Like about 99% of the people on here, I hit a wall trying to make sushi. It took forever and the minigames drove me insane. Video guides were absolutely no help; every single one screwed it up as much as I did.

Then I finally got to the point where I could go do prep work in the garage and I ended up practicing. It turned out to be so simple it was complex. Not only that, but I discovered some shortcuts that cut your assembly time down by insane amounts. If anyone knows more, please add them!

Minigame #1 - Rolling.

The one consistent complaint I have about Drago games is that the instructions for the minigames are in one point type. For those people with vision issues, it can be a real pain.
Even for those who don't, if you blink or get distracted for a second, you miss it, which is what happened to me.

When your sushi is assembled to your satisfaction, right click on the roll. A countdown will start with a large circle. When the countdown ends, roll your center mouse wheel forward steadily. If you have alternate mouse controls, you'll know you're going the right direction because the mouse fills in. As soon as the circle is full, tap the space bar.

You may still get some poorly rolled sushi; it happens from time to time even with practice. Don't worry. It literally makes no difference whatsoever, unlike the second part.

Minigame #2 - Cutting.

Like most everyone else, THIS was the minigame that drove me almost to screaming and made me seriously think of refunding the game. I tell you this because once you do figure it out, it really is simple -- although the devs definitely need to make a change to help visibility.

Number one, the part that needs to be fixed, is that the countdown text lays over the numbers, so you have difficulty reading them. That's just a PITA that I hope Drago does something about, myself.

However, number two, I got it in my head that I had to enter the numbers as soon as the thin square border highlighted them, and that I was failing because I wasn't entering them quickly enough. I tried more slowly; still failed.

Then, I finally noticed that if you wait a second, the square border around the number you're supposed to key gets bigger. THAT is when you're supposed to hit the number, NOT when the number is first highlighted. (And unfortunately, the number pad doesn't work, as many of you have commented; you have to use the numbers on your keyboard.) The good thing about this is that it gives non-touch typers a bit more time.

What may also help is knowing that the numbers only go from 1 - 6. If you're touch typing, this is no sweat; if you're not, try positioning your fingers between 2 and 5 before you click on the sushi roll with your mouse to start cutting.

The big thing about this game is that you absolutely DON'T want or need twitch reflexes to play it. Don't go too fast and don't panic. Even if you're hunting and pecking the number keys, you can do this with a little practice.

I still miss keys occasionally now, but now that I realize that lit square gives me more lead time, I'm doing a lot fewer duplicate orders to make up for those where I've messed up the cut. However, if (when, in my case) you make a miscut, the following includes a way to help yourself.

Note: Be sure to do your mission with Mr. Hurricane so he gives you the special knife. That slows your countdown considerably.

Shortcuts, sushi and otherwise:

Miscuts: I don't know how many sushi rolls I miscut, but it was a lot. A LOT. Then, of course, I'd have to make another roll and cut that so I'd have enough to put on the tray. That meant leftovers.

But this isn't all bad! I found out that I could use the tray to gather up the leftover pieces and put them in the refrigerator. They'll stay good for a couple of game days. If you save your extra pieces, you can use them to pad out your miscut orders that don't have enough pieces instead of having to make another sushi roll.

Rice: One of the biggest problems with sushi is the time suck of making the rice while you're trying to do 16 other things. Guess what? You don't have to do it when you assemble the roll! Cooked rice and soft rice will both store just fine on your shelf with the added bonus that it doesn't go stale or spoil, unlike the boxed rice.

My routine was to go back to the garage when the rush in the Asian food location was over, fix a dozen or so cooked rice and soft rices and put them in the drawer. I arrived early enough to put my food slices into the assembly table drawer, cut up anything I needed to cut up, and then everything was together.

With the rice pre-prepared and the slices within easy reach, when an order came in, instead of desperately having to scramble to cook the rice, clean the cooker occasionally and all that other good stuff, I just got the correct rice out after I got out the wrap and put it on the nori. Works perfectly, and you'll have time enough to even make more if you miscut, which I could not always do when I was cooking the rice for each order.

The other good thing about this rice trick is that Mr. Hurricane has you buy MUCH too much rice at the beginning, and it goes stale. Once cooked, it stays sound indefinitely, even if it was stale to begin with. Granted, it takes a while to cook up batches of rice, but it's easy to do when you're not dealing with incoming orders and everything else.

Last but not least, get the upgrade to the work counter that gives you container trays beneath the work surface. Putting your sliced avos, chili slices, okincho and surimi in there is an enormous time saver, and there's a container left over for mozzarella slices, too, for all the fries that come in when you're in the Asian District.

Not A Sushi Hack But Still Works Great,

Especially in the Asian Market: You can also fix fries in advance and set them on your assembly table. I try to keep at least two containers of crispy fries on the counter because they take longer to fix, but you can keep regular fries sitting there on the assembly table as well. Really helps when orders rush in, since the fries-only orders always have a much shorter turnaround.

All of this made the Asian Market and FTS in general a much more fun game for me. I agree, there are some design changes that would make this much easier (and I really think doing WASD in some pattern instead of numbers would help a lot of non-touch typists, too) but with luck, this will help some people out.

Good luck and have fun cooking!