Sammy & Ebyn: Dark Matter Race

Sammy & Ebyn: Dark Matter Race or サミーとエヴィン：宇宙開発競争 (translated to "Sammy & Evin: The Space Race" In Japan) is a 3D action-adventure platformer and is the 12th mainline game in the Magnus Interactive mainline series of Sammy & Ebyn game titles, released during 2012 to Japan, North American, European Countries, and Australia. It was one of the early Wii U titles for the time and recieved acclaim for it's innovative storyline and gameplay, with a 3DS port coming later in December, alongside a mobile port that same year and a re-release on the Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC during 2022 and 2023 
==PRODUCTION==
Production of Sammy & Ebyn: Dark Matter Race started during March 12 of 2007, where the game originally came to light as an endless runner game for mobile devices at the time. Developed by Magnus Interactives in house studio "Crazy Corner Studio's" with the original concept being pitched by Andrew McMiller. The gameplay during this stage was simple, you control either Sammy or Ebyn as they run through 3 lanes to avoid enemies and obsticles. The gameplay shared similarties between Sega's later released Sonic Dash mobile game, development for this original concept wouldn't have gotten far as Magnus Interactive higher ups were unsure of how the game would fair with other big games releasing at the time. With the project swiftly being cancelled from production later that same month, the secondary idea came from Andrew once again and consisted of a space theme for Sammy & Ebyn with idea's stemming from Nintendo's hit Wii game Super Mario Galaxy which was a monumental success on the Wii, Magnus Interactive would begin production on the game during summer of 2008 under codename "Galaxy Runners". 
Later during E3 of 2010, Magnus Interactive revealed a trailer for Sammy & Ebyn: Dark Matter Race going under the same codename of "Galaxy Runners", the gameplay trailer has been transcribed and made public to read Here. The game revealed many different ideas that the Sammy & Ebyn Franchise had never experimented with before. Such as momentum based platforming and puzzles using gravity, weaponry and more. With 5 playable characters, Magnus Interactive developer Julius Gust had hyped up the game claiming that it was going to be the "Largest Galaxy Race anyone's ever seen" and then revealed that the game would be arriving to next gen consoles in the near future. 
Finally the game released internationally over October and November of 2012. With 3DS & Mobile ports arriving in 2013 and 2014 subconsequently and re-releases of the game for Playstation 5 & Nintendo Switch being released all through 2022 and 2023
== PLOT ==
The game takes place after "Sammy & Ebyn: Light'N'Dark" and takes place within the Dark Lunar era of the Sammy & Ebyn Franchise. 
Sammy and Ebyn after defeating Dark Lunar on the planet of Galvonen finally begin to rest and enjoy their time together and with friends, though. It isn't long until Dark Lunar returns to cause trouble for our heroes. This time threatning the very universe by trying to imbue it with Dark Lunar magic, now Sammy, Ebyn, Thomas, Avery, and Lucas must go and defeat Dark Lunar before it's too late. But he's not working alone, He's also got the help of a villainous quartet of badnits known as the STAR BANDITS who are so focused on stealing the stars of the solar system, now they got a big hit and will do anything to take out our heroes. But our heroes aren't so quick to go down. After finding the legendary GALAXY MIRROR inside the depths of Montybug Cavern, our heroes take to the galaxy's in order to stop a Dark Matter Race! 
== GAMEPLAY ==
==== WII U, PS5, NINTENDO SWITCH, PC GAMEPLAY ====
Gameplay in Sammy & Ebyn involves running around and platforming through 7 levels through 14 various locations throughout the star system, when beginning the game you get the chance to choose 1 of 5 characters who all play differently with various stats. 
During the beginning of the game you will be transported to an area called "The Hub" which is the central level selection and gameplay locations. In the hub you are able to access the different gamemodes and select different levels. You can customize this hub area by completing "Minigame Levels" in the main game. As well as unlocking them through playing the base campaign as well.
PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
SAMMY 	
* Low Defense
* Mild Attack
* Mild Health
* Limitless Horizontal Potential	The star of the show and quick fast paced one!, Sammy has a variety of moves that he can bring to the table such as highjumps, Wallruns, slides, and more. His special move Breakin' Through allows him to break through dark blocks for a few seconds. He's also the only character able to access Speedrun levels 	Sammy's levels are a mix of momentum based platforming and highspeed action, with players needing to make it to the goal quickly.
