this FAQ.

I hope you enjoy it, and please contact me and let me know what you think of
this guide, as it's my first one submitted to GameFAQs.

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Legal
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This written work is Copyright 2005 Lance E. McDonald. It may not be made
publicly available for download by any services other than:
GameFAQs and it's partnerships.
Hollywood Rocket Ride.com
Planet Silent Hill.com

Thanks for reading.

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Table of Contents
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I:    Introduction
II:   Legal
III:  Table of Contents

1:    Japanese Electroplankton
 1.01:  Free Headphones!

2:    The Electroplankton
 2.01:  Tracy
 2.02:  Hanenbow
  2.02a:  Creating Flowers
 2.03:  Luminaria
 2.04:  Sun-Animalcule
 2.05:  Rec-Rec
 2.06:  Nanocarp
  2.06a:  Creating Patterns
 2.07:  Lumiloop
 2.08:  Marine-Snow
 2.09:  Beatnes
 2.10:  Volvoice

3:    It's Electroplankton!
 3.01:  Gimmick or Innovation?
 3.02:  Tech-demo or Toy?

IV:   About the Author

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Japanese Electroplankton
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Electroplankton has made it big as an import title, not just because it is
generally seen as a fantastic Nintendo DS title, but also because many fans
fear that the title may not be released in any other regions. Because of this,
we are currently all playing the Japanese version of Electroplankton, which
might seem like a problem, but it really isn't.

Electroplankton has very little written text in it, and about 40% of the
written text in the game is in English.

The instruction manual is, however, almost entirely written in Japanese. This
is one of the main reasons for this FAQ, as it will help explain some things
that may not be easy to figure out without an English manual for the game.

When you turn on the Nintendo DS with a Japanese Electroplankton game inserted,
the Game Icon reads "ELECTROPLANKTON" followed by "Erekutoropurankuton" written
in Katakana, with "Nintendo" written under that.

After selecting this, the title page for the game appears. On the top screen
beneath the words "ELECTROPLANKTON" is written "Erekutoropurankuton" in
Katakana again. On the bottom screen, beneath "PERFORMANCE mode" says
"Ensou Suru", written in Katakana so Japanese children can read it easier.
"Ensou Suru" means "Play". Underneath "AUDIENCE mode" says "Kanshyou Suru",
which, in this context, pretty much means "Be an audience".

After selecting PERFORMANCE mode, the only Japanese writing is the description
of each Electroplankton, which is explained in the sections of this FAQ based
on each one.

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Free Headphones!
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With Electroplankton's release on April 6th, the game has come to Japan in a
very cool and very shiny special boxed release. The box is the same size as a
Nintendo DS game case, but twice as thick and four times as cool looking. When
you open the box, you've got a regular Nintendo DS game case inside with a nice
case design for Electroplankton. The other half of the box is taken up by a
cardboard holder with a little set of earbud headphones inside for you to
listen to your new musical game with.

The game has an option for Sound Setting Headphones which seems to make things
sound a little more amplified between speakers and sounds really nice with the
headphones.

I have no idea how long this box release will be around, but I recommend
getting one as soon as you can. And if Electroplankton is going to see the
light of the Western sun, I doubt it will get as cool a release package as
Japan was welcomed with.

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The Electroplankton
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The heart of Electroplankton is the musical plankton that you can play with.
There are ten to choose from, and they're explained here.

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Tracy
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When you highlight the Tracy Electroplankton, the top screen reads
01, Toraashii
"Tracy"
Iroiro na katachi wo kaitemite kudasai
Plankton ga sen no ue wo
nazoute oto wo dashimasu

In "Tracy" you have six plankton to play with. When you draw a line on the
touch screen, the next plankton in line will get onto the path you have drawn
and follow it at the same pace that you drew it. If you draw a line slowly then
finish up quickly, the plankton will follow this pace along it. The notes
played are determined by the direction that the arrows on the traced path are
facing. If you make a path that is entirely one directional, the same note will
play all along the path. If you make a wave pattern, you will see how the
direction of the arrows determines what notes are played. If you touch the dots
at the end of the paths you have created, the path will dissapear. Pressing
select removes all the paths. Left and Right on the D-Pad will speed up and
slow down the speed of the plankton. The A button resets the speed.

