Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Kick-in Challenge

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Kick-in Challenge is a turn-based role-playing video game, based on Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, developed by Papaya Studio and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and PlayStation 2. The game revolves around the New Teenager and Wendy Wu, as they travel across America in a competition where Wendy hopes to win the "Homecoming Queen" title with the help of Shen and the others. The release date was originally set for September 14, 2007, but was later delayed to November 17, 2007.

Plot
The game starts with Shen giving a speech about what an evil dragon named Yan-Lo has done. After the Lord of Darkness was killed by Nina Wu, who stopped the Stormiest Day, he has decided to hatch an evil plan to revive that storm in the form of a spirit.

Then, the player creates his or her character, who recently moved to Wendy Wu's hometown along with his or her parents.

Gameplay
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Kick-in Challenge is a turn-based RPG that plays conceptually similarly to Nintendo's Mario & Luigi series, created by the now-defunct AlphaDream, due to its focus on controlling the New Teenager and Wendy Wu simultaneously. During overworld sections, the following controls are as follows:


 * For the PlayStation 2, controls the New Teenager's movement with Wendy following closely, while the New Teenager and Wendy's other actions are controlled individually with  and, respectively.
 * For the Wii, controls the New Teenager's movement with Wendy following closely, while the New Teenager and Wendy's other actions are controlled individually with  and, respectively.
 * For the Nintendo DS, controls the New Teenager's movement with Wendy following closely, while the New Teenager and Wendy's other actions are controlled individually with  and, respectively.

The game begins with them being able to jump independently, though they gain access to kicking and a variety of other techniques as the game progresses. For example, placing the New Teenager on Wendy's shoulders allows them to levitate and hover across large gaps to places that the Yin Warriors are unable to reach. Various enemies roam the overworld, and coming into contact with these enemies initiates a battle. Landing a hit on the enemy while on the overworld allows the player to deal preemptive damage, while the opposite is also possible.

Battles in these games are turn-based. The New Teenager and Wendy can attack normally either by jumping, which can deal multiple hits, but when used against enemies covered in flames or with spikes, the New Teenager or Wendy will get hurt instead of the enemy; or by kicking, which is powerful, though ineffective against flying enemies. Players can time button presses to make their attacks more effective, such as earning an extra jump attack or increasing the power of kicking. The New Teenager and Wendy can defend themselves during an enemy's attack. When an enemy attacks, the New Teenager and Wendy will be able to either jump or kick which, when successfully timed, allows them to dodge their attacks and even deal counter damage. Throughout the game, players can unlock Warrior Attacks (the equivalent of Bros. Attacks), which use Warrior Points (WP)—the equivalent of Bros. Points (BP)—requiring players to cooperate between the New Teenager and Wendy's actions to perform powerful combination attacks. Defeating enemies earns experience points which help the Yin Warriors level up and increase their stats. Players can also use items such as the Pork for healing, Fortune Cookies for boosting stats, and Shrimp for reviving fallen Yin Warriors. Defeating enemies earns experience points which help the Yin Warriors level up and increase their stats, with players given the option to further increase the stats of one attribute every time they level up. Players can further improve their stats by equipping new gear to the Yin Warriors, or making them wear badges that give them special attributes.

Playable characters

 * New Teenager - The well-known hero.
 * Wendy Wu - The sidekick of the New Teenager.

Supporting cast

 * Jessica Dawson - The damsel-in-distress.
 * Shen - The Buddhist monk.
 * Coach Gibbs - The soccer coach.

Villains

 * Yan-Lo - The main villain and final boss.

Cell Phone
A cell phone that is carried by the player character acts as the main menu for the game. The cell phone contains an app where the player can see their inventory as well as any active quests. It also tracks how many messages received from other characters in the game.

Stats
Each Yin Warrior has their own Hit Points, Warrior Points, Power, Defense, Speed, and Yin points. When they finish a battle, they each gain Experience Points. With enough Experience Points, they can level-up and increase each respective statistic.


 * HP (abbreviation of Hit Points) is the amount of life the New Teenager and Wendy has. When an enemy hits either of them, they lose HP. When their HP reaches zero, they faint, but can be revived with a Shrimp or Jumbo Shrimp.
 * WP (abbreviation of Warrior Points) indicates how many times the New Teenager and Wendy can use a Warrior Attack. Each attack uses a certain amount of WP, draining the total. WP can be restored by using a Syrup Jar or a Moo Goo Gai Pan.
 * Power is how strong either the New Teenager or Wendy is. The higher their Power stats are, the more damage they will perform.
 * Defense is how much damage either the New Teenager or Wendy can block from an enemy hit. The higher their Defense stats are, the less damage they will take.
 * Speed is how fast the New Teenager or Wendy are. If an enemy has a greater Speed, they will attack first. If the New Teenager and/or Wendy has a higher Speed, they will attack first.
 * Yin (the equivalent of Stache) is the most unique of the New Teenager and Wendy's stats. The higher their Yin stats are, the greater there is a chance of a Lucky, which doubles Power, and it also lowers the prices of items bought at shops and increases the worth of items sold (caps at 50%).

Moves
During battle, the New Teenager and Wendy have four options when it is their turn: Use a Solo Move, use a Warrior Attack, use an item, or run.

