I've unlocked all the recipes in Cooking Mama 4, so I suppose that counts as beating it even if it's not 100% yet. We all know what it's about by this point, but they have added a few features. The first is instead of using only the touchpad, the player can now employ the L/R buttons, directional pad, motion sensor, microphone, and circle pad. It's actually a mystery which one is necessary, and you get a gold magnifying glass for figuring out. To be honest it's a useless addition but thankfully is completely optional (only needed for 100%). However what's particularly annoying is they wanted to exploit the 3D feature and now upon making a mistake, you'll be forced to watch a ten-second animation of a bowl flying to the upper screen, smacking Mama in the face, and then tumbling back down as you think to yourself, "Oh Jesus, come on already."

Cooking Mama 2 remains my favorite in though for this one fact: The series was still challenging. Between the second and third installment they realized the demographic for the game was little girls and decided to pussify everything. I made so many mistakes that would not fly in the first two games yet I received a perfect score. I remember nearly weeping in frustration as I rode the train during my morning commute because I could not filet this fish to Mama's satisfaction in 2, but now I can miss half of the muffins she tosses at me and no one gives a shit. I'm still gonna buy this shit because that's what I do as a fan, it's just..... eh. Well, I've made poorer decisions like with Tales of Legendia or Tales of Symphonia 2.