Toridama Brave Challenge is one of those rare madcap party games that can only be made by Japanese developers or people who eat their toenails and listen to belt grinders. If that’s ‘right up your alley’ (pervert), read on.
This is the second time I’ve reviewed the game from G-Mode (Japanese site). Not because Toridama Brave Challenge had me sitting on the fence or that there’s been a recent update, but because I deleted the last review in error. It was one of my first reviews for this site, and I foolishly wrote the first piece on the back of a cornflakes packet, before electricity existed.
If you’re looking for an enthralling story, look elsewhere as this is a comedy game through and through. There’s no waiting around for other players to customise their avatar, nor is there an online glossary of the characters, lore or dietary requirements of a snorzgablore in the summertime.
Cock of the Walk?
The concept is simple: don’t be a chicken. To expand upon this existential state, Toridama Brave Challenge is a mini-game title that tests your reaction times and whether or not you can stand your ground until the last minute.
For alpha males, this is the perfect platform for you to stick out your chest and woo your significant other with your primal prowess, showing them that you’re a catch as you’re good at pressing a button at the right time. Emphasis on ‘a button’ as there’s only one.
Done with complicated combos and advanced techniques like moving the analogue stick left to go left, up to go up etc., in Toridama Brave Challenge you only have to press one of the four main buttons on the controller (take your pick as X, Y, A and B all do the same thing). You will get to use the advanced methods during the menu select, however; up, down then A button to select the mode.
Crocodiles Are People Too
A typical game would have you waiting for an event to ‘just about happen’, then pressing any button at the last minute. For example, there’s a kissing game where two characters are on screen with a stick between them. As they both devour their side of the stick (don’t read into this – it’s a family game), you must press a button just before the kiss. The closer you leave it to the deed, the higher your score.
If you fail an event, you’ll automatically get -9999 points. This does suck if you’ve had a good round as it’s taken off the points awarded beforehand. After three rounds of random games, your scores are calculated, and you’re compared with a chicken. The less chicken-like you are, the better. No offence, Chicken Little.
Other mini-games include strapping a big slab of meat on your head and waiting for the approaching crocodiles to get so close and then… WITHDRAW! Yeah, as much as crocodiles are people too, they will bite your head clean off.
Cut It Out!
Without a doubt, Toridama Brave Challenge was a creative process. In essence, someone had the idea, it was developed and financed so that sexy people could review it, but more importantly, people would gather in their masses to play it.
But, whether this is your first experience of playing a game in your life, or you can verify how many polygons Kratos is made of, it’s evident that Toridama Brave Challenge is on the light side; that’s in terms of content, graphics and sound.
The art style is amusing but feels very rushed and no-frills. Each character and scene usually lacks colour and identity – sometimes a character will have a face; other times they’ll appear like a silhouette. Still, it works, and it’s the lure of this stripped-down party game that makes this a good pick up and play title.
Cheap Thrills
There are no extravagant menu sequences, and there isn’t any music apart from the taiko drum that plays in the background, increasing the tempo as the mini-game reaches its climax, but it works.
Like the sound of the Japanese drum? Read the Taiko no Tatsujin review, from today’s sponsor: eggs.
Despite the art style and minimal sound design, Toridama Brave Challenge works. Still, the lack of variety in the game choice means that you’re unlikely to play this for long periods – regardless of how many people are playing.
Sure, there are a handful of modes, but there are just slight variations of the base game and for the more die-hards who are desperate not to be seen as poultry. For example, an extra mode is unlocked for scoring above a specific score, so you need to be consistent with your timing and not just fluke it. There’s also an online leaderboard, and it seems there are a lot of gung-ho people out there.
Who Bailed First: The Chicken or The Egg?
There are some skills in the Toridama Brave Challenge, but those skills are limited explicitly to timing. That diploma you got for squirting milk out of your eye is irrelevant here. Anybody can play it, but whether they’re good depends on whether they’re chicken. As this isn’t real, I’d say go balls out and risk everything, as no chickens are hurt in the game.
I’ve had this game for some time now and haven’t aced everything. That’s either because I’m not good enough, or it doesn’t warrant returning to and grinding for the perfect scores. With that in mind, Toridama Brave Challenge is totally worth the spend when it comes to a party game, and to be honest, it’s one of the rare party games that’s ok to play solo. Take that, friends!
WarioWare: Smooth Moves is a similar title regarding irrelevance and humour, but it has a lot more to unlock and game modes. Toridama Brave Challenge, on the other hand, feels a little weak in that department, but still an enjoyable title. Besides that, there aren’t many similar titles that test your courage in such a quirky title.
