Boy, Tingle sure does love rupees, doesn't he? He loved the red, sparkly stuff so much that Nintendo gave him his own dungeon-crawling, city-skulking title that has him going on his own adventure - with the main objective being to collect as many rupees as he can without getting trampled, beaten or eaten by the many critters and bosses in his way. We see all that and more in the latest trailer for Freshly Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland headed for the Nintendo DS.

In the video, we see Tingle going about his business, talking to people, a flying Rupee deity, and even participating in a massive boss battle that seems more fit for the likes of Link. Fortunately, Tingle has his own way of dealing with bosses - and that's by delivering a payload of bombs from above, with the help of a couple of balloons to keep him aloft. Awesome...ish.

No more spoilers from us, enjoy the video!

Somehow, we never expected a 35-year old man in tights to be the protagonist of his own game, but we suppose Japan has its reasons for unleashing such weirdness upon the world. Europe better get ready though, as Nintendo plans to unleash the rupee-loving fairy man on unsuspecting gamers.

In Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, you get to play Tingle from his earnest beginnings as a normal middle-aged man to the untimely arrival of Uncle Rupee into his life and his being chosen to wear the mantle of Tingle, the rupee-lover. Uncle Rupee introduces him to a magical pool, which allows a tower to grow the more money is placed into it.

Needless to say, earning money is the main preoccupation in this game, and to do so, you have to fulfill the tasks given by others in the game world. Progressing through the game means completing sub-quests, exploring dungeons and selling maps he draws for money, which he can then use to feed the magical pool and access new areas.

Expect Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland to make big money in the game stores when it comes out on September 14.

If this is a good thing or a bad thing, we'll leave that up to you, as Nintendo U.K has confirmed that the Tingle, the very unique money-loving character that was first seen in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, will be heading to the U.K. once more.

Mogitate Tingle Bara Iro Rupee Land, the new RPG starring Tingle, is currently in the middle of English translation and has an undetermined U.K. release date. It will, however, be renamed Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, though we have no idea why Tingle would be freshly-picked.

We only have two things to say about this: On the one hand, we hope that foreign audiences can accept this new game readily without much trouble. On the other hand, we do not want anyone wearing those ridiculous costumes to be out and about in the streets, for whatever reason. Except maybe Halloween.

Although Tingle is not exactly one of the most interesting Zelda characters, it seems that many gamers are curious to what this Zelda spin-off can actually provide. Aside from its weird game title Mogitate Tingle Bar Iro Rupee Land, which translates as A Fresh Picked Tingle's Rose-Colored Rupee Land, the gameplay includes collecting rupees that must be thrown into "The Spring". When Tingle runs out of rupees, he will die. Tingle doesn't possess any good fighting skills and he has to use bribery to get him through battles. Anyway, to give you an idea of what we are talking about, here are more screenshots of the game:

In the latest Japanese sales charts that Media Create has compiled which are dated from August 28 to September 3, the Nintendo DS Lite has come out at the top, thanks to the release of its black version in Japan. It has sold a whopping eight times more than its close competitor, the Sony PSP. This is a huge thing since the number of units sold last week have almost doubled.

The number of PS2 units sold include both the "original" and the "slim" types, while the numbers in parenthesis are the total number of units that have been sold since the release of that particular title or console.

Hardware

• Nintendo DS Lite - 228,939 (4,196,826)
• PlayStation Portable - 27,499 (3,939,299)
• PlayStation 2 - 22,703 (19,684,767)
• Game Boy Advance SP - 2,751 (5,884,378)
• Game Boy Micro - 1,791 (535,040)
• Xbox 360 - 1,250 (140,493)
• GameCube - 855 (4,157,561)
• Nintendo DS - 320 (6,577,480)
• Game Boy Advance - 22 (8,822,676)
• Xbox - 0 (475,522)

DS Total - 10,774,306
GBA Total - 15,242,094

Moving on to the games themselves, the sales for Final Fantasy III have dropped, not because people didn't want it anymore (it DID completely sell out on its release day, afterall), but because at the moment, the limelight is shining on a non-Nintendo game, Phantasy Star. Ninty fans can still breathe easy, though, since the top ten is till dominated by Nintendo games.

