nintendo's R&D1 began experimenting heavily with the form of the platformer with wario land 2 and 3: each games that attempted to remove typical fail states by making the protagonist invincible and able to acquire temporary abilities after touching specific enemies. while bold puzzle-platformers and generally excellent 8-bit titles, they still hewed close to typical loops of gameplay centered around replaying sections of stages until a goal state is achieved, thus nullifying the practical effects of the absence of player health or damage. their first title on the gba seemed to recognize this and shifted its rejection of form to averting the traditional mario-chartered methodology of building challenge and design iteratively over the course of the game by instead abruptly shifting focus and mechanics between levels. while rooted in the idioms of the prior two wario land entries, WL4 was flippant in how it approached challenges based on these predefined player mechanics, and it rejected both the narrative cohesion of WL2 and the rich environmental persistence of WL3 in favor of rapidly defying player expectations with incongruous level concepts and its frog pillar mechanic that required the player to quickly reevaluate the level in reverse once reaching its endpoint. thus began a trilogy of standout GBA titles where R&D1 deconstructed commonly-held design principles of gaming in order to produce shocking, absurd, and creative experiences.
warioware inc. is where that absurdism really comes into its own. at its root much of gaming involves the player applying their intuition based on real-world experiences to in-game conflicts using a built-in toolkit. games that deviate too far from logical or sensible principles may be seen as obtuse, while games that lean heavily on a player's knowledge of genre conventions may be considered "gamey." warioware leverages this intuition application as a reflex-based game of skill: recontextualize your understanding of the goal state and your toolkit, and do it so fast and naturally that it becomes automatic. that single word or phrase projected at the start of each round instantly locks the player into that goal state, and within an instant of seeing their surroundings they should understand how they can achieve that goal and what the interface may be to perform the actions required. shake a dog's paw, pick your nose, shoot down aliens, match the shape, catch the baseball, chop the block, collect the mushroom, count the frogs, jump the hurdle, dodge the arrows. in the collection of these instances and all others present in the game, the vast breadth of human experience is discretized and miniaturized into flashes of memory. this game is tailor-made to fire as many different synapses in rapid succession as possible.
surrounding this genius distillation of the gaming experience itself is this eccentric framing device of games themselves, mass-produced and advertised to you through the screen, or veering into real-life alternative gaming experiences than the one in your hands as you work your way through the game. aptly the game presents its user interface as a mock desktop, featuring the loosely-connected sets of games into neat little folders for you to work through. each character presents their own idiosyncratic narrative to their gaming experience; my favorite of the bunch is dribble and spitz's Taxi Driver homage that translates the endless neon corridors to a sloshy windshield and a fuzzy car radio, with games flying at you through the haze. they drive their passenger (supposedly you) to the sea, where they proceed to turn into a mermaid and dive into the depths, much to the driving duo's delight. other stories range the spectrum from kat and ana's downright traditional journey through the floors of a shiro to mona's frenzied pizza delivery route where she kills pursuing cops by the dozen.
on its own these pieces would be sufficient for something truly interesting, but warioware elevates the experience through a natural high-score mentality and drive to keep the player engaged and toying around with all of the content. many more microgames unlock in the post-game, where you can endlessly play a character's collection until you run out of health. although your first playthrough of each will end at the boss stage, these boss stages serve as cycle-enders in repeat attempts, where new cycles push the difficulty higher for each individual microgame. suddenly the context you understood for a given microgame is purposefully subverted to further test your reflexes and/or patience. as the speed increases and the microgame flow becomes more hectic, what seemed like cut-and-dry microgames become sweat-inducing tests of pushing that intuition-swap ability to the peak of its potential, and in the process rewiring your brain every precious couple of seconds.
I'm able to gush so thoroughly about this debut in particular because I feel no later entry ever managed to top it. beyond this the warioware series became nintendo's playground for testing out their array of control gimmicks, and thus the games themselves became entirely beholden to the constraints of those input methods. while I imagine their goal was to deepen the interactivity with each microgame, the limits of waggling a wiimote or tapping a screen choked that incredible spark of creativity that they exhibited so genuinely here. the gamepad is already universally the understood abstraction of choice of varied gameplay mechanics, and R&D1 tapped into our inherent connection to it as gamers to make something that not only celebrated games as a form, but refined it to a microscopic, perfectly shaped pearl.
warioware inc. is where that absurdism really comes into its own. at its root much of gaming involves the player applying their intuition based on real-world experiences to in-game conflicts using a built-in toolkit. games that deviate too far from logical or sensible principles may be seen as obtuse, while games that lean heavily on a player's knowledge of genre conventions may be considered "gamey." warioware leverages this intuition application as a reflex-based game of skill: recontextualize your understanding of the goal state and your toolkit, and do it so fast and naturally that it becomes automatic. that single word or phrase projected at the start of each round instantly locks the player into that goal state, and within an instant of seeing their surroundings they should understand how they can achieve that goal and what the interface may be to perform the actions required. shake a dog's paw, pick your nose, shoot down aliens, match the shape, catch the baseball, chop the block, collect the mushroom, count the frogs, jump the hurdle, dodge the arrows. in the collection of these instances and all others present in the game, the vast breadth of human experience is discretized and miniaturized into flashes of memory. this game is tailor-made to fire as many different synapses in rapid succession as possible.
surrounding this genius distillation of the gaming experience itself is this eccentric framing device of games themselves, mass-produced and advertised to you through the screen, or veering into real-life alternative gaming experiences than the one in your hands as you work your way through the game. aptly the game presents its user interface as a mock desktop, featuring the loosely-connected sets of games into neat little folders for you to work through. each character presents their own idiosyncratic narrative to their gaming experience; my favorite of the bunch is dribble and spitz's Taxi Driver homage that translates the endless neon corridors to a sloshy windshield and a fuzzy car radio, with games flying at you through the haze. they drive their passenger (supposedly you) to the sea, where they proceed to turn into a mermaid and dive into the depths, much to the driving duo's delight. other stories range the spectrum from kat and ana's downright traditional journey through the floors of a shiro to mona's frenzied pizza delivery route where she kills pursuing cops by the dozen.
on its own these pieces would be sufficient for something truly interesting, but warioware elevates the experience through a natural high-score mentality and drive to keep the player engaged and toying around with all of the content. many more microgames unlock in the post-game, where you can endlessly play a character's collection until you run out of health. although your first playthrough of each will end at the boss stage, these boss stages serve as cycle-enders in repeat attempts, where new cycles push the difficulty higher for each individual microgame. suddenly the context you understood for a given microgame is purposefully subverted to further test your reflexes and/or patience. as the speed increases and the microgame flow becomes more hectic, what seemed like cut-and-dry microgames become sweat-inducing tests of pushing that intuition-swap ability to the peak of its potential, and in the process rewiring your brain every precious couple of seconds.
