Most fighting games ask you to invest a least little bit in the convoluted backstories of their stables of exotic characters to make you care about who wins or loses. Nintendo’s new downloadable PhotoDojo takes a different approach.
You’ll use the two cameras on Nintendo’s handheld to snap pictures of yourself and your would-be opponents in various poses. During my time at Nintendo’s Northern California offices, I pretended as if I were punching opponents, reeling from vicious attacks and throwing fireballs. Using the front-facing camera, you also record pics that will be used for character select screens, as well using the built-in mic to record trash talk, battle cries and losing hollers.
The game’s essentially using the same concept as old-school fighting games like Pit Fighter and Mortal Kombat, which used digitized photo and video to make punches and kicks come to life. The single-player mode pits you against 100 other Dojo brawlers, who’ll be pulled from the ranks of other created characters on your DSi. PhotoDojo basically plays on the most common Street Fighter-style template: strong punch, fast kick, fireball motion, etc. Multiplayer works like one of those old-school electronic football games. Both players will huddle around one DSi, with the D-pad and left shoulder button controlling one player’s side and the face buttons and right shoulder button responsible for the other player’s inputs.
PhotoDojo’s mostly a fun, creative use of the DSi cameras. However, The best part is that Nintendo’s not charging a single cent for it. It’ll be available for free on the DSiWare online store starting tomorrow. (It’ll be free until June 10th and will cost 200 DSi points after that.) To celebrate a free game, we’re giving away a free DSi XL to one lucky Techland reader. Since PhotoDojo uses pics and audio of you to unleash whup-ass on the DSi, all you need to do to win is make up and post your own fighting-game battle cry in the comments below. We’ll pick a winner by Wednesday. Hadouken!
