Gracias, SEGA.

Fans of the classic Dreamcast maraca game Samba de Amigo (myself included), who have been longing for a sequel for years, were given hope when a product listing for a Wii version of the game showed up on Gamestop.com. A couple months later Nintendo Power brings confirmation that the game is indeed heading to Wii in 2008.

For those unfamiliar with the game, it was played with a special Maracas controller which players would shake to the beat of the music. A sensor bar placed on the floor could detect the height of the maracas and part of the gameplay was shaking the maracas at the right height as indicated by the game.

The game was a tremendous amount of fun but had a number of strikes against it. First off, it was on the Dreamcast. Second, while the game itself was only $40, the maracas controllers were $80 a pop. If you wanted 2-player action it'd set you back $200. That's more than what the Dreamcast even cost at that point. Third, the motion sensor didn't work all that well at detecting the height you were holding the maracas, resulting in some frustrating gameplay when playing on higher difficulties.

You can see where a Wii version would eliminate all of these problems. The Wii's installed base is perfect for this type of game and is much larger than the Dreamcast's ever was. Instead of an expensive add-on peripheral, Sega could just pack in a couple snap on Wii Remote Maraca shells to attach to the controllers you already own. The motion sensing in the Wii Remote is way beyond what Samba originally used, which would make the game a lot more fun.

The biggest problem would be that two remotes would likely be required for each player (one for each hand). But at the very least I think it's safe to assume that most Wii owners have at least two Wii remotes and could play the game in single player mode. That's assuming of course that Sega takes the snap-on maraca route and doesn't produce it's own peripheral.

[via GoNintendo]