Hands On With Wii Ultrahand

Nintendo has offered exclusive DS carts as Club Nintendo bonuses before, but the service's latest game offer is of a slightly different nature. Ultrahand on Wii, available for 50 points as of yesterday, is a completely digital prize. Select to exchange your hard-earned points at the Club Nintendo homepage, and you're given a product code which can be entered at the Wii Shopping Channel to make the download.

Being digital negates one of the points of Club Nintendo: a chance to add more worthless junk to your growing collection of worthless game junk. But seeing as how it's just 50 points, I made the download anyway. I admittedly wasn't expecting much, as 50 points is a tenth what Nintendo charged for past DS cartridges like Tingle's Balloon fight and Exclamation Warriors.

Ultrahand on Wii is based around the 1966 Ultrahand toy from legendary Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi. In toy form, Ultrahand is an extending arm that can be used to grab distant objects. Nintendo originally packed the device with balls and stands and sold the set for ¥600.

In the WiiWare game, you control a digital Ultrahand using the Wiimote and nunchuck as the device's handles. You start off with the two controllers pointed up. Tilt them towards one another, and the Ultrahand contracts. Tilt them away from one another, and the Ultrahand extends out. Pressing A makes the Ultrahand grab. You move the Ultrahand left and right across the screen with the analogue pad.

There's a lot of potential to make a game out of such a device, but from what I can see, Ultrahand on Wii has just one basic theme. The stands and balls of the original set are replaced here with barbecue grills and meat. You're presented with three grills, each capable of holding two pieces of meat. Meat gradually appears on the grills and starts to cook. You have to wait a few seconds for a piece of meat to cook completely, then grab it and bring it back to your plate. Let a piece of meat burn, or drop it to the ground, and the game ends.

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Aside from letting you live out your wildest barbecue fantasies, the point of the game is to aim for the high score. Continually grabbing meat at just the right time earns you combos and greater points. You can also tap the Z or B button to make the grill heat up, rushing the meat to a quicker completion. Progress far enough, and different forms of meat will start to appear.

I actually wasn't able to get beyond giant slabs of ham, as the game can be a bit unforgiving. Make one mistake, and you have to start back at the beginning. Combine this with what I found to be shaky motion recognition, and you end up with some frustrating moments.

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I was only able to play single player mode, but there's also a two player mode. Here, you and an opponent attempt to get the highest score in 90 seconds of meat grabbing. In addition to concentrating on your own grill and plate, you can also steal your opponent's points by reaching over to his grill. This sounds like it could make for some fun multiplayer sessions.

Ultrahand doesn't have much in the way of content, but it does have a slick interface, complete with some strange Nintendo-ish disco music in the background. For 50 points, it's a worthy download, especially since there's little else available at Club Nintendo.