Furu Furu Park is a collection of mini-games on the Wii. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “Like the Wii NEEDS yet another collection of mini-games.” Well there’s two things about Furu Furu Park that make it stand out. One, most of the mini-games are based on classic arcade Taito titles, which give it some familiar charm. The other reason why Furu Furu Park is special is that it’s only 20 bucks. For the price, it’s pretty enjoyable. It’s certainly better than the Nintendo DS game that Furu Furu Park is based on. There was a collection of Taito mini-games on the DS called Turn it Around that used the touch screen like a ‘dial’ you turned around with the stylus. But in Furu Furu Park, you use the Wii remote in different ways to play the games. So here’s a rundown on all the games on Furu Furu Park.

Skateboard
In this game, your character is skating on a half pipe. When you get to the end and jump, you are prompted to hold the remote in certain ways (left, right, upright) to perform tricks. Move the remote in all the ways shown before landing back on the pipe so you don’t crash. Do this a few times to pass the game. This game was also on Turn it Around but you turned the dial to perform tricks. There is a variation on this game called Extreme Skateboard where you must perform more tricks for each jump, and your half pipe is in outer space. Needless to say, Furu Furu Park is full of quirky Japanese humor. After each game they give you a gameplay tip, and it’s always uesless. But I found them pretty amusing so I’ll list each tip after I describe each game.
PROTIP: Try tilting the Wii remote just before you jump!

Unwrap the Mummy
Make your Indiana Jones-looking character unravel mummy bandages by moving the Wii remote towards and away from the screen as fast as you can. I think they changed this game from the Japanese version. I saw a video of it on YouTube. In the Japanese Furu Furu Park, you were an old Japanese royalty guy and you were unwrapping mummies that turned into scantily clad geisha girls after they were unraveled. I think this was also in the Japanese Turn it Around DS game, too, but they just totally took it out of the US version.
PROTIP: Don’t be afraid!

Pinch Hitter
There was an old Taito baseball game called Pinch Hitter. This is pretty much a one-chance Wii Sports baseball. You only get one hit to make a home run. I can never do it because it always gets caught by the right outfielder. All the other players are muscled up afro guys.
PROTIP: Watch the ball carefully!

Swan Runner
Turn the Wii remote like a dial to fly your spaceship through a tube, avoiding obstacles and running through speed up arrows to escape the exploding planet quickly. Hard but not impossible. Also on Turn it Around.
PROTIP: You should try looking farther ahead to know what?????s coming!

Sushi
Exactly like in the Turn it Around game. Twist the Wii remote like a dial to move the conveyor around in a sushi bar. Serve the kind of sushi your three customers want by matching the sushi in their thought balloons with what sushi is on the conveyor in front of them. There is a variation of this game called “Sushi 777 Fever.” Every so often, you can serve your three customers matching 7’s and then you go to a bonus level where all the sushi is number 7’s and you have to give them the right color 7’s. It’s like a slot machine bonus and a little more fun and surreal.
PROTIP: You should always look a few plates ahead.

Submarine Escape
In this one, you’re underwater and a robot is chasing you. Wiggle the Wii remote to swim up and tilt it down to sink quickly. Avoid obstacles and the robot’s attacks as you try and make it out of the underwater ruins. There’s a game kind of like this in Turn it Around. Except instead of being chased underwater, you’re just in some ruins and go up and down over obstacles with a…flying umbrella.
PROTIP: Sometimes you gotta go deep!

The Hammer Throw
It’s kind of like the hammer throw game in Sonic & Mario at the Olympic Games. Except it controls better in Furu Furu Park. And instead of tossing a hammer, you’re throwing three afro guys. They land on the ground with their heads buried. There’s also a variation of this game in Turn it Around, and you still throw the afro guys.
PROTIP: Make sure to aim forward!

Super Karate
Normally I don’t like fighting games, but I can enjoy this one! All you have to do is tilt the Wii remote as the picture shows before the opponent can. Whoever does it first lands a punch or kick. Do it enough times and you can push your opponent back and deliver a flurry of hits by tilting the Wii remote in the correct poses. The other guy can escape this barrage if he wiggles his Wii remote fast enough. It’s fun and I like it.
PROTIP: Don’t think! Feel! Ha!

Treasure Hunter
This one’s very Mario Party-ish. Hold the Wii remote like a NES controller and run around a field collecting coins and avoiding mines. The floor tiles will fall out one by one, and you have to try and not fall off while running around the ever-decreasing playfield.
PROTIP: Don’t be greedy!

Swan Shooter
Like the last one, hold the Wii remote NES style. This one’s a short 2-D vertically scrolling shooter stage. I think it’s making reference to an old Taito shooter called RayStorm or RayCrisis. Not too sure. There’s a harder version of this game called “Swan Shooter Night Strike” that plays like one of those new-fangled “Bullet Hell” shooters. Both are hard for me because I stink at shooters.
PROTIP: Defense and offense! Move fast to avoid being hit!

Camel Maze
I love this one! There’s an old Taito arcade game called Cameltry where you rotate a maze to get a marble to the goal. It was on the SNES called On The Ball and on the DS as Labyrinth. On the Wii, just twist the remote around to rotate the maze. I wish there were more mazes you could go through, or better yet, have a full Cameltry game on the Wii! I love the Japanese engrish voices they have here. “Nice Play!”
PROTIP: Don’t rush!

Robo Crush
There’s a giant robot on the loose and you must smash it with your giant squeaky hammer. Just swing the remote like a hammer a bunch of times to bash the robot. If the robot swings its arms around, press the B button to back off. Nice and simple.
PROTIP: Strength: part of being a hero!

