WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

"A non-biased review for a hyped up game"

When I first heard about Wario Ware I was really unimpressed with Nintendo. I had heard about how there is over 200 five-second games, and I didn't even consider buying it. I mean come on that just screams ''Quantity over quality'' doesn’t it? Well when I seen the almost cult like following this game has, I couldn't help but pick it up. Hundreds of people can't be wrong, right? Well usually that's not true, but in this case it is with out a doubt.

Wario Ware runs on a very simple premise. You have a game pak that has an ''Amateur game developer's portfolio'' theme about it, chalk full of micro games that last 5 seconds each. The game consists of eleven ''stages'', nine of them are basically the in-game developers collection of their best work (More on the story in a bit) along with some ''remixes''. When you enter a stage, you get to watch a funny, if not odd animation before the level starts. From there you will get one random micro game out of that developer's folder. Here in lies the fun to Wario Ware.

Like I mentioned each micro game lasts 5 seconds long, and some of them are so simple it seems silly to even have them present, while others REALLY surprised me by requiring a lot of thought. Micro games basically involve performing a task, which are often a little strange using the A button and the direction pad. Games range from counting frogs to putting eye drops in a person's eye. (Not to mention the super popular nose picking game) Micro games are strange, creative and often have obscure references in them. What makes micro games so much fun is that you are thrown so many curve balls just from the sheer diversity of games. Truly Wario ware is NOT for the inflexible gamer, as your really forced to think on your feet as games come pouring in one after the other. If a player completes the micro game, they will move on to the next random one in that developer's set. The catch is that if you fail the micro game, you lose a life. Each stage lets you start out with four lives, and if you lose all of them you have to restart the stage. After so many stages you get to play the boss mini game that is longer and more complicated then the micro games. Once you beat the boss, you can move on to the next stage, or if you're playing marathon style you get an extra life for each boss stage completed.

Simple right? Well not really. There are a few factors that adds quite a bit of challenge. One being that the five-second rule applies only to the start of a stage. After so many micro games the speed increases, and some aspects of the micro games are altered to increase difficulty. This can lead to more obstacles or less space to work on depending on the game. From there the speed continues to rise, making even the simplest games become a real feat to accomplish. Also when ever you see a microgame in the ''wild'' weither you beat it or not it automatically gets put on your game grid, where you can play it as many times as you want to try to achieve high score. A lot of cool things get unlocked when you not only see all games, but also get high scores on the grid.

Right about now, your probably wondering why some one would choose this over some extensive RPG or any FULL game for that matter. I wondered the same thing, until I started playing. Some how, Wario Ware manages to be the most addictive game I've experienced in all of my gaming years. It's fast paced, and demands a unique type of thinking that in a VERY strange way makes this somewhat of a ''learning'' experience and is sheer fun. Any way it's hard to explain such a unique game, so I'll get to the normal part of the review.

Presentation 10/10

This is where the game really excels. Wario Ware is FULL of Japanese humor that rarely makes it to the US. Often quirky, always-colorful Wario Ware has a PERFECT presentation for this type of game. Even the INSTRUCTION MANUAL offers 15 minutes of entertainment. Lengthy animations contribute to the over all, and its hard not to laugh at some point.

Graphics 8/10

Graphics are great, but I'd rather grade on quality over personality this time though. Animations are very well done, and Micro games have an ''amateur'' look about them that is VERY intentional, and enjoyable. Even so there is no super detailed graphics, and nothing will really impress any one, but they serve their purpose and they are fun in them self.

Music/Sound 10/10

Great music, although most of the time your not paying attention. I've actually seen people trying to burn CDs just with music from this game! A few songs even have lyrics, which are in Japanese, which suits Wario Ware just fine.

Sound effects are great, top notch for GBA. It's hard to put into words, but if you've played Wario Advanced you'd know that it has an overall unique type of music and sound effects that Nintendo managed to retain in new forms for this game.

Game play 10/10

Super simplicity. Press A at the right time, us the direction keys and often both in collation. Games shuffle, and offer different tasks to accomplish. Some seriously require complex and FAST thinking, especially the Alien character's Micro games. Also I think I should mention a few games so you can get an idea what they're like. In one you're thrown into the final battle of Metriod for NES, and with zero life. In another a stick is dropped from above, and you have to press A at the right time so that the hand catches it. Another your playing an RPG where you have to quickly make grammatically and logically correct choices to defeat monsters. One has you simply collect apples that a monkey drops using a basket, while another has you navigate a maze. Other's have you type a letter on a keyboard, or drop a game into a Gameboy at the right time. Some of the odder ones include blowing up mars, comparing squids and frying an egg. Those are just a few examples, with over 200 games there are a lot more where that came from.

Story 6/10

You play as a character based on the name you enter. Basically Wario is living in a town called Diamond City, that's crazy about video games. While watching TV he sees an advertisement for a game that people are just going nuts over, so he being a some what money oriented fellow decides to make a game him self. After turning his house into a programming studio Wario gets to work on making a future best seller. After a little while of programming, Wario decides it's harder then it looks, and so decides to create many micro games instead of one full one. He does that, but finds even that too difficult, so gets ahold of his developer friends to accumulate all of their work into one game. You the player get to play all of their games as a tester I guess. You also play minor roles in the game too, like at one point you’re a prince/ss in some Asian themed castle. Pretty simple story, as one would expect.

Replayablity 10/10

Wario Ware seems to have several stages for the player. The first stage is just playing through the game, where the main fun is seeing what kinds of games there are. The next stage is trying to see all of them, mastering them to get awards and getting high scores. The final stage is playing the game after a while of not having touched it, when you forget some of the games which lets you relive a little of the first stage. What's really odd is normally I am not a high score kind of person, but when it comes to Wario Ware, I am big time. All in all perfect. I can't stop playing.

Extras 10/10
There are quite a few full games that you can win from getting high scores on games, or doing various things. To those who haven't played Wario Ware, it's easy for the full games to be the deciding factor. I know I wouldn't have even bought the game if it weren't for the fact that there are a lot of cool games you can unlock. To my surprise though, I don't play them any where near as much as the random micro game function. You can unlock other functions too like ''thrill mode'' where all mini games are at max difficulty and speed and you have 1 life to complete as many as possible. This is the type of game that makes you want to get 100%.

Summery score 9/10

Okay, I gave a lot of perfect scores, and I know it doesn’t add up right but I don’t think this game earns 10. It's fun, endlessly repayable, it's a great example of foreign games that rarely make it to the states and all that stuff but I just don't see it as being perfect. Even so, it's a great game, one of the best right now for GBA and manages to create a new type of gaming that will probably be copied in the near future. I don't even have to hesitate when I say this: Buy now!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/03, Updated 07/25/03