Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop Updated Hands-On

The first time we played Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop was at last year's Tokyo Game Show, and we used the Nintendo DS touch screen to treat a number of Tamagotchis complaining of toothaches and such in Japanese. To say that we found Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop somewhat bewildering would be a massive understatement. But now that we've had an opportunity to spend some time with an English-language version of the game, it all makes perfect sense. No, really.

Assuming the role of one of three Tamagotchi entrepreneurs--Mametchi, Memetchi, or Kuchipatchi--your goal in Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop is to make a success out of several different businesses so that you can earn money to beautify both your chosen Tamagotchi and its humble abode. The businesses in Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop--which include a takoyaki (octopus dumpling) shop, a spa, an accessory (jewelry) shop, a dental practice, a bakery, a laundromat, a music club, a flower shop, and a beauty salon--all require a very hands-on management style. In other words, you'll determine how successful each of your corner shop ventures is by meeting the needs of customers via some simple minigames.

You'll start your Tamagotchi capitalist adventure at the helm of a takoyaki shop, where your touch screen responsibilities will include greasing a baking tray, and then using dough mix and various other ingredients to create the correct number of perfectly cooked dumplings for the customers waiting patiently (for the most part) in line on the top screen. Figuring out exactly how to make the perfect dumpling will most likely take you a few attempts, which brings up one of Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop's failings: Once you know what you're doing, the game simply forces you to do the same thing over and over again. As your shop's reputation increases, you'll have the opportunity to expand it, but the only effects that expansion has on gameplay are that some of the tasks become slightly more challenging, and you're able to charge your customers a little more money for your services.

After making a success of the takoyaki store, you'll unlock the spa where Tamagotchis go to relax and make unreasonable demands about what color they'd like their water to be, what color shampoo they prefer, the temperature of their water, and so on. The varying demands of your clients at the spa make for a slightly more varied experience than the takoyaki store, but you'll still basically just be performing the same mindless tasks over and over again--rinsing and repeating, as it were. Once the repetitive tasks required of you in a particular store get too mind-numbing, your best bet will be to move to one of the other stores that you've unlocked, which you're free to do at any point. Thankfully, the gameplay at each store is quite different, so while the takoyaki store is primarily a test of speed, for example, making brooches and necklaces at the accessory store plays more like some kind of manual dexterity test, and entertaining guests at the music club is achieved via an occasionally challenging rhythm-action game.

When you're not busy running one of your stores, your time in Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop will most likely be spent shopping. As you progress through the game, you'll unlock a number of different items to spend your hard-earned cash on, including clothes and food for your chosen entrepreneur, and furniture for the room that it lives in. Using the DS's wireless connectivity, you'll be able to swap items with friends, though there doesn't appear to be a great selection in the game.

We certainly found that Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop can be fun in small doses, but its repetitive nature made playing the game for more than 30 minutes or so at a time something of a chore. There aren't many games available that let you wash and iron a ninja's cardigan because it got dirty during a mission, though, and that's got to count for something. Expect a full review of Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop as its February release date approaches.