In my never-ending quest to bring you information on games you might not otherwise hear about, here’s a blog about a new DS game called Turn it Around.

Originally called Mawasunda in Japan, Majesco brought it over to the US as Turn it Around. It’s a collection of arcade style mini-game challenges, kind of like Wario Ware. The gimmick in Turn it Around is that you use the stylus and the touch screen to spin around an imaginary dial. And that’s how you control the mini-games. Turn it Around was made by Taito, so many of the games here are based on their classic arcade titles. Anyway, Turn it Around isn’t as good as what I had hoped it would be, but for 20 bucks, I can’t complain TOO much. Even so, I think the only people besides me who would like Turn it Around would be 1up.com pal GoemonGuru (Sparkle). I was tempted to import this game when it first came out, but I’m glad I didn’t because it’s not really worth the price of importing, plus it came to the US cheaply anyway. Hopefully the Wii version, called Furu Furu Park, which is supposedly being brought to the US by Majesco, too, will be better than the DS one. At any rate, here’s a list of the mini-games in Turn it Around:

Arkanoid
Use the dial controls to move a paddle back and forth and bounce a ball to break a pattern of blocks shaped like a Space Invader. This one is based on the classic arcade Break Out update. The dial controls don’t work as well as what I’d like, though. I guess that’s why the full version of Arkanoid that’s coming to the DS in Japan will come with a special paddle controller. My first NES game was Legend of Zelda, but my second NES game was Arkanoid. I got it because it also came with a special paddle controller and I thought that was cool. I used to play Arkanoid a lot at a Pizza Inn near my house when I was a kid.

Elevator
Turn the dial like a pulley to make an elevator go up and down and drop people off at their desired floors. It may or may not be a reference to Taito’s classic Elevator Action game. There are elevators, but no gun toting secret spies here.

Birdman
Spin the dial as fast as you can to turn the propeller of an airplane to keep the pilot airborne and out of the water. The trick I learned in these games where you have to spin the dial as fast as you can is to use the stylus at the edge of the spinning wheel, not the middle.

Robo Crush
Spin the dial as fast as you can to make a 100 ton weight crush down on a robot. Poor robot, what did he ever do to deserve this? Very easy game.

Golf
Spin the dial to simulate a golf club swing and put the ball on the green. That’s it. Pretty simple.

Money Grab
Grab the falling money but avoid bombs. Move your guy left and right by spinning the dial left and right. Kind of hard to control this way, but I did manage to pass this one barely.

Fishing
When the instructions say to reel in the fish, spin the dial as fast as you can. But when it says to stop, don’t spin the dial. Pretty easy if you follow the instructions.

Skateboard
Your little man rides a skateboard on a 3-D halfpipe, and when he reaches the apex and goes airborne, spin the dial quickly to make him do tricks. The more tricks you do, the higher your score is. The characters look like flat paper, like PaRappa the Rapper.

Sushi
Spin the dial to rotate a conveyor belt full of sushi at a sushi bar. Three people are at the end of the table and you must quickly match the sushi to their order (depicted in picture form by a word bubble over their head). This one is pretty hard because a lot of the sushi looks similar and it’s difficult to discern all the sushi on the belt, plus the patrons are too impatient. I’ve eaten sushi before. It’s not my favorite, but it’s also not too bad either.

Bub Bob
Ugh, bad translation. Why couldn’t they call this Bubble Bobble? Or Puzzle Bobble or Bust-A-Move. This mini game is, in fact, based on Bust-A-Move. Rotate the dial to aim the arrow that continourly fires bubbles upward. Trap enough Bubble Bobble enemies in bubbles at the top of the screen to win. I’m not sure you need to even need to spin the dial in this game at all. It fires bubbles pretty fast and they are big bubbles. Plus the enemies move around on top of the screen and usually right into a bubble anyway. I hear the Wii version of this (Furu Furu Park), has a mini game that is more based on the classic Bubble Bobble game.

Ice Dessert
Spin the dial as fast as you can to crush ice and make snow cones. Do 10 to win. I don’t like snow cones and never have. When I was little and we’d have snow cones, I’d ask for the crushed ice but no syrup. I hated the syrup. Too sweet.

Pottery
Rotate the dial to spin a potter’s wheel and make pots. But don’t spin too fast or too slow or you’ll mess up the pot. I still can’t figure out how to do this game properly yet.

