WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

"It appears that I must now eat my words..."

As I write this review, I have to tear myself away from the addiction that is Wario Ware Inc. I admit it, I saw the game's concept and thought Nintendo had lost their touch. 200 games that last 5 seconds each? What's the fun in 5-second games? After buying it due to the praise given to it by Gamespot, I was very surprised.

Good ol' greedy Wario is looking for a way to make some quick cash, so right away you can tell that he and Bill Gates have a lot in common. Of course, Wario gets the same idea as Mr. Gates; enter the video game industry. Using his friends as third-party developers, he crafts a collection of 200 games that each last a few seconds. And considering how good this game is, Wario's money-making scheme has greatly paid off.

Upon reading this review so far, you probably get the idea of the game. As the game goes on, you are introduced to Wario's friends in a short cutscene. Then, you are given the games they designed and you have to play them, one after the other. As you get farther, the game speeds up, laying out the games at a faster pace. The last game is a boss game that, when beaten, clears that developer and moves you to the next one.

Yes, there really are 200 games here, and they each last roughly 5 seconds long. However, that is wherein the cleverness lies. With each game coming to you at breakneck speed, you have to figure out what to do and then do it, all in a matter of seconds. It is that kind of speed that makes Wario Ware good.

The challenge in this game is rather subtle, since some of the games are a great big ''Duh!'' waiting to happen. However, the thing about these games is that you're not told what button does what. You must figure out what to do on your own, and that makes the game fun.

With a feature like that, messing up the control would have been very easy. Thankfully, the control is perfect. All you ever use for these games are the D-pad and A button. In menus, A is confirm and B is cancel. It is that simple. Anybody, and I mean anybody, can play this game and master it in a second.

One might think that if you play long enough, you'll be able to know the order in which the games are shown to you and you will be able to react quickly to each. Nintendo thought of that and decided to make the order of games random. Every time you play, the order in which you play the games will be different.

If that wasn't enough randomness for you, you also have some control as to which game sets you play first! The first time you beat disco king Jimmy, you can choose one of three game sets. Would you rather have sci-fi action with Dribble and Spitz, strange concepts with Mona, or go retro with 9-Volt? There's also another branch later on.

As you play, you will notice that this game is VERY bizarre. Some games are actually sensical, like 9-Volt's take on classic Nintendo games such as Metroid. But whoever's giving Mona advice on game concepts should be jailed. With her, you'll pick someone's nose, fry an egg, and brush someone's not-so-pearly whites. But the absolute weirdest concept involves shoving mucus back up someone's nose. The worst part is that if you're successful, the girl with a runny nose will suddenly smile and flash her teeth. Uh, thanks, but I'm done thinking about girls for a while, no offense.

There is also strangeness in the story. With Orbulon the alien genius, you have to repair a damaged UFO by playing his games. With nature freaks Kat & Ana, clearing games will move them one step closer to rescuing...you! Weirdest of all, with Cyborg the scientist, clearing games will help relieve him of some explosive diarrhea. He and Mona should get together sometime...

Despite how gross and bizarre this game is, it is tons of fun. This is possibly the most fun game ever made, and the most replayable. Though the game is short (you could probably beat it in an hour or two), the concept is what's going to make you replay it. You can even go back and play games you've found until you've beaten them a specific number of times, to get a red flower mark for that game. Those marks help you later on.

It's hard to judge this game graphically. Each short game ranges from realistic, almost GAMECUBE-worthy graphics, to black-and-white Atari-style graphics. While it might seem to some as an excuse for getting so many games onto one pack, it is so much more than that. Each game is different graphically in order to remind the player of what the story is and that these are, in fact, individual games. Besides, what really matters is that the classic games featured look exactly like they once did.

This game also has some of the best music of any GBA game. Tracks range from remixes of Wario Land tunes, to exact ports of music for the classic games, to disco for Jimmy's stages. Best of all, when in Dribble and Spitz's taxi, the radio plays Japanese hip-hop! Sound is also excellent, and is pretty much standard beeps and blips for a GBA title, but they still sound great.

I cannot stress enough how much this game belongs in every GBA owner's collection. Despite some graphical and sound concerns, the game is so much fun that I must give it a 10. Don't let its bizarre concepts fool you, Wario Ware Inc. is an amazing game. Best of all, when Wario World for Gamecube comes out, you'll be able to connect the two games for even more microgaming fun. Oh, and this game's manual is a pretty good chuckle, too.

The Kelly Clarkson:
-good graphics
-excellent music
-highly addicting
-so much fun
-a good challenge
-you can play it as long as you want and still have as much fun
-a bad concept made good
-It demeans Microsoft! Who could ask for more?

The Kelly Osbourne:
-sound could be better
-some of the graphics (not that I'm complaining)

Final Word: This title is definitely a STRONG candidate to win ''Most Innovative'' in the NP awards this year.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/03, Updated 06/02/03