THE iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls – Starlight Stage

The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage is a Japanese free-to-play collectible card and rhythm video game in The Idolmaster series co-developed by Cygames and Bandai Namco Entertainment and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game is a spin-off of The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls and part of The Idolmaster series.

The story in Starlight Stage centers on the pop idols from the talent agency 346 Production. Unlike the simulation format of the original Cinderella Girls, Starlight Stage features a rhythmic gameplay in which the player times the presses of buttons to the rhythm of the songs and a predetermined pattern displayed on the screen.

Source: Wiki

This a rhythm, Japanese only game, like Idolish7, Love Live and Aichuu. Of course, it has some differences in terms of gameplay and UI. I wish the UI was a bit better designed or updated, it’s feeling a bit dated, and confusing. But I’ll also say my Japanese is still bottom of the barrel so something straightforward without having to tap around too much would be preferred.

I like that during the game we get to choose between static 2D chibis in the background or 3D animated dances a la Project Diva. Though I must say it’s harder to see with the 3D, but it also feels like a waste to not see them. Another flaw is that because the icons to touch are in a straight line in the bottom, my fingers can cover part of it and not see incoming circles. Plus because they’re in a straight line, the farthest to the sides can’t be seen from the side of the eye, so it’s easier to mess up. Love Live did well in that regard, because it’s centered around in a circle, so the eye always can see where the circles are to tap.

Even with the effects on for sound when touching them, I feel there’s a bit of weightlessness when touching the circles that doesn’t happen in LL. It feels weird how floaty it is, but it’s not bad. I’m just really used to LL 😅

I must say I’ve adapted faster to the game than I did when I started LL, but LL was my very first rhythm game so of course I’d have more trouble with it than with Deresute, since I’m already used to LL. The difficulty isn’t too OP starting out, and I don’t feel there’s as big a jump as between Easy and Normal and Hard and Expert in LL have, which I consider a good thing for Deresute. LL is brutal in Expert 😅

One thing that female idol mobage surprise me in the positive is they’re voiced, while males tend to eschew that. The only male idol game that is voiced is Idolish7, so I’m pretty content that LL and Deresute both are voiced.

The songs are nice but I find aren’t as ear-worm as LL ones, might be because Deresute audio quality sounds a bit low, to be honest, but I think if they fixed that they’d be just as catchy.

Another thing is that this game can only be played through downloading the apk on a website or through Qooapp because of the region locking, I really hate when companies do that

I find rhythm games are a big time sink and so I’m not sure I can keep up with Deresute, Love Live and other games I want to play, so if I have to drop one of the rhythm games, this will be the one. Mostly because I’m used to LL, I’ve also played a lot more LL and are way more advanced in it. LL also can connected to google playstore and keep the game saved through that, while Deresute can’t, so I might lose all progress either way if my tablet dies 😅

All, a nice, cute rhythm game, and if you like those, you’ll definitely like this one!

Keep gaming and tap away~! ~(＾◇^)/

Have you heard about this game before? Have you played it? If so, I’d love to know what you think of it!