One of the strangest games I've ever seen, Wario Ware for the GBA gives a new definition to "mini-games,"
calling the ones in this game "microgames" and making them truly micro-sized. At first thought, I figured
these would be games perhaps a bit less complex than Mario Party's mini-games. No, these are very small-sized games, ones that require the use of only the A button and the Control Pad, and usually only one
or two buttons per game (with some exceptions). Imagine playing Pac-Man or Super Mario Bros. for five
seconds, and what you do in those five seconds determines whether you win or lose. That is pretty much similar to what Wario Ware's microgames are like. This game is full of microgames and larger mini-games,
but not with any central board game as in Mario Party, so I'd have to say it's in a genre of its own.
I tried this game in a K-Mart, and noticed
that it was quite a bit more addictive than Donkey Kong Country or
Crash Bash (the other two games on
that side of the aisle). In fact, to me it seemed like the perfect game
for someone like me. After all, if I have trouble adjusting a camera and
navigating through 3D levels even when I do have a map, surely this is
my cup of tea. Just hit the A button as many times as you can in five seconds.
Memorize the order of buttons, then press them in that order. Figure out
a maze. Put a Dr. Mario pill where it belongs. You do what you're supposed
to do, you move on to the next microgame. You fail, and you get a miss,
but if it's not your fourth, you still move on to the next microgame. It's
not very hard, and trying to get a set number of these with only three
misses allowed is a little challenging, but certainly not as hard as most
platform games. So, the idea appealed to me, and instead of fighting my
sister for time in the store on the GBA, I bought the game in order to
be able to play it at home.
This is when Wario Ware mania set in.
I'm not the type of person who knows when to stop, and this led to me
staying up and playing it until 4:30
AM the first night I had it (only Mario Party 2 has ever kept me up longer).
At the time, Wario Ware was looking superb, but I had a feeling that maybe
this was just because I had just gotten the game. So I've waited quite
a bit longer before reviewing the game, and this insures me of not drastically
overrating the game due to being caught up in the hype. Now, with almost
everything in Wario Ware beaten, it's time to see exactly whether all the
mania was over a real gem, or over a game that will find itself collecting
dust for a couple of years.
Like all of my Reviews, this is another one on the 0-4 star scale. This certainly is a game like no other, but this will explain whether it's really worth buying or not.
Graphics: **
There are several microgames (like Shake!
and Banana Munch) that look pretty realistic. Then, there are
those like Super Wario Bros. that look
like they're purposely made to look ugly. You've also got your games like
Chicken Pinch that have hardly any graphical effort at all. I can't say
overall whether the graphics are good or bad, so I'm giving an average
score. I do have to say they got the graphics of the old Nintendo games
right on, but how much effort does it take to get Donkey Kong's graphics
right?
Sound: ***1/2
This outrageously high rating is caused
by the Chill music in full length found in this game in the remake of Dr.
Mario titled Dr. Wario (more on that game later). These microgames each
have their own song, which may not last long, but a few are pretty good,
such as the Wario Whirled song, which reminds me of music in Wario Land
4. The old Nintendo games also have small clips of their songs in their
microgames. It is also interesting how the music speeds up as the games
speed up, which sometimes makes the music sound really strange, but it
adds to the atmosphere of Wario Ware, which makes you go faster and faster
as you go
along. In the cases of the series of
games by each programmer, you'll have one musical theme that will accompany
all the games, except in the Introduction. These themes are pretty good
as well. The half-star
that comes off is due to quite annoying
character voices (especially Mona's).
Difficulty: no stars
This game might very well be the easiest
game ever made. It is very true, there are three or four microgames I have
not yet gotten to the required mark for a ribbon, and there are four or
five microgames I
have not unlocked for the sole reason
of bad luck, because they refuse to come up whenever I take on a
programmer's set of games. Of course,
it is very possible that I will soon enough unlock those other microgames
and beat all unbeaten ones. A given microgame may be hard the first time
you play it, but after practicing it in Grid Mode, these microgames become
incredibly easy. It is extremely easy to beat the ribbon scores in Grid
Mode as with many microgames you merely need to beat it seven times before
losing four times (10 Pt. microgames). It is a little harder, though not
much harder, to beat the programmers' sets of games and their boss mini-games,
which are more like Mario Party mini-games than the microgames you will
have played to get to them. But I may not have answered exactly why it
is so easy to beat all these microgames, and I'll explain that now.