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Hanenbow
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The second Plankton reads:

02, Hanenbau
"Hanenbow"
haupa ni ataute hanekaeru to
oto wo daso purankuton desu
haupa no kakudo wo kaete mite kudasai

Hanenbow is a fairly fun and involved Plankton. You can move leafs around on
the screen to change the direction that they point. Rhythmically, one main leaf
will launch a Hanenbow into the air. As they hit the leafs you have positioned,
they will play a note as they come in contact with the line running along the
middle of the leaf. They will then bounce off, and maybe land on another leaf,
or in the water where they leave the screen. If you press A, you will be able
to read on the screen the exact degrees of each leaf. Pressing Select lets you
change to another environment to play in. There are four in total. Pressing
Left and Right increses and decreases the speed that Hanenbow appear on the
screen, and pressing Up launches a Hanenbow as soon as you press it. You can
only launch five by yourself at a time, though. Pressing Down resets the speed
of the launching.

Depending what part of the leaf a Hanenbow hits, a different note will play.
The more one leaf is hit, the more excited it gets and becomes darker in
colour. The level of excitement also effects the notes that leaf creates.

If you manage to get every leaf to maximum excitement, a flower will appear at
the top of each stem on the screen, making a sound as it does. I've put a list
of degrees you can set each leaf to to have the flowers appear on each
environment.

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Creating Flowers
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In Hanenbow, press A to see what degrees each leaf is set at. To make things a
little easier in getting the flowers to appear, I've put a chart of just one
of the many ways to do it here.

Screen 1

Launch Leaf = 62
Top Left Leaf = 135
Top Right Leaf = 45
Middle Left Leaf = 135
Middle Right Leaf = 45
Bottom Left Leaf = 219
Bottom Right Leaf = 226

Screen 2

Launch Leaf = 118
Top Leaf = 90
Second = 40
Third = 144
Fourth = 39
Fifth = 145
Sixth = 12

Screen 3

Top Leaf on Left Stick = 337
Middle Leaf on Left = 330
Bottom Leave on Left = 150
Top Leaf on Right Stick = 166
Middle Leaf on Right = 212
Bottom Leave on Right = 202
Launch Leaf = 78

Screen 4

Left Leaf on Left Stick = 142
Right Leaf on Left Stick = 31
Top Leaf on Right Stick = 130
Second from Top Leaf on Right Stick = 181
Second from Bottom Leaf on Right Stick = 173
Bottom Leaf on Right Stick = 205
Launch Leaf = 76

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Luminaria
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The description for Luminaria reads:
03, Ruminaria
"Luminaria"
Yazirushi wo karuku tauchi shite
houcou wo kaete kudasai
Plankton ga yazirushi ni awasete ugokimasu

Luminaria begins with four Plankton, one in each corner of the screen. There is
a grid of arrows on the screen too. Each arrow is a musical note, the top left
arrow is the lowest, and bottom right is the highest. The note to the left of
the bottom right arrow is the second highest. So you get the idea pretty
quickly. Each arrow points to another arrow, and if you touch them, they rotate
45 degrees to point at another one. If you touch a plankton, it will begin to
move. The Plankton moves to an arrow, plays the note for that arrow, and then
moves to the arrow it is being pointed at. Each Plankton moves at a different
speed.

Pressing Left or Right rotates every arrow to face the same direction, pressing
Left after this will rotate every arrow 45 degrees counter-clockwise, while
Right will rotate them clockwise. Up and Down create a nice semi-random pattern
for the Plankton to move along. Pressing Select resets the environment.

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Sun-Animalcule
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The description for this plankton reads:
04, Taiyouchu
"Sun-Animalcule"
Pen de tamego wo kaite kudasai
Plankton ga hikari to kato wo dashinagaru
ookiku naute ikimasu

This is an odd plankton. You have an underwater scene, and as time passes, day
and night progress. Touch the screen durin the day, and you will create a sun
on the screen. Periodically and rhythmically, the sun will shine. As it does
this, it creates a musical sound. The further south-west the sun is, the
higher the note will be, and to the north-west you will get deeper notes. As
the plankton stay on the screen, they will grow and create greater sounds.

Once night falls, your suns will remain on the screen, but as you create more,
you will instead create moons. Moons act the same as suns, but emit a different
sound. Once your plankton have lived for long enough, they will dissapear. You
can also make them all dissapear at once with the Select button. The D-Pad lets
you alter the current time of day.

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Rec-Rec
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This Plankton reads:
05, Reukureuku
"Rec-Rec"
Oto wo taberu Plankton desu
sawaru to iroga kawamasu
tenmetu chuu ni koe wo dashite kudasai.

