WarioWare is a fast paced game all about “microgames”, in which you swiftly and correctly complete mini game after mini game. The further you go, the faster it gets until you lose all four of your lives. The game ends after that. Funnily enough, Nintendo decided to make a Story Mode for this game with fully animated and voice acted cutscenes.
The Story
When you start the game, a cutscene will take place explaining how Wario managed to snatch a golden object from a mysterious village known as Luxeville. Later, when Wario has safely stashed the golden object away in his house, he goes to eat some pizza to celebrate his successful heist, but then realizes he’s flat broke. To make some quick and easy dough, he tricks his friends in Diamond City to make some games for him to use in a tournament he created. He then lets everyone in Diamond City know about the tournament and that “some jerk will walk outta here a million coins richer”. The town buzzes with excitement, and that’s when you decide to enter.
Gameplay
The game has four modes:
- Story Mode
- Challenge Mode
- Index
- Arcade
Story Mode is generally a fun time, but is quite easy to beat. For the average gamer, it’ll probably take around two or three hours. As for controls, they’re basically what you’d expect, apart from a few minor exceptions. Most microgames will only require mashing the D-Pad and ABXY buttons, or tilting your system. There are certain microgames that will have you blowing into the mic or using your stylus to tap your screen.
Challenge Mode is another fun mode where you play the same microgames you’ve always played, but with twists. The microgames are quite fun, and have almost infinite amounts of replay ability, considering that it shuffles the order of them every time you play.
The Index is where you’ll find extra challenges for you to complete. When you complete a challenge, you’ll receive Coins as a reward, which can be used to either retry a failed stage in Story Mode, or for the Capsule Machine to win prizes in the Arcade.
The Arcade is where you can spend Coins to win a prize in the Capsule Machine, do your very own voice overs on cutscenes from the game, and even have Wario draw you a terrible sketch of a compatible Amiibo (It’s actually really funny to see what he comes up with).
Something to note as well is that the graphics are 2D. Even if you own a Nintendo 3DS or a New Nintendo 3DS, you can’t play this game in 3D, so bear that in mind before purchasing. The soundtrack for the game sounds very nice and plays well with the gameplay, getting faster the further you go. Everything is almost perfectly balanced, except in the short Story Mode.
Conclusion
It may not be worth your while if you’re all about lore and details although the ending is humorous. Generally, there’s a lot to do in the game after completing the story, however, the story itself is quite short and it feels like they rushed it up too quickly. Challenge Mode makes up for the lack of story entwined into the game, but still surprising that for the game’s original price tag.
Overall, the game is a joy to play for anyone who likes fast paced gameplay and a challenge.
This game gets a 7/10.
