Cooking Mama/Gameplay

This game has 3 separate sections of game play:

Let's Cook
This is the main mode of game play. Starting out there is only one recipe, but you will find that almost every recipe unlocks something after it is finished. This is how most new Recipes are made available.

Another method for unlocking new recipes occurs in the middle of making a dish. Specific recipes will give options in the middle of themselves to add a different ingredient. If this option is ignored the original recipe will be made. If the alternate option is taken, this new variant will be in the list of available recipes in the Let’s Cook menu. You must finish the variant recipe through until the end for this to happen.

Let's Combine
This option lets you make 2 recipes together. Though there is a limited amount of options that can be combined, they will be added to this menu once the base recipe has been unlocked in the Let’s Cook section.

There are only 7 recipes available for the first item in a combination:
 * Boiled Rice
 * Spaghetti Neapolitan
 * Pork Curry and Rice
 * Fried Rice
 * Soba
 * Chicken Rice
 * Udon

There are 50 recipes that can be used for the second item in combination once they have been unlocked in the Let’s Cook menu.

Use Skill
This option is all about proving how good you are at a specific cooking skill. These are judged on time and ability to succeed at performing the specific skill you are attempting. If you are too slow or screw up it ends and will make note of the best time. These are great to do to as practice for a skill or just to have fun doing your favorite skills.

More skills become available as you finish trying more recipes.