Beloved toy of our youths coming to WiiWare

November 21, 2008 · Print This Article

Warning: you are now entering a Wii Fanboy nostalgia zone; whether we get wrapped up in jabbering about our wholesome childhoods by the next 200 words, you’ve been warned. The cause of that trip down memory lane? The announcement that Tomy would be bringing a Pop-Up Pirate game to WiiWare. Yay!

Pop-Up Pirate Wii will emulate the pop-ular children’s board/party game, in which players would hold their breath (that bit is optional, but helps) while inserting plastic swords into a plastic barrel containing a pirate. whether you chose the wrong slot, the pirate would spring out, startling everybody. As dull as it sounds now we’ve written it down, it was all the rage back in the ’80s, before those damn computer videogame whatchoomacallits came along and ruined everything.

Like other board games of our childhood that relied on a steady hand (such as Buckaroo and Operation), we’re not yet assured that a videogame

version will capture the same ridiculous levels of tension, but still, three cheers for Tomy for at least trying! The chunky, colorful visuals are a great start, in our opinion.

Also on Nintendo of Japan’s WiiWare page: Simple Series Vol. 2 The Number Puzzle Neo. whether ever a series was designed particularly for WiiWare, the cheap-but-cheerful Simple series would be it. Both of these will launch next Tuesday in Japan for 500 Wii Points each.

Gallery: Pop-up Pirate Wii