EBYN 	
* High Defense
* High Attack
* Low Health
* Limited Horizontal/Vertical Options	The big man himself!, Ebyn is more limited in terms of horizontal movement but absolutely stomps in the vertical movement scale as well as damage scale, with him having a Megajump. Body Slam, Rush charge, and various melee options. His special move Uppercut allows him to grab 4 enemies and give them a mean uppercut 	Ebyn's levels are more methodical in their nature. With players needing to play around Ebyn's weaknesses as a character. You just need to make it to the goal
THOMAS	
* Low Defense
* High Attack
* High Health
* Crazy Vertical Potential	The strategic option, for those who can't handle Sammy's quicker speed but find Ebyn too slow. Thomas is a balanced character in terms of Defense and Attack. Though his greatest advantage is his high health and vertical potential, With his moves consisting of a Super Jump, Rocket Slam, Cling, and Bodyroll. His special move Heaven's wings allows him to soar in the air for a solid minute. Allowing him to bypass obsticles in levels	Thomas's levels are strategic arena based levels that have you defeating a certain amount of enemies before moving onto the next section of the level.
AVERY 	
* High Defense
* Low Attack
* Low Health
* Limited Vertical Potential	The more quirky and odd character to pick, Avery on the outside may seem useless as her attack and defense stats are low. But don't let that fool you!. Avery is able to summon anything she wants using her patented Artist's Touch move, She's the only character in the roster to be able to access the painting levels 	Avery's levels are a mix of Ebyn and Sammy's where the goal is to reach the end of the level quickly. But you must work around Avery's limitations and downsides.
LUCAS 	
* High Defense
* High Attack
* Low Health
* Firearm options	The sharpshooter with a mouth!, Lucas is the only character in the game who actively wields firearms and weaponry to use against the Dark Lunar forces. Using firearms from Pistols and Machine guns to Rayguns and Lazar Swords. His special move Distract allows him to distract the Dark Lunar's forces and make his way pass them 	Lucas's levels are an all-out arena slaughter, your only goal is to all the enemies within a set time limit and make your way to the end of the level without dying.
Alongside the characters, are the various locations that these characters traverse to. Everywhere from Montybug Bay to the deepest depths of the Zenith Star, levels are usually clocked in around 4 to 7 minutes at most, with the latter half lasting around 8 to 9 minutes with various obsticles and more. These locations are discovered through the Galaxy Mirror hidden deep inside the Montybug caverns. Levels come in 4 styles, some depending on the events that occur ingame and others depending on what character you select at the beginning of the game (ommitied if playing in Multiplayer mode)
 
LEVEL TYPES
TRADITIONAL LEVELS	These are the base level that appear throughout the entire game, these levels usually change depending on the character you select. Though these levels are usually filled with platforming challenges, enemies, and obsticles to avoid. The goal is simple, just to make it to the end of the level in the time given to you
BOSS LEVELS 	These appear at the end of every location and are the final challenge you need to beat before you can continue onwards with the game, Boss levels are usually 4 to 5 rooms and contain a boss inside. Fight the boss and you get a special ability unique to your character,
SPEEDRUNNER LEVELS	Speedrunner levels appear in Sammy's playthrough of the game, and are short byte sized levels that test your knowledge of how to use Sammy's abilites to the greatest extent. Usually within a strict time limit, beating these levels usually allows you to access new abilities or parts of the game not previously accessible too.
MINIGAME LEVELS 	Similar to Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros Wii title, littered throughout the map are Minigame levels that can be accessed by any character. These minigame levels contain 3 different minigames, completing them of which will allow you to gain an extra item for the next level to appear or a cosmetic for your hub area. The minigames are as followed
* BeatShooter - Shoot the enemies with the raygun, but you have to time it with the beat or else you'll be unable to shoot them properly. Gain over 4000 points and you earn a special "Moonshrine" cosmetic item for your hub area. Complete the Minigame in under 1 Minute? than you can recieve a special Speedrunning is Forever poster that you can hang in the hub area.