I'm able to gush so thoroughly about this debut in particular because I feel no later entry ever managed to top it. beyond this the warioware series became nintendo's playground for testing out their array of control gimmicks, and thus the games themselves became entirely beholden to the constraints of those input methods. while I imagine their goal was to deepen the interactivity with each microgame, the limits of waggling a wiimote or tapping a screen choked that incredible spark of creativity that they exhibited so genuinely here. the gamepad is already universally the understood abstraction of choice of varied gameplay mechanics, and R&D1 tapped into our inherent connection to it as gamers to make something that not only celebrated games as a form, but refined it to a microscopic, perfectly shaped pearl.
In this game we witness the tale of Wario, a man that enters the videogame industry just for the money, and when it realizes it takes effort to make one, he decides to do one based around short minigames and using his friends to do all the work for him, and in the game's ending he tries to steal everyone's money and says he hates everybody.... and somehow, he's still a better CEO than Bobby Kotick.
I have had my couple of WarioWare rides over the years, being able to play the games when staying at friend's houses, but when it comes to actually owning and beating them... yeah let's just say that I'm not Mr. Wario MacWario's best client.
But I decided to finally to finally give a try to the past entries of my favorite capitalist pig, and what better place to star that with the Ware that started it all? And honestly... I already knew it was going to be good or at the very least enjoyable, but I never could have expect it to actually like it so much; like, despite being the first game of the series, which propms it to have the terrible and sever First-Game Syndrome, I genuely belive this a better game than Get it Together, the last entry on the series and the only one I had beaten until now.
They clearly knew what they wanted to go for since the beginning: there's a well-defined sense of weird style and irreverence across the entire game, which in a way was to be expected. Wario games have always stived to be a kind of antithesis to the Mario formula, in both looks and sounds, but it's in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! where Wario explored new horizons that its father series a never did, and the result was a perfect fit for the character.
The colors and shapes, the extravagant character design, the more episodic format of each of the bizarre character stories (never in a million years would I expect to see on a Nintendo game a character running away from police in a motorbike while a monkey throws bananas at the police cars, but it’s real and it’s beautiful), and the fantastic sound design and music, energetic and up-beat in its own weird way , and even when they re-use some Wario Land 4 music pieces, it still feels right and adds instead of taking away from the experience.
And it all goes so fast It feels like the game is at 2x speed, but it just works. The speed of everything makes it so you can barely understand or process what the hell is happening , but enough so you can appreciate it and have fun with it, and that also goes for what makes the bulk of the game: the minigames.
There are a few minigames that are overly simple, incredibly similar with each other and even those that don’t make it known too clearly what you can and can’t do despite the overall controls being pretty straightforward, which is a huge deal considering how fast paced everything is and the limited number of opportunities you have. Good thing is that most of them are actually worth more than a buck: original and entertaining, weird and unique, each and everyone having a clear visual identity that can go from crude drawings to just photos of real-life stuff; it makes inconsistency its biggest strength, and it’s that what makes you not being able to stop looking at it… and it’s also just really fucking funny and absurd, which is also a plus.
Even with a lack of varierity of the modes and Jimmy T. being re-used some times as a kind of mini-boss (which depending on who you ask that’s a positive or a negative, I consider a negative for repetition’s sake but.. it’s fucking Jimmy T., you don’t mess with Jimmy T., you don’t mess with the music ), even with its flaws, the amount of fun and even challenge in its short campaign makes it more than worth it. There’s nothing like WarioWare, at least not at the time of its release, and at least not as fun and goofy.
We did it everybody. We are Wario Gaming.
I have had my couple of WarioWare rides over the years, being able to play the games when staying at friend's houses, but when it comes to actually owning and beating them... yeah let's just say that I'm not Mr. Wario MacWario's best client.
But I decided to finally to finally give a try to the past entries of my favorite capitalist pig, and what better place to star that with the Ware that started it all? And honestly... I already knew it was going to be good or at the very least enjoyable, but I never could have expect it to actually like it so much; like, despite being the first game of the series, which propms it to have the terrible and sever First-Game Syndrome, I genuely belive this a better game than Get it Together, the last entry on the series and the only one I had beaten until now.
They clearly knew what they wanted to go for since the beginning: there's a well-defined sense of weird style and irreverence across the entire game, which in a way was to be expected. Wario games have always stived to be a kind of antithesis to the Mario formula, in both looks and sounds, but it's in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! where Wario explored new horizons that its father series a never did, and the result was a perfect fit for the character.
The colors and shapes, the extravagant character design, the more episodic format of each of the bizarre character stories (never in a million years would I expect to see on a Nintendo game a character running away from police in a motorbike while a monkey throws bananas at the police cars, but it’s real and it’s beautiful), and the fantastic sound design and music, energetic and up-beat in its own weird way , and even when they re-use some Wario Land 4 music pieces, it still feels right and adds instead of taking away from the experience.
And it all goes so fast It feels like the game is at 2x speed, but it just works. The speed of everything makes it so you can barely understand or process what the hell is happening , but enough so you can appreciate it and have fun with it, and that also goes for what makes the bulk of the game: the minigames.
