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> Results: Tamagotchi: Party On!
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Those popular Tamagotchi virtual pets are leaping out of their keychain homes to have a party on the Nintendo Wii, and you're invited. The virtual critters are holding an election for the next president of TamaTown, and instead of resorting to mudslinging and empty political campaign promises, they'll play a fun little board game.
Tamagotchi: Party On! is a video board game similar to the Mario Party series. Pick your favorite critter, roll the dice, and move around the game board collecting popularity points and money. Use the money to spruce up your campaign headquarters and earn even more popularity points. Whoever has the most popularity points by the end of the game is elected the winner and president of TamaTown. Some spaces you land on will randomly give or take away popularity points or money, while on other spaces, you must play mini-games to earn goodies. On "Gotchi Spaces," earn money by playing a simple 3-button mini-game, similar to the ones you can play on the Tamagotchi key chains. Land on a Mini-Game Space to earn popularity points by playing a mini-game using the motion sensoring Wii remote. Wave the remote up and down to shake as many hands as you can, or in another game, wave the remote side to side to wave to as many possible voters as you can. The goal on each board is to make it to the campaign space, where you give a speech that gives your money and popularity a mega boost. What kind of campaign promises a virtual pet can give, though, is anyone's guess (a watch battery in every pot?). Playing with the Wii remote feels decent most of the times, but on a few of the mini-games, control is a little sluggish and unresponsive. Visuals and audio are simple yet charmingly sugary sweet colorful. Up to four players can play together, and the computer will play as any extras. Luckily when it's the computer's turn, you can skip through most of their playtime. Where Mario Party succeeds and Tamagotchi: Party On! fails, however, is how the players interact with each other. In Mario Party, mini-games happen frequentlyafter every turn. And they mostly involve all four players. However, in the Tamagotchi board game, the mini-games are one-player only, and only occur if you happen to land on certain spaces. But while games in the Mario Party series are ultimately the best for families, younger players and gamers who just like something weird and different (like myself), might still get a kick out of Tamagotchi: Party On!  
No violence of any kind. Reading skill is helpful to understand the text in mini-game instructions and events. Younger players will love the cute characters and simple gameplay, even though some of the mini-games don't control as responsively. It may be a stretch, but Tamagotchi: Party On! may even encourage good citizenship as most of the mini-games and events that earn popularity points involve doing good deeds like cleaning up a park or volunteering at a day care. While Mario Party games may earn the most votes for best party board game, Tamagotchi: Party On! makes for a decent runner-up in the election.
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