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Whac-A-Mole for Nintendo DS
Whac-A-Mole for Nintendo DS moves the arcade mole-hitting game onto the touch screen. You tap moles as they emerge from their holes and try to score enough points before time runs out. The playing field has five by four holes, so you constantly watch a different corner. Not every appearance calls for the same response: special moles and items can help your score or put it at risk, so tapping everything blindly does not automatically produce the best round.
In Arcade, you work through seven worlds with different backgrounds and changing opponents. These include flying moles, ninjas and ones carrying heavy weapons. Power-ups affect points or pace. Quickplay lets you choose a game type, number of rounds and difficulty for a shorter series. The DS version also has a puzzle section in which you recreate patterns using coloured moles. You look at the example on the upper screen and select the correct targets below.
You can play alone or challenge a second player locally. One cartridge is enough with DS Download Play; Multi-Card Play is also available when both players have a copy. Each person does need a compatible DS system. Those systems and any second cartridge are not included. The game uses a virtual mallet: you do not need a separate toy hammer or any other special peripheral to hit the moles.
Region and language
Our Nintendo DS games are European editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
This copy is the North American edition of Whac-A-Mole, with cartridge code NTR-AWME-USA. The cartridge has an English-language label.
Manual
With Whac-A-Mole for Nintendo DS, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Whac-A-Mole
Activision brought Whac-A-Mole to Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance in 2005. DC Studios developed the handheld games. The licence came from Bob's Space Racers, the company behind the familiar arcade brand with its emerging moles. Players received a digital field instead of a cabinet with holes and a soft mallet. Activision presented the releases as adaptations of those short, fast arcade rounds, adding new mole types and worlds to expand the original tapping game.
The two handhelds each required a different translation of the hammer movement. On Game Boy Advance, you controlled a pointer with the buttons; on Nintendo DS, you could tap a target directly. The grid also changed from three by three to five by four holes. Each DS screen received a task: in the pattern puzzles, the example appeared above, while you selected coloured moles on the lower screen to recreate that image.
Alongside Arcade and Quickplay, Nintendo DS received its own puzzle section based on patterns, mole types and time. The Game Boy Advance adaptation instead had a Classics section including tic-tac-toe. The wireless connection also added a direct contest against a second player on DS, without a link cable. The recognisable arcade premise therefore remained intact, but both the playing field and the action used to control it changed. The stylus took the physical mallet's role.
Similar games for Nintendo DS
WarioWare: Touched! for Nintendo DS also demands fast stylus reactions. However, it changes tasks every few seconds: you tap, drag, rotate or scratch according to what a microgame asks. Whac-A-Mole retains a recognisable grid with emerging targets, varying the moles, scoring and patterns. Wario tests how quickly you understand a new rule; Whac-A-Mole mainly asks how accurately you can keep performing the same basic action under time pressure.
Point Blank DS on Nintendo DS replaces a physical arcade tool with the stylus, just like Whac-A-Mole. Where the mallet becomes a tap, Point Blank turns the light gun into a pointer for shooting tests. You hit clay pigeons, cardboard opponents and other targets across different challenges. Whac-A-Mole ties its action more closely to fixed holes and recurring moles. Both rely on hand-eye coordination, but Point Blank changes the layout and target types more often between tests.
Cooking Mama for Nintendo DS likewise uses short tasks requiring precise touch-screen actions. Slicing, rolling dough and stirring follow a recipe's steps. Whac-A-Mole mainly uses tapping to select the correct targets quickly and reach a score. In Mama, the movement depends on the kitchen tool; with the moles, position, colour and the moment of appearance remain the most important clues for your next tap.
Mario Party DS for Nintendo DS also has short minigames and direct contests, but places many of them within a board game with dice, coins and stars. Success in one challenge forms part of a longer match there. Whac-A-Mole goes straight to its target field and score, without first moving around a board. Mario Party offers more varied tasks; the mole adaptation develops one arcade idea further with extra enemies and pattern puzzles.
Rhythm Paradise on Nintendo DS, like Whac-A-Mole, demands well-timed taps and concentration during short playing sequences. The difference lies in the cue you follow: Rhythm Paradise has you listen to the musical beat and perform patterns at a fixed cadence. In Whac-A-Mole, you watch where a target appears and react to it. One collection rewards a steady musical rhythm; the other shifts your attention across a grid.