There are a few minigames that are overly simple, incredibly similar with each other and even those that don’t make it known too clearly what you can and can’t do despite the overall controls being pretty straightforward, which is a huge deal considering how fast paced everything is and the limited number of opportunities you have. Good thing is that most of them are actually worth more than a buck: original and entertaining, weird and unique, each and everyone having a clear visual identity that can go from crude drawings to just photos of real-life stuff; it makes inconsistency its biggest strength, and it’s that what makes you not being able to stop looking at it… and it’s also just really fucking funny and absurd, which is also a plus.
Even with a lack of varierity of the modes and Jimmy T. being re-used some times as a kind of mini-boss (which depending on who you ask that’s a positive or a negative, I consider a negative for repetition’s sake but.. it’s fucking Jimmy T., you don’t mess with Jimmy T., you don’t mess with the music ), even with its flaws, the amount of fun and even challenge in its short campaign makes it more than worth it. There’s nothing like WarioWare, at least not at the time of its release, and at least not as fun and goofy.
We did it everybody. We are Wario Gaming.
it's like r&d1 and itoi must've crossed paths or something. goofy, constantly charming and inventive minigame collection that constantly spits new ideas at you time and time again - and had the team been any less competent the idea would've crashed and burned on execution.
in our reality, thankfully, mega microgame$! is so expertly designed with such childlike expression and design philosophy that most of its segments feel almost subconscious. your brain sparks within milliseconds how to tackle 95% of these minigames while the rest of you gets to focus on the music and artwork. truly one of the most scatterbrained yet cohesively designed video games they'd ever release. a lot of the choices made here remind me of nanaon-sha games, especially parappa 2.
it's AFTER you beat the campaign where things open up and the truly infinite and timeless appeal of warioware begins; endless challenge runs with killer tunes and bloodpumping pace await you, with a compilation of all of the microgame sequences you've come to know and a boatload of others.
it's pure fun, something nintendo was once crown leader in the industry at. and given how clear of a love letter microgame$! is to even their toymaking-era efforts... i think this game certainly earns a spot amongst their best and most creative pieces to date.
in our reality, thankfully, mega microgame$! is so expertly designed with such childlike expression and design philosophy that most of its segments feel almost subconscious. your brain sparks within milliseconds how to tackle 95% of these minigames while the rest of you gets to focus on the music and artwork. truly one of the most scatterbrained yet cohesively designed video games they'd ever release. a lot of the choices made here remind me of nanaon-sha games, especially parappa 2.
it's AFTER you beat the campaign where things open up and the truly infinite and timeless appeal of warioware begins; endless challenge runs with killer tunes and bloodpumping pace await you, with a compilation of all of the microgame sequences you've come to know and a boatload of others.
it's pure fun, something nintendo was once crown leader in the industry at. and given how clear of a love letter microgame$! is to even their toymaking-era efforts... i think this game certainly earns a spot amongst their best and most creative pieces to date.
Incredibly fun mini game collection that has a ton of replay value. Sure the game can be beaten in less than 2 hours, but trying to get high scores in everything is so fun. I love the style and music here too. Just an all around loveable game!
it’s just, pure joy
A masterclass of game design. Almost every single game can be understood in the few seconds given on the first playthrough and the 2-3 that aren't instinctually understood are quickly grasped. The limited control scheme means every microgame controls well and smoothly. It's a game you can play for 3 minutes or 3 hours. Also, Wario's in it.
The Nintendo version of America's Funniest Home Videos
Y'know, this game hits so differently when your playing it on headphones. The sound design and music is so much more detailed than I originally thought and that enhanced my enjoyment of the game. I wish the sound chip on the GBA wasn't awful but the sound guys: Yoshitomi Ryoji, Ohsawa Kazuyoshi, and Miyamoto Kyoko made this one of my favorite soundtracks for the GBA.
This was one of the games I played a lot when I was kid and loving it despite not finishing it, I think. It still holds up today which I'm very happy about. Thanks Mom and Dad for buying me this, you made me a very happy camper!
This was one of the games I played a lot when I was kid and loving it despite not finishing it, I think. It still holds up today which I'm very happy about. Thanks Mom and Dad for buying me this, you made me a very happy camper!
Bite size absurdity
Wario always struck me as one of Nintendo's bigger than life characters whenever he appeared. From his first appearance in 6 Golden Coins which I liked as a kid, to his platforming adventures and eventually into a series of miniature games that bring the absurdist nature of Nintendo and the character in general. Surprisingly enough, this isn't my first experience with WarioWare as I've gotten Twisted! at a used state in Funcoland during the early 2000s. There's isn't too much to WarioWare but it's one of Nintendo's most interesting concepts of a game at the time.
Not much of a story if anything here with Wario wanting to make a video game in yet another scheme to make money, fitting for the character. Wario isn't alone in this endeavor however as he brings the help of his friends to create minigames for him ranging from a pair of ninjas, a scientist to one groovy man named Jimmy. Each character is charming and gets a little bit of time to show what they're all about and the genre of games they bring are different from games that are based on different genres like Sports or Science Fiction. My favorite one has to be 9-Volt with his penchant for bringing classic Nintendo games in a much smaller and faster format.
The main appeal of the WarioWare series is the minigames and later on how each game utilizes the hardware specific features of the console it's on. Being the first iteration, your main controls are just the directional pad and the A button. The variety of minigames range from those that utilize quick reaction time, accurate button presses to challenging your intelligence on the fly. The games themselves aren't just restricted to their own individual playlists but also can be mish-mashed in remix modes that bring it all together so you really don't know what to expect which I think is the best part of WarioWare. Bringing into the end these boss stages that tend to be longer and more elaborate affairs until you realize these are only for 30 seconds to one minute how fast you've really been going. From one game of skateboarding and jumping and the next instance to picking your nose, you never really know what to expect in these games as Nintendo usually feels pretty safe and sterile in its approach to games at this point in time.
I find it hard to hate on this formula as it never overstays its welcome and the gradual pace of unlocking new minigames seems to give you something to do afterwards other than beating your best score, but I'd be remiss to say I do miss the eventual addition of capsules that Twisted! brought. It's extremely hard to forget the charm of this game which makes it so much more than just a minigame collection.
