Hands On Wii de Ultrahand

I had spare Club Nintendo points so I downloaded Wii de Ultrahand, the Club Nintendo exclusive WiiWare game based on a Gunpei Yokoi toy.

The Wii remote and nunchuck together act like a virtual Ultrahand. You start by pointing them together. This motion collapses the Ultrahand. Move the remote and nunchuck apart to make the Ultrahand stretch out.

Meat, cooking on a grill, is out of arms reach, but you can grab chicken skewers before they burn with the Ultrahand. Press A to grab meat, then point the remote and nunchuck towards each other to drop it on a plate. You can control where the Ultrahand points with the analog stick. Wii de Ultrahand is distilled to: move, collapse, extend, grab, collapse, drop, and repeat.

Nintendo thought of a creative control scheme, but the controls don’t feel responsive especially for an unforgiving game. If you make one mistake, overcook the meat or drop a piece on the floor, it’s game over.

Wii de Ultrahand has about as much depth as a Game & Watch game, but hey it’s free. Almost free. The download costs 50 Club Nintendo points, the amount of points you’ll earn by purchasing one Wii and DS game in Japan.