G-Mode is best known for its Consider It series, a collection of minigames assessing how considerate the player is in various social situations. TORIDAMA is its other minigame collection series, which focuses on chicken challenges. Each minigame puts the player in a situation requiring them to bail out at the last moment, testing how brave they are. Leaving it as close to the last millisecond will score you up to 9,999 points per challenge. Get it wrong, you’ll lose 9,999 points!
There are 25 games in total, 5 of which are multiplayer games for up to 4 players locally. Most of them require just a single button press or hold to complete the task, and they are zany and crazy. Pull the brakes on a car as it races towards a cliff edge. Pull the cord on a light fixture so it doesn’t land on your head. Stop a child from swinging their swing into grandpa’s head, but sweep off all the things he is balancing on it. It’s wacky Japanese humour makes the series and most challenges have three variations of the game to switch things up, often making things harder. In normal mode, you’ll get five challenges chosen at random to try to score the best points haul and get ranked as a chicken type. Another mode asks you to clear all 25 minigames in a row for the ultimate leaderboard challenge. Not all games are unlocked at once, but it only takes about half an hour to unlock them all, due to the short minigame nature of everything. Multiplayer splits the screen up rather than having players take turns, although it feels odd that you can’t just pass and play the main game as a competition either.
So far, this all sounds great – and it is… so long as you haven’t bought the first TORIDAMA, which I have. My main complaint about TORIDAMA 2 is that a massive section of the first game is here in the second game with absolutely no changes. The crossover is huge, making the second game feel like it should have been a DLC expansion rather than a fresh sequel. For new gamers stepping in, skip the first one and start here. The 7/10 score stands true, as it is a fun, if brief, experience. If you’ve got the original like me, I can only recommend this on sale because you own half the game already.
That said, I really like TORIDAMA’s commitment to the bit. The art style, the temple drums, the chickens… it all works well. I’d just like a fresh set of minigames next time around please.
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