Viva Piñata (2006)

Viva Pinata came out in 2006. It was one of the first major Xbox 360 titles, and it was, for all accounts, and incredibly successful game, even in spite of its lack of longevity. Some could account that success being due in part to there simply not being many titles - certainly not many quality titles - on the console at time of release, but I think it's pretty clear by now that the game has a solid reputation and deserves its accolades. I have 100% the game on the 360, and it is one of my proudest gaming achievements, but let me put you into my shoes for why I did that, because it was a massive undertaking that required my upmost attention.

In 2006, I would've been in high school. I would've a sophomore. This puts at me about 16 years old. Lord knows I've talked about my childhood to death on here, but I don't think I've ever really given you insight into my high school years. I was, essentially, friendless. I stayed in my room 24/7, and I watched TV, read or played games. I listened to Broadway records, I wore button down shirts and sweatpants and I ate almost nothing but chips and salsa because Anorexia is a bitch and the internet does atrocious things to teenage girls self esteem, even those who claim they're above it all.

I was, what you may call, an absolute fucking dork. I still am, for the record. I'm not saying this with the kind of hindsight that comes from growing out of such a mindset. I'm still very much exactly the same person. I was doing extremely poorly in school, I was bullied relentlessly and I loved my dog, a yellow lab. In fact, I loved animals in general. Also something else that's still true to this day. Being an enormous fan of titles such as Pokemon and the Chao Garden in the Sonic Adventure franchise, it only made sense for someone like me to instantly fall in love with Viva Pinata. Not only was it artistic, thanks to its pinata inclusion, but it was what so many other games at the time were not...bright and relaxing.

So I would sit in my bedroom, every single day, for hours on end, and I would play Viva Pinata. Coming home after school? Viva Pinata. Weekends? Viva Pinata? You name the day and I played Viva Pinata on it. It combined the two things I loved the most; collecting and taking care of stuff.

It was essentially artistic conservation, and being an artist, I was all here for that. So I played nonstop and I 100% that game. I have every achievement in it, and it was one of the first titles I did that too. In fact, many of my 100% 360 titles are titles that are extremely difficult to hundred percent. Viva Pinata, COD4, Rayman Origins. I strive for fully completing the difficult, because it's the only true measure of success I can manage to attain in this world. But there was something else. Something...deeper. Viva Pinata was colorful, certainly, and happy, certainly, but it was also oddly freeing, especially for a young queer girl like myself.

For those who may not be either queer or a girl, or both, allow me to explain. Girls, especially autistic girls - and queer people in general - are often told to be normal. To be dull. To be quiet. To stay in our place. Pinatas are anything other than normal or dull. They are vibrant and colorful and full of stuff that makes people happy. Now I'm not suggesting you rip me open and feast on my insides (I mean, I'm not gonna stop you, but I'm also not suggesting it), but I like to think in that sense that I have a hell of a lot in common with pinatas. Seeing them happy, carefree, well taken care of...it made me think that perhaps, with just a little love and tenderness, I too could be that way. For so long, throughout school especially, I was relentlessly bullied for being openly gay, for being openly me. But if these goofy little digital pinatas could be so loud and happy, then why couldn't I?

I'm still not happy. But at least I'm not ashamed of my sexuality.

And I owe it all to Viva Pinata, because, much like a pinata, I too learned that I had the best things inside of me worth sharing. Things that could make others like me happy too.

And while the franchise faultered eventually, for one reason or another, I'll never forget how much unabashed happiness and freedom that first title brought me. During a time when my life was extremely stressful, when I was in unwanted therapy and private tutoring, Viva Pinata offered an escape, a release, and made me feel normal on top of it as well. I know. It's ridiculous that I have to learn life lessons from things such as video games, especially ones like Viva Pinata. But you know what? That title means revolution, and that's what learning to like myself has been. A revolutionary act. Because when the entire world so regularly beats you down, it takes the most strength one can muster to get back up, brush oneself off and say, "I DO deserve to exist, and I DO deserve to be happy".

Other people had parents.

I had pinatas.

Take from that what you want.

My name is Maggie. I'm an artist/author. I make a lot of stuff. If you liked this review, you can support me over at Patreon or buy my books and other merch at Payhip.

As I said in my previous post, Viva Pinata had two major titles to its name. This is because outside the original and its sequel, "Trouble In Paradise", it started to shift more towards poorly made spin offs like the DS version or the utterly incomprehensible Party Animals title that essentially wanted to be a Mario Party clone. I feel like Viva Pinata didn't know which route to stick to. They clearly wanted it to be a major successful franchise for the console, but obviously - especially back when the original came out, not so much the case these days what with success of Stardew, Slime Rancher and the like - it was a very complex and somewhat new sort of game for its time.

A pseudo farming simulator that focused on raising pinatas? And hell, having 100% it, you needed a goddamned spreadsheet at times to do everything just right. It was certainly, despite being super kid friendly in every way, was barely for kids just because of its absolutely absurd and often times tedious sort of gameplay. Had it been released in the last few years, I think it would be a super successful title now that that sort of genre has really caught on, but alas this isn't the case.

So seeing it not do super well (I know it sold well enough to become a platinum title but it obviously didn't have much staying power beyond the initial release, otherwise we'd have more), I think they instead chose to branch out and try to make it a party game that did appeal more to children and casual gamers, which really only sacrificed it all the more. It sucks because games like it and De Blob were basically rarities among those years for being light hearted and colorful, instead of grey and cold. I do really hope that Viva Pinata gets revitalized at some point in the future, lord knows Rare is still around and I sincerely hope we see it return from the ashes.

But if not, at least we got, what I consider to be at least, one of the most original games ever made.