Wario always struck me as one of Nintendo's bigger than life characters whenever he appeared. From his first appearance in 6 Golden Coins which I liked as a kid, to his platforming adventures and eventually into a series of miniature games that bring the absurdist nature of Nintendo and the character in general. Surprisingly enough, this isn't my first experience with WarioWare as I've gotten Twisted! at a used state in Funcoland during the early 2000s. There's isn't too much to WarioWare but it's one of Nintendo's most interesting concepts of a game at the time.
Not much of a story if anything here with Wario wanting to make a video game in yet another scheme to make money, fitting for the character. Wario isn't alone in this endeavor however as he brings the help of his friends to create minigames for him ranging from a pair of ninjas, a scientist to one groovy man named Jimmy. Each character is charming and gets a little bit of time to show what they're all about and the genre of games they bring are different from games that are based on different genres like Sports or Science Fiction. My favorite one has to be 9-Volt with his penchant for bringing classic Nintendo games in a much smaller and faster format.
The main appeal of the WarioWare series is the minigames and later on how each game utilizes the hardware specific features of the console it's on. Being the first iteration, your main controls are just the directional pad and the A button. The variety of minigames range from those that utilize quick reaction time, accurate button presses to challenging your intelligence on the fly. The games themselves aren't just restricted to their own individual playlists but also can be mish-mashed in remix modes that bring it all together so you really don't know what to expect which I think is the best part of WarioWare. Bringing into the end these boss stages that tend to be longer and more elaborate affairs until you realize these are only for 30 seconds to one minute how fast you've really been going. From one game of skateboarding and jumping and the next instance to picking your nose, you never really know what to expect in these games as Nintendo usually feels pretty safe and sterile in its approach to games at this point in time.
I find it hard to hate on this formula as it never overstays its welcome and the gradual pace of unlocking new minigames seems to give you something to do afterwards other than beating your best score, but I'd be remiss to say I do miss the eventual addition of capsules that Twisted! brought. It's extremely hard to forget the charm of this game which makes it so much more than just a minigame collection.
smokin that shit that made wario ware
I've always been a big fan of the Wario Land series from afar, peaking with one of the most fascinating 2D platformers ever made, Wario Land 4. Seeing Wario take on his own unique identity from Mario was always so fascinating to me. Rather than just having another run and jump man, Wario has always felt like you could do anything with him that isn't that and it would make sense, no matter how absurd.
WarioWare, Inc. is just that; expanding on what the identity of Wario games are and even establishing an entirely distinct cast from the Mushroom Kingdom crew that we're used to today. And rather than being a platformer this time around, we get to play a large array of microgames that Wario has cooked up in another attempt to get filthy rich, poking fun at the hype drummed up for video games at the time.
Now nothing about these microgames really stands out on their own. Individually, they're very simplistic and have easy clear conditions. The greatness of this game comes from the format of each stage, always introducing several new microgames that are all thrown at you to complete in quick succession. Your ability process a quick verb prompt and then respond to a brand new screen with a microgame is what's really tested here; awareness and reaction time is key. In a short amount of time, you'll see so many varying microgames, all with their own absurdist visual styles, which then caps out every stage with a slightly longer boss stage. Ultimately, this creates a game that is truly greater than the sum of it's parts.
I should also mention that I love the extended cast that they've created here. Each one has their own unique personality that, while Wario isn't really around them, you can see how each of them can inhabit a world with a money hungry lunatic like Wario. Whether it be Mona outrunning the police to get to her job at the gelato shop, Kat and Ana saving you, the player (who is a shogun), from a malicious yokai, or Dr. Crygor trying not to shit his pants, I loved all these scenarios and how they fleshed out this new cast, and I look forward to seeing the extended cast in later entries.
I also want to give a big shout out to the composer, Ryoji Yoshitomi. His style is immediately identifiable if you're familiar with the soundtrack of Wario Land 4, using a mix of good and varied vocal samples and audio warbles that gave Wario Land 4 such a strong audio identity and taking full advantage of the Game Boy Advance. There's so much that goes into the soundtracks for both of these games that a person like me can really dig into, but I'll keep it brief here.
I just freaking loved this game. Once I picked it up, I barely wanted to put it down. And the modes you get to play later that let you test the boss stages at their hardest difficulty or just seeing how far you can get in an endless series of microgames is a treat. I'm glad they kept this series for as long as they did, and it looks like there's still some love for it at Nintendo at the time that I'm writing this. I hope to play the later games some time in the future and hope they can deliver a similar feeling I got from this one. Highly recommended!
WarioWare, Inc. is just that; expanding on what the identity of Wario games are and even establishing an entirely distinct cast from the Mushroom Kingdom crew that we're used to today. And rather than being a platformer this time around, we get to play a large array of microgames that Wario has cooked up in another attempt to get filthy rich, poking fun at the hype drummed up for video games at the time.
Now nothing about these microgames really stands out on their own. Individually, they're very simplistic and have easy clear conditions. The greatness of this game comes from the format of each stage, always introducing several new microgames that are all thrown at you to complete in quick succession. Your ability process a quick verb prompt and then respond to a brand new screen with a microgame is what's really tested here; awareness and reaction time is key. In a short amount of time, you'll see so many varying microgames, all with their own absurdist visual styles, which then caps out every stage with a slightly longer boss stage. Ultimately, this creates a game that is truly greater than the sum of it's parts.
I should also mention that I love the extended cast that they've created here. Each one has their own unique personality that, while Wario isn't really around them, you can see how each of them can inhabit a world with a money hungry lunatic like Wario. Whether it be Mona outrunning the police to get to her job at the gelato shop, Kat and Ana saving you, the player (who is a shogun), from a malicious yokai, or Dr. Crygor trying not to shit his pants, I loved all these scenarios and how they fleshed out this new cast, and I look forward to seeing the extended cast in later entries.
I also want to give a big shout out to the composer, Ryoji Yoshitomi. His style is immediately identifiable if you're familiar with the soundtrack of Wario Land 4, using a mix of good and varied vocal samples and audio warbles that gave Wario Land 4 such a strong audio identity and taking full advantage of the Game Boy Advance. There's so much that goes into the soundtracks for both of these games that a person like me can really dig into, but I'll keep it brief here.
