"THIS is what handheld games should aspire to be instead of watered-down console games"

I've played a large share of Game Boy games. There are quite a few stinkers, as well as games that perform an exercise in futility to imitate big console games. The Game Boy Advance's current best games fall into one of two categories: SNES port (the Mario Advances, Zelda), or continuation of a series established on a console (the Castlevanias, Metroid). That's when it feels great to have a game that, not only is a brand new series (with an established character, but oh well), but is a style of game that is perfect for handhelds (and just could not work well on consoles).
Wario Ware is about minigames. Minigames that last about 6 seconds each. The object is to play through as many as possible, one right after another. The speed builds up and the games get harder as you progress. Seems somewhat shallow, right? If this was a console game, it would only be a step above mediocre, but with a handheld shallowness doesn't matter. The game is MADE for pick up and play. This isn't like, say, the Castlevanias, where the best way to play them is with long sittings of playtime. This game is meant to be played for about 5 mins every so often as a quick diversion, which is the point of Game Boy systems: fun little diversions while you're on a plane or bus and can't play one of the home consoles.

Graphics: 7.0
The game has a strange style to it, which shows in the graphics. It's a combination of bright, colorful graphics with digitalized photos, and the result looks VERY Japanese. Even though they're pretty strange, the graphics are still nice, but nothing too flashy here.

Sound: 8.5
The game has some nice, well-executed tunes. From the heavy beats of the Cell Phone stages to the accurate 5-second arrangements of old NES tunes, the music does its job fairly well. Sound effects are also acceptable in their situations, but nothing really noteworthy except the strange digitalized speech of Japanese people trying to speak English. You'll hear a lot of one- and two-word sentences like ''OK!'' and ''Hello!''

Gameplay: 10.0
The game is fun, period. It plays like a dream, too, especially impressive as there are so many styles of games here. All you use to control are the directional pad and the A button. The challenge of the games comes from figuring out what to do for each game, then being able to execute it. Yes, it's trial-and-error, but this time it's actually a good thing believe it or not. Never frustrating, failing to figure out what to do for a game only pushes you harder to get high scores. Nothing else to say here, really, except that gameplay doesn't get much better.

Replay value: 10.0
Over 200 minigames. Two player, single GBA games. A fairly complete Dr. Wario game to unlock. And, from what I've heard, minigames that can be opened up through connecting to Wario World. You'll keep this near your GBA for a looooong time.

Pros:
+ It's fun
+ It's what handheld games should be

Cons:
- Very strange and Japanese in nature
- Presentation is nothing special

Overall (not an average): 10.0
It's games like this that let me know why I got a Game Boy Advance. Don't pass up this game just because it seems so weird. Get. It. Now.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/03, Updated 05/26/03