Cooking Mama
Elis Riebow
Cooking Mama[a] (stylized as cookıng mama) is a video game series and media franchise owned by Cooking Mama Limited. The series is a cookery simulation-styled minigame compilation of many video games and adventures for Nintendo gaming platforms. Generally, the gameplay revolves around performing different kitchen tasks, through the instructions of "Mama", to cook various meals. The series so far consists of five main games on Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS, two spin-offs on Wii and DS each, as well as a spin off on 3DS. It is also a spin-off to the Gardening Mama series. The original Cooking Mama video game was also ported to iOS. A sixth main series game, Cooking Mama: Cookstar, was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2021.[1]
Gameplay involves the player following the instructions of the titular "Mama" to cook various meals. This is performed by using the device's controller, typically the touch screen, to perform various kitchen tasks such as chopping vegetables, slicing meat, flipping food in pans, and arranging the final items onto a plate. Each of these tasks is accomplished by completing a minigame which usually lasts less than 10 seconds. The series' gameplay structure consists of the player progressing through a series of short minigames.
Each minigame represents a different activity in the meal preparation, such as mixing, frying, or chopping the provided ingredients. The minigame mechanics themselves range from quickly drawing parallel lines in order to chop items, to a rhythm game where ingredients are added to a skillet or the heat is adjusted at precisely the right time. If the player makes a serious blunder or time expires without sufficient progress being made, that step in the cooking process is considered a failure. When this happens, a graphic of an angry "Mama" with flames erupting from her eyes is displayed, along with the caption "Don't worry, Mama will fix it!".
Completing a dish can require playing one minigame, or as many as a dozen. The player's performance is rated when each dish is finished, based on the average result of each minigame. Depending on the final score, the game may award the player a bronze, silver or gold medal. The highest medal earned for each dish is recorded and displayed next to each item on the selection screen.
Cooking Mama: Cook Off, a spin off made for Wii, was released for the Wii in Japan on February 8, 2007, replacing the original's touchscreen control with use of the Wii Remote to guide the cooking activities. It was later released in North America on March 20, 2007 and on May 11, 2007 in Europe.[3]
Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends, the second Nintendo DS game in the series, was first released in November 2007. Along with new recipes, this title expands the total number of different minigames and adds several new gameplay modes.[4]
I'm usually not one to play mobile games. After all, I own a six-year-old iPhone 6S with sixteen gigabytes of data and a barely functioning battery. So fitting a mobile game on this relic, let alone playing the game, is an intimidating task. Still, one of my editors asked me to take over a mobile gaming article, so I decided to try the Apple Arcade service. That's when I met my new mom: Cooking Mama.
Being an adult is an unpredictable hot mess. One moment, you'll live on your own in an apartment in Queens, feeling reasonably independent. And in the next moment, a global pandemic will hit. Then, finally, you'll move back in with your parents and become the family's weak link, barely making enough money to be considered a person of substance or value. Thankfully, playing Cooking Mama reminds me that I have value, no matter what. So here are some simple phrases she'll say that regularly repair my self-esteem.
Like any passion in life, cooking presents goals that sometimes seem unattainable. There's always that moving goalpost, demanding a higher standard of perfection. You can practice a dish all night, to the point of losing sleep. Then you'll come into acting class the following day and be told, "Chris, there's no specificity in this scene," by the College Acting Department Chair-Whoops. Freudian slip.
I'm trying to say that you need to put your nose to the grindstone to learn any new skill. So, in turn, failure is a necessary, unavoidable component. Still, it feels nice to get that boost of encouragement that says, "Hey. I've faced the same frustration you have. This is normal. You'll come out the other end stronger from this experience." Cooking Mama gets that.
Sometimes you just need that kick in the pants. Like when you're stuck in bed at one in the afternoon thinking to yourself, "There's no way I'll make my article quota this month. And this bed is so comfy. Maybe I should give up."
You know you're on the right track when you can break the rules a little. So, when Cooking Mama suggests a new way to cook a tried and true dish to me, I get so excited! Not only is she confirming I got that chili recipe down, but she's also willing to teach me a new way to make it! How scrumdiddlyumptious!
