Remember Nintendo’s first marketing angle for the DS that carried the slogan, ‘Touching is Good’? Talk about risque, especially coupled with the early strain of not-quite-overt-because-they-were-utterly-incomprehensible dating sims that graced the handheld (or ‘graced’–I’m looking at you, Sprung.) Now being of the female persuasion (and despite liking games, sharing few other attributes with men), I wasn’t too quick to hop on board with Feel the Magic XY/XX and start wooing Mute Silhouette Protagonist’s Near-Mute, Blushing Dream Girl. Even if I’d heard that wooing entailed some absurdly fun minigames. So it turns out that FTM is a very charming and personable, pick-up-and-play type of game that’s perfect to cover on the last day of the month when I’m down a few posts. But moreover, Sonic Team has created an endearing, universal story of boy-meets-girl, does crazy stunts in performance troupe of questionable motivations to impress her, and given it retro, cut-out visuals and sexual-revolution-era musical stylings. It’s all unified rather amusingly by a Japanese variety-show sensibility as FTM makes entertaining, challenging use of the mic and touch screen, often in tandem. I recommend this over WarioWare’s scattered, fetish-themed humor any day.

Posted on June 30th, 2008 by katie