About half of all of the microgames are easy to the point that you can completely knock the socks off the required score. They include button mashers (like Metroid and the appropriately-named Button Masher), easy memory games (like Code Buster and Getcha Groove On), timing a meter (like Log Chop and Zero to Hero), and timing either an obstacle or something spinning (like City Surfer and Hammer Toss). Of course, these are just the easiest of the types of games, and the ones I have mentioned are probably the easiest in this game, though the highest score I've seen is a 314 by my sister in Spunky Monkey (just mash A as fast and as many times as you can). Sometimes, really easy games require low scores in order to get a ribbon, such as Hot Dog Hog (requires 10 Pts., but I got 43). While I'm not about to explain every single one of the 200 or so microgames, you can be sure that about 100 fall into the category of "way too easy".
There are some microgames that require
some more skill or timing, though I can't say they need a ton of it.
For example, Wario Kendo forces you
to hit the A button at the exact right second as the sword is in Wario's
grasp. It may be one of the toughest microgames, though even it's still
not that tough. Bug Birdie requires you to push a giant golf ball into
a hole, and this will take a little bit of precise movement to get the
job done, but in reality it's not like it's a very difficult thing to do.
The IQ microgames are probably the easiest
of all, with many of them being incredibly simple or easy to
remember. Although Gear Head Fred may
seem difficult at first, with all the gears, once you know that if there
are an even number of gears connected to the person, go right, and if there
are an odd number of
gears connected to the person, go left,
you will then have an easy time figuring it out, and I ended up with a
score of 38 points on it (10 Pts. needed).
Maybe the hardest games in this game
are not the microgames but the unlockable "extras" such as Dr. Wario, (Wario's)
Sheriff, and the Mario Paint Fly Swatter mini-game. These are more of the
size of Game
& Watch Gallery mini-games, bigger
than Mario Party mini-games and much bigger than the many microgames. Even
then, these "extras" are not even that hard, they just take a little more
playing in order to get a high score (these don't unlock anything new,
anyway).
So, in conclusion to this difficulty section, this game is really, really easy. However, this is where it gets interesting. Can really, really easy mean really, really good, or does it mean really, really bad?
Characters: no stars
At first, I thought this game's characters were maybe a little funny, or at least better than the average Pianta. But now, I've realized that all but Wario will most likely never appear in a Nintendo game again, save for cameos (like Wario World). The voices of these characters make me dislike them more (please, Mona, stop talking!). I'm not exactly thrilled by an alien, a strange scientist who has to use the restroom, a couple of animé-reminiscent 6-year-old girls, or a disco-obsessed loser with another annoying voice. Hopefully these characters will go away and we'll never have to see them again. Of course, I've been hoping the same about Bowser Jr. since the N64 Mario Parties.
Controls: ****
How much easier can it get? All you're
using is the A button and the Control Pad, except in the unlockable
mini-game (Wario's) Sheriff, where
you may use the R button. If anyone complains about these controls, I don't
see how he or she can play any other video game, which require much more
than these easy controls.
Games Mode: **1/2
This mode is basically a set of microgames
in which you must complete a certain number of them before
losing four times. These are usually
randomly selected from the set of microgames of the programmer you
chose, with occasionally some older
ones mixed in (usually the Introduction microgames, which are most
of the time at a harder level). I do
have to say I liked playing the classic Nintendo microgames, along with
hearing their music. One advantage to this over Grid Mode (see below) is
that since you're playing a variety of microgames, you're not ready for
the same thing to happen over and over again, which at least gives some
sort of a challenge. You may not beat the programmer's set of microgames
the first time through, as you'll first need to figure out what to do in
each game. But after you know how exactly to beat each game, it becomes
a cinch. The boss mini-games are extremely easy, and that IQ one (Dungeon
Dilemma) is a no-brainer (seriously, how hard is it to choose between Fudge
and Dodge when it comes to a move that
will avoid your opponent's attack?).
