Wibble, wobble, puff, laaaaa.
By Swith

Toshio Iwai is a man with a profoundly unique sense of musicality and mischief. He is the creator of Electroplankton: a musical toy-cum-game-cum-instrument for the Nintendo DS. The concept of the title is pretty radical – ten different species of ‘Electroplankton’ (tiny entities, whose smiling, singing and frolicking are dictated by your actions) inhabit different interactive aquatic worlds that become instruments which you play.

Welcome to stoner territory, chaps. Take a seat…

Toshio Iwai, probably thinking about something spangley.
While stoned.

From the very outset, everything about Electroplankton suggests that you are the composer, the conductor and the virtuoso performer of these peculiar ‘living’ instruments. As the title pours onto the dual screens you are greeted with the sound of a babbling body of water accompanied with the distant beckoning of your aquatic orchestra tuning up for your imminent performance. Pausing the activity mid-session is even announced as an ‘Intermission.’

Played with stylus strokes and the digital controls, the sounds emitted by the plankton range from warm wooden block percussive aural landscapes and shimmering icicle-like chimes, to confident yet reserved concert piano key presses. Each experience is as relaxing or as intense as you choose to make it, as soothing or as rousing as you care to compose.

The familiarly 8-bit beeps and chirrups of ‘Beatnes’ set the tempo for the metronome of your mind and mood, mixing nostalgia and the creative thrill with the unique feeling of being ‘in the zone’, despite not actually being a game. Groovy.

Bing! Bing bong bing bong biddley biddley… plop! (Inhale)

‘Hanenbow’, with its leaping tadpole-like critters that fling themselves towards a plant with percussively reactive leaves, sounds like a peal of dainty church bells rung by an overzealous party of pixie campanologists. This is also the only instrument with an achievable goal, as each rebound off a leaf bruises it deeper into the shades of red. When all the leaves become red, a revolving flower sprouts from the top of the plant.

The experience of interacting with the plankton to create music is very soothing, very Zen. I’ve found that sitting at work listening to the wind-chime like sounds of the NanoCarp can be a genuinely relaxing experience as they twinkle and scull around in their in-vitro habitat. They can be left to sing to you of their own accord, but the temptation to interact with them through the stylus, through clapping to them and singing back to them is just too great to resist for long. You’ll give in to their charm ultimately, and find yourself cooing to them in wonder to see how they’ll react to you.

Say hello to a NanoCarp. Hellooo! God, I’m a sucker for
this shit.

Electroplankton is one of those experiences that won’t appeal to everyone. Some folk may become disheartened by the lack of any goals or a set pace, but they’d be missing the point. Electroplankton is what you make of it, and it does help if you have a similar sense of wonder and playfulness as Iwai himself. It is arguably the most innovative and intriguing DS title to date, and a milestone in combining art, music and application in an adorable and heart warming visionary world.

A relaxation aid, a musical journey and possibly the ultimate stoner app (although we believe that it’s more than just a stoner toy – Ed), Electroplankton will touch the heart of anyone who appreciates music, creativity and that unique sense of Japanese eccentricity.

April 2005

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