It’s true. There is an Iron Chef game coming out for the Wii.

When Chris brought this to my attention last week, I was hesitantly hopeful. I have learned from past experience not to get too excited about a game this early on, as it often leads to disappointment. That being said, I really, really, really hope that this game is awesome. I used to be a total Food Network junkie, and Iron Chef was one of my favourites. If you don’t know what Iron Chef is, I will frown at you judgmentally, and then send you here.

I had never heard of the developer, Black Lantern Studios, and that is probably because they haven’t made anything yet that I would be remotely interested in playing. While I am sure that there are people who enjoy playing UNO and Candy Land on the DS, I am not one of them.

Even though the trailer shows no actual game footage (but does show a guy wearing a Wiimote wrist strap incorrectly… tsk tsk), the concept of combining two things that I really like is obviously appealing. At the same time, it makes me kind of anxious, because there is so much potential for this game, but it could just as easily be a total suck-fest.

Places this game could (but hopefully won’t) go wrong:

• Branding. The game is actually based on Iron Chef America, an offshoot of the popular Asian show. I pray that they don’t whore this game up with lots of catch phrases, and extended intro monologues just because Bobby Flay’s contract says he gets so much screen time. Iron Chef is about battling your opponent in kitchen stadium. It is not about watching a digital Alton Brown make bad jokes.

• Don’t be TOO different. While Harmonix has shown us that you can take a good thing and make it better, countless other would-be imitators have demonstrated just as clearly that you can take a good thing and screw it up entirely. This game is obviously (at least in my mind) capitalizing on the success of Cooking Mama (which I love). If they take that template, and innovate just a little, it could be really great. I’m not saying that the great minds who brought us Dora’s World Adventure for GBA aren’t capable of coming up with a completely new concept that will wow me. But… I am.

• Depth. I totally get that this is a collection of mini-games. Cooking Mama was too. That doesn’t mean that every level has to be exactly like the one before, and there only needs to be 10 of them. If this is done properly, there will be a long list of secret ingredients, and in each battle, you will have, say, 12 recipes to choose from. You’re being timed, though. Do you want to make just five? six? go for broke, and try seven? The number of dishes you do affects your score, but so does how well you do them, so you don’t want to rush. I don’t know if they’ll do this, but they damn well should. It’s an excellent idea.

I could be way off base here, as there isn’t really any info out on this game, and maybe I’m dreaming too big, but what is life if we can’t dream? When I heard Iron Chef for Wii, my mind immediately conjured up a sort of Cooking Mama hybrid, with a detailed multiplayer, and a campaign mode where I use an array of secret ingredients as my arsenal to defeat opponent after opponent, finally being crowned an Iron Chef. Whose cuisine reigns supreme? Mine, bitches!

Even though I’m probably the only person who cares that this game is coming out, I really hope they do it right. Allez Cuisine!

Secretly, Julie would love it if the whole game was a giant Bobby Flay cut scene. She loves that guy. Personally, I think she’s expecting too much. This game reeks of a television license being slapped on another disappointingly lackluster Wii game. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.