WTF: Work Time Fun

Overview

Originally released in Japan as Baito Hell 2000, WTF: Work Time Fun (an acronym that more commonly stands for "what the fuck?!") is a compilation of minigames akin to the later WarioWare or Bishi Bashi Special. loosely held together by a premise that has you working for a temp agency in Hell, performing bizarre and menial tasks for a paycheque almost on par with that of a third world textile worker, in order to purchase more jobs, tools and trinkets from Capsule Toy Machines (Gashapon) of varying prices. Duplicate items from the machines can hamper your progress, though this can be avoided by switching off auto-save and rebooting if funds are low.

Hell has given you access to an e-mail client, and depending on your performance, you will receive award notices in your e-mail, strange e-mails from other employees of the temp agency, and even spam which may decrease your funds. Certain e-mails are received according to special circumstances (hint: play the game on your birthday) and some minigames will also vary depending on the time of day or date. Though there is no underlying story, the humour is more universal than similar games such as Hot PXL and Napoleon Dynamite giving WTF a certain level of charm.

Although it could easily be compared to the WarioWare series, WTF differentiates itself from them with minigames that last longer, with several having no time limit or even end goal, instead the object in these games is to earn an adequite amount of money and then quit back to the menu screen.

Minigames List

Starting Jobs

Baseball Superstars

Pitch and catch the ball. Game ends when you miss three catches.

Mushroom Xing (Mushroom Crossing)

A clone of the video game Frogger, in which you avoid the cars and collect mushrooms for bonus points. Game ends after you lose three lives.

Pendemonium

Place the tops on the pens correctly for as long as you can stand. A points penalty for placing tops wrong. Game only ends when the player manually chooses to do so.

Traffic Counter

Count the correct characters with a clicker as they scramble across the screen. Game ends if the player miscounts on any stage.

Jobs from $1 Machine

3 Count

Kick out of the opponent wrestler's pin as close to three seconds as possible. Bonus points awarded for 2.22, 2.77 or 2.99 seconds.

Animal Investigation Corps

A test of mental arithmetic, listen and add up the correct totals for each animal.

Bishop's Game ("Four Fingers" in Japan)

A knife game more commonly known as "Five-Finger Fillet", in which a person tries to drive a knife into the spaces between his outstretched fingers as fast as he can without cutting himself. The player must stab the desk without stabbing the hand. The game is seen performed in the James Cameron movie Aliens by the android character Bishop, hence the name of the game in the English translation.

Chick Sorting

Sort the chicks (baby chickens, not young women) by gender and send dead chicks bearing a halo to Heaven. Bonus points for correctly sorting rare chicks, points penalty for sending live chicks to Heaven. Game ends after ten minutes, but the player can manually choose to end the game sooner with no penalty.

Cliff Race 2000

Race along in a car, and when the braking zone randomly appears, stop as close to the cliff edge as possible. Bonus for winning all three races in one session.

Copycat

A clone of the electronic game "Simon", with four creatures corresponding to the PSP face buttons; the player must input the correct sequence of button presses corresponding to the order in which the creatures belch. As the string of burps gets more complicated, the screen increasingly soiled with saliva dripping down. Game ends if you input a wrong sequence or hesitate too long.

Lumberjack

Chop the logs without murdering the cute animals, later stages have animal shaped logs. Game ends when you miss a log or kill an animal.

Lumberjack Challenge

See Multiplayer Jobs.

Jobs from $5 Machine

Cliff Race 2000 Vs.

See Multiplayer Jobs.

Elf King

Ride your horse and reach the Elf King to save your son from the demons.

Hell Pottery

Keep the kiln at the optimal temperature for firing the pottery via different fuels. Bonus each time you consecutively use three decoration objects, whatever that means.

Karate Superstar

Strike the items that fly at your character (similar to "Feeble" in Yie Ar Kung Fu.) Game ends if an object hits you.

Mad Dribblin'

Bounce the ball off different parts of your body to keep it from hitting the floor. Bonus points for fancy moves.

Private Number

A clone of the board game "Mastermind", though each digit occurs only once. Work out the 4 digits of a woman's phone number via logic depending on which numbers you guessed right and whether they were in the right order. Game ends after ten unsuccessful tries or a correct guess.

Ready to Order

Flip the PSP vertically, and use it as a PDA to take an order from a table at a restaurant. Game ends when you submit your table's order, or when time runs out after your table has finished ordering.

RPS World Championship

Tournament of the random chance game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Game ends after seventeen wins or a single loss.

Run Like Heck

Not to be confused with the 2002 action-adventure game Run Like Hell. Drop the food as close to the beast as possible then run away to avoid being devoured. Game ends when you escape or if you are eaten.

The Net

Not to be confused with the 1995 techno-thriller. A fisherman will arrange to meet you after a certain number of hours/minutes, after which you retract the net and gain cash depending what is found. Bonus points for meeting with the white-haired fisherman. Penalty for ghost ships, whatever that means. Game ends after the allotted time or if the PSP is put into Sleep/Standby modes.

William Hell

Fire an arrow at the apple on a troll's head, as in the story of William Tell. Bonus points for consecutive shots on target. Points penalty for hitting troll. Game ends after three shots.