I just freaking loved this game. Once I picked it up, I barely wanted to put it down. And the modes you get to play later that let you test the boss stages at their hardest difficulty or just seeing how far you can get in an endless series of microgames is a treat. I'm glad they kept this series for as long as they did, and it looks like there's still some love for it at Nintendo at the time that I'm writing this. I hope to play the later games some time in the future and hope they can deliver a similar feeling I got from this one. Highly recommended!
Can a game be carried by piles of frantic creativity bound together only by the language of games that we've all internalized? After throwing away all context and tutorialization, every bit of the growing complexity that the medium has embraced over the years, do games...work? Can you figure out what to do? Are they fun? Can they still be expressive and beautiful? Still challenging? Can they still feel good in your hands? Or really, can they be good?
Apparently so.
Apparently so.
(𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗧 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗥𝗢 𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗦 𝗝𝗢𝗞𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘)
Really clever little game! It's definitely meant to be replayed in short bursts and serves functionally the same purpose as something like Tetris; bite-sized gameplay to pick-up and play. And in that respect, it nails it!
First impression through the story mode has just been, this is fun! I really love how they've given Wario and his weird friends a ton of character and charm here. Some of these mini-games feel a bit tame in comparison to what I've seen from other games within the series, but I hear the other games only increase in quality!
First impression through the story mode has just been, this is fun! I really love how they've given Wario and his weird friends a ton of character and charm here. Some of these mini-games feel a bit tame in comparison to what I've seen from other games within the series, but I hear the other games only increase in quality!
they weren't lying, the microgames are mega
Trivia Time!
WarioWare is actually canon within the Zelda timeline! After using the Sheikah Slate to activate the Divine Beasts before the Great Calamity, Princess Zelda became increasingly enamored with the device. As you may know, King Rhoam eventually banned the Princess from continuing her research of ancient technologies, commanding her to focus instead on awakening her sealing power in preparation for the conflict with Calamity Ganon. But what you may not know is that the final straw for Rhoam was when Zelda came to him and showed him something she had been working on.
On the Sheikah Slate, Zelda had discovered how to program "microgames", and created cartoonish characters based on people she knew. Dr. Crygor was based on Robbie, Purah became Penny, and the King himself (due to his gruff demeanor) was reimagined as Dribble. While upset that his daughter had drawn him as an anthropomorphic dog, Rhoam was especially incensed by the idea that his daughter was becoming a "degenerate gamer", and, between dry heaves, he immediately forbade her from using ancient tech.
Stay tuned for more Trivia Time segments in the near future!
WarioWare is actually canon within the Zelda timeline! After using the Sheikah Slate to activate the Divine Beasts before the Great Calamity, Princess Zelda became increasingly enamored with the device. As you may know, King Rhoam eventually banned the Princess from continuing her research of ancient technologies, commanding her to focus instead on awakening her sealing power in preparation for the conflict with Calamity Ganon. But what you may not know is that the final straw for Rhoam was when Zelda came to him and showed him something she had been working on.
On the Sheikah Slate, Zelda had discovered how to program "microgames", and created cartoonish characters based on people she knew. Dr. Crygor was based on Robbie, Purah became Penny, and the King himself (due to his gruff demeanor) was reimagined as Dribble. While upset that his daughter had drawn him as an anthropomorphic dog, Rhoam was especially incensed by the idea that his daughter was becoming a "degenerate gamer", and, between dry heaves, he immediately forbade her from using ancient tech.
Stay tuned for more Trivia Time segments in the near future!
Mario do METAVERSO?
Este foi um dos jogos que mais me surpreendi positivamente. As fases deste jogo são SUPER CURTAS, Elas têm apenas 5 segundos de duração cada (exceto os chefes, que são minigames maiores de fato). Cada microjogo que se passa em um mundo aumenta a velocidade do jogo.
A jogabilidade é simples e intuitiva. Antes de cada microgame, o jogador recebe instruções rápidas, como "Enter!", "Avoid", etc (Por exemplo, no minigame "Enter!", você deve conduzir Link para dentro de uma caverna. No minigame "Eat!", o jogador deve comer uma maçã, banana ou sanduíche).
As referências a outros jogos da própria Nintendo abrilhantam o game. Encontramos refs de The Legend of Zelda, Wild Gunman, Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Urban Champion, Metroid, Sheriff, Balloon Fight, Mario Paint, F-Zero, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros...MUITO GENIAL O METAVERSO ANTES DO METAVERSO (A fase em que o tema são os jogos da própria Nintendo é incrível).
Pra terminar o jogo ainda conta com microjogos extras que podem ser jogados em multiplayer (Porém joguei no emulador não faço ideia de como era o multiplayer no GBA...)
PRÓS:
- Muito diferente e divertido.
CONTRAS:
- Alguns joguinhos só são superados na tentativa e erro.
Este foi um dos jogos que mais me surpreendi positivamente. As fases deste jogo são SUPER CURTAS, Elas têm apenas 5 segundos de duração cada (exceto os chefes, que são minigames maiores de fato). Cada microjogo que se passa em um mundo aumenta a velocidade do jogo.
A jogabilidade é simples e intuitiva. Antes de cada microgame, o jogador recebe instruções rápidas, como "Enter!", "Avoid", etc (Por exemplo, no minigame "Enter!", você deve conduzir Link para dentro de uma caverna. No minigame "Eat!", o jogador deve comer uma maçã, banana ou sanduíche).
As referências a outros jogos da própria Nintendo abrilhantam o game. Encontramos refs de The Legend of Zelda, Wild Gunman, Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Urban Champion, Metroid, Sheriff, Balloon Fight, Mario Paint, F-Zero, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros...MUITO GENIAL O METAVERSO ANTES DO METAVERSO (A fase em que o tema são os jogos da própria Nintendo é incrível).
Pra terminar o jogo ainda conta com microjogos extras que podem ser jogados em multiplayer (Porém joguei no emulador não faço ideia de como era o multiplayer no GBA...)
