20 Years Later, I Still Can’t Believe How Well This Nintendo Series That Debuted on DS Has Endured

There are countless attempts in gaming history to force a mascot. Several developers have crafted their own lead character with the intention of having them break out with the broader gaming audience, only for the game to fail to spark the kind of excitement needed to make a character into an icon. That’s what makes surprising but effective examples of that sort of thing happening all the more striking.

Take Cooking Mama, for example. Debuting twenty years ago, Cooking Mama was a minor but fun addition to the Nintendo DS library that became an unprecedented hit for the publisher and the developer behind the game. Since then, Cooking Mama has headlined over a dozen games, crossed platforms, and made cameos in everything from Super Smash Bros. to Apple Arcade advertisements. Two decades on, I’m still surprised by just how much of a hit Cooking Mama really became.

Cooking Mama Was An Unexpected Hit In 2006

Debuting in North America on September 12, 2006, Cooking Mama was a cutesy cooking sim game developed by Office Create. Released on the Nintendo DS, the game tasks players with following instructions from “Mama,” a sweet chef in a small kitchen. The gameplay was largely focused on a number of minigames that utilized the DS’s touch screen interface for cooking, tasking players with chopping vegetables, flipping pans, and plating meals. Given Nintendo’s previous success with minigame compilations like the WarioWare series, Cooking Mama was building on established ground, all while finding a clever way to make each minigame actually carry importance. The final dish is only completed once players finish each minigame, with the cumulative average performance determining the effectiveness of the dish. Throughout it all, Mama was there offering a smile, support, and occasionally bursts of comical fury if the player ruined the meal.

Upon release, the game received moderately positive reviews, with most critics noting that it was a minor but enjoyable distraction that benefited from a cheap price tag. While the overall average reviews were fine, there wasn’t any real reason that critics could come out in support of the title. In most circumstances, this would have likely been the end of the road for the property, a minor success in the grand scheme of things. However, what Nintendo and Office Create likely weren’t expecting was the massive response the game got from the gaming public. Casual players especially embraced the game, turning the minigame collection into a genuine hit for both companies. Within a year, it had sold over 1.5 million copies globally. It would reach over four million copies sold in North America alone by 2009, solidifying it as one of the more iconic games for the DS. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus professed their love for the game, further solidifying Cooking Mama as an unexpected gaming mascot for the decade. Despite — or perhaps because — being a very different kind of character from what usually succeeded in gaming spaces, Cooking Mama became one of that era’s biggest gaming stars.

Cooking Mama Has Become More Than Just Another Nintendo Series

Cooking Mama is one of the best examples in recent memory of how quickly the gaming industry can turn a character into a mascot. The success of Cooking Mama quickly turned the character into the face of Office Create — to the point that the developer rebranded itself as Cooking Mama Limited and shifted focus towards creating more games in the series. Between 2007 and 2013, the series received four additional mainline entries, each one adding new minigames and recipes to the kitchen. Mama also headlined several spin-offs, with games like Gardening Mama, Crafting Mama, Babysitting Mama, and Camping Mama all introducing new spins on the same general concept.

Even when the series entered a lull period after the 2013 release of Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appetit!, the series found new life when the original game was ported to mobile platforms like iOS and Android as Cooking Mama: Let’s Cook! in 2015. The character even gained a bit of cred with players when the developer behind the games had “Mama” send out formal press releases calling out Activision’s similar title, Science Papa, and protests from PETA. Over the course of 13 games, the series has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making Mama one of the more unexpected success stories of 21st-century gaming.

While the series has fallen off a bit in recent years, Mama herself remains a memorable and recognizable addition to the modern gaming landscape. Given the relative simplicity of the games and the typical characters that become popular in the gaming space, it can be a bit surprising to see that Mama has retained so much of her popularity. However, maybe that sweet demeanor, snarky core, and inviting vibrancy are the key to her success. In an industry where casual players can be put off by gruff soldiers, grieving fathers, and scantily clad warriors, maybe a nice woman who wants to help you cook is exactly what the player base needed.