Anytime I can revisit a PSP classic on my Switch is a good day indeed.

I have real fondness for both PSP and Vita, both machines really delivering some quality first party titles, showcasing some excellent third-party releases. And Patapon is right at the top of that list.

It’s been years since I’ve tapped my buttons rhythmically to the beat of the music to move my little army of eyes forward, to send them into battle, to protect themselves and perform a cute little rain dance, but it was like I’d never been away from the lil guys.

The gameplay loop couldn’t be any more simple. The Patapon look to you, the mighty one, for guidance and with drums playing in the background, it’s up to you to learn their secret moves and guide them forward to their goal, whether that’s hunting for meat, passing a scorching hot desert, battling a dragon, finding stranded folk on a beach.

It’s a funny thing, really, because the game would be infinitely easier if you could just nudge the analog stick to the right and tap a few buttons to attack on command, but here you have to make sure you’re tapping the right combination of buttons in time to the beat and making the right choices as sometimes defending is the smarter choice than attacking.

In that, some repetition does rear its head in you are often tapping in the same combinations over and over, and sometimes if you miss a cue and don’t move, it slows everything down and can be quite frustrating. But if you perform a continuous flow and build a combo, you can reach fever which quickens the pace and gives the Patapon more strength and conviction.

The goal is to reach Earthrend and in that you’ll face numerous challenging foes, fight through blockades and find ways around obstacles, all played from a side-scrolling rhythm walk-sim that has a beautifully distinct colourful brush-stroke art-style and a catchy, harmonious soundtrack that has songs you’ll hum for days.

It starts simple enough as you gather Patapon and add them to your squad as you encounter them, but eventually you’ll get to base and start building out your army more and more, each with different skills. A warrior type, Patapon with spears and archers. And it’s also up to you to organise their positon, creating a front, mid and back line, while spending more and more money on your forces to build up a real army.

And some encounters definitely require a larger force than others, with dragons that can literally send Patapon soaring through the skies, knocking them out of position, and other enemies that can destroy you easily so need numbers to bring them down.

Any Patapon lost on the battlefield can also be resurfaced if you collect their hats left on the ground. These can then be buried and re-emerge through the tree of life and based on every successful mission, can found armor items that can help improve your defensive properties like steel hats and stronger weapons.

The game has a lovely sense of humor to it, with the quirky chanting the Pantapon chant in service to you, their little quotes that raise a smile, saying they’ll go to the ends of the earth for you, to they’re going to slap some buttocks when fighting the enemy. They’re both adorable and fierce rolled into one.

Having both Patapon games together expands the game’s length to around 8-10 hours, and there’s a good mix of challenges here that can be really unrelenting and brutal on occasion. But once you understand the core loop, you’ll find yourself wanting to push through to the end.

With Patapon 2, the gameplay even expands further, being able to adjust their properties to fit into different roles and this may require some grinding, as well as the previous game in order to make sure the Patapon are fed and healthy.

The games are an extremely faithful recreation of both original games, with the graphics sharper than ever, both games feeling cleaner and the audio of a higher, more 3D quality. As such, though, if you played the original games to death, there’s not much new here you won’t have seen before, and the mechanics do feel a little dated in many respects with some tedium and frustration at points. But this game is still a gem that everyone must play at least once and let these creatures melt and warm your heart. While they also throw a spear through it.

Verdict

Patapon 1+2 Replay is a fantastic recreation of the PSP classics, given a glorious new lick of paint and sound, sometimes to its own fault with the game feeling a bit dated and bare bones at points. Patapon’s charm, vibrance and catchiness helps keep the experience compelling and enjoyable despite some frustration and it’s still a wonderfully smart rhythm strategy game that everyone should make the time to play at least once. 

Pros

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Patapon 1+2 Replay is out now on PC, PS, and Switch

Played on Nintendo Switch 

Code kindly provided by Bandai Namco for review purposes