Seance

See Multiplayer Jobs.

Two-Legged Challenge

See Multiplayer Jobs.

Jobs from $10 Machine

Bouncer Bash

Protect the rock band from the killer fans and avoid stepping on wet towels. Bonus points for rescuing damsels. Game ends when all three band members are killed.

Caddy's Quest

Scour a golf course via a top-down view, searching for golf balls and other objects. Bonus points for finding turtle eggs and special golf balls.

Candy Shop

Similar to the video game Columns, match three of the same candy on the skewers to score. Bonus for completing a gold skewer. Game ends when holding tube fills up.

Copycat 2

See Multiplayer Jobs.

Happy Bullet

Take note of the target info, then pan and zoom in on the hotel rooms à la Namco's Silent Scope to shoot a "happy bullet" at the mark. Bonus points for hitting the mark within five seconds or with less than one second left on the clock.

Perfect Nanny

Stop the insects from reaching the babies with your mallet and bug bombs, and yell at any crying babies to calm them. Bonus points for gathering candy. Game ends when too many babies are crying.

Pollinator

A clone of the video game Lunar Lander. Carefully thrust and rotate the pollen to land on the plant. Bonus points for landing on special areas. Game ends on successful landing or a crash.

Private Number Deluxe

High prize version of the earlier minigame.

Jobs from $50 Machine

Buddha's Quest

Battle one hundred Buddha statues via the medium of turn-based RPG menus, gaining HP boosts, items, and equipment along the way. Game ends after all one hundred statues are defeated or if you die.

Drunken Mayor

Guide the mayor's trembling hand to cut the ribbon at various opening ceremonies. Bonus points for perfect timing. Game ends after seven successful stages or if you miss.

Ghost Psychic

Look at the three pictures and determine if the ghost in each is real or fake.

Hand Bell Delight

Rhythm Action campanology, whatever that means. Ring the bells in time with the on-screen prompts. Game ends after three wrong hits.

Private Number Executive

Even higher prize version of this minigame.

Space Blaster

A shoot-'em-up where you attack three large ships akin to level three of Irem's R-Type. Game ends when the three enemy ships are destroyed or your ship is hit.

Multiplayer Jobs (Ad-Hoc)

Cliff Race 2000 Vs. (2 Players)

Operates the same way as the singleplayer version. Loser of previous round starts in front.

Copycat 2 (2 Players)

Rules are as per the singleplayer version except you take turns.

Lumberjack Challenge (2 players)

The brown logs are replaced by blue and red logs. Players must chop only their respective colour logs in addition to avoiding the animals.

Seance (2-8 players)

Tap the buttons in time with the pulsating crystal ball to summon a spirit. Spirits featured are based on the figures Ludwig van Beethoven, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Edison, Ishikawa Goemon, and Cleopatra.

Two Legged Challenge (2 players)

Synchronize your steps with the other player through forty-four stages.

Tools List

Tools from $1 Machine

Chinese Astrologer

Enter your birthday, age, and gender to determine your Chinese astrological sign and receive a horoscope.

Eye Spy

Makes the screen display a pair of eyes, allowing the player to hold the PSP up to your face to freak people out, controlling the pupils and eyelids of various pairs of eyes.

Matchmaker

Ask someone to input answers to a list of questions to see how compatible the two of you might be.

Handy Light

Show different colours on the PSP screen in differing patterns (colour cycle, on/off blinking, S.O.S. blinking etc.) This tool can check for stuck pixels on the PSP's LCD screen, and a PSP flashlight can be surprisingly handy in the dark, as the name of the gadget suggests.

Ramen Timer

One of the most (in)famous parts of WTF, the ramen timer is a simple countdown timer that can be set for three, four or five minutes, the length of time it takes to make most brands of ramen in Japan. The charm comes from the fact that the entire time the countdown is running, a video plays of either a woman in a bikini or a muscular man in a thong, who will pose for the camera and constantly mention how much time is left.

Restaurant Bill Splitter

Divide a restaurant bill, either favourably towards women in the party or strictly even, taking into account any money already left towards the tab.

Tools from $5 Machine

Bingo

A random number generator.

Counter

Two separate clicker counters (L trigger and R trigger) to count lots of any amount, e.g. If you were to do 'Chick Sorting' in real life, with a box holding 32 chicks, 320 left clicks could be 10 boxes of cocks and 384 right clicks could be 12 boxes of hens.

King of the Castle

A parlour game where you choose one or two 'servants' to order (from 2-9 players) and the game gives commands such as 'Servant 1... hold servant 7's... tongue with... chopsticks' and 'Servant 3... Stay silent... Until you fart.'

Tools from $10 Machine

World Clock

A scrolling atlas allowing you to see the time in various cities around the world or set an alarm. Unfortunately, the alarm fails if the PSP is put into sleep or standby mode, negating its usefulness.

Trinkets

In the start menu, there are eight pages of trinkets making a total of four hundred and forty-eight. Trinkets do not have any use in the game, and as you collect more and more, the chance of receiving duplicates increases accordingly.