PRÓS:
- Muito diferente e divertido.
CONTRAS:
- Alguns joguinhos só são superados na tentativa e erro.
That moment you realize you've been playing this game for the last three years during bathroom/lunch breaks at work.
Pro gamer challenge: Play this on phone one-handed with the emulator on fast forward. Still trying to beat the score for the fucking [stick game](https://www.mariowiki.com/Saving_Face_(WarioWare,_Inc.:_Mega_Microgame$!)) in the intro set, shit's fucking impossible.
Pro gamer challenge: Play this on phone one-handed with the emulator on fast forward. Still trying to beat the score for the fucking [stick game](https://www.mariowiki.com/Saving_Face_(WarioWare,_Inc.:_Mega_Microgame$!)) in the intro set, shit's fucking impossible.
Imagine someone said "Hey asshole!" and then whipped a dodgeball at you before you turned around and on the ball was a piece of paper that said "Catch with feet". That's WarioWare
Suggested by @DeemonAndGames for this list.
Wario Land 4 is one of my favorite games of all time, and the overall Wario Land series is great for what is basically a Mario spin-off. It uses an exaggeration of Mario, an icon of gaming, as a vessel for a subversion and exaggeration of tropes of 2D Platformers and games in general. What’s so interesting about WarioWare is how despite its similarities, it’s an extremely different game. WarioWare is more overtly about games, but I don’t think this means it’s entirely without subtext. A very surface-level look of this game would say that it’s composed of titular microgames that, for the most part, are completely different from each other and very simple. I complain a lot about unnatural variety and minigames, so I should hate this game.
However, there’s a little more to the story, and I mean that literally. Microgames are presented as solutions to the current character’s problem in every stage, but... why is this? Why does picking your nose help Mona escape from the cops? Yes, many games have stories that are clearly excuses for gameplay to happen, but most try to provide some kind of context or reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. When I play Donkey Kong Country, I know that I’m going through these levels because the banana thief K. Rool is at the end of my journey, I know the bananas along the way were likely dropped by him, and I know the enemies are his subordinates. And while I do like many of the characters in the game, the story is basically just there to provide that context and sense of cohesion.
WarioWare is a game without context or cohesion, and this is actually its greatest strength. The most context for microgames is a single descriptive word of your goal, and the only cohesion is some kind of basic theme of the microgames like “sci-fi” or “nature”. Even artstyles change between games, as one may go for realism while another is retro-game styled, with everything in between. All this leaves is extremely short and simple games with extraneous details stripped out. You need to figure out your goal and execute it all within a few seconds. It’s a novel idea, but the way WarioWare executes the fine details is what elevates it to greatness. As a set of Microgames goes on, the pace increases and twists are thrown into microgames which you previously played, and there are different variants of these microgames, meaning that even when you become more familiar with one microgame it can still surprise you. It also helps that while different in most ways, many microgames have some level of consistency for the less forgiving aspects of a microgame, and the more unique games are often focused on that uniqueness. At the end of a stage, you have a ‘boss’, which is a little more complicated than other microgames, and these are still simple but have a little more to them. One’s a little shmup, one’s basically Punch-Out!!, and they feel fitting to top off the smaller challenges. It helps that even after these bosses are defeated, you can return to a stage and enter an endless mode where you can try to top your high score, leading to tons of replay value. It’s all an unexpectedly exhilarating playing experience.
Honestly, my main issues stem from the fact that while microgames are mostly consistently great, there’s a few exceptions. Some don’t feel doable first time around, whether it be for an inaccurate opening word or aspect of the game that isn’t readily apparent. Some detail of controls may not be clear until you try the microgame once, which makes some harder than others when playing for the first time. Also, a lot of these microgames are just some kind of timed button press, which is slightly disappointing. Really though, this is still a great game. Through its sheer lack of consistency and theming, the game feels ironically unique and iconic. I’m definitely going to try more of these games, but I’m not sure if they’ll really hit the same way this one did. If there’s one thing that this game taught me, the feeling of trying and solving something for the first time is core to games. Replicating that feeling in a sequel is a tall order, but if there’s any gaming icon I’d expect to pull it off, it would be Wario.
Wario Land 4 is one of my favorite games of all time, and the overall Wario Land series is great for what is basically a Mario spin-off. It uses an exaggeration of Mario, an icon of gaming, as a vessel for a subversion and exaggeration of tropes of 2D Platformers and games in general. What’s so interesting about WarioWare is how despite its similarities, it’s an extremely different game. WarioWare is more overtly about games, but I don’t think this means it’s entirely without subtext. A very surface-level look of this game would say that it’s composed of titular microgames that, for the most part, are completely different from each other and very simple. I complain a lot about unnatural variety and minigames, so I should hate this game.
However, there’s a little more to the story, and I mean that literally. Microgames are presented as solutions to the current character’s problem in every stage, but... why is this? Why does picking your nose help Mona escape from the cops? Yes, many games have stories that are clearly excuses for gameplay to happen, but most try to provide some kind of context or reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. When I play Donkey Kong Country, I know that I’m going through these levels because the banana thief K. Rool is at the end of my journey, I know the bananas along the way were likely dropped by him, and I know the enemies are his subordinates. And while I do like many of the characters in the game, the story is basically just there to provide that context and sense of cohesion.
WarioWare is a game without context or cohesion, and this is actually its greatest strength. The most context for microgames is a single descriptive word of your goal, and the only cohesion is some kind of basic theme of the microgames like “sci-fi” or “nature”. Even artstyles change between games, as one may go for realism while another is retro-game styled, with everything in between. All this leaves is extremely short and simple games with extraneous details stripped out. You need to figure out your goal and execute it all within a few seconds. It’s a novel idea, but the way WarioWare executes the fine details is what elevates it to greatness. As a set of Microgames goes on, the pace increases and twists are thrown into microgames which you previously played, and there are different variants of these microgames, meaning that even when you become more familiar with one microgame it can still surprise you. It also helps that while different in most ways, many microgames have some level of consistency for the less forgiving aspects of a microgame, and the more unique games are often focused on that uniqueness. At the end of a stage, you have a ‘boss’, which is a little more complicated than other microgames, and these are still simple but have a little more to them. One’s a little shmup, one’s basically Punch-Out!!, and they feel fitting to top off the smaller challenges. It helps that even after these bosses are defeated, you can return to a stage and enter an endless mode where you can try to top your high score, leading to tons of replay value. It’s all an unexpectedly exhilarating playing experience.
