Cooking Mama: Cookstar -- How to Buy a Copy of the Game

Over the last week, Cooking Mama: Cookstar has become somewhat of an urban legend in the video game community. While the Cooking Mama franchise has built-up a faithful following since the days of Nintendo DS, entries in the series have never been particularly difficult to come by. That all changed with the latest game in the series, however. Shortly after releasing on the Nintendo Switch eShop, Cookstar was pulled from the service, leaving many to wonder exactly what had happened. Rumors swirled throughout the internet, but the game is now available once again. However, it does remain a bit more difficult to come by versus the average Switch game.

In order to get Cooking Mama: Cookstar, Switch owners will have to buy the game directly from publisher Planet Entertainment. The game's product page says that the game is being sold direct to fans because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the page offers no details on why the game is no longer available on the eShop. According to Planet Entertainment, the game is available to ship immediately, for $59.99.

While it's certainly great that the game is now available for those interested, it's simply another bizarre twist in a story that was already confusing Switch owners, and the gaming community at large. Over the weekend, social media was abuzz thanks to a rumor that Cookstar was pulled by Nintendo because the game was mining bitcoin. The developer debunked that rumor, but still offered no concrete explanation for the game's disappearance.

Since then, the prevailing theory behind the game's removal from the eShop is that a dispute arose between the creators of Cookstar, and Office Create, the company that owns the Cooking Mama license. This story was offered to Screen Rant by an anonymous source claiming to be a developer on the game. However, the fact that Cookstar is now available for sale once again (albeit exclusively in physical form), makes a legal dispute seem unlikely.

Regardless of what the reasoning is, fans of the Cooking Mama franchise will want to purchase the game sooner, rather than later. Given the game's rocky release, and the secrecy behind it, it definitely stands to reason that this version of the game could be available for a limited amount of time.

Are you interested in buying Cooking Mama: Cookstar? What do you think is going on with the game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!