December is a great time to release a new party game and Judofuri is one I picked up last week for three reasons:
- Judofuri is colourful, squishy, squelchy and fruity
- The controls for each minigame rely on just a single button and you can share controllers and keyboard keys to reduce the needed peripherals to a minimum
- It can support up to 9 players
Having nine players (no bots) is a unique number in gaming but it makes sense in the wider set-up of Judofuri as you can pick and choose from 20 minigames to set up your competition. Each player chooses a fruit and then you compete against each other in either all-at-once or turn-based minigames to see who can score the most points. With controls being just a single button, each minigame requires either timing a button press, holding and releasing a button, or button mashing. The way how each game is controlled makes them feel unique as well as look unique and that’s one of Judofuri’s many successes.
The 20 events range from sports to party games. Hurdles Race requires timed jumping in player sequence. Jump Rope has you all jumping together as the rope gets faster and the camera more wonky. Red Light Green Light has you pressing and holding a button to creep forward to a finish line and release it before the guard turns around and vaporises anyone moving. Peach Volleyball has a ball bounce randomly between the players and if you miss your shot you are eliminated. Musical chairs is a speed test to press the button faster than your opponent. Slalom puts everyone on a slope to press the button to change direction to avoid other players and gates. They are wildly simple but well executed as they are pitched at a level where skill is required but the whole family can play.
Some games are longer than a minute and are often turn-based. Minigolf and Hoops are good examples of this, as each player takes turns putting or shooting a ball, but other players in waiting can try to interfere. If your ball rolls under a hammer, a player can try to trigger it to splat the ball and eliminate an opponent. Some of the turn-based games have the potential to go on for a while if players are very skilled so not only does this interference cause drama, but it keeps others entertained while they are still in the game. Judofuri also adds its own harder difficulty for some minigames if players are doing too well and no one is being eliminated, like black holes which pop players balls if they touch them.
The mixture of sports and party games makes Judofuri approachable and fun for all the family. The bright colours, clean graphics and silly sound effects add to the party atmosphere. When players do well, there are plenty of cheers, and the fruity splashes when players get eliminated bring joy too. Games can be completed anywhere between 5 – 20 minutes depending on which minigames and how many players or rounds you’ve selected. This brings me to my only quibble about Judofuri. There are 20 minigames but for some reason, you can only select up to 9 of them for each match. What if I want to play every minigame in a session? It can’t be done and it feels a bit strange.
From the delightful aesthetic to the addictive and competitive gameplay and its simple control scheme, Judofuri is a joy to play. One button games can often suffer from the limitations they impose to make the game easy to pick up and play but I never felt restricted here. Instead, I wanted to hit restart and keep on playing and that’s the sign of a great party game.
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