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Nanocarp
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This Plankton reads:
06, Nanokaapu
"Nanocarp"
Maiku no tikaku de te wo tataite kudasai
Plankton ga seiretu shimasu
anata no koenimo hannou shimasu.

Nanocarp are quite a fun Plankton. You have a pool of water on the screen with
Nanocarp floating around on it. They randomly wander around and don't have
their own notes assigned to each Plankton. Creating musical notes comes by
making ripples in the water. Touch the screen and a ripple will expand from the
area that you touched. Depending on what part of the ripple a nanocarp touches,
a different note will play. The edges of the screen are musical too, and if a
nanocarp touches a part of the edge, a certain note for that area will play.

If you press the D-Pad, a wave will come across the screen in the direction you
pressed. Depending what part of the wave touches a nanocarp, a different note
will be played.

Now, the main key to making music with the nanocarp is to have them all form
up into a nice pattern that you can play with. You can let them wander into
formations that you want to play with, but if you interact with the microphone
on the console, you can force them into certain patterns.

When nanocarp are in a pattern and you make a ripple near them, the nanocarp
that touch the ripple will wave around and go out of formation. Waves, however
do not do this, and the nanocarp will stay in formation after bombardments of
waves.

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Creating Patterns
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Here I've put together a short list of what patterns the nanocarp can make, and
how to make them. The instruction manual says to clap certain rhythms, but I
preffer to tap the microphone with the stylus instead. Here is a list of clap
rhythms and what it will create. Thanks to GameFAQs message boards for help
translating this. At the moment the list is incomplete, but hang in there.

One Clap: Nanocarp form a small circle in the centre of the screen,
Clap again and the circle moves to a different corner of the screen each time.

Two slower claps: The nanocarp form a horizonal line. Repeat to
toggle between verticle and horizontal.

Three slow claps: The nancocarp form a diaglonal line.
Repeating makes the line rotate.

Four slow claps: They line up on the bottom of
the screen. Repeat this to have them line at different edges.

Five slow claps: The nanocarp line up at
each edge of the screen. Repeat and they switch.

Two faster claps: The nanocarp form a larger circle.

Three faster claps: The nanocarp form two circles around each
other.

Four faster claps: The nanocarp line up from top to bottom alternating one to
the left, one to the right, one to the left, one to the right, etc.

Five faster claps: The nanocarp form a ^ shape. Repeat and they form a V shape.

Clapping in rhythm has different results. Clap on the X beats.

1 2 3 4
X   X X  - Two circles next to eachother

1 2 3 4
X X   X  - Small Triangle

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
x   x x x       - The nanocarp all line up

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
x   x   x x x   - The nanocarp make a wave pattern.

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1
x x   x   x x   x - The nanocarp go into the shape of a person with arms
                   raised. Repeat and the arms lower.


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Lumiloop
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This Plankton reads:
07, Hikarunowa
"Lumiloop"
Plankton no uede
Pen wo kurukuru mawashi tudukete kudasai
hikari to oto ga hirogarimasu.

Loomyloop are donut shaped Plankton that you can spin by rotating them on the
touch screen. The faster they spin, the further out the project a wave of sound
that plays a certain tone. The further out the wave goes, the longer it takes
for it to return to the lumiloop and stop sounding. If you send out a wave
far enough, a second wave will start to come out, and a third and maybe many
more. The direction you rotate the lumiloop determines the polarity of the
sounds that it will create. If you press Select you will get a new set of
lumiloop that create different sounds. There are three sets to choose from.

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Marine-Snow
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The description here reads:
08, Marinsunoo
"Marine-Snow"
Yuku no keushaou no younakuton desu
pen de sawaru to oto wo dashimasu
kakimazeru youni ugokashite mite kudasai.

Marine-Snow are little Plankton that float on a pond. Touch one to hear it play
it's own musical note, and then touch another one and not only will the second
plankton play it's own note, but it will trade places with the first one you
touched. A fairly simple idea that can lead to some very cool sounding piano-
esque tunes. If you let the Marine-Snow sit still for long enough, they will
soon float back to the positions they began in. If you press Select, you will
get to play with a different formation of Marine-Snow with new sounds. Keep
pressing select and you can return to the formations you've already played with
but with sounds from other formations.

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Beatnes
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The description here reads:
09, Turiganemushi
"Beatnes"
Pen de Plankton no
atama ya karada wo sawaute kudasai
ahita no ensou wo oboemasu.


