Description

Minna no Taabou no Nakayoshi Dai Sakusen, or as I like to call it, "Scary Ghost Memory Card," took me quite a while to figure out, but after much persistance (and accidendally flipping a card over), I finally deducted that it was a memory game. At the beginning of the game, you find yourself to be a boy with his mouth wide open (probably screaming) in a grid-like situation with the cutest little pink ghost floating around. DO NOT TOUCH THE GHOST. To flip over the square cards, move right up to it, facing either side, and press A. A picture of an animal or special prize will appear, and your card will stay flipped until you flip a second card. If the picture on the second card matches, then both cards will disappear. If not, both cards will turn back over.

To get to other cards quickly, you can go through doorways in the wall, Pac-man style. But watch out, because so can the ghosts. The more advanced your level, the more cards there are, as well as more ghosts. Sometimes the ghosts are trapped in one specific area by the cards, so it is a good idea to match those cards last. When a ghost does touch you, you spin around, a la Reluctant Dragon, and die. You still remain on that level, and the cards remain the same. But you only get to die thrice, because the fourth time you die, it's game over, man. You do get a password, though. Oh, and you can also die if you run out of time.

There are two special prizes you can flip over and match-- a heart, and a clock. Of course, the heart gives you a one up, and the clock gives you a few seconds of extra time where the ghosts stay frozen. There is also one lonely animal in every level with no match. These poor cards are matched with a special card with a picture of a flag on it. Why a flag, I'll never know. Maybe you can explain it to me.

Despite this being a game marketed by Sanrio, the graphics look like they were done on MS Paint. The main boy character is pretty interesting, but the rest of it is poor. The boy doesn't walk around the grid-- he runs around, screaming. (How else would you know not to touch the ghosts?) I'm not sure if the fact that I didn't know that the cards were cards was due to the bad graphics or my inability to read Japanese. We'll blame it on the latter. The cards can sometimes be difficult to match, because most of the pictures look just like another set of pictures. For example, you have Tall Skinny Cat or Short Fat Cat. You have Dog Head that might be some kind of bird, or Chicken that could be some kind of dog. You have Frog/turtle/newt, or you have Turtle, or you have Short Alligator (or is it a crocodile?) I could go on. The music didn't really match the game, either. The music was sort of jazzy and happy, like coin-collecting music. However, by looking at the cover of the game, I found that it's supposed to take place in a scary castle. That's when I figured that the boy was screaming rather than having a seizure.

Overall, I did like the game after I figured it out. It it, however, a little frustrating when the ghosts constantly kill you, but that's life in a big scary castle, you know? I've always liked memory games, despite the fact that I can never remember where I left my keys or husband. Like most Sanrio things, this game is good for all ages. I don't think it is directed at either sex, but the main character is a boy. This game could benefit the cognitive skills of both preschool aged children and older adults who are beginning to lose their memory (yours truly). There is also a two-player option, and I think that player two is a dog. But since I don't play well with others, I can only guess.

References

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