Romance

Romancing is the method used to breed piñatas in the Viva Piñata series. With only two exceptions, any species can romance, creating an egg to hatch into a baby of the same species.

Since only two members of the same species can join the garden from the wild, romancing is one of the main methods to obtain further members of that species.

How to Romance

Romancing requires at least two of the same species of piñata. Every species has different requirements for romancing, such as eating certain foods, having enough of a certain type of terrain, or even wearing certain accessories. No matter what, each species requires its respective piñata house in order to romance, constructed by Willy Builder.

Once a piñata's romance requirements have been fulfilled, a pink heart will appear above its head. The same requirements must also be fulfilled for the second piñata. Once both piñatas have pink hearts, direct one towards the other. Once the two meet, music will play, and the the romancing mini-game begins.

Romance Maze

In order to successfully romance a pair of piñatas, the Romance Maze must be navigated. Every species has its own unique maze, with rarer piñatas featuring more difficult layouts. The player controls one of the two piñatas while its partner waits at the opposite end of the maze. The maze is filled with Loathers, bomb-like creatures created by Professor Pester to interfere with romancing. Colliding with a Loather removes one life, represented by the piñata’s icon in the top left corner of the screen.

The romance minigame begins with five lives by default. For each additional piñata of the same species present in the garden beyond the initial pair, the starting number of lives is reduced by one, to a minimum of one life. For example, three piñatas of the same species result in four starting lives, while four result in three.

To successfully complete the maze, the piñata must be navigated around the Loathers and reach its partner. If all lives are lost, the minigame is failed and the romancing process ends. The two piñatas' pink hearts will turn into broken hearts, and cannot attempt to romance again for a short period.

Red Loathers are the standard type, and are the main type that make up the maze. They do not move, and will explode on contact.

Blue Loathers will pursue a piñata once it comes within range and will continue following until the piñata outruns them, at which point the Loather returns to its starting position. After returning, the Loather falls asleep for a short time and will not pursue again until it wakes.

Unlike other Loathers, Blue Loathers do not explode, instead electrocuting the piñata on contact. As a result, they can repeatedly stun the piñata, potentially causing the loss of multiple lives to the same Blue Loather.

Orange Loathers are asleep, but still highly dangerous. A piñata can pass through Orange Loathers without being hurt, but only if it walks slowly enough (accomplished by right clicking on PC or tilting slightly on console). If the player moves it too quickly, the Loather will wake up and explode.

Sometimes Loathers will be invisible, with only faint sparkles denoting their location. Pressing reveals the Loathers' position but disables movement.

In Viva Piñata, chocolate coins will be scattered around the maze to collect. These are optional, and can be ignored while still completing the mini-game.

In Trouble in Paradise, the difficulty of the mazes was increased with the introduction of pink hearts to collect. These replace the coins in the previous game, and a certain amount must be collected before the piñata can meet up with its partner. The amount required is indicated by the pink hearts on the left, with the blue hearts representing the total hearts in the level. The number of hearts required increases with the number of species members in the garden, similar to how lives decrease.

Once seven or more of the same species are present in the garden, the player is granted the species' Master Romancer award and the minigame reaches its highest difficulty level. At this point, the pink hearts will begin to flash. Collecting every heart in the level while in this state will guarantee the baby born from the egg will be a wildcard piñata. Completing the mini-game within a certain time limit will additionally reward the player with twins.

In Pocket Paradise and TIP’s Just For Fun mode, there is no romancing minigame. When two piñatas are romanced by directing them to each other, they simply go into their house and the romance dance cutscene plays.

Romance Dance

The Romance Dance is a 30-second cutscene that is unique to each species. Every species has its own unique music track, played from the jukebox inside the piñata's house.