And I’m back with some Wario! Missed talking about Wario… I love Wario, he’s my bro. And the best part is, I’m talking about some good shit. This is another one of those short reviews, and I don’t plan on stretching out this too much.
WarioWare is a GBA game, same as Wario Land 4. Wario has two franchises (and some random games in between like Wario Woods or Wario Blast), and this one is the most well-known and loved by all, and there’s a reason behind this. In this short article, I’m not comparing WarioWare and Wario Land, just making this clear right off the bat. The purpose of both games isn’t just different but they’re on two different extremes, not only in gameplay but in their themes, story, characters, and overall feel. Although both franchises pack their own “Wario” feeling, WarioWare brings the weirdest and most interesting part of Wario to the table, a slice of him that makes the guy one of the best protagonists Nintendo has ever created, and one of the most bizarre characters in Super Mario.
WarioWare’s idea is very complex on paper, but there’s no game this simple to play. Ware is a compilation of three second games, thrown at you in quick succession, getting even faster as you progress through the minigames. That by itself is different from absolutely any other game, as it brings inherent problems together with their solutions to the game. For instance, if the game is so short, how can you learn them all this fast? Or, how can you know what to do in each game even before you can get good at it? Wouldn’t this make the game way too hard? For that I say: WarioWare is an ingenious game. When it starts, it gives you one or two words telling you what to do, something like “Brake!” or “Brush!”, and you gotta look at the screen to decipher the puzzle by yourself.
That works well because of the human mind, which is a very underestimated component of the body. It can quickly formulate what to do with so little information, even if you’re not used to videogames in general. The reason behind it is the fact that 90% of the microgames involve everyday stuff like washing your dishes or some weird stuff like holding a glass of milk or twirling Spaghetti on a fork. Some shit you wouldn’t imagine being so fun to do in a game until they tell you to do it in five seconds one after another. And “daily life” isn’t only for humans, in fact, most of the games are interesting hypothetical situations seen from different angles. For instance, you can be a chicken with an egg on your back, living in a world where a giant slams his hammer on the ground, and you have to jump to avoid the shockwaves that’ll make you drop the egg! Sounds crazy, and it is, but when you look at the screen saying “Jump!” you know what to do. The game sells itself on the impossibility of the human being getting it right every time. Making mistakes is normal, but the importance of that type of design is that not only is it possible, but in two or three tries, you’ll eventually get it. And moving on you won’t just be seeing random, weird stuff and having to deduce what to do, but also remembering things you’ve already learned and applying it to naturally get better at the game.
WarioWare brings intense action from start to finish, forcing the player to focus, and with that focus, our mind works best to finish each game and have fun in the process. WarioWare is for everyone even though some people will spend more or less time to get good at the microgames. I have made an experience with some friends: one of them plays as much as I do, another knows games but doesn’t play that much, and the third one doesn’t play games at all. This third one had the best High Scores among us four and simply dominated the Mona microgames (until I eventually surpassed him, which is fair because the computer is mine and all and I can play whenever I want).
It’s not just that the gameplay is fire, but the game’s presentation is one the most original and personality-fueled you’re ever going to find in any title, ever. The art in the cutscenes is a mix of uncomfortable and ugly, but still very detailed, and sometimes extremely interesting just because it’s simple or legitimately stylish without needing to change its artstyle. The menus of the game are customized for each character, where each one gets their own list of microgames. And the ideas are very original! Kat is trying to save the player from a demon while slashing through rooms in the palace, Mona is escaping the police and Wario is just a stereo. Even better is Dr. Crygor, who wipes his ass during his diarrhea explosion, and I’m deadass on this.
The personality goes even further, showing detail in every part of the game in a way I could most likely spend hours explaining. For instance, the perfect mix of different artstyles and music genres, and sound effects that create a hallucinating experience that is fun, weird, and will make you Coocoo Crazy! From a black and white realistic face to a comic book-style Japanese monk punching wood, and then an old oriental painting of animals in the forest, to Gameboy graphics, and then Game & Watch, and we’re back to hyperrealistic art. And then there’s the cutscene art that was probably drawn in MS Paint, moving on to stickmen, and then 3D Graphics like Star Fox 1, finishing with clay dolls.
The music transits between two-second songs that get even more frenetic used in the transition between minigames, to a relaxing song, or rock music, maybe even… lyrics? Or something a little funky? And when this one is over (inside the five-second microgames), we’re back to the extremely fast music, to the most Mickey Mouse-ass cartoon song. The best part of all is that the game creates a vibe, then throws it out to create a new one, and everything seems to flow naturally. Of course, there are times when a song slaps and you want to keep listening to it, but when it shifts to a different artstyle you get automatically used to it, or laugh at how absurd the changes can get. And all of that alongside the character voicelines that are extremely charismatic and captivating, even if very limited. They say shit like “Awesome!”, “Alright!” or just laugh. The interesting thing is how the voices are used, remixed as a DJ plays around with it, mixing lines together or overly repeating syllables. The game is very intelligent and funny in its use of voice lines at any given moment, and there are loads of different moments in this game, making it all even more insane. And of course, Wario’s voice is taken from Wario Land 4, which is his second best voice acting, just like a lot of the game’s soundtrack (WL4 has a very diverse tracklist). I was very happy to see so much Wario Land influence on the artistic part of WarioWare.
+Read more: Antonball Deluxe is the best game you didn’t know you needed!
The microgames’ ideas by themselves are equally crazy. There’s a minigame of eating a banana, another about shoving fingers up your… nose! Or sniffing with that very same nose. There’s another one about jumping above sausages, and then something simpler like exploding fireworks or batting balls in a baseball game, and now you’re laying freight on a truck, right after parking your car. You have to calmly pass a thread through a needle, or mark a page in the book you’re reading. And then out of nowhere you’re fighting for your life on the base of an erupting volcano, just so you can put some ketchup on your hamburger! Right after that, you have to brush your teeth… then what? Put out a fire, just after you repelled a piranha trying to bite your puffer fish body. Impressive. Honestly, I’ve laughed my ass off so much at the ideas of this game that I’m not sure if anything less absurd can make me laugh ever again. I simply love the fact you get to eat a sandwich right after killing Mother Brain in Metroid 1. The interesting bit of it all is that, in the end, it all comes down to the name of the game: WARIO Ware. This frenzy of confusing, creative, and absurd ideas one after another is the most Wario thing a game could ever bring and I’m not changing my mind.
This game is one of the best experiences one could ever have to simply have some fun without the need for a complicated story or mechanics. WarioWare is the perfect game for when you’re feeling down and are looking for some fun; this game is for everyone. The only problem is that it could never be used as a chillout game, ’cause in Wario Ware you’ve got no second to rest. You gotta play, think, smash, eat, jump, beware pinch grab transform balance dodgesleepcovercollec — play WarioWare.
