WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames! Review (Game Boy Advance, 2003)

It’s hard to believe that there was a time before smart phones. Specifically when it comes to video games they changed the entire play field. Developers began pushing smaller bite sized games with a big focus on the pick up and play design. This worked out extremely well for everyone involved. With that said WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames now feels like it was ahead of its time. This title mixed bite sized and simple mini-games together in a way we had not seen before at the time. It released to huge fanfare and rave reviews. This was such a hit that we’re still seeing sequels to it. Today we’re going to take a look back on the original. The premise isn’t as novel as it once was, but the first WarioWare is still amazing.

The story here represents Nintendo at its finest. The game begins as Wario one day notices a popular video game and decides that he’s going to make his fortune by making his own. Our anti-hero isn’t planning to just make one however. Unfortunately our anti-hero is lazy. He’s also greedy. That’s why we love him. He decides to bring a few friends along to make hundreds of cheap cash ins as they form the company WarioWare Inc. This game basically has you playing through all of their creations. That’s the entire premise. It’s a unique one for sure; WarioWare sets its own trends and follows no one.

The premise is unique, but I absolutely love it. Each mini-game lasts only a few seconds, and they each have only one goal. You play through these in rapid succession and failing to complete them causes you to lose a life. Each stage run gives you only four of these. Should you fail you lose one of the life icons, and simply continue on to the next one. The great thing about this game is you’re only given a vague hint at what you need to do. These clues are generally single words like ‘catch’ or pinch. You’re thrown right into the action after this. Sometimes these are so simple that they require just one timed button press. Others are a little more technical, but it’s never anything too complicated. It sounds weird, and it is. That is the game’s strength.

Because these mini-games (or ‘micro-games’) are intended to appear made by different people there’s a stark contrast between them. Sometimes the graphics are vector based. Other times it’s real-world photographs with very limited animations. It’s fair to expect everything in between too. Half of the fun is simply figuring out what to do. You often have no indication that a mini-game is based on a timed button press. You’re doomed to fail more than a few on your first time through. Sometimes the same hint word is re-used. ‘Catch’ for example refers to several things. In one of the mini-games you have a hand on-screen, and simply catch a falling stick. In another instance you have a view of Wario seated at a bar, and press the A button to open his hand to catch a sliding beverage.

Because of the length of these mini-games I found myself completely unbothered by the focus on trial and error. Each activity is only a few seconds long. It’s not painful at all to return to them. I actually really liked coming back after figuring out exactly what the game was asking of me in each instance. Even though it can be sadistic sometimes the gameplay is downright addictive. This is true even when you have mini-games repeatedly just asking you to press the A button. There was never a moment when any of the mechanics wore out on me. The different perspectives offered in the mini-games, speeds, and even graphics keep everything surprisingly fresh from start to finish.

I’ve touched on a few of the different mini-games, but let’s get into more of them. As I’ve already said some of these require simple timed button presses. This can be anything from grabbing an object, pinching a jumping guy, stopping dogs hands on yours for a proper handshake, and more. Others require you to mash buttons. There’s one of these events in particular that makes me laugh every single time. The mini-game in question has you sniffling up snot hanging from an anime girl’s nose with a beautiful night time scene in the background. The real pictures of dogs used for the shake mini-games are absolutely hilarious. The developers knew they were making something off the wall and they went all in. I completely respect that.

As a retro gamer (primarily, at least) the mini-games I appreciated most were those based on classic Nintendo games. There are some carefully re-created scenes from the original Super Mario Bros used in some of the mini-games. You’ll also experience sequences stolen straight out of the likes of F-Zero. Others completely re-create scenes from classic video games with Wario inserted into them. It’s hilarious, and the fourth dimension breakdowns are glorious to say the least. Jumping on goombas in a stage from Super Mario Bros is amazing, especially when Wario is implanted into the scene. While WarioWare is obviously aimed primarily at younger gamers those of us that are older can appreciate all of the nods to the titles that we played growing up.

At the end of each challenger’s mini-games comes a boss encounter. These are more fleshed out experiences compared to the random events you’ve been exposed to up to this point. The boss fights last longer than a few seconds. Sometimes these are platforming events wherein you have to play through an entire stage. Other times they function more like a role playing game wherein you select commands. There are others still where you’re basically participating in a bout of classic Punch-Out. These encounters are more difficult than your typical micro-game. Sometimes they last over a minute which, in the grand scheme of WarioWare, is super long. I really enjoyed these sequences. It feels like the perfect challenge at the end of each level. Despite being a little different these still make sense thematically.

WarioWare even has some competent multiplayer games. What’s even better is the fact that these can be played on only a single GBA. Some of them involve both players pressing the opposite shoulder button to perform actions. Hurdle is a perfect example of this. The screen is split and both players make their character jump with the shoulder buttons. Ding Dong has both players using timed button presses to bring down blocks on their foes. Chicken Race meanwhile requires both players to hold down the corresponding shoulder button to determine the strength of of a kick to their skateboarder. The player who gets the most distance wins. There’s more too, and they’re all remarkably fun. Other mini-games are turn based like paper planes. It’s really cool that the developers put so much effort into single system handheld multiplayer. This is another area wherein WarioWare was a trailblazer.

It’s tough to give WarioWare a rating based on its graphics. That’s because the game goes for such an abstract style. I’ll try my best. The game goes from basic line art to real photos at the drop of a hat. The styles are heavily contrasting. I think overall it works quite well. That’s because of how off the wall everything is. Again, that’s the game’s strength. I can however say that the re-creations of classic video games always look nice. Even those that change the art and replace it with the WarioWare style. The real photos occasionally used are surprisingly high resolution considering the GBA’s screen. WarioWare is a really interesting game visually, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a stunner. The soundtrack however is really good. Each character has its own theme, and it genuinely sounds like there’s some real instrumentation used. It sounds fantastic.