Takoyaki
I think Takoyaki is breaded squid balls or something that they eat in Japan. Rotate the dial one way to quickly pour the ingredients in the special Takoyaki pan, and then spin the other way to roll the ingredients up into a ball. There’s another DS title with a Takoyaki making mini-game in it. It’s in one of the Tamagotchi Corner Shop games, which actually are kinda fun. I’ve never tasted Takoyaki before, but I’d give it a try if the opportunity presented itself to me.

Safe Cracker
This one requires more skill than the others, but it’s not impossible. Memorize a combination to a safe, and then rotate the dial to match the numbers on the safe dial. Once you get to the right number, lift the stylus. Don’t lift it before you get to the number, though, or you’ll have to start all over again! Unlock three safes inside each other to get the treasure, which is usually something wacky like a bowl of chicken and rice. This game reminds me of something you’d see in a Big Brain Academy or Brain Age game.

Cameltry
Cameltry is a classic Taito arcade game where you rotate a maze, “Mode 7” style, to guide a falling marble to a goal within the time limit. It’s pretty fun, but doesn’t work so well here. The SNES version of Cameltry was called On the Ball in the US, and the DS version of Cameltry was called Labyrinth and was brought to the US about a month ago. The DS version is all right, but if you have Cameltry on Taito Legends 2 on the PS2 or PSP, than getting the DS update isn’t really necessary.

Station Guide
Rotate the dial to guide your tipsy boss to the train station in time before his train leaves. Don’t run into anyone or they’ll beat you up, cloud and smoke Popeye style, and you’ll lose time. I’ve never been able to beat this game because the play control in it is so bad. Plus the screen tilts left and right too much. Makes you seasick.

Packed Train
Another train related game. I wonder if these games make any reference to Taito’s popular Densha de Go train simulator games in Japan. Anyway, in this one you have to keep a businessman from getting carsick (trainsick?) by rotating the dial left or right to make the crowd of people lean into the turn. The businessman’s face will turn red when you do poorly, and blue when you’re about to lose. I can never pass this game because the instructions for turning left and right go by too quickly and are a bit misleading in the wordage anyway.

Dragonfly Hunt
Is it true that if you spin your finger around a dragonfly, that they’ll get dizzy and fall over? I’ve never heard of that. In this game, spin the dial quickly to make someone’s finger go round and round to make enough dragonflies dizzy and fall off a log.

Swan Runner
Spin the dial to rotate a cylindrical corridor and avoid obstacles. It kind of reminds me of the half pipe bonus stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Duck Boat
Spin the dial as fast as you can to race your swan-shaped paddle boat to the finish line in time. Easy.

Turning Puzzle
Round pictures are split into three rings and you must rotate the dial to match the sections up to make a picture. Solve six puzzles in the time limit to win. This was kind of hard to figure out at first because the instructions were written so poorly.

Hammer Throw
In this one, spin the dial quickly and release at the right time to throw your human ‘hammer’ as far as you can. Yeah, you throw a big guy in the air and when he lands head first, his feet are sticking out of the ground wriggling. Comic Mischief indeed.

Pinch Hitter
I think there’s an old Taito arcade baseball game called Pinch Hitter. Move the dial to simulate a baseball bat swing when the ball is pitched and try to hit it for a home run. Pretty easy to do.

Umbrella Man
A guy with an umbrella is being chased from some ruins by a giant rock monster. Spin the dial and the guy rotates his umbrella and he flies upward. Stop and the guy slowly decends. Do this to avoid pillars and the rock monsters projectiles and make it out of the cave safely. Kind of reminds me of Balloon Trip from Nintendo’s Balloon Fight.

Missing Mummy Game?
While watching videos of the Japanese version of this game, I could’ve sworn I saw a game that I think they took out of the US version. In it, I think you spin the dial quickly to make a Japanese emperor man pull bandages off of mummies, only to reveal a geisha girl or other beauty inside. I’m guessing Majesco took out this game from the US version to keep the E rating, but I don’t think it’s any worse than the ‘guide the tipsy boss to the train station’ game. Oh well. We’ll see if they take it out of the Wii version, too.

And that’s all the games! I’ll probably do this again if/when Furu Furu Park comes out in the US. Sorry this blog wasn’t as good as some of my recent past blogs, but they can’t all be winners! Later! –Cary

Tags: Misc