Around and Around the Island

I completed my trip around the island twice and have started again since I last posted.  It was much faster the second time.  Partly because I've built up my stamina and can "walk" much farther at one time now.

Here are today's tips.

Before you leave the island for the day, click on the little box in the lower right corner of the screen to save what you have built.  Konami refers to this box as the "portable player".  Inside the portable player is the Pause Menu where you can do things like view your game records, change the song list, select a new time, change the settings, or play some mini-games as well as save the game. 

1. You may want to change the settings for your game.  I played the game with the default settings for a month or so, but have since changed them to EASY.  On the Settings selection, you can make things easier or harder just by clicking on the little buttons on the right.  I think the instructions in the game manual adequately explain what each selection does.  I set the Miss Penalty to Off and the capsule value to Very Easy.  (The values placed on the capsules are not logical.  For example, on the ranch a hay bale is worth more than twice as much as a house.)
2. You will probably want to remove some of the songs from the play list because they are just plain awful. 
3. Also you may want to remove the songs with slower beats because you can collect points faster when you walk to faster beats.  You can always add the songs back to the list if you want.  Or maybe you want to stick to slow songs and go
4. You can select only one certain genre of songs to play.  I did that accidently so unless you only want to listen to Japanese Pop be sure you are on the All button before you select "play in order listed" or "play random"
5. There are different capsules available at different times of the day.  If you want to finish the island you will either need to exercise at different times of the day AND night or use the magical clocks to change the Island's time of day.
6. Some of the capsules are hard to find.  There is a map on the portable player that shows you where you are and where the capsules are.  At the bottom of the map are icons of each type of capsule with the number of each type availabe at that time of day.  If you click on one of those icons it will remove them from the map (click on it to bring them back).  This is helpful when you have over 3,000 capsules and you want to see where the rainbows are.
7. If you click directly on your avatar, it will change directions. Sometimes a capsule is visible when you turn around and approach it from the opposite direction. 
8. If you hold down the A button on the Wiimote you can see different views (left and right, up and down).  If you hold down the A button while holding the cursor on your avatar you can move it.  Click both the A & B buttons at the same time to return the avatar to the default position.

Capsules

As you walk around Rhythm Island, you automatically collect chips. The chip counter is in the upper left corner of the screen next to the “rhythm” bar that tells if you are keeping time to the music. You spend the chips by clicking on “event capsules” that are bobbing around the island – sometimes on either side of the path, sometimes up in the air or peeking from behind trees and bridges.

When you point the Wii remote on a capsule it will tell you what is inside and how many chip you need to open it. (The capsules won’t “open” till you actually click on them.)

There are two ways to “buy” a capsule.

1. Walk until you have enough chips to buy it immediately. When you click on a capsule the “price” of the item will be deducted from your chips and the item will open.
2. Select it on the lay-away plan. Next to the chip counter are 3 grey balls. When you click on an event capsule before you have earned enough chips to buy it, the item inside the capsule will appear in one of the balls. When you’ve walked enough steps, the item will disappear from the ball and your counter will start over. The next time you walk past the place where you selected the item, the event capsule will be glowing and when you point the remote at it you will see the item but not the number of chips. Click on it and the item will appear if it’s a structure. You may also get a message from the avatar trainer about the item.  You can put up to 3 items in lay-away at one time.

Warning: you can’t save chips from one game to the other. When you close and save the game, it will save all the items you’ve acquired, but it won’t save unused chips.

There are six different capsules.

Route capsules: these are yellow circles with an arrow in them.  They open up new routes on the island giving you more places to explore and different ways to get there.

Construction capsules: these capsules are orange with a little building in them.  These let you build the island with buildings, trees, bridges, an airship, and more.

Music capsules: they look like little green CDs.  You start off with 15 songs and you’ll soon get tired of hearing them over and over so start collecting music discs right away. There are 4 discs per song.

Zodiac capsules: these capsules are blue dots with a white star in the middle of them. They build constellations in the night sky. It takes several capsules to build one constellation.

Magic Clock capsules: these capsules are brown clock faces. They allow you to change the time of day. Some capsules are only around at certain times so at some point in the game you’ll need to change times to collect all the capsules and complete the island.  You can also change times to walk in sunshine in the middle of the night or to walk at night in the middle of the day.

Rainbow capsules: These are FREE!   They are just diffent colored balls with no icons.  You need to collect seven different colors to build a rainbow.

Most of the capsules only take one click to build. However, it takes multiple capsules to unlock the constellations, music, and magic clocks. Different capsules appear at different times of the day. You can find schedules for the constellation, music, and magic clock capsules at Konami's web site . Look for the question “Where can I find X capsule”. The schedules will tell you where and when to find the capsules.

I'm back

I'm taking 2 on-line courses and working out with the Wii for 30 - 60 minutes most days so I don't have much time for blogging.

I've almost finished building the Island for Walk It Out and I learned some thing I wish I'd know when I started.

I used to ignore all the capsules for the Magic Clock.  I thought I'd never need them.  WRONG!  Now that I'm near the end sometimes there's nothing left for me to build - until I change the Magic Clock and go to a new "time zone" where I find a few more songs, zodiac signs, and buildings.  I've only got about 50 more buildings left to build, but I still haven't collected half the Magic Clock times and well over half the zodiac signs (which I also ignored.)

I'll know better next time.

Walking with your arms

Let's talk a little bit more about how I use my arms to collect points (chips).  First, sometimes I put the controllers in my pocket and do it the "right" way by walking in place, but the nunchuk doesn't catch all my steps that way.  Probably because I get bored taking the same step over and over and over so I start improvsing with back steps or side steps or dance steps.  

So after a few minutes the controllers come out of my pocket.  I hold the Remote in my right hand with my thumb on the A button ready to click on "event capsules" and I hold the nunchuk in my left hand.  Sometimes I switch hands though I'm not as good at clicking on capsules with my left hand as I am with my right.

This let's me click on a capsule with one hand while my other hand continues to move up and down collecting points and letting the Mii avatar walk ahead.  When I don't want her to walk, I stop moving both hands.

My arm and feet movements vary.  I have to watch the cord between the nunchuk and the remote because sometimes I get carried away, but sometimes I:

• Wave my arms back and forth like a band conductor.
• Do the twist, with my arms going back and forth about waist level.
• Roll my arms like a disco move or a samba.
• Shake the remote and nunchuk over my shoulder like maracas
• Play air drums
• Box
• Do arm exercises
• March with my arms pumping (but I have a small space for exercising so it's not much of a march)
• Just dance like I was on American Bandstand.

Occassionally, I'll put one or both of the controllers back in my pocket, but they don't stay there for long.