Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip

Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip
Japanese box art
Developer(s)	Vanpool
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Jun Tsuda
Producer(s)	Kensuke Tanabe
Composer(s)	Masanori Adachi Tomoko Sano Kiyoshi Hazemoto
Series	The Legend of Zelda
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release date(s)	JP August 6, 2009
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	CERO: A

Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip (いろづきチンクルの恋のバルーントリップ, Irozuki Chinkuru no Koi no Barūn Torippu^?, lit. "Ripening Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love" or "Color Changing Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love") is an adventure video game developed by Vanpool and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is a sequel to the game Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and was released in Japan on August 6, 2009. As its predecessor, the game focuses on Tingle, a character from The Legend of Zelda series.

Overview

The game's storyline starts with an ordinary 35-year-old man who watches a direct sales program on television. He orders a book that is said to make its readers popular among women. When the man opens the book, he gets sucked into a picture book world. In this world, he becomes Tingle, wearing a green costume. Tingle meets three characters that accompany him on his journey to escape the world: Kakashi the scarecrow, Buriki the tin robot woman, and Lion the lion. These characters are inspired by the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, respectively.^[1][2]

The player has to solve many puzzles that require the wise use of the different abilities of Tingle's three partners. Kakashi lacks intelligence, but is small and therefore able to get into small places. Buriki is very intelligent, but heartless, and can cleverly solve puzzles Tingle's other partners won't be able to do so. The party's last member, Lion, is more powerful than the other two partners, but cowardly. Many of the actions in the game are performed via the stylus.^[1] Another central gameplay element is the romantic interaction with five different female characters. The player has to find the right words during the dialogues and to give Tingle's love interests the best fitting items in order to win their favor. This is necessary for continuing the adventure.^[3] In order to complete the game, Tingle must have some degree of a relationship with all of the girls. Unlike its predecessor, Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip is completely touch screen controlled, except for a small dungeon mini-game segment, in which a control pad may be purchased.^[4]

Development

Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip was developed by Vanpool, the company that also created Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland.^[5] A first hint at the game appeared in an issue of the Japanese magazine Famitsu published in June 2009. It contained a teaser advertisement depicting a tiny picture of Tingle along with a line of text saying Yōsei? (ようせい?, lit. "Fairy?").^[6] On June 12, 2009, Nintendo opened a teaser website, hinting at an upcoming Nintendo DS game starring Tingle.^[7] Another issue of Famitsu published in late June revealed that actually two Tingle-centric titles were teased, the DSiWare application Dekisugi Tingle Pack and the Nintendo DS game Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip.^[8] The latter game was released on August 6, 2009 in Japan.^[9]

Reception

Famitsu awarded Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip a score of 34 out of 40.^[10] It was the 9th best-selling game in Japan during the week of its release, selling 33,498 units.^[11] The following week it placed 9th again with 17,956 copies sold.^[12] In August 2009, the game sold 70,544 units in total, placing 10th in the Japanese sales charts for that month.^[13]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} John Tanaka (2009-07-08). "Tingle Chases Girls in New Game". IGN. http://ds.ign.com/articles/100/1001922p1.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
2. ^ "『いろづきチンクルの恋のバルーントリップ』開発スタッフインタビュー 2時限目 キャラクターのお話 [Ripening Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love development staff interview, second part: Character talk]" (in Japanese). Nintendo Online Magazine. 2009-08. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0908/chara/index.html. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
3. ^ "ソフト紹介ムービー [Software introduction movie]" (in Japanese). Nintendo. http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/st110/intro.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
4. ^ "Zelda in my Pocket's Color Changing Tingle's Love Balloon Trip Page". http://www.zeldainmypocket.com/tingles-love-balloon-trip/. Retrieved January, 7 2010. "The only time that the control pad is used (opposed to the stylus) is during a dungeon mini-game, where one can be purchased for 1,000 Rupees." 
5. ^ "Works" (in Japanese). Vanpool. http://www.vanpool.co.jp/work.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
6. ^ John Tanaka (2009-06-10). "Tingle Returns to DS". IGN. http://ds.ign.com/articles/993/993434p1.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
7. ^ John Tanaka (2009-06-12). "Nintendo Continues Tingle Tease". IGN. http://ds.ign.com/articles/994/994213p1.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
8. ^ John Tanaka (2009-06-24). "Tingle Gets Two on DS". IGN. http://ds.ign.com/articles/997/997495p1.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
9. ^ "Nintendo DS Software" (in Japanese). Nintendo. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/index.html#softwarettl. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
10. ^ "Revue de presse internationale [International press coverage]" (in French). Gamekult. http://gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000097051_presse.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
11. ^ Brendan Sinclair (2009-08-14). "Big in Japan: Gundam Wars storm PS2, Wii". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/tinclenobaloontrip/news.html?sid=6215348&om_act=convert&om_clk=newsfeatures&tag=newsfeatures;title;2. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
12. ^ Brendan Sinclair (2009-08-21). "Big in Japan: Xbox 360 outsells PS3". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/tinclenobaloontrip/news.html?sid=6215961&om_act=convert&om_clk=newsfeatures&tag=newsfeatures;title;1. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
13. ^ "2009年8月期・月間ゲームソフト販売ランキング（集計期間：2009年7月27日～2009年8月30日） [August 2009 - monthly video game software sales rankings (total period: 2009-7-27 to 2009-8-30)]" (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2009-09-07. http://www.famitsu.com/game/rank/monthly/1227280_1818.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip information and guide
• Color Changing Tingle's Love Balloon Trip on Zeldapedia, an external wiki
• Color Changing Tingle's Love Balloon Trip at ZeldaWiki.org