Honestly, my main issues stem from the fact that while microgames are mostly consistently great, there’s a few exceptions. Some don’t feel doable first time around, whether it be for an inaccurate opening word or aspect of the game that isn’t readily apparent. Some detail of controls may not be clear until you try the microgame once, which makes some harder than others when playing for the first time. Also, a lot of these microgames are just some kind of timed button press, which is slightly disappointing. Really though, this is still a great game. Through its sheer lack of consistency and theming, the game feels ironically unique and iconic. I’m definitely going to try more of these games, but I’m not sure if they’ll really hit the same way this one did. If there’s one thing that this game taught me, the feeling of trying and solving something for the first time is core to games. Replicating that feeling in a sequel is a tall order, but if there’s any gaming icon I’d expect to pull it off, it would be Wario.
I liked the mini-game where you had to get a visa to travel to any foreign country of your choosing. But then Wario steals all of your identification. What a sneaky little guy.
Just the perfect combination of strange yet accessible. Some of the microgames were a bit tough for me to control (such as the paper airplane one) but otherwise, it's fairly satisfying though very, very short.
A truly incredible feat of game design was performed here in order to make an idea like this work as well as it did, and I'm all for it. The concept of microgames is just really interesting in general and falls very closely in line with my philosophy of this stuff, the idea that not a lot is really needed to be a truly enjoyable experience, it's all about how well-tuned those few elements are and how they work together, after all, this game feels like a constant dopamine rush when half the time you're just timing a single button press. I feel like it's a combination of the visual variety on display, the comedic, offbeat writing, and the incredibly satisfying feedback that is constantly given that end up doing this. It's really interesting playing the game and having a new artstyle flash by your face every 5 seconds or so, since the vast majority of these games are so stylistically distinct, with one moment being Atari graphics and animations and then a mere moment later you could be looking at a pixelated anime scene, it's crazy. It also works in terms of having a certain level of cohesion to it despite all this, though the exact reason why is something that alludes me, which ends up making things feel not only a constantly creative visual marvel, but never feels like purely random nonsense is being thrown at your face either.
Of course this wouldn't work if not for the incredible attention to detail with almost every microgame here to make them as intuitive as possible. I'd argue that there are very few games which the player would not understand what to do on their first pass as long as the speed is on one of the lower settings, which is simply genius, the way that you see a screen with 2 dots, see the word "CONNECT!" appear on screen, and immediately can figure out how to draw between these 2 dots being just one of the many examples. This also makes earlier phases of the game totally exhilarating as the player gets put in a near constant state of discovery and quick thinking in order to make it through, each new challenge almost acting as a bit of a puzzle before the mechanical test even comes into play. While I'll admit that a few of these definitely feel like they're almost attempting to misdirect the player, which can be frustrating when put against so many clever and elegant ideas, but the vast majority of these work perfectly so I can excuse some missteps.
I also appreciate the way this further expands upon Wario's character, now not only having him being an immortal, repulsive man who's obsessed with garlic and money, but now also a game dev who wants to get rich off it, so he pumps out a bunch of 5 second games and just strings them together. Charm like this is why I really do love Nintendo at points, they didn't have to give proper justification for why the player is being thrown into hundreds of microgames, but they did anyway, and did it in a charming and frankly hilarious way. The rest of the cast is also one of the most charming and diverse of any Nintendo game, which continues the trend of Wario properties just going all out with its more surreal elements. You've got a kid who's a DJ and an obsessive gamer, you've got an epic disco guy, you've got a duo of taxi drivers that are also dogs, you've even got an alien and a cyborg scientist, there's just so much personality injected into all of it and I love the way it just adds further flavour to the game.
Overall, on the most basic of levels, Warioware is a game that makes you time a button press or move a tiny bit every 5 seconds and things keep getting faster, but it's everything surrounding these mundane, disconnected actions that end up contributing to something far greater. Every single element of this game further contributes to making those button presses feel as satisfying and fun as humanly possible, and this is why the game works and why this is a particularly impressive game to me. It knows that you don't need an excessive scope to work, it knows that it doesn't even need to take you on a huge journey, it knows that with the right pieces put together, "DODGE!!!!" becomes just as much fun as a huge RPG experience, and I respect that a lot, especially when it actually capitalises on this idea and executes it remarkably, not just leaving it as something merely with potential.
Of course this wouldn't work if not for the incredible attention to detail with almost every microgame here to make them as intuitive as possible. I'd argue that there are very few games which the player would not understand what to do on their first pass as long as the speed is on one of the lower settings, which is simply genius, the way that you see a screen with 2 dots, see the word "CONNECT!" appear on screen, and immediately can figure out how to draw between these 2 dots being just one of the many examples. This also makes earlier phases of the game totally exhilarating as the player gets put in a near constant state of discovery and quick thinking in order to make it through, each new challenge almost acting as a bit of a puzzle before the mechanical test even comes into play. While I'll admit that a few of these definitely feel like they're almost attempting to misdirect the player, which can be frustrating when put against so many clever and elegant ideas, but the vast majority of these work perfectly so I can excuse some missteps.
I also appreciate the way this further expands upon Wario's character, now not only having him being an immortal, repulsive man who's obsessed with garlic and money, but now also a game dev who wants to get rich off it, so he pumps out a bunch of 5 second games and just strings them together. Charm like this is why I really do love Nintendo at points, they didn't have to give proper justification for why the player is being thrown into hundreds of microgames, but they did anyway, and did it in a charming and frankly hilarious way. The rest of the cast is also one of the most charming and diverse of any Nintendo game, which continues the trend of Wario properties just going all out with its more surreal elements. You've got a kid who's a DJ and an obsessive gamer, you've got an epic disco guy, you've got a duo of taxi drivers that are also dogs, you've even got an alien and a cyborg scientist, there's just so much personality injected into all of it and I love the way it just adds further flavour to the game.
