June 18th, 2009 | 
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The samba-inspired rhythm music game made popular in the arcades is shaking its way onto the Wii. Keeping the beat with over 40 songs on a Samba-inspired sound track, you shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk like maracas, and compete with friends to see who has the best moves. Throughout the dynamic songs, there will be opportunities to strike a pose for extra points. Friends and family will be thoroughly entertained cheering each other on as they anxiously await their next turn. Special Modes expand gameplay with Quick Play, Classic, Battle, Survival, Hustle, and Mini-games.
Special modes expand gameplay with Quick Play, Classic, Battle, Survival, Hustle and Mini-Games Special SEGA Levels include beloved characters from past SEGA games High scores can be uploaded to global leaderboards and compared against you’re your friends’ lists
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Matches the Dreamcast Original: My Favorite Game Ever!
I loved playing Samba de Amigo on the Dreamcast; I was lucky to have 2 sets of Sega original maracas controllers, even! I was thrilled that it was making a comeback for the Wii, because this meant wireless play. However, early reviews from professional game review sources panned the Wii remake almost unanimously for one basic reason: the controls were broken. Some have even said to wait until the game is “fixed” or adapted to the Motion Plus accessory Nintendo is releasing this summer (probably).
However, the controls are not broken, and I have some doubts that the game will be re-tooled for Motion Plus. Some reviews were pretty lazy, and the reviewers did not even try to learn how the game senses position and maraca-shaking. Indeed, you cannot play the Wii version precisely how you played the Dreamcast version and expect good results whatsoever. There are adjustments that must be made.
Luckily, adjusting to the Wii version’s controls is not very difficult; it just requires keeping a few things in mind: 1) the height of the “maracas” is determined solely by the tilt of the controllers; 2) shaking is most successful along the plane of the controller (i.e., to hit the upper targets, thrust the controllers vertically toward the ceiling, as if you’re jabbing the balls into the rings); 3) crossing-over left and right for poses requires the controller surfaces to be facing your torso; and 4) middle target shaking is forgiving for the most part, but it’s easier if the controller surfaces are facing outward (and try to shake horizontally, tapping the balls into the targets). I started a discussion on this page with these and other tips for controls, but these 4 might be the most important tips. So far, I’ve been able to clear Career Mode on “Hard.”
One frustration of the game is that so much is locked, until you clear certain challenges in Career mode. A huge motivation for keeping at Career mode was finally unlocking Soul Bossa Nova, although the songs in Ulala’s Challenge are also awesome. Frustrations notwithstanding, the song selection is so amazing that it’s worth the practice to get the unlocks. Unlocking new sound effects for maracas and dance moves is less compelling for me, but it is part of the career trial nonetheless. I don’t like the maraca sound effects, but the controllers vibrate on successful shakes, and that’s cool.
The mini-games are pretty fun. To unlock Guacamol?! (Whack-a-Mole), just get a C or better in the rock busting mini-game. Really, the total content of this game is incredible: the huge number of songs are uniformly high-quality: they are Latin/mambo with some pop. Downloadable song packs are also available for purchase for 500 Nintendo points each (1 pack = 3 songs or so) within the game, and the quality of those are very high; they are the original performers (no cover/tribute bands). Multiplayer includes head-to-head, Love Mode, and Battle. Sega superstars such as Sonic and Ulala make appearances, although if you’re dancing they are hard to notice. Happily, so much is happening (visually and otherwise), that even people waiting for their turn to play (or just spectating) will stay entertained.
The game really gets you moving, sweating, dancing, and feeling awesome. I’m stunned how far the price has fallen on Amazon, too. This game is the easiest Wii recommendation ever. Buy it while you still can. ?Samba!
5 Stars 2 thumbs up
This is a really fun game-my kids love it-they are ages 3-7-10, and they all can play, and really enjoy it.
4 Stars Good fun
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get Samba De Amigo from reading some reviews, but I found it pretty cheap so I decided to buy it. Most complain about the controls; I did have a problem with them myself at first but after playing a couple of hours I didn’t see any problems with it. Just give it some time and you definately get used to the fast paced frenzy of the game.
The music sellection is pretty good too. It might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed most of the songs. If you are used to playing Guitar Hero you may notice the songs don’t last as long in Samba de Amigo, but it didn’t bother me, just pointing that out though.
You will also find some mini games, but most suffer from being pretty boring that don’t add much to the game. Just stick with the main gameplay and you will definately find a lot of fun.
3 Stars Muy Divertido
This game is really fun, I like that you can choose from a variety of music and other modes, so I shouldn’t get bored with it any time soon. If you do not have two wii remotes however, it can be a little frustrating.
With the nunchuck connection, you are well…connected, so it’s hard to do some of the poses. Overall though, I like it.
4 Stars Love it! Love it! Love it!
Samba De AmigoSamba de Amigo is a hit with my children (girls ages 9 &11) and with my Spanish students (teens). The first few times I played it, my girls killed me in points…but I didn’t care b/c it’s so much fun! It’s all about angles and rythm. The song selection is fabuloso!
Wii MaracasI finally broke down and bought the Wii maracas & LOVE them. I suggest them to everyone! They’re great for the person who needs to hear and feel an authentic sound with the beat. The only down side is that they are very large, so my 9 year old doesn’t like them. She finds it hard to hold them and shake them without dropping them. Her hand is not quite big enough yet, so she prefers the remote and nunchuck…more fun for me with the maracas! And by the way, I’ve gotten the hang of it now, and I can beat them! 
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