Cinemax’s Biorhythm does exactly as its title suggests. A straightforward application, Biorhythm uses your birthdate to calculate your daily biorhythm readings as well as show future expectations.

Biorhythms are often compared to horoscopes in that they predict your daily potential and social compatibility. Advocates of biorhythm believe everyone is affected by three rhythmic biological cycles that can affect their emotional, physical, and intellectual potentials. Starting at birth, each cycle lasts a precise amount of days before it repeats, fluctuating in a sine wave pattern on a graph, which can be calculated and predicted. Days in which the cycle passes the zero line on the graph are considered “critical days” in which a person could be at greater risk or there is a large amount of uncertainty.

The application is kept simple, resembling an early model computer with a printout reading. Users can create up to nine different profiles, assigning a name, birthdate, and prediction date to each one. An easy-to-read graph shows the color-coded biorhythm waves for the day chosen, but a more detailed reading can be requested that shows the exact numbers for the three cycles as well as basic advice for the day. It’s a cute touch; for example, today I was told to “carry a cellphone, learn something new, and take care of paperwork,” which I think I’m successfully doing right now.

Another touch is the inclusion of a “love match” option, which lets you match yourself to another user’s profile. Unfortunately, the application told me I should “walk my own way” from my boyfriend, as we added up to an awesome 21 percent compatibility overall. The application ranked each of our cycles, commenting on some (its recommendation that we “better not talk together” because of our 10 percent intellectual comparison was pretty funny) before telling us our total. However, I’m not quite sure how it calculates the love match, as I found the average score to be 27 percent instead of 21 percent, but maybe it uses a special equation. It’s also not clear if this is intended to be a daily compatibility or a lifetime prediction. The help section describes it as “partnership harmony.”

The program is controlled mainly through a 0-9 keypad to match real biorhythm computers from the past, though you can input letters using up/down keys at the bottom of the screen. To see available commands, you can click the “hlp” (help) button and a printout of available basic commands will slide up. Pressing enter after you choose a profile also reveals more options. This layout can get a little frustrating if you haven’t memorized all the commands, since the information eventually slides off the screen as you print out the readings, analyses, etc.

Biorhythm includes one hidden feature to its otherwise-direct set up: do a little sleuthing and you can find a Pong-like bonus game for one or two players. Though not exactly remarkable, it is a fun diversion in which you can show off the effects of your high physical and intellectual cycles against your less than harmonious partner.

Overall, I’m not really a believer in the idea of biorhythms, but I do appreciate Cinemax’s effort at authenticity. Biorhythm is a well-executed application, but doesn’t offer anything more than the basics. Its retro look and music creates a unified theme that draws on the height of biorhythms’ popularity in the 1970s, and while it’s not the most complex application on DSiWare, it should suit supporters’ needs perfectly.