Solo Moves
During a Solo Move, the New Teenager or Wendy use one of their basic attacks solo. Both Yin Warriors have solo move techniques that they can use in any battle in the game. Note that all of these techniques listed below must be learned by progressing through the game except for the New Teenager and Wendy's Jump.

Solo Techniques

 * The New Teenager's Solo Techniques
 * Jump - The New Teenager jumps to squash enemies.
 * Kick - The New Teenager can kick to hit enemies.
 * Hand - The New Teenager can use his or her Venokinesis ability to poison enemies.


 * Wendy's Solo Techniques
 * Jump - Wendy can jump to crush enemies.
 * Kick - Wendy can use his hammer to hit enemies.
 * Hand - Wendy can use his Pyrokinesis ability to burn enemies.

Warrior Attacks
Warrior Attacks are attacks that the New Teenager and Wendy can use in battle by working together to deliver more damage. They all use a different combination of buttons to hit.

There are three different modes present for reach Warrior Attack. Mode 1 consists of slow motion and visual button commands appearing when the command needs to be pressed, acting as a guideline for players. Mode 2 removes the slow motion but retains the visual button commands. Mode 3 removes both the slow motion and visual button commands, and in turn, fewer Warrior Points are used for the Warrior Attack and, depending on the move, it will deal more damage.


 * The New Teenager's Warrior Attacks
 * Levitate Kick
 * Aerokinesis Striker
 * Hyperkinesis
 * Tornadic Twister (secret)


 * Wendy Wu's Warrior Attacks
 * Zen Flame
 * Aerokinesis Bluster
 * Mantis Strike
 * Portal Attack (secret)

Items
When choosing the item icon, the New Teenager or Wendy can use an item to recover HP or WP. Other items, such as Refreshing Egg Rolls, can heal status effects, and violet or red fortune cookies will raise Power and gain weight or raise defense and lose weight, respectively. When one of the Yin Warriors faint, the other Yin Warrior can use a Shrimp or Jumbo Shrimp the revive him or her. However, once an item is used, the Yin Warrior's turn is over.

Run
The New Teenager and Wendy can both run from battle when they choose the run icon. When getting away, the player must hit either // or // to make a Yin Warrior run; however, if they don't do this quickly, one of the Yin Warriors will drop a large amount of money. When both Yin Warriors have left the screen, the player will end up back in the overworld and continue their adventure. This feature works better if one of the Yin Warriors has fainted. Instead of running, the remaining Yin Warrior picks him or her up and carries him or her away, halving the number of money lost.

Avoiding attacks
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Kick-in Challenge allows the player to completely avoid enemy attacks. The New Teenager and Wendy can either use their kick or jump moves to avoid attacks. With their jump move, the New Teenager or Wendy can simply jump over the attacking enemy. When using the kick to avoid attacks, the player must hold the New Teenager or Wendy's respective button and release just as the enemy or their weapon hits.

The New Teenager and Wendy can also use these moves to counterattack. When they jump over an enemy, they may land on them, causing damage. The New Teenager or Wendy can also hit enemies with their kicking during their turn.

Out-of-battle techniques
The New Teenager and Wendy can also use some techniques out of battle. Once again, all of the following techniques must be learned by progressing in the game, except for jumping.

Character customization
The game starts off with the player creating his or her avatar and later choosing a class with the help of Shen. As the game is a role-playing game, there are multiple ways to customize one's character.

One definitive aspect is what class the player chooses, which informs the approach the player takes to combat. There are four classes:
 * Chicken - A class that utilizes high armor and powerful attacks, Chickens focus on brute force and single-target attacks to get through battles.
 * Rat - A class that, despite being physically weak, makes up for it in special attacks to inflict a multitude of status effects and AoE attacks.
 * Monkey - A class that specializes in status effects, this class utilizes things such as vampire, fire, and stuns to inflict large amounts of damage over time and immobilize opponents.
 * Dragon - A class that is described as being "high risk, high reward", allowing the player to become more powerful the closer they are to fainting.

Quests
There are various quests that the New Teenager and Wendy can complete outside the main story. These quests vary in results.


 * Near the start of the game, Shen can be found near a Chinese lantern on a hedge, and will ask for it back. If the New Teenager obtains the Chinese lantern and returns it, Shen will reward him or her with a Pork.
 * Nearby, there is a resident that has lost an item important to him. If the New Teenager can find it and return it to the resident, he or she is rewarded with a Shrimp.
 * Hundreds of beans are hidden throughout the overworld that the New Teenager and Wendy can find and spend at Stardeer Coffee. There are four different kinds of beans: Ox Beans, Horse Beans, Bunny Beans, and Sheep Beans. Depending on which kinds of beans the New Teenager and Wendy spend, different blends will be produced. When the New Teenager and Wendy produce a blend, Austin will give them a prize. When the Yin Warriors drink the blend, they will also gain a stat boost. The possible blends, beans required, stat boosts, and prizes are listed below.


 * There is a building called "GameDepot" where the New Teenager and Wendy can get free beans by completing a minigame, in which they should pick any space, and a bean will appear. When choosing, the player might accidentally choose a Yan-Lo card, and they will lose. There can either be one Yan-Lo or three Yan-Lo's in this minigame, so the player has a 5/6 or 1/2 chance of getting some beans.

Trivia

 * This is the only dedicated Wii game in video game history to require the Classic Controller.