Cooking Mama

The game structure consists of the player progressing through a series of short mini-games. The game offers a total of 96 different dishes. Each mini-game represents a different activity in the preparation of the dish, such as mixing, frying or chopping the provided ingredients. The mechanics of the mini-games range from quickly drawing parallel lines to chop the ingredients to a rhythm game where ingredients must be placed in a pan or the heat must be adjusted at just the right time. In many cases, players must look at the top screen of the DS to see what to do next, and then perform the task on the bottom screen. If the player makes a serious mistake or time runs out without making enough progress, that step in the cooking process is considered a failure. In this case, the graphic of an angry "mom" will be displayed, with flames coming out of her eyes, along with the inscription "Don't worry, mom will fix it!".