Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash – Game Review

Get the Foal Cal mobile game for Uma Musume Pretty Derby in English has so far proved strangely to be a pipe dream for fans of the humanized racehorse girls. In the meantime, players are presented with a horse of a different color to jump on Party Dash: a collection of mini-games on the theme of sports festival, which Is a simultaneous worldwide release. It is a surprising choice, given the Uma Musume is a niche product outside Japan. But you can go to Wal-Mart and buy several Touhou Spin-offs for the Nintendo Switch, so maybe even a niche anime game isn’t such a big underdog these days.

It is not like Party Dash has no pedigree other than his equestrian achievements. This game is Arc System works‘ Transplantation of the esteemed horse girls into the model of Kunio-kun Sports spin-off series that older gamers may remember as Crash ‘n’ the Boys: Street Challenge. If it seems strange to you to mix the marketable horse girl idols with criminal street thugs, you should know that, in addition to a slight aesthetic embellishment, it fits well into the gameplay framework. The in-game graphics depict the horse girls in expressive, pixelated sprites that resemble the old Kunio-kun/River City model when you blink. Either way, they’re distinctive and convey the arcade charm of the collection while still keeping the characters quite emotive. There are several unique cartoon reaction animations for each character and the sprites convey little tics like Still in Love’s sly yandere grin or Gold Ship’s silly little moonwalk well.

The energies of these sprites become visible in the story modes of the teams to which the girls are assigned. Party Dash takes a sports festival-like side competition to Uma Musume‘s usual derbies, so the characters aren’t grouped together in the way fans might be used to. It’s an opportunity for unique character groupings, like Tokai Teio sharing space with her idol Symboli Rudolf or Sweep Tosho tutoring Aston Machan on being a magical girl. The story segments are fairly short, inconsequential interludes between rehearsing events in single-player mode. They deliberately don’t reach the intense dramatic heights of the Uma Musume anime (which sounds like a joke if you haven’t seen the series, I know, but if you have, you’ll know), but they don’t really drag themselves either – although the repetition of the games does start to get tiresome throughout the otherwise brisk seven chapters of each story.

These mini-games will inevitably be the main attraction of Party Dashso it is my duty to go through each one. Basketball is first in the Grand Prix rotation – and it is a solid enough tone setter for the Party Dash experience. There’s something inherently amusing about watching these anime idol horse girls dribble, run, and dunk each other around the court – not to mention the frequency with which special balls and abilities are activated to keep things lively. While the court itself can seem a bit large for just four players, the stealing mechanic requires some somewhat fickle timing (and it’s not the only one in the game).

Keeping things rolling is another ball game, namely dodgeball. On paper, this is the simplest entry, and honestly it got on my nerves when it appeared for the umpteenth time in the single player campaign. Special abilities take ages to charge up, and the tight point ranges based solely on how long you last in the game can make games feel unfair. The twist in the plot, however, is that this event was the most fun I and my friends had when we booted up the multiplayer mode. It brought just the right amount of skill battles and controlled chaos as we figured out how the various special throws and gimmick balls worked.

The Eating Contest, on the other hand, is a mini-game that I think I enjoyed the concept of more. It fits the way the horse girls in the anime devour their food, and it’s the only game that lets you pit two characters together. It offers a lot of game mechanics for players to engage with, but the standard rounds drag it out a little. There aren’t as many ways to annoy the opponents as would really bring a game like this to life – players can get “set” in their own routine too easily, and it becomes a battle of eating and attrition until time runs out.

Finally, the Grand Prix ends with the hurdle race. It is a natural addition because even if it is a side competition, it would just be silly not to have a horse racing game in this game about racehorses – sillier than Uma Musume usually seems, I mean. The racing is the most robust feeling of the games, due to the sheer amount of ground it covers (literally), but it’s not that much more demanding than the others. It’s all about maneuvering, using items, and scoring points, mainly by mashing the button to jump over those hurdles – another of those mechanics in this game with what seems like extremely tight, fickle timing. It at least means it’s satisfying every time you pull off a proper jump, and the sheer spectacle of those pixelated ponies crashing through houses and getting shot out of cannons makes it exciting to play through at least a few times with friends.

These minigames are all pretty fun, however the main problem is that there are only these four of them! It’s honestly a bit annoying for what is sold as a complete minigame “collection”. Even Crash and the boys had five games – one more than Party Dash here – and that was back on the NES! There are a handful of minor timing and mechanical settings you can change for each minigame in multiplayer, but no real variations for each competition. Aside from feeling limiting, there are also clearly missed opportunities – are you seriously telling me that The franchise of all things, HORSE is not included as an option for the basketball mode?

I would like to emphasize Uma Musume Party Dash is fun to play around with friends. It will definitely keep you and a group entertained for an evening or two – even if it could use a more robust board game mode or other mechanics like in Mario Party as the glue that holds these horse events together. It is possible to find a game that works with your team, as was the case with dodgeball for me. You may even discover that one of your friends is a supernaturally talented Horse dealer who shocks everyone by running away with the game (you know who you are, Travis). It also works if the group has only limited knowledge of the Uma Musume franchise– and I suspect it would be awesome if you pulled out your Switch and a couple of spare controllers at a fan meet-up at a convention or something.

But Party Dash is just entertaining enough in the short term and pretty expendable in the long term. Playing through all the stories will earn you enough points to unlock some secret bonus horse girls, and then you’ll have to work your way through other gameplay to buy the other preset ponies if you want to put them on your custom team. The games can be played online if you’re into it enough to compete with real friends without interactions. There’s a club room decoration mode if you’re into that sort of thing and use it The opens a bonus mode: “Golshi’s Grand Adventure II,” a cute little building-based endless runner game featuring Gold Ship – everyone’s favorite horse girl (and the only one that my non-Uma Musume-loyal friends recognized). I can imagine this is a mode that some people could invest a lot of time in single player. It might be worth considering in your decision to purchase this pack if something like “Vampire Survivors “Gold Ship with Star” sounds like something you might like – but it’s still a relatively easy distraction.

The quantity versus the quality is what makes me recommend Uma Musume Party Dash. It’s a well-presented package that’s a lot of fun, even if the people you’re playing with don’t know Mejiro McQueen from Lightning McQueen. But the price (it retails for a cool $45) might seem a bit high for what will be, at most, a fun weekend filler. If you’re a gang of Uma Musume Die-hard fans who think it’s great to have this might want to pick it up (and confirm that their favorite horse girl is here or if she’s slated for the planned DLC). Anyone else interested might want to wait for a sale, as this collection probably won’t keep them entertained for long.