Visitors to Nintendo Co., Ltd.'s Japanese DS site got a surprise today. Sticking out of the header for Nintendo DS software were three wiggling Pikmin flowers—only mousing over them revealed they weren't actually Pikmin buried in the ground... to the chagrin of players hopeful for a sequel to the franchise on the DS.
Clicking on the Tinglemin takes you to a Tingle in Rupee Land Flash game, giving us a glimpse into the wonderfully wacky world of Tingle's upcoming solo adventure on Nintendo DS.
Our good friend Samer Abbas played through a portion of the available adventure and helped me figure out exactly what's going on. Tingle starts off communicating with tattooed friend Pingle, who makes sure he understands that everything in this world will cost Rupees, and a resourceful single man like himself has what it takes to use them wisely. She sternly warns him to not waste his Rupees, lest terrible things befall him.
After his chat with Pingle, Tingle finds himselves with guests: a chef and a little dog in his own Tingle outfit. The chef offers Tingle information for the low price of 35 Rupees. Tingle can opt to ask him who he is, which the chef will gladly answer with a brief explanation: he works in a gourmet restaurant.
For another 35 Rupees, Tingle can ask the chef about cooking. The chef gives him a recipe and some ingredients, and Tingle cooks up a dish which inexplicably transforms into a sparkly flower. Tingle is congratulated on his cooking prowess, and told there are many more wonderful recipes to be found. If Tingle still feels like blowing Rupees, even the dog will oblige him at this point, offering him a hearty bark for one more Rupee out of his money bag.
Also present in the game are a rather amusing dream scene explaining why Tingle lusts after Rupee riches, which he can relive by viewing the poster on the back wall. A fan-art comic book near the fireplace summons a man demanding 20 Rupees for a peek inside. View it carefully, because running out of Rupees means Game Over for poor Tingle.
Tingle in Rupee Land, our current translation for the title, does not yet have a set release date in Japan, but will probably be out soon as it's been covered again in Japanese gaming publications as of late. Nintendo has not yet made any commitments to bringing the game to America or Europe.