Cookie Shop is a TRU exclusive game published by SouthPeak games in the USA. When I found this in the bargain bin of $20 or less games I literally squealed XD With the horrible cover art you probably would think this is just another shovelware for a system that is one big shovelware magnet but you'd be surprised. It's generic name and poorly designed cover art are really deceptive. This game is actually an English port of a super kawaii Japanese game published by TDK in Japan named Choco Inu No Sweets Department. If I hadn't owned a copy of the original Japanese release of this game chances are I probably wouldn't have given this game much of a look @ TRU but when I saw some of the characters in the cover I had to turned it around to confirm it was indeed the same import game I owned.
Choco Inu No Sweet Shop, or Cookie Shop here, is a game that attracted my attention a few years back because of its totally kawaii art and dessert shop theme. This was one I had to import to try out even though I only know a tiny bit of spoken Japanese and have no reading knowledge of the language at all. Little did I know at the time that this game is SUPER TEXT HEAVY. If you can read Japanese I would recommend getting the original just for the cute artwork but otherwise stay away because you will not get too far if you aren't fluent in written Japanese ^^;
Now you know why I totally geeked out in glee when I saw an English copy of this game. The back even says you need basic reading knowledge on the USA version so this game is not for the younger crowd or those who don't like text heavy games. If you get if expecting Diner Dash or Cake Mania you'll be sorely disappointed; but that doesn't mean this game isn't worth getting. Keep reading to see if its worth a buy for you :)
Cookie Shop is basically a sim game a la Pop Cutie (another game I'll be reviewing/doing an impression of soon). In this game you control a kawaii pink dog that gets to run his own dessert shop just like the Japanese title implies (Choco Inu no Sweet Shop basically translates to Choco Dog's Sweet Shop ^^;) The game takes place in a mall full of shops run by uber cute animals. The objective of the game is to make your dessert shop thrive by making new recipes and selling them. When you make money you can can make shop upgrades and buy furniture and clothes for yourself. So far I've only played a few hours into this game because I'm very deeply committed to playing Golden Sun Dark Dawn in my spare time but from the little time I've spent with it I can recommend this game for those of you who:
1. Have a love of all things Japan and kawaii
2. Like to play The Simes, Animal Crossing and other sim games
3. Want to try something different on the NDS.
I will go ahead and do a full review of this one once I'm done playing it but for now I wanted to share with you this little preview in case you happen to come across it @ your local TRU you can pick it up for $19.99. I think this game was also released in other countries such as Europe but if you can't find it where you are you might want to look into importing a copy from the evilbay or have a friend pick it up for you in the USA. I gladly would get it for you if I can find more copies, so just give me a shout out and maybe we can work out a trade for other DS or any other console games or game related things. I also have the Japanese copy up for trade if anyone is interested. Please leave me a comment below if you'd like me to pick you up a copy next time I'm @ TRU, if you'd like to trade for the Japanese version or even if you enjoyed this preview ♥
Yay!! This is exactly what I was hoping for...where else can you find serious reviews of games like these? Thanks a lot for introducing it to me, I'm gonna search for a copy :) That Pop Cutie game sounds cute too...so I can't wait!
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