Gaming Gourmet: a sample of great in-game dining

Still hungry even after the Thanksgiving feast? Don’t worry, another world of food still awaits you… in the gaming world, that is.

From awesome booming voices that exclaim CHICKEN when you pick them up to Gyro Plates being served in Dracula‘s castle, check out a sampling of fine food that you can encounter in the gaming world, and it awaits you in the full article.

It’s already past Thanksgiving, but there’s a good chance that most of you are still hankering for more good times and of course, good food. Since there’s probably nothing much left in the fridge, there’s still someplace we can turn to for our cravings: the gaming world. In this article, we sample just a few of the best bits of grub video games can offer.

First off, let’s look at the chicken in one of SNK‘s arcade classics, Samurai Shodown. This special-recipe chicken brings a whole new meaning to Chinese take-out: you get to eat some nice, juicy roasted Chinese-style chicken while taking out your opponent.

If you want your meat a bit rare, oozing with the blood of your enemy, this is the best main course. Of course, since the delivery guy tends to drop it onto the ground you’d have to make do with a little dirt. But just think of it as spice.

Let’s check out the second item in our menu. Remember the first Tekken Force Mode in Namco’s Tekken 3?

If you’ve played the game on the first PlayStation, then chances are you can still recall that booming voice that says “CHICKEN” whenever you grab one as you go along, beating up them baddies.

While Tekken Force Mode’s CHICKEN (it deserves the caps, really) isn’t really special at first glance – it’s just some roasted chicken placed along the way to replenish HP – the very idea of a voice booming across the heavens saying “CHICKEN” every time you take a bite out of it is admittedly awesome.

Next, who can talk about gaming food without mentioning Majesco Entertainment‘s Cooking Mama for the DS? Admit it, you all love Mum’s cooking, or good old-fashioned home cooked meals at least. With various kinds of recipes such as omelettes to paella, Cooking Mama serves well to satisfy gamer’s in-game food cravings.

What’s best about Cooking Mama is the fact that you actually learn how to prepare your food, or at least give you hints on how to properly do so. Don’t worry about botching it up, since Mama’s always there to fix it for you.

Fourth, and second to the last item in this shortlist of in-game dining goodness is the Meal Ticket from Konami‘s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Yes, it’s just an unappetizing piece of paper – you can even just barely see it –  but the food items that you can claim using the Meal Ticket is more than enough to fill a whole banquet table: Pot Roast, Curry Rice, Gyro Plate (with fries!), among many others. Beats having to whack at some random stone wall to get your turkey fix, yes?

If you were able to get the Duplicator after beating Castlevania: SotN once, then you can indulge in a weird, guilty pleasure: using the Meal Ticket several times, just to get all food items and read their fun item descriptions.

Most of the food items, after all, can only be acquired through the meal ticket. Yes, this writer did it for an hour or so, once.

Last – and certainly not the least – is Nintendo’s Duck Hunt. What better way to enjoy your meal than to hunt them down yourself first? It’s refreshingly rewarding, and also does wonders in serving as a stress reliever. Of course, the Duck Hunt experience is better if you get to shoot that annoying dog.

Bon appetit!