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Volvoice
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The description here reads:
10, Borubaisu
"Volvoice"
Kotobawo oboeru Plankton desu
Karada ni tauti shiti hanashikakete kudasai
iroiro na koe deshaberimasu

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It's Electroplankton
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So here's Electroplankton. I've seen a lot of people actually asking "So what
exactly is Electroplankton?". Before I purchased a copy of the game, I knew
exactly what the game was and what it was about from seeing a lot of videos of
it on the internet. But for those who haven't seen much of the game,
Electroplankton is quite a different experience. When you put the game in your
Nintendo DS, you can either be an audience as the Electroplankton dance around
for you, or you can take control of them and create music for yourself.

When you choose to create your own music, you first select which Plankton you
want to use. There's ten to choose from, as you can read about in section 2.
You can interact with your Plankton as long as you want, there's no "Game Over"
or "You Win" screens, and the Plankton won't die over time or any other game
elements like that. You simply throw your musical creatures around their
musical environment and create beautiful sounds.

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Gimmick or Innovation?
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gim·mick: Pronunciation Key  (gmk)
n.

a. A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for
the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus.
b. An innovative or unusual mechanical contrivance; a gadget.

Electroplankton has been called a Gimmick, a cheap tech-demo, and a waste of
money by a lot of people, including many who own the game. Electroplankton is
indeed a great innovation, or more correctly, it makes full use of an
innovative console. The dictionary excerpt above does imply that in being
innovative, the game in itself is a gimmick, however, those who are trying
to get a point across of the game being a gimmick will mean to imply that
Electroplankton has no good points or entertainment integrity, and that it uses
it's cheap differences from tradition to gain a niche audience.

Cheap differences is where the mistake in the claim lies, as Electroplankton
has integrity, soul, and has been created with immaculate detail and passion.
Other than is, I for one believe that it is true the Electroplankton uses it's
differences from anything we've ever seen before to create a cult following,
and I for one am part of that cult, so curse me for loving Electroplankton and
all it's gimmicks.


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Tech-demo or Toy?
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Perhaps one of the more common forms of criticism that Electroplankton has
received is from those saying that Electroplankton is nothing more than a tech-
demo for the Nintendo DS with no gaming worth and barely any End-user appeal.
Similar criticism comes from saying that the game is nothing more than a toy
to be played around with and tossed a side after it's been seen through once.

On a single viewing of Electroplankton, one can see that this is indeed not a
game, and the catagorisation of "Toy" may actually be quite apt, however it is
very quickly obvious that the mechanics of Electroplankton go far beyond being
a Tech-demo.

So if establishing that Electroplankton is a toy, are we saying that this is
for children? I don't quite think that is the case. For one and perhaps the
only truly needed example, adults are enjoying this game. That practically
knocks the argument out the window in being a pure fact. However,
Electroplankton is definitely aimed at all ages. The simple wording of the
instruction manual and the way the game is presented immediately points this
out to the player.

So in that, I think that we can say Electroplankton is a yoy. I think we can
say it's a fantastic toy.


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About the Author
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Well, That's it for my first FAQ to be submitted to GameFAQs. This is still a
little unfinished with about two more sections I indend to ad and some sections
that still need to be completed. Also, please email me and let me know what I
should ad or correct if you have some ideas.

I've written FAQs a few times, but only ever released them on a small scale to
people who I knew who had the games. I had been writing FAQs long before I had
internet access so things have really grown from there to get to a point like
this. When I first began writing FAQs, GameFAQs was a fairly small site and I
didn't have much interest in it at all, but now it's clearly the leader in the
field.

These days, I don't have much time to write FAQs or maintain my website(s) as
things have been getting fast paced in my life. I share a house with two uni
students and there's always things that need to be done. I have a website that
somewhat reflects my life at www.hollywoodrocketride.com, and if you wanna help
out in some way, just click on the google ads on the site, it really helps out
a lot more than you might realise.

I'm fairly dedicated to writing FAQs for the Nintendo DS at the moment, but
it's getting hard to afford importing the titles I really want to get my hands
on to cover. Readers can help out by clicking my google ads like I've said, or
by PayPal sending money to my email address at the top of this FAQ.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to read my FAQ, and please send me
an email to let me know what you thought. If you can't support with ad clicks
or donations, atleast support with a word by email.

Enjoy your Nintendo DS.

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