Software

• PS2 - Phantasy Star Universe - Sega - 120,202 (NEW)
• NDS - New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo - 72,763 (2,974,027)
• NDS - Brain Age 2 - Nintendo - 46,662 (3,119,857)
• NDS - Final Fantasy III - Square Enix - 45,949 (549,001)
• NDS - Freshly Picked Tingle's Rose Colored Rupee Land - Nintendo - 45,496 (NEW)
• NDS - Cooking Navi - Nintendo - 35,689 (419,733)
• NDS - Mario Hoops 3 on 3 - Square Enix - 34,001 (267,763)
• NDS - Animal Crossing: Wild World - Nintendo - 32,605 (3,181,735)
• GBA - Rythm Tengoku - Nintendo - 28,361 (123,432)
• NDS - Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 - Namco Bandai - 27,540 (458,474)

What's weirder than "weird?" Well, we don't know exactly, but maybe this game could help us. Face it, Mogitate Tingle Bara Iro Rupee Land is simply bizarre to the utmost degree. And that's said with reservation. However, when we say Tingle is weird, doesn't that intrigue you? Doesn't it hold you in some mystifying way? Doesn't it capture you in some hypnotic, unexplainable way, that makes you feel that you. have. GOT. to get. this game?

Well, it does for us.

In the same way that LocoRoco is weird, Mogitate Tingle Bara Iro Rupee Land also is. And it is this very weirdness that we are finding quite appealing in the game. So, as a testament to this infectious weirdness, we give you... screenshots!Click the Full Article link to check out more of the screenshots!

 
   

Let's face it: Tingle is weird. Whereas The Prince of all Cosmos is cute in a green body suit (lest we get absorbed into a ball of condensed gravity), an unemployed, goatee-sporting 35 year-old man in a green body suit, red bikini briefs and boots certainly isn't going to be a groundbreaking innovation in gaming.

Yet Tingle has a video game, and we do not, so he must be doing something right (or, at least, horribly wrong). Chris Kohler was *ehem* fortunate enough to get a copy of the Japanese Mogitate Tingle Bara Iro Rupee Land, or Tingle RPG for short, and according to him it's not all that bad, even if it does happen to be weird as heck.

Basically, this game is all about money. You're an unemployed bum, in said body suit, who's given a chance to go to Rupee Land (a land of beautiful women, food aplenty, and weird people) if you can offer up enough money to Old Man Rupee, you can go there too. You have no HP Bar, and instead your survivability is determined by how much cash you have which, in turn is acquired by trading things or killing stuff.

This is where the game gets weird, though, because the gameplay doesn't follow standard RPG conventions.

Unlike most games where you have a specified price in buying or selling an item, this one is more or less like bidding. "You have to use a little calculator, on the touch screen, to make people an offer," says Kohler. "If you lowball people, they'll take your money - then not give you anything. But if you go too high, you waste your cash."

Battles also happen to be less of strategy and more of mad tapping. The faster you tap the point of battle, the less rupees you lose from the fight since you don't get beat up as much. This game has a one-track mind in its approach to the story, but the fact that it might take more strategy to make money without fighting than by hacking through everything is very business-sim like.

Except Donald Trump doesn't wear a green body suit, red tights, and boots.

There's supposed to be a lot of Zelda references in this game, so while it isn't Zelda, it's certainly going to have some kind of visual flair akin to it. Keep checking here for more info on the Tingle RPG as it comes.

  

Here's a couple of funny pictures of a guy dressed as Tingle as part of the promotional activity for the DS game Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Rupee Land, or simply Tingle RPG. Tingle has quite a following in Japan, so one might think that this kind of promotion isn't really necessary. But then again, not everyone knows Tingle, so this is one way to make people become more aware of the character.

Unfortunately, Tingle is not as well-received in the west when he made some appearances in some The Legend of Zelda games. So, it's highly unlikely the game would see the light of day in North America. Nintendo of America is trying to get some feedback from the public via a Tingle survey - a move that places the fate of Tingle RPG in the hands of the players.

Nintendo Dream featured six more pages of A Fresh Picked Tingle's Rose Coloured Rupee Land.

The first four pages are dedicated to the game itself while the last two focused on Tingle's history. It gives us a lot of new and interesting screenshots to look at. (Insert laugh here.) Whether this game will ever see the light of day outside Japan or not is pure guesswork though. But come on; you must agree (somehow) that Tingle has the Zelda factor to consider, but it might be just too weird to get any major sales.

We'll see. We'll see.

  

Yes, the game has come a long way since it was referred to as "Tingle RPG." The commercial for A Fresh Picked Tingle's Rose Coloured Rupee Land shows off a bit more of the gameplay and cutscenes. You can see Tingle trading rupees with other people. You can see Tingle wandering around the world map. You can even see Tingle fighting bosses! The graphics for this game that was very well done was something I didn't expect. This is looking more and more like a crazy game that might just be fun! Will we see the game though over here in North America? I somehow doubt it...

The commercial also reveals that the Black DS Lite is set for September 2nd in Japan, even though Winning Eleven (which was set to debut alongside it) has been delayed.