Overall, on the most basic of levels, Warioware is a game that makes you time a button press or move a tiny bit every 5 seconds and things keep getting faster, but it's everything surrounding these mundane, disconnected actions that end up contributing to something far greater. Every single element of this game further contributes to making those button presses feel as satisfying and fun as humanly possible, and this is why the game works and why this is a particularly impressive game to me. It knows that you don't need an excessive scope to work, it knows that it doesn't even need to take you on a huge journey, it knows that with the right pieces put together, "DODGE!!!!" becomes just as much fun as a huge RPG experience, and I respect that a lot, especially when it actually capitalises on this idea and executes it remarkably, not just leaving it as something merely with potential.
Raw af Nintendo was really on the pulse of something here. During the transition from channel surfing to idle internet browsing Wario, in his ever increasing greed, decides to make money by making an endless stream of trashy microgames as a proto steam greenlight asset flip company. This backdrop serves as an entire mechanical deconstruction of video games. Every microgame has a single phrase introduction, a win state, a fail state, and only the d-pad and A button. The game runs at a breakneck pace, even more so then it's sequels. As games get ever bigger and more complex Warioware stands and laughs in their face. What is the point a 100 hour hyper detailed open world if all it takes for quick dopamine hit is DODGE!
Com certeza um jogo com a comédia mais aleatória possível que já joguei, inexplicável como tirou umas risadas minhas e as cenas são muito bem feitas, e o jogo em si tem minigames bem desafiadores e divertidos. Um ótimo jogo
minha namorada tinha insistido pra eu dar uma experimentada nesse jogo, e vc pode ter certeza q eu n imaginava q ele ia me grudar desse jeito.
acho q hj em dia existe uma certa falta de videogames q sejam 'jogos' propriamente ditos, pequenas brincadeiras com regras simples e fáceis de pegar. acho legal como aqui esse conceito é levado ao mínimo possível, e é meio q impressionante como todo 'micro jogo' consegue ser engajante de uma forma ou de outra.
mas acho q o q me vendeu esse jogo mesmo foi a apresentação. esse talvez seja um dos jogos mais bonitos do gameboy advance, com uma variedade estética bem única e personagens coloridos e muito bem animados. é um jogo meio q muito legal de se olhar. poderia olhar pra esse jogo por horas. bem anos 2000, mas do melhor jeito possível.
destaque tbm vai pra música. tem música aqui q eu nunca imaginaria saindo de um gameboy advance. é simplesmente muito boa. como todo o resto desse videogame. esse videogame é muito bom?
meio q n esperava, mas realmente saí desse aqui amando WarioWare.
acho q hj em dia existe uma certa falta de videogames q sejam 'jogos' propriamente ditos, pequenas brincadeiras com regras simples e fáceis de pegar. acho legal como aqui esse conceito é levado ao mínimo possível, e é meio q impressionante como todo 'micro jogo' consegue ser engajante de uma forma ou de outra.
mas acho q o q me vendeu esse jogo mesmo foi a apresentação. esse talvez seja um dos jogos mais bonitos do gameboy advance, com uma variedade estética bem única e personagens coloridos e muito bem animados. é um jogo meio q muito legal de se olhar. poderia olhar pra esse jogo por horas. bem anos 2000, mas do melhor jeito possível.
destaque tbm vai pra música. tem música aqui q eu nunca imaginaria saindo de um gameboy advance. é simplesmente muito boa. como todo o resto desse videogame. esse videogame é muito bom?
meio q n esperava, mas realmente saí desse aqui amando WarioWare.
When they brought GBA stuff to the Switch I decided to go into this for a nostalgia trip, and guess what: it’s good shit still! Some of the micro games can still be a little hard for me to figure out, but I love the vibes of this game a whole lot. I think part of the fun is seeing what goofy nonsense the game will throw at you next, and while I remember a lot of the microgames, some of them really took me by surprise. The music and the little storylines are also a delight, and I appreciated the inclusion of some classic minigames like the Mario Paint fly swatting minigame.
Speaking of side content, I filled out all the grids and was kind of surprised that specifically didn’t unlock anything, but that’s alright, I think, I still had fun. I’m sure there’s some further level of mastery I can aim for but eh, maybe some other time.
I suppose there’s something to be said about this kind of changing the trajectory of Wario’s game series, but i’ll admit to being a heathen and liking the Wariowares more than the platformers… I wouldn’t be averse to seeing the Warioware cast in a different kind of game or seeing the Wario Land characters folded into the Warioware games, though. That might be kinda fun! I wonder if they’ll bring Twisted! to GBA online? The cutscene art in this one seemed a little janky so I’d lok. to revisit that and see how it evolves, although that could just be that it looks weird at a higher resolution than the GBA…
Speaking of side content, I filled out all the grids and was kind of surprised that specifically didn’t unlock anything, but that’s alright, I think, I still had fun. I’m sure there’s some further level of mastery I can aim for but eh, maybe some other time.
I suppose there’s something to be said about this kind of changing the trajectory of Wario’s game series, but i’ll admit to being a heathen and liking the Wariowares more than the platformers… I wouldn’t be averse to seeing the Warioware cast in a different kind of game or seeing the Wario Land characters folded into the Warioware games, though. That might be kinda fun! I wonder if they’ll bring Twisted! to GBA online? The cutscene art in this one seemed a little janky so I’d lok. to revisit that and see how it evolves, although that could just be that it looks weird at a higher resolution than the GBA…
It may not be the best game ever, but, it is the silliest which at the end of the day is more important
Its nice seeing Nintendo getting weird and experimental. I guess with a dedicated handheld they could take the risks with reduced teams and budgets.
Great game, very funny, fun and great to play in short sessions.
Great game, very funny, fun and great to play in short sessions.
A thunderbolt of game design brilliance. A superior idea delivered with such charm and panache that it couldn't help but catch on. Held back only by the weaknesses of its platform and a couple minor rough edges.