The waft of menace emanating from a carnie’s beard, rigged games, wailing children getting their limbs tangled in the whirring mechanics of a hastily constructed death wheel - sorry - Ferris wheel; there’s no denying it, carnivals are horrible. This makes Namco’s carnival simulator a surprisingly faithful adaptation.
Even real carnies would balk at the audacity of only offering nine shoddy minigames. Especially when the best of the bunch - a remote pointer controlled-cork-gun-target shoot and spreading pancake batter over a hotplate - aren’t as good as Twilight Princess ’ worst minigame offerings.