144. Napoleon Dynamite (7 Studios, DS, 2007)

Napoleon Dynamite is an adaptation of the titular film for the DS (also released on PSP) that is also a minigame collection. The game is presented in a paper cutout / photo collage style where all of the characters have big heads. It looks like typical licensed game trash, though the style also fits the movie. Here is a list of all the minigames I played in Napoleon Dynamite:

- Dance Practice: This is a basic (but not terrible) dancing rhythm minigame where you press buttons in time to the beat, and occasionally can execute a touch-based special move.
- Feeding Tina: This one is interesting: you (Napoleon) and Tina the llama are separated by a fence but can each move freely. You have a charge shot where the length of the button press determines the arc of the food you are throwing. Tina will move around her side of the stage and periodically spit at you, do you have to charge and dodge, and the whole thing feels surprisingly good.
- Football Toss: This is a simple but entertaining minigame where you hit timed button presses to determine the angle and power of your football throw. Where it get interesting is that teh ball bouncers, and each time it hits the ground you can time a button press to get a higher bounce. There are also items littered along the ball's path that can giv eyou a boost or slow you down. I'm pretty sure I played an online flash game with this basic premise a long time ago, but it's still fun at its core.
- Pegasus Flight:  A vertically scrolling shooter taht uses both of the DSs screens. You are Napoleon atop a pegasus shooting all manners of wild animals (cows and squirrels, mostly) There are 3 levels and each ends with a boss, and you have an upgradeable shot (but it degrades over time, which sucks) and bomber. At first I was not ready for the decent challenge of this game, but getting a gold medal my first try (compared to other silvers/bronzes) made me feel like an accomplished shooting games player.
- Cake Building: This is a multi-part minigame where you can only use the stylus, but the controls were iffy and the game elements were nothing I hadn't seen done better in WarioWare Touched. That said, I've also played worse touch-based mingames on the DS.

Cake Building was the minigame that made me throw in the towel on Napoleon Dynamite, but I had a much better time than I thought I would. I even checked out the developer, 7 studios, but they had not made anything else that looked super interesting (except maybe a Sopranos PS2 game) and only made two games after Napoleon Dynamite. Hopefully some of the devs made it to better places, it feels like someone who worked on this really knew that they were doing.

3/5, a surprisingly inoffensive collection of minigames