During the PSP era, Patapon was the darling that was regularly thought of fondly. A rhythm RPG by Pyramid and Japan studios, published by Sony, where you control Patapons through drumbeats. It rivaled the fun of the 90s hit game, Zoombinis with a modern twist that could be taken on the go. What came from this 2008 release (in the US) was two more games on the PSP, a remaster on the PlayStation 4, and… not much else. Still, two sequels is pretty good for a handheld-only series. Until now. In 2025, Patapon returns with the help of Bandai Namco and SAS CO. LTD. as Patapon 1+2 REPLAY.
Patapon at first glance seems like a simple game. You play as the of the Patapons, Kami. You help your group grow into an army and a village through your leadership. All to survive the harsh lands they live in. They will follow your orders to a T. They will also follow you into the hunt or battle via a drum beat.
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In the midst of a hunt, the gameplay also appears pretty simple. You only use the four face buttons, square, cross, triangle, and circle (A, B, X, and Y on the Switch) to play a beat on rhythm. A quadruple time is constantly playing to remind you the beat needed to follow to be successful. And what’s asked of you is to enter four inputs to to the beat. If successfully input, and on the beat, the Patapons will complete the action while repeating that pattern back to you.
The difficulty came from following that rhythm and staying on the beat. Falling off or making a simple mistake led to headaches, especially in the middle of a tough battle. That, along with the variety needed to build your army and their equipment, resurrecting those lost, and being proactive while on a mission. Patapon was a fun, rewarding, and highly aggravating experience. In the upcoming release, many of those headaches have become more open-ended to make this fan-favorite game more welcoming than ever.
Patapon 1+2 REPLAY is opening the game to new audiences.
Firstly, a remaster for more powerful consoles has led to issues with older games being improved for higher framerate output. That fear is quickly dissipated after playing for 30 minutes during PAX East. Playing on a PS5, Patapon felt right at home and ran great. The game was very responsive. That may also be that, as someone who played the original releases on the PSP, playing all these years later was like riding a bike.
What also helped was the new on-screen guide that shows the patterns for each action. This was such a nice addition for a game that, on bigger screens, has way more screenspace than its handheld counterpart. And having that guide just be there helped a ton during big fights to quickly remember that “oh yeah, this one was for defending! Oh, there IS a charge command!”
Since the demo was basically at the end of the game, everything was unlocked and overwhelming. That guide definitely was useful in this unique case, but can be seen as how it can be quite helpful for others picking up the game for the first time or again after a hiatus.
Plus, there are now difficulty options that can be changed on the fly. While it wasn’t clear how exactly difficulty options in Patapon change the moment-to-moment gameplay, this, too, is a welcome addition. As mentioned before, Patapon was tough. It required lots of pre-planning and preparation to ensure your little guys made it to the end of a mission in mostly one piece. Levels also had to be replayed frequently to get enough resources for more Patapon construction, feeding your Patapons, equipment making, and more.
Patapon 1+2 REPLAY now allows you to change difficulty, and that’s a big step forward.
Just being able to change the difficulty on the fly will help immensely with that grind. Or, create a harder challenge if you’re not being pushed enough. That original experience is also there for those who want to experience the game as others had over 15 years ago. On top of difficulty modes, you can also now change the rhythm timing to match your reactivity.
After playing, I’m most curious about the Patapon 2 multiplayer mode. It’s going to be in this re-release, and is as challenging as I remember. But will it have online multiplayer. For a game that requires such exact timing, online ping could be a massive game breaker when the mode has strict time limits to complete. Even playing on my own, my multiplayer session barely made the cut to finish on time.
Regardless, Patapon 1+2 REPLAY is the best thing it could be. It’s exactly how the original release is remembered. Plus, with several new quality of life features added, there’s no better time to see why the Patapons are so beloved. And it being available on the Switch is a massive plus, because even with a console release, Patapon always felt best on the go as a pick-up-and-play style rhythm army management game. Will definitely be picking this one up when it comes out for a big hit of nostalgia, and to make the beat stuck in my head all over again.
Patapon 1+2 REPLAY is available July 11th on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