Some boss mini-games don't seem to fit into their category (what
does a baseball pitching machine have
to do with classic Nintendo games?). The positive thing to this
mode is that you're playing a variety
of microgames so you get a little more of a challenge, because you
don't know which microgame will come
up. However, since the microgames are easy to begin with, you don't get
much of a challenge anyway.
Grid Mode: **
This mode lets you play any microgame
you have played already. You play for a certain number of points, though
of course you can exceed the required number for a ribbon and go for your
own personal high score. Each game has three levels. These levels determine
the difficulty of the game, not the speed. For example, in Saving Face,
you have to press the A button in order to catch a bar with the lower hand
on the screen. The higher hand on the screen drops the bar. On the
easy level, the bar is long. On the medium level, the bar is about medium-sized,
not as long as the easy level's bar. On the hard level, the bar is extremely
short.
Once you play through all three levels,
then the microgame goes back to the easy level, medium, and hard again,
but this time the game is at a higher speed. You keep playing until you
miss four times. At that time, the number of times you played the microgame
- 1 is your score (so if you miss all four times you play the
microgame, your score is 3). You have
to get a certain score for a ribbon, in most cases 10 or 15, but
sometimes 20, 25, or 30 (except boss mini-games, in which case 5 is required
for a ribbon). This is almost too easy on some microgames. Okay, I'll rephrase
that, it IS too easy on MANY microgames. If you're like me and don't know
when to stop, or if you're like me and like to set records in every category
in a game, then you'll enjoy this mode more than it should actually be
enjoyed. It gets two stars just because I enjoy setting records and breaking
my sister's records. Otherwise, I'd give it more like one star, but I enjoyed
the mode too much.
Hard Mode: ***
I like Hard Mode, although my score in it isn't very high. This at least gives me a challenge. It gets unlocked as you play on in the game, and if you think this game is too easy (which you probably will), this is a better mode for you.
Thrilling Mode: ***
Another challenging mode, Thrilling
Mode requires you to try to set a high score without losing once. More
than that, the microgames are already
on the hardest level, they're just not as fast as in Hard Mode. This one
requires perfection, so it's something worth trying once you get sick of
everything else!
Easy Mode: **
Easy Mode isn't much different from a programmer's set of microgames, except that every single microgame is on the easiest level and the slowest speed, and there's no boss mini-games or 1-Ups. It does reward you with something for getting over 15, but since my high score is 110 (on the only time I tried it, I think), I think 15 is too low of a standard. Try 100, maybe.
Total Boss Mode: *1/2
This is simply a mixture of all the
boss mini-games, in order, with them getting harder once you've made it
the whole way through. It's not exactly the most fun mode, since the mini-games
stay easy and slow the
first time through. It's quite a boring
mode, I have to say.
Other Mini-Games (not microgames):
-Dr. Wario: ***
This is the best of the unlockable mini-games. It's basically a remake of Dr. Mario, though there are not as many viruses per level as there were in Dr. Mario. It has the Chill music, and certainly a portable version of Dr. Mario makes the value of this cartridge a little higher.
-Fly Swatter: no stars
The game was stupid the first time around (back in Mario Paint, for those of you who had it), and it's not much better now. It's funny how Nintendo Power and Wario Ware itself both praise this game, because I think it's a waste of time. The only fun fly-swatting in video games came in Donkey Kong 64, where I think you had to do that for a Golden Banana.
-Jump Forever: 1/2
This is quite annoying, not much more
fun then Mario Party's Hot Rope Jump. I didn't find this game much
fun, so it wasn't worth unlocking.
-Paper Plane: ***
Paper Plane offers more of a challenge than its microgame of the same name. You have to angle your plane perfectly to make it through some gaps. I rank it second of the unlockable mini-games behind Dr. Wario.
-(Wario's) Sheriff: *
Why the (Wario's) in front of Sheriff? Well, it has a sheriff that looks like Wario, so it's really not the exact original version of the game. This game isn't nearly as much fun as Wario Ware's description of it makes it out to be. This game uses the R button as well as the Control Pad and the A button, so don't get swamped by the many controls!
