System: WiiWare
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Action
Players: 1-4
Points: 500
Oh dear, business man Hitoshi Susumu is running late, but not for a meeting at the office. No, Susumu is due to be somewhere much more important - a dance party. It's vital that he gets there to impress the crowd with his slick moves, and nothing is going to get in his way. Well, nothing except maybe a dinosaur, some zombies, Santa, a cross-dressing ballerina and Elvis.
Tomena Sanner is so bizarre and full of personality that you can't help but fall in love with its simplistic nature. Listed by Konami as a 'one button wai wai action' title, it literally only requires the use of a single button to play. Much like a music rhythm game, this is all about timing, chaining together combos and playing baseball with lizard men.
The main character will start running as soon as each level begins, and won't bother trying to avoid anything - he's too caught up with the desire to break dance. Your job consists of pressing the A button to successfully interact with everything he comes across. There are three possible outcomes depending on your reaction time, with 'miss', 'good' and 'great'. A miss results in lost time and points, while the other two can... pretty much do anything! Chopping down a tree, flipping over a car, dancing with school girls, crowd surfing on a bunch of pharaohs, knocking over zombies with a bowling ball, stealing presents from Santa, moonwalking past an astronaut - Tomena Sanner is pure insanity.
You're only given a minute to reach the end goal, but extra time can be earned through 'great' rankings and power-ups. When you're not close to an obstacle, pressing the A button will make Susumu jump up to reach coins (for points) or coloured balloons which can alter his running speed, extend the timer and even shrink him down in size or turn him into a giant.
There are nine stages in total (along with an Endless and Turbo mode), including a dinosaur-filled jungle, the moon and down in the depths of Hell. Upon reaching the goal, Susumu will start dancing with all the characters that tried to slow his progress during the stage. If only every game was this awesome. Just imagine if Mario started popping & locking with all the Koopa Troopa's and Goomba's in Super Mario Bros. after he slid down the flag pole! But no, instead he waddles into someone's house to raid the fridge.
There are hundreds of different events to trigger, so you definitely won't see everything even after multiple playthroughs. Often you'll stumble across a special animation completely at random. There was one time there where I accidently pressed the button way too early, only to witness him start doing a little Irish jig on the spot. Another instance involved getting hit by a truck (technically a 'miss') only to be flung up into a secret screen filled with goodies.
Although the game can be 'beaten' in around 20 minutes, there's enormous replay value. The scoring system plays a big part in this, with the ability to upload your high score for each stage - and the Endless mode - to an online leaderboard. It's possible to link together 'great' interactions to earn more points - but the better you do, the faster Susumu starts running. This greatly reduces the amount of time you have to react, and it can be quite difficult to guess what's going to happen next. Car, car... guy in a panda suit that wants to take a photo with you, car.
Tomena Sanner also features split-screen multiplayer. It's just the main single player levels, but now you're racing to finish before everyone else. A neat little addition, if nothing else. The game has a really basic graphical style to it, but the motion-captured animation is a treat. Things can look a bit rough when the camera zooms in (this is a mobile phone port, after all), but it's not a huge enough issue to slit wrists over. There's also an on-screen ticker with running commentary, which is absolute gold. Tomena Sanner will keep you coming back time and time again!
Score: 8/10 - "Good buy"
In closing, I'm fairly certain this is the only G rated video game out there that lets you slap a cross-dressing ballerina on the arse.
Review by Lance McGill (Infernal Monkey)
Scene It? Twilight
