Toridama: Brave Challenge

Genre: Party Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Toridama is a Party Game released in 2019 on Nintendo Switch and ported to PC in 2023. In this game, players play variations on the game Chicken, trying to hold out as long as possible before ducking out to avoid a bad end, with different minigames interpreting this task in different ways. If this all sounds a bit familiar, it may be because in 2024, I reviewed a game, Vivitter, which had much the same concept.

The presentation here uses 2D visuals that are largely crudely-scrawled cartoony images that seem somewhat reminiscent of the sort of thing you would see in a WarioWare game, and indeed some of the minigames seem to imitate WarioWare’s oddball sense of humor. This is joined by a droning drum beat which gets repetitive, but I suppose it does a decent enough job ratcheting up the tension.

Toridama has only a few game modes. There’s a multiplayer mode for 2 players, a single-player mode that gives players three random minigames (with more challenges gradually unlocking over time), and the ability to individually play any of the minigames you’ve already unlocked.

There is at least some creative variety in the theming, from trying to defuse a bomb at the last possible moment, trying to pull up a deep-sea diver right before hostile fish bust open his safety cage, and trying to stop someone eating the other end of your pretzel right before their lips touch yours. Like I said, there’s very much a kooky WarioWare energy here that works well for the game.

However, there are a number of problems here that are hard to get away with, and many of them are because I’m playing this after playing Vivitter. Perhaps a bit unfair since Toridama came out a full half-decade earlier, but all the same I can’t ignore it. Compared to Vivitter, Toridama’s minigames seem less varied and creative, it only supports 2 players instead of Vivitter’s 8, and while the $5 price tag is pretty cheap, Vivitter is free-to-play. Plus, it shares the main problem that Vivitter had – theming all of the game’s minigames on the game of Chicken makes the game overall far too repetitive.

I do think that Toridama is an enjoyable Party Game, but it’s one that will wear out its welcome quickly. And I suppose even if you have Vivitter, you might enjoy a bit more variety in a similar game. But overall I think if you’re going to be spending money on a Party game, you have numerous better options on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Toridama is a Party Game where players take on minigames that are essentially different takes on the game of Chicken. While there’s a fun quirky WarioWare-style presentation here, these games are too repetitive, the multiplayer support is too limited, and it’s hard to recommend this when Vivitter does pretty much the same thing and is free. While I don’t think this is a bad game, you have better options on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: C+

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