Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise

Did You Know?

• Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise won IGN's 2008 award for Best Simulation Game for the Nintendo DS.
• The game received two 2009 BAFTA nominations: Best Strategy Game at the Game Awards and Best Video Game at the British Academy Children's Awards.

Gameplay

Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is a sandbox game in which the player transforms a neglected plot of land into a garden. It retains most features and all piñata from the original game, while adding new elements. The entire game is controlled with the stylus, allowing actions such as drawing grass onto soil or double-tapping a flower to remove its head. The DS's two screens are used: the lower screen shows the main garden view, while the upper screen displays a context-sensitive information panel that changes based on what is selected, such as a piñata's romance requirements or a breakdown of garden floor tiles. Players can swap the screens and interact with the information panel to access a piñata encyclopedia, a journal, an awards page, and a piñata pyramid. Design changes include the removal of purchasable fertiliser and romance sweets. Fertiliser is now produced only when a Taffly interacts with a piece of fruit, with the fruit's colour determining the fertiliser's colour. Romance sweets are earned by completing Viva Piñata Central challenges, placing greater emphasis on that aspect. An overhead map lets the player view piñata locations and zoom in on any piñata by tapping its icon. A new mode called Playground, mirroring the Just for fun mode from Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, offers a no-pressure version of the main game set on a beach, where young or inexperienced players can experiment without Dastardos, Ruffians, or item costs.

Development

In 2005, Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that Rare was working on two Nintendo DS projects. Their first DS release was Diddy Kong Racing DS, and Viva Piñata was likely the other project. The DS version was first hinted at in an interview between Microsoft Game Studios and 1UP.com at the DICE 2007 Summit in Las Vegas. It was presented at Comic-Con 2007, and THQ officially announced the release for fall 2008. Producer Paul Machacek stated that in discussions for a follow-on project for Diddy Kong Racing DS, the idea became a greater focal point, and in hindsight it proved to be a complete no-brainer.