* Hide & Shriek - A ghoulish and creepy take on the Hide & Seek formula, select a location to hide in and make sure the Dark Lunar forces don't find you!. If you're caught. It's game over!. If you suspect a minion of the Dark Lunar Forces may be arriving to your area. Throw an item in a different direction to confuse them and scare them away. If you weren't caught you can recieve various different cosmetic items
* Dark Kart - A take on Nintendo's Super Mario Kart with you racing a minion of Dark Lunar's in a 2 lap race, Tracks cycle through a basic circle track, a firery lava track, An icy square track, and a mix of all 3. Get first place against the minion and you can recieve a prize, if you finish the minigame in under 2 minutes. Than you can recieve gold variations of the Hub Item's
 
The Wii U, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch versions of the game also have various different modes for players to use within the game. These modes are unlocked by default besides the Qrazy and Xtreme modes of the campaign mode, which must be be unlocked by completing the game 200% on a singular save file. 
 
GAMEMODES
CAMPAIGN MODE 	The Campaign mode of the game, where you choose one character and make your way through the story of the game. Completing this mode 200% allows you to access the Qrazy and Xtreme versions of the campaign with harder enemies, less lives, less health, and harder bosses.
MULTIPLAYER MODE	The Multiplayer mode allows you to play 4 players online or locally to go through the campaign together, certain levels are ommited for the multiplayer version such as the Sammy Exclusive Speedrun stages.
RANDOMIZER 	After playing through the game once, you unlock the Randomizer mode. Where you can play through the entirety of the game but in a randomized state using Magnus Interactive's seed feature built inside the game. You can choose how difficult a level will be or how random the level will be generated as
PARTY MODE 	Grab some friends and participate in a party!, select one of the 5 characters and play a miniture version of Nintendo's Super Mario Party with brand spanking new minigames and a board based off the Nova Star System from the campaign!. Whoever reigns supreme will be crowned the victor!
=== MOBILE & 3DS ===
The Mobile & 3DS versions of the game were vastly different from the homeconsole releases of the game, with the 3DS version having a more congested storyline and only featuring 7 of the 14 locations. With the story in that game remaining largely similar to the homeconsole versions of the game, The 3DS and Mobile ports also wouldn't recieve any of the additional gamemodes like Multiplayer and more. Due to the limited space and specs the two devices had. 
The Mobile port of the game had a completely different gameplay structure. With the mobile version being a 2D sidescroller featuring only Ebyn & Sammy as the playable characters, the story was also changed to omit the space race and replace it with an attack from Dark Lunar after it's most recent defeat. The Mobile port of the game recieved poorly due to it's lacking gameplay and persistance to use ads as a way to allow players to keep lives and more. It ended up becoming so much of a problem that Magnus Interactive would go on to remove the ads and popups from the game and rework it entirely under the name "Sammy & Ebyn: Dark Lunar Crash" with the Dark Matter Race engine still being implimented during the first years of the Mobile port going live, it finally being removed and replaced with the ebitengine 
== SOUNDTRACK ==
The soundtrack for Dark Matter Race was produced and composed by the Magnus Interactive Soundteam (MIST) and was an orchestral score, something that wasn't common for the series. Below are the songs seen in the home console versions of the game
* Main Menu 
* Select Ya Character! 
* Paused
* Let's Begin! 
* Overture
* A brand new Adventure
* The Hub
* Somethin's risin
* First Is the worst!
* Party Time! 
* The Beginning of the End 
* Let's get movin! 
* The Land is Shifting! 
* Who's got it? 
* Crazy Capture 
* Bring in the Bandits! 
* Rough'em'up! 
* The Grand Return 
* Premotion 
* Castle Grounds
* The Final Scene 
* Finale
The songs were critically acclaimed, especially the vocal track "Finale" performed by Johnny Gioeli (Known for his works on the Sonic the Hedgehog series). With the 3DS and Mobile ports receiving traditional EDM techno styled remixes of the songs that would fit inside of the two consoles specs. 
== MARKETING ==
The marketing team at Magnus Interactive were tasked with marketing the game all through 2012 - 2015, the marketing behind the game involved various commercials that would air on prime-time children's television networks such as Cartoon Network, Disney Plus, NBC, Nickelodeon, Treehouse Kids, and various other networks. Alongside special promotions with Mcdonalds to release Sammy & Ebyn themed toys from Summer of 2012 till Fall of 2014, these marketing strategies. Coupled with online internet trailers would make the game widely known and accessible. 
Another way marketing was done was through interviews in magazines and talkshows, with developer Julius Gust being interviewed for Nintendo Power, Video game related talkshows and more. 
Category:Original Games
Category:3DS Games
Category:Platformers
Category:Wii U Games
Category:Mobile Games
Category:Finished Games