WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

"Insanely brilliant."

That\'s how I would describe Wario Ware, a game that only Nintendo could have made. In terms of innovation, it\'s similar to Animal Crossing, as it\'s totally unlike anything else currently out. You could call it a puzzle game, but it\'s more than that. Everything about this game is unique, and a little odd; I\'ll try to explain it as best I can.

There\'s not much of a story here, but that\'s not really important. The game takes place in Diamond City, where video games are all the rage. Wario, being the greedy character we know and love, wants to get rich quick (what else is new?). So, he comes up with a brilliant idea. He decides to make video games. To do this, he gets a bunch of his friends to help him out (Wario has friends? Who knew?). Anyway, Wario and his friends make over 200 5-second games, called \'\'micro-games. Each of his friends specializes in a particular type of video game. Jimmy\'s set is made up of various sports-related games, Kat\'s games all involve nature, and so on. The last set is made by Wario himself, under the category of \'\'Anything Goes.\'\'

The main portion consists of going through each character\'s set of games, one game after the other. The games come up in a random order, so you never know what will be next. Each game is 5 seconds long, so you\'ll have to figure out how to beat it pretty fast. Every so often, the games speed up, and once you\'ve gotten past a certain number of games (15 or 25), you\'ll have to play a \'\'boss\'\' game. The first time you beat the boss for a character\'s set, you\'ll be taken back to the main screen. You can then move on to the next set or redo the set to try to get a higher score.

The other area where you\'ll be spending a lot of your time is the \'\'Grid.\'\' Here, you can play the individual games as many times as you want. This helps if you\'re stuck on a particular character\'s set, because you can practice their games individually over and over again until you\'ve perfected them. Every three points, the speed of the game will increase. This can make for some extremely fun challenges. There are some other benefits to playing all the games besides simply getting better at them. Playing every microgame will unlock the full version of Pyoro. You can also try to get medals on all of the games by beating the high scores; this will unlock Pyoro 2.

The variation in the games is extreme. Most of them require precise accuracy or timing, but a few are just button-mashers. One game might require you to hit a baseball, another might have you shaking hands with a dog, while another will have you deciding which of four similar objects is different from the others. The boss games are just as varied, from hammering a bent nail to shooting rocks with lasers. Nintendo fans and older gamers will appreciate 9-Volts\'s set of games, which is made up of 5-second versions of Nintendo classics like Zelda, Mario/Duck Hunt, and F-Zero. You\'ll only have to use the A button and the directional pad the entire time, making the controls very simple.

It\'s hard to judge the graphics of Wario Ware. They\'re not meant to be visually excellent, especially because a good amount of the games are taken from the past. NES games will have their original 8-bit graphics, SNES games will have 16-bit graphics, Virtual Boy games will have a slight reddish tint, etc. The visual styles vary greatly; this makes each and every game unique. Stick figures, cartoons, real pictures; basically everything except full 3-D.

Like everything else in Wario Ware, the music is very diverse. There is a different song for each style of microgame, and most of the songs in Wario Ware fit well with the games they go along with. The music for the classic games is a reworking of the original score. For instance, you\'ll hear the Zelda theme song during the Zelda microgame, and you\'ll hear the Mario Bros. theme during the Mario microgame.

Also included in Wario Ware are full-length unlockable games. These include Dr. Mario (called Dr. Wario), Fly Swatter (from Mario Paint), the classic Sheriff, and the aforementioned Pyoro games. There are three \'\'everlasting\'\' games you can unlock, in which you keep on going until you lose. These three games are Paper Plane, Skating Board, and Jump Rope, and all of them are good additions. As if this wasn\'t enough, there are also four different play modes: Easy (level 1 games), Hard (super-fast games), Thrilling (level 3 games), and Total Boss (only boss levels).

Needless to say, Wario Ware will keep you busy for awhile. Whether you\'re a hardcore gamer or just an average Joe, you\'re guaranteed to find something you like. While some may be turned off by the \'\'cartoony\'\' feel, there\'s really nothing bad to say about it. It\'s a great game that will keep you coming back for more, time after time, and it gets my highest praises. If you own a GBA, you owe it to yourself to go out and buy Wario Ware.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/03