Bird Man
You have to hold the Wii remote like you are holding bike pedals with your hands. Pedal as fast as you can to pilot a pedal-driven hang glider across the ocean. Go as far as you can. It’s basically a test of endurance. At least it’s better than the version of this game on Turn it Around.
PROTIP: Fly like a bird!

Safe
This one’s like the Turn it Around game. A few numbers will pop up and you have to memorize them. Then you must rotate the Wii remote to turn the dial on a safe, and then press the button when you are at that number. You have to do this a few times, and each time you have to memorize more numbers. I’m pretty good at this game because at my job I enter in numbers from people placing orders all day so I’m used to it.
PROTIP: It?????s like memorizing the phone number of a person you like.

Takoyaki
All you have to do is point the remote at the TV and move the cursor and click the button to make Takoyaki. I’m not sure what it is, but it looks like squid in balls of bread. After making Takoyaki in games like Cooking Mama and Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop, I’d like to try Takoyaki for real. Though I’m not sure if I’d like it.
PROTIP: Try making a bunch at once!

Snow Cone
Rotate the Wii remote around like a crank to make a bunch of snow cones. Later on you have to make HUGE cups! There are snow cone games exactly like this in Cooking Mama and Turn it Around.
PROTIP: Move at your own pace.

Arkanoid
Taito made a updated BreakOut-like game in the arcade that I actually like better than BreakOut (though I still stink at it). Try to clear a level without losing your three lives. Move the Wii remote like a dial to move your paddle around. I wish you could move the paddle by holding the Wii remote flat and shifting it from side to side like you were ‘holding’ the paddle. You know? I wish the Arkanoid DS game would come to the US (complete with paddle controller). Arkanoid was one of the first NES games I got because I liked the paddle controller that came with it.
PROTIP: Keep your eyes peeled!

Puzzle Kids
Another game that’s exactly like one in Turn it Around. Hold the Wii remote up like a lever and rotate a circle picture with pieces that are messed up. Match and complete six pictures to win. The “Puzzle Kids” version has fewer parts to slide, and the pictures are more cartoony. Another version is called “Puzzle Expert” There are more pieces to slide and rotate, and the pictures are more photo realistic. One last version is called “Puzzle Girl.” These are pictures of anime girls (and they’re not even sexy, darn!) and it’s even harder because the pictures you slide around start out being all blurry and distorted. I can’t finish this one.
PROTIP: Try to picture it!
PROTIP: The position of the eyes is key!

Dragonfly Hunter
Again, there’s one like this in Turn it Around. Point the Wii remote at the screen to move a pointer finger around and around. When a dragonfly lands, move the finger around to make the dragonfly dizzy and fall off the log. I wonder if you can do that to dragonflies in real life? In the game, every so often an afro guy dressed as a dragonfly lands on the log and you have to press the A button to flick him off the log.
PROTIP: Flick Dragonfly Afro!

Bubble Bobble
YES! Hold the remote NES style and play a level of the classic Bubble Bobble game with enhanced graphics and sound. There’s only one level, and when you defeat enemies, they just respawn. You have to just survive the time limit and not lose your three lives. I wouldn’t mind a full version of this game on the Wii, with multiple levels and such. Like Bubble Symphony.
PROTIP: Study the monster’s movement!

Pocky & Rocky
Taito made some 2-D shooters in the arcade and on the Super Nintendo starring a card throwing priestess as player one and a leaf throwing raccoon/tanuki as player two. It was called Kiki Kaikai in Japan and Pocky and Rocky in the US. You tromp through haunted Japanese settings while shooting cute Japanese ghosts and goblins. It’s pretty hard. In Furu Furu Park, you just play through a short level and fight the first level boss that throws chestnuts from a basket. Player Two is a person dressed as a raccoon/tanuki. The graphics here are really big and fill the TV so it’s a little hard to see what’s coming up. I think there’s a full Kiki Kaikai game coming out on the Wii later.
PROTIP: Using both attacks is key!

Sudden Death
It’s like Soccer mixed up with Dragon Ball Z. You wiggle the remote to charge your kick, then keep wiggling it to hit all the guys on the other team (all afro guys again). And then when the goalie blocks it, keep wiggling the remote to charge up the ball and force it past him. And that’s all.
PROTIP: Don’t give up!

Rev the Engine
This one’s funny. It’s a simple music/rhythm game. You’re on a motorcycle, leather jacket, greased back dark hair and everything. Hold the Wii remote on it’s side like you’re holding a handlebar. When the icon goes past the circle, twist the Wii remote down like you’re revving a motorcycle engine! When you do it right, they say, “Groovy!” There’s a harder version of this game called “Rev It Up More!” You have to either rev the engine OR honk the horn by pressing the B button in time with the music. This game cracks me up.
PROTIP: Put your whole body into it!

Sonic Blast Man 20XX
A long time ago, Taito made an arcade game called Sonic Blast Man. You punched as hard as you could into a pad and a super hero guy on screen would punch a thug or an asteroid or something. The game measured how hard you punched the pad. There were a couple of Sonic Blast Man games on the SNES, but they played like cartoony 2-D scrolling beat ’em ups. I’d like to play those games, especially the sequel, because believe it or not, I like old school 2-D beat ’em ups like that. I have the TMNT arcade game on Xbox Live and all three Streets of Rage games on Wii VC. Maybe the SNES Sonic Blast Man games will be on the VC someday. Anyway, in Furu Furu Park, you hold the remote on its side like it’s in your fist and you punch at the screen to keep asteroids from hitting the city. There’s a radar so you can see where the meteors are coming from, and then you can use the control pad to face that direction to punch them. It gets hectic when more than one come at you! But it’s still fun.
PROTIP: You should start with the meteor that’s closest.

And that’s all there is to Furu Furu Park. Not bad for 20 bucks, and it’s even more fun with two players. What’s YOUR favorite Taito game?

Tags: Game Reviews