Nintendo’s recent offerings have a rewarmed quality to them. Pokémon Platinum, the DSi, and Rhythm Heaven are all previously released products that have been reissued with new features. The new DSiWare service is no exception, offering Bird & Beans, a rechristening of the WarioWare mini-game Pyoro. Like the WarioWare games, Bird & Beans is a simple, single-button diversion in which you move a bird left and right across a brick platform as beans float down from the sky. The beans will break the bricks if they fall to the bottom of the screen, so you must gobble them with your extendable 45-degree-angle tongue, with higher points awarded for snagging them near the top of the screen. The speed increases as your score grows, and the background slowly becomes more festive. Beating the high score unlocks a second game where you shoot seeds that can hit multiple beans at once.

[[image:mn_090406_birdandbean01.jpg:The most fun you can have with a 45-degree angle:center:0]]
And with the exception of a slightly larger playing field, the game is identical to its WarioWare counterpart. While this may be a disincentive for those who already own the original, I find the idea of building my own private WarioWare on the DSi, stocked with mini-games I’ve picked myself, to be exciting. When Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, addressed this year’s Game Developers Conference he spoke about how his company will often revisit unused game designs and give new ideas the time they need to grow and mature. In that context, perhaps Bird & Beans can be seen as a twice-baked potato instead of another serving of leftovers.