Introducing the First-Person Groomer
Now that you have the glorious expanse of SD cards to store WiiWare games, how about one where you gave haircuts to carrots? That’s what’s going on in Bonsai Barber, one of today’s additions to Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel. (The other one is Super Punch-Out, incidentally.)
IGN reports that Bonsai Barber comes from the Zoonami team that brought us GoldenEye… but I doubt we’ll be seeing any cameos from Joe Don Baker in it. The gist of the game is that plants, fruits and veggies are booking your pruning talents for the “latest in foliage fashion.” You then must meet their demands to produce the correct coiff with the Wii Remote. According to Nintendo’s press release, Bonsai Barber has some nice interaction with the Wii Message Board, including receiving postcards from your satisfied customers. The game runs 1000 Wii Points and supports up to four players.
I love crazy crap like this. Nintendo’s complete release is after the jump, including a teaser about the company adding DSiWare apps next week.
Tags: bonsai barber, dsi, goldeneye, haircuts, Nintendo, super punch-out, vegetables, wii, wiiware, zoonamiWII-KLY UPDATE: “THE FAREWELL EDITION”
March 30, 2009
In this farewell edition of the Wii-kly Update (more on that below*), we’re pleased to announce a pair of excellent games based around completely opposite vocations. Newly available on the Virtual Console is Super Punch Out!!, the classic boxing title that pits players against tough pugilist rivals such as Bald Bull. Speaking of baldness, the unique new WiiWare game Bonsai Barber invites players to take off the gloves and work their clippers instead, giving new hairstyles to a colorful cast of fruits and vegetables. Both are yours for the downloading via the Wii Shop Channel.
Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:
WiiWare
Bonsai Barber (Nintendo, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points): The village residents are hungry for the latest in foliage fashion, and it’s up to you, the new barber, to fix them up. Use the tools of your trade: scissors, clippers, spray can, and more in this humorous, first-of-its-kind “first-person-groomer” game. Bonsai Barber features a colorful cast of 12 intriguing customers, including a temperamental shallot starlet (don’t call her an onion), an oddball strawberry boffin, a cactus cowboy, a daredevil carrot, and a suave banana with top-secret clearance. Each day, five customers arrive to test your stylistic skill. If the customer requests a specific style, you’ll plow that furrow, or you can rely on your expertise to pick from more than 30 popular fashions. Or, why not turn over a new leaf? Be creative and see how they react. They’re a demanding bunch, so if you miss an appointment, you’ll hear about it-on your Wii Message Board. If you do a good job, you may receive a gift or even a postcard from an exotic destination as your happy customers travel to distant lands and show off their exquisite coifs.
Virtual Console
Super Punch-Out!! (Super NES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): Featuring the tight game play and humor the series is known for, this sequel to the NES classic sees Little Mac return to the ring with the World Video Boxing Association belt once again at stake. Slug your way through the grueling, sweat-pounding matches of the Minor, Major and World Circuits as you face off against some of Little Mac’s greatest rivals, such as Bear Hugger, Bald Bull and Super Macho Man. With a cast of new challengers waiting, do you have what it takes to identify their unique patterns and exploit their weaknesses? Go to your corner and come out fighting, but remember what Doc Louis would say: “It’s not about brawling-it’s about finesse!”
Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.
*- About that “farewell edition” stuff: Starting next week, the name of this newsletter will be changed from Wii-kly Update to Nintendo Download. Why? With the April 5 launch of the new Nintendo DSi portable game system comes the opening of the Nintendo DSi Shop. Like the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop will offer a growing library of downloadable games, with new titles added every week. Accordingly, we’ll be using this space to tell you not only about new games for Wii but also for Nintendo DSi. Watch for the first edition of Nintendo Download on April 6.
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Sounds like fun, but I dunno about the cost. At a 1-1 correlation between 100's of Wii Points and dollars, $10 seems a little steep, IMHO.
I'd rather spend $10 for a haircut, than on a game that let's me give haircuts to vegetables. Since when do carrots have orange afros, anyway?
Wow, this is uncharacteristically grouchy for you, Jordy. Someone run over your dog?
Instantly bought. Without ANY prior knowledge of the game, or even any idea of how good or bad it might be.
I downloaded it last night, then spent over an hour poking around and giving haircuts to carrots, painting birds and taking snapshots of the results.
This is why I'm not an Xbox owner. This is why I don't need a PS3.
If you can't appreciate Bonsai Barber…good luck to you in this cold, cruel world.
(I also downloaded Super Punch Out!!, mainly because I've never played it and I'm kind of getting excited for the new Wii version…)
Rainbows! Ponies! Stickers! Lollipops! Teddy Bears!!!!!! Is that better?
That depends, can I give any of those haircuts?
Only the ponies and teddy bears. I think you'd be hardpressed to find hair on any of the other items, although sometimes lollipops fall and get hair on them.
Between Noby Noby Boy, Flower, PixelJunk Monsters and others, the PS3 has plenty of this kind of cheap, non-traditional fare… ranging from light and fluffy and meaty and deep.
But yeah, the 360 sucks.
Eden, baby…. although my lazy ass has yet to pick it up, but the expansion pack definitely has piqued it again. Here's hoping for a cheaper bundle.
I don't mean to take away from what the PS3 is doing in that area.
If the Wii didn't have anything like this, I'd need a PS3. But it does, clearly. And as interesting as those games you listed are, they'd only be selling points if my Weird-Ass Game itch wasn't being scratched on the Wii.
Thus, I don't “need” a PS3.
The Xbox crowd would never go for this stuff. 360's awful. I'd be embarrassed if I owned one.
Gotta' go. Carrots to trim.
I don't mean to take away from what the PS3 is doing in that area.
If the Wii didn't have anything like this, I'd need a PS3. But it does, clearly. And as interesting as those games you listed are, they'd only be selling points if my Weird-Ass Game itch wasn't being scratched on the Wii.
Thus, I don't “need” a PS3.
The Xbox crowd would never go for this stuff. 360's awful. I'd be embarrassed if I owned one.
Gotta' go. Carrots to trim.