When a mentor talks shop with you, it's their way of saying they trust you. It's like once when I watched a rehearsal of a fellow student's thesis in college. My acting professor sat next to me and gabbed about the production: what worked, what didn't, etc. I felt so trusted and respected.
Who doesn't love being told their food "looks yummy?" That's the equivalent of "I want to eat this." Someone wants to eat my cooking! And not just anyone, COOKING MAMA, the Mama of Cooking, wants to taste my food!
Anyone who has pursued a career in the arts, whether visual, performing, written, or culinary, knows that the word "talented" hits different. Bells and whistles go off in our heads, and a dopamine rush floods our brains. Yet, this word has eluded us: never heard from the mouths of agents, directors, and most influential people.
When Cooking Mama calls me a Wiz in the kitchen, I imagine that scene from Matilda where the little telekinetic genius makes herself a bowl of Cheerios with her brain. Then she dances around the house while Little Bitty Pretty One plays on the stereo...Ugh, being a nineties kid was awesome.
I never considered myself a master chef. For instance, I tried to make buffalo chicken mozzarella sticks with my bestie a few years ago. We never deep-fried anything before, and we completely whiffed it. Unfortunately, our mozzarella sticks came out looking like black pieces of poo. I mean it. You could have left one in the toilet, and someone would exclaim, "Okay, who didn't flush!?"
To go from that deep-fried fiasco to being deemed a "Master Chef" from the home-cooking master is a significant badge of honor. Okay, maybe all I did was tap a screen a few times, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Listen. We all love getting smoke blown up our butts from time to time. Still, it takes genuine respect and trust for someone to give you honest, constructive criticism. I'll be frank, I've prepared Cooking Mama some doozies in the past, but she never lied and told me my zero-star dish tasted like gourmet cuisine.
Imagine if Cooking Mama let me continue my culinary journey churning out mediocrities left and right. I would rest on my undeserved laurels, and no restaurant would want to work with me. Luckily, Cooking Mama is not giving up on me! She knows I can do better and will give me the tools to do so!
Whenever I get three stars on a task, I wait to hear this phrase with bated breath. First, the way Cooking Mama says "Wow" is delectable. I could listen to that sound on repeat for hours. Second, to be told that you've surpassed the master is a massive accomplishment.
When a parent says you've surpassed them, a necessary step in the circle of life occurs. Suddenly, the two of you become not quite peers but something new. Of course, Cooking Mama will always be your Mama, and you will always be her Cooking Son. Still, she recognizes that you're a competent adult. And if I can't get that from my real-life parents, I'll take it from Cooking Mama.
Cooking Mama is one of those love it or loathe it phenomena. It's a cooking simulator that I believe debuted on the Nintendo DS before making its way over to the Wii and, now, onto the iPhone. Cooking Mama is built on working your way through series of minigames all centered around cooking tasks. You may debone a chicken or stir a sauce, chop onions or knead dough. Each minigame involves following a particular interaction pattern, which is introduced to you by Mama. Do well at these tasks and you earn Mama's praise and advance along your recipe. (Do poorly and Mama will growl at you, but she will cover your tracks and fix your errors so you can progress. Thank you Mama!)
Cooking Mama takes advantage of the iPhone's touch screen and accelerometer in game play. Recipe tasks include tapping the screen to chop, stroking to slice, shaking the phone to saute, and more. It's a very physical game in that your actions and movements are what drive forward the action and let you complete each minigame.
Gameplay follows either recipe or cooking contest modes. In the contest, you square off against the Iron Mama (okay, I'm making the "Iron" part up), to bone up on your basic skills. Both are fun, allowing you to take different challenge paths.
Each version of Cooking Mama has been criticized for occasional interaction issues and the iPhone edition is no exception. I found it nearly impossible to properly follow the "knead dough in a circle" pattern when cooking gyoza. At the same time, cutting onions precisely, an occasionally excruciating task on the Wii, proved easy as pie on the iPhone.
Unfortunately, the Cooking Mama designers did not take the Apple iPhone Human Interface Guidelines to heart when it comes to paused play. There is no way to pop out of a game to take a phone call and resume to where you left off. You have to start again at the beginning, including sitting through all the tedious welcome screens and logos. That's a huge failing for a game whose audience is likely to be playing it for short stretches at any time and who should be able to pick up where they left off.
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