Sometimes I have a poke around on the Japanese eShop to see if there’s anything interesting which isn’t on the UK or US one. In the past it has given me the likes of Kamiko, Plantera and Handy Mahjongg, all before they came to the west. I’ve also played a few of the train sim demos, had a go on Phantasy Star Online, and so on. And picked up Sonic the Hedgehog from there as it came out a day early in Japan.
So this time, I found Vivitter. The screenshots and video were utterly nuts, and there was a whole WarioWare/Ichidant-R feel to it. Instant purchase. Oh wait! It’s free? Even better!
Turns out that yes, it is a combination of those two games. You have to do something with very little preparation, with the aim to be as accurate as possible. For example, one of the first games requires you to stop a guillotine blade as close to your neck as possible. Too far away, and you don’t score enough points to win. Too close, and, well. You can guess.
Are the variations on this theme, stop the thing on the line, let go of the button at the right time, stop a thing at the right distance, time, angle or speed, and so on. After every so many games, you have to do a “final” round, where three of the previous games are chosen at random to play one after the other, and you’ve a total target score to beat in order to proceed. It’s silly, stupid fun. I especially like that you create your face at the start, and then this is badly superimposed over the “hero’s” face in each scenario regardless of how ridiculous that looks. I also enjoyed the games which riff on films like The Matrix, Back to the Future and Mission Impossible.
