Elebits



Elebits are small creatures that provide the world with electricity. Almost everything needs them to function: cars, TVs, toys, driers, electric signs, etc. The story revolves around young Kai, a boy whose parents are avid Elebit researchers. Thanks to their continuous research, Kai's parents seem to forget to spend more quality time with their son that they spend more time doing research. This only infuriates Kai a lot, blaming the Elebits for taking his parents away. One night, a lightning bolt strikes down the amusement park that a long-lasting blackout covers the city. Kai's parents go off to see what's going on at their labs while Kai is left alone at home. Wanting to see his favorite TV show, Kai picks up the Capture Gun and starts going around the house to capture all the Elebits running around, until things go out of control from there...

Elebits is a game for the Nintendo Wii developed by Konami. It was a launch title in Japan, and appeared in the US a bit later, and several months later in Europe and Australia as Eledees.

The game's concept is basically that there are these cute little creatures throughout the world that provide power to all objects. These creatures are running amok and it is your task to find them and then suck them up into your tractor beam-type gun (making it stronger and able to move more stuff). You do this by moving every item and opening every drawer, box door and window, and making a huge mess of things. At first you're stuck in a room or a house, but later on you walk the streets, launching cars into the air and pulling lampposts out of the ground.

As goofy as it sounds, it's actually quite a lot of chaotic fun, if you're willing to look past the fact that the game makes no sense and that the graphics aren't that great. Other strong points include the beautiful artwork present in the cutscenes of the game, and the bouncy, jazzy soundtrack.

A sequel was released on the Nintendo DS named Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero.

Elebits contains examples of:

 * All Your Powers Combined:.
 * Always Night: Every environment. Justified, as the game takes course over a single night.
 * Artistic License Physics: Gravity guns aren't real, of course...but who cares?
 * Amusement Park:.
 * Art Shift: In contrast to the fairly standard graphics of the actual gameplay, the cutscenes are done in an elaborate, painterly style.
 * Scenery Porn
 * Awesome but Impractical: After obtaining S ranks on all missions, you're allowed to use the Vacuum Laser all the time, which makes Elebit capturing a lot easier. Although at first it sounds really awesome, it is not very recommendable to use it on missions with limited noise and breakable objects. Not to mention that will surely call the creepy Boss Black Elebits into the open. But then...
 * Awesome Yet Practical: Finishing 20 Challenge missions gives you the infinite Homing Laser. It's easier and faster to get (you can obtain this if you do pass each challenge before the third boss battle, even before reaching Mission 24). Not only it makes Elebit capturing way easier and less messier to do, but it totally ignores hitting Black Elebits. Watch as the little bastards helplessly try to get hit!
 * Better Than It Sounds Video Games
 * Console Cameo: You can find a Wii and a Wii Remote in some areas.
 * Defeat Means Friendship:
 * Die Chair Die: So much. So much.
 * Fake Difficulty: There are hair-pulling moments even in the earliest of levels that scream unfairness. The noise meter, for example, ignores blatant sounds as a plate falling to the floor from a good three feet, but it's apparently very good at picking sounds from items that don't even budge one bit when touched. As for the things that can break apart, you know the producers are being shady by randomly tossing in a glass pyramid in the kitchen that can easily make you fail the mission.
 * The Challenge missions have this a few times, such as filling a garage with basketballs to prevent capturing harmful Elebits while Black Elebits have enough strength to push said basketballs around to block you from getting the obtainable Elebits (and many times make you hit the black bastards who then hit you back).
 * False Friend: The Black Elebits are friendly creatures that provide no electricity whatsoever. They seem to hold a grudge against Kai's Capture Gun, though.
 * First Person Shooter: Sort of.
 * Gravity Screw:.
 * Guide Dang It: Some of the unlockables require certain end-of-game titles. How to get those titles? GOOD QUESTION!
 * Humongous Mecha:.
 * I Just Want to Have Friends:
 * Level Editor
 * Not So Different:  Awwwww.
 * Parental Abandonment: The reason Kai doesn't like Elebits - his parents are both avid Elebit researchers.
 * Preorder Bonus: A very cute plushie of an Elebit!
 * Rewarding Vandalism
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Elebits, of course.
 * Scenery Porn: The cutscenes are so bright and colorful with way too many details to count.
 * Shout Out: And a quite odd at that.
 * The Superheroes in the trailer on the stage of level 26 resemble Power Rangers.
 * The same level includes arcades from various Konami games, such as Pop N Music.
 * This Was His True Form:
 * Tractor Beam
 * Wreaking Havok: The Game!
 * X Meets Y: Pikmin meets Katamari Damacy (meets the gravity gun from Half-Life 2).