-Skating Board: **1/2
This game is quite simple in form, being a larger version of the microgame City Surfer, but it can actually be quite a challenge. It's worth trying out.
-Chiritorie (2-Player): *
While this is a 2-player version of
the microgame of the same name, with one player using L and the other
using R (as the controls are in all
2-player mini-games), it's almost easier to collect trash by holding down
your button non-stop than to actually time the arrow. That's not much strategy,
in my mind.
-Chicken Race (2-Player): **1/2
This mini-game makes you hold down your
button to pull back your foot, then let go to send your chicken
flying. Whoever lands closer to the
edge without going over wins. I always just watch my sister pull hers back,
then pull mine back just a hair more, so I know I'll go farther, and there's
very little chance of me
going off the edge and her not going
off. Or, if I know she went too far, I'll just tap my button. It's really
easy to win this way, and I haven't given away my strategy yet.
-Dong Dong (2-Player): *
This game simply requires you to press
your button when your bar is across from a stone. Once your button
is pressed, the bar will go to either
the left or right, depending on which side you're on. Then, if it's lined
up correctly, it will bump a stone. If a stone gets hit three times to
one side, it falls off and knocks out your opponent. You can also knock
a stone back to its original position if your opponent has knocked it closer
to you. This game usually requires more luck than skill, as I don't exactly
like watching the bar go up and down constantly. I usually just press the
button at random times, hoping I'll win. The fact that I sometimes do win
in this manner means that the game is not of very high quality.
-Hurdle (2-Player): *1/2
As you come up on hurdles, you hit your
button to leap over them. If you knock them down, you get slowed
down. With good timing, you should
easily be able to win this game, as it really isn't that hard. Jumping
right before you step into a mudpit usually lets you walk through it faster,
as you jump over a little bit of the mudpit.
Note: there may be other mini-games I have not unlocked yet. As for them, they'll remain a mystery to you until you unlock them.
Replayability: 1/2
This game really isn't one I'll play much over again. In fact, once you beat the records, you really won't want to beat them again. It's one of those games that once it's beat, it's pretty much over with. The only thing of real value to play over again is Dr. Wario. That's the half star. The final rating of this game is hurt drastically by this category and the way-too-easy difficulty.
Fun Factor!: ***
This game was pretty fun, I must admit. While it's not lasting fun, like the N64 Mario Parties and NCAA Football 2003, nor is it fun in accomplishing something by beating it, like the Lost Levels and Super Mario 64, it does offer some fun because of the mere strangeness of gameplay. Surprisingly, hitting just a few buttons, even just mashing the A button, can actually be fun. This Fun Factor actually probably brought up a ton of those scores above, and it does bring up the overall score of this game.
OVERALL: **
Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ needs
to lose the Mega. It's not large, even with 200+ microgames. Once you make
it past the programmers' sets of microgames, and once you earn ribbons
on microgames, the game becomes sort of dull as it's beaten and it's not
going to offer anything new to you. This game is also
way too easy, and you're not going
to get much of a challenge from the microgames themselves (maybe from
the unlockable mini-games, but they're
"extras" on the side, anyway). This game is quite fun for a while, and
I have to say that it was fun while
it lasted. It was a fun ride, but now that it's over, there's not much
else to do. If Wario Ware could only offer some more of a challenge, or
if it could add some more modes that could make this game last longer,
it would be really worth the price of admission (which was about $25 without
tax for me). If you could rent Game Boy Advance games, you'd probably get
through the meat of this game, maybe through everything in one rent. However,
I don't think renting GBA games is too common, although this game is renting
material. Is it worth buying? It depends on whether you like a short blast
of fun or a long epic battle. I don't think this game is quite worth $30,
but since I have enough for NCAA Football 2004 and F-Zero GX, I don't mind
the $26-$27 I spent. If you can get it cheap, like maybe $15-$20, it's
worth it. If not, I don't think it's quite worth $25-$30. I have to congratulate
Nintendo on trying something new, but it would have been nicer if this
brand new genre would have been more of a challenge or a bit longer.
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