Tamagotchi Party On! Hands-on

via ign

Tamagotchi: Party On! has been available in Japan since the launch of the Nintendo Wii system in early December. Namco Bandai sees enough merit for a stateside release of the quirky party-style mini-game compilation as the company's shipping Party On! in the US this spring. Namco Bandai recently stopped by the office to show off a near final build of the English-localized rendition of the game.

This Wii title's in development at Japanese studio H.A.N.D., which consists of members from Hudson's "Mario Party" team. And the influence is about as obvious as the annoying high-pitched beeping from a Tamagotchi virtual pet. Party On! is, essentially, a collection of mini-games all tied in via a board game for four players. The task? To work your Tamagotchi character across the different playfields and come through as the winner by earning more points than the opposition. This will earn you the rank of President of the Tamagotchi Planet! To do this you'll have to play all sorts of challenges that put the Wii Remote's functions to use.

For example, you'll have to drive a car down a rigidly laid-out path collecting cans and avoiding bouncing eggs...tilting the Wii Remote left and right performs this familiar task. There's also a challenge where you'll need to pump water onto flowers by pushing and pulling the Wii Remote as quickly as possible and at the proper time. Collecting goldfish is another challenge...whipping the remote upwards to mimic the on-screen net will lift it out of the water, but you'll need to do that when a fish is within its range. And in another little mini-game, you'll need to wind clocks to their proper time by twisting the Wii Remote like a crank.

Then there are more basic Tamagotchi challenges that are more similar to the games that are built into the little LCD devices. These games only use the D-pad in a three-button configuration...much like the virtual pets. Play Rock Paper Scissors, Guess the Dessert, and other games by pressing left, up/down, or right at the appropriate time.

Accomplishing these games not only unlocks them for play outside of the board game, but they also reward the player in-game; winning games can earn coins, which will give players the opportunity to buy items that will increase their multiplier and give them the edge for when they earn points in other games. You can also use these points to customize your character's look as well as the appearance of his or her campaign headquarters.

Party On uses the same crazy and quirky visual and audio style that was used in the two Tamagotchi Connection games on the Nintendo DS. Characters, rendered in 3D on the Wii console, are exaggeratedly cute, and the music and sounds are just as sugary as the graphic style. Unlike Tamagotchi Connection on the Nintendo DS, Tamagotchi Party On! does not have a virtual pet portion within its design, nor can players trade unlockables or other items between consoles. The game also doesn't support any sort of link to the Tamagotchi eggs you can buy in the store.