My 100th review is for WarioWare Inc.: Mega Party Games Nintendo for the Gamecube. Now, I know that you all take one look at it and what it has and think, “Why should I get that? That game is exactly the same as the GBA Wario Ware.” However, we all fail to realize that WarioWare on GBA is cocaine in its purest form. In that case, the GC version is refined concaine, or crack. Now, how exactly could you make WarioWare better? You add a multiplayer. That’s how! The learning curve is probably the closest to 180 degress that games in this current state would ever get to. WarioWare’s simple design make it the ultimate party game. Even those that have never played a game in their life or have become completely intoxicated could play Wario Ware. Course, if you are a loner like me, single player might be better staying on the portable side, but it’s still pretty good.

Preliminary Comments:
Rant: ^I put that picture together

Rant: The opening guitar rift of this game reminds me of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker for Genesis.

Fact: The game has more than one opening sequence.

Fact: REVIEW #100. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Graphics - 7.5
The game itself has some average graphics. Nothing is really gonna impress you or anything like that. In fact, the game’s animation looks like it was done in Flash. Chances are that you could remake every single animation in this game, throw it on a site like Newgrounds, and rake in the praise. For what is there, animation is decent and helps you navigate menus and such. Besides, the game isn’t made for its graphical appeal. It is worth mentioning that there is a small hidden animation in the game involving Jimmy that is kinda funny. Look for it!

Sound - 7.5
Even though the music is fast and lasts only a few seconds, it fits the mood perfectly. WarioWare always prided itself on being random and fast, and it’s good to see that it’s soundtrack has the same spirit. In terms of quality, the music in the mini-games are updated versions of the music from the Game Boy version of WarioWare, but they’re not exactly that incredible a jump or anything. Sound effects were also lifted from the GBA version. There are some character voices, but they’re mostly just saying some random exclamation and aren’t worth mentioning.

Story - 5.0
Some have really wondered if the game even had a story in the first place. The truth is that there is a small semblance of story in the game that kinda almost makes sense! If I remember correctly from the instruction manual, Wario has created his own company called MicroGames Inc. (or something like that) where he wants to make money off the success of the GBA WarioWare. He hires a large variety of characters including a little kid addicted to NES/SNES games and a mo-ped riding waitress that wants to break herself off a piece of Wario. There is an individual story for each person, and it all is relatively random and constitutes to some weird overall story that I could never really piece together. Now that I think about it, it scares me…

Fun - 8.0
This game, she is simplicity in it’s purest form. Minimalist if you will. Heck, all you need is the control stick and the A button and you can do anything. Other gamers may wince at WarioWare’s simplistic design, but to tell you the truth, I probably haven’t had this much random fun in ages. WarioWare refines itself to the very roots of gaming, simplicity and fun.

But let me explain how the original game works. First, you choose one of Wario’s partners or Wario himself. Each character has their own genre of mini-games (which the game calls “micro-games”). The point of the game is to play a long string of micro-games in which you do something like move left and right constantly to cut a steak or press A at the right time to insert a cartridge into a Game Boy. If you do it right, you continue to the next game. If you screw up you lose a life, and if you lose all your lives, you lose the game. After several micro games, the micro games will either speed up (go faster) or level up (become harder). After you get through enough micro games, you play a so called “boss stage” where you have to either defeat some kind of special enemy somehow or clear some special type of game. Once you do that, you clear the character, and move on to the next. Some might think that the game would get repetitive having to play the same micro-games over and over, but there are about 200 micro games to play and secret modes to unlock which help ease redundancy. Once you start playing this game for a long time, you’ll be suprised at how insanely hard some of this gets. It gets so fast that at some point you’ll only have a second to figure out what you’re supposed to do and do it. It’s pretty hardcore, man.

With all this borrowing from the GBA version, you might be thinking what is added in this game other than some better menu animation and a hidden video of a boy running in a forest holding paper while a Japanese song plays (not kidding). Other than the original mode of WarioWare just described, there are also other modes. Some modes see how fast you can complete a set number of micro-games. Another makes you play all the micro-games in a row and see how many of them you can beat. Yet another mode sees how many micro games can you beat when they are all placed on the highest level of difficulty. Each little variation is a nice addition to the main game that helps increase replayability. However, it is kinda my preference for this kind of thing to be portable. I mean, you can play the GBA Wario Ware anywhere and it is really convenient and fun. However, it is kinda weird to play something that is technically a direct port of a portable game on a console. However, the makers have done their best to make this game better than the original. Beside crazy random movies, multiple opening sequences, or a plethora of extra stuff, this version of the game crushes the original in one aspect, multiplayer.

That’s right, now you can play WarioWare against your friends and have the chance to totally look stupid! But seriously, the multiplayer aspect is great. There are 9 different multiplayer modes, one for each character. There are classic modes such as survival and stuff, but the other modes are actually very different from each other and would take a long time to explain, so I’ll just explain two of them. In Wario’s game, each player takes turns playing a certain number of micro games. While one is playing, the other three characters will be there right on the screen. Their job is to cover the screen to screw up the one playing the micro games. Whoever wins the most micro games wins the entire round. The other one I’ll explain is Orbulon’s (the alien) game which works exactly the opposite of Wario’s game. The person playing has 4 lives. The actual screen where you see the micro games is pitch black. The others, instead of trying to screw up the one playing, control spotlights to help the one who is playing see what is going on. There are a lot of other really weird ones such as balancing on turtles and blowing up balloons, but they would be too hard to explain.

A common criticism about the game is that most of the micro-games are too short and are very similar to each other. The example that detractors normally give is how you have to mash the A button in the apple eating game and in the banana eating game and in the game where you crush an apple. What they don’t understand is that variations on the simple concepts has a point. If you’re playing the main game and come across the apple eating one, you’ll always know that you’re supposed to mash A right away. However, if you see something else, it thows you off and messes you up. That’s the point, people. The purpose of different visual perceptions is to mess you up and add some variety. Heck, if the games weren’t in, the same people would probably complain about lack of variety.

However, how fun this game is a lot more subjective than other games. What it all comes down to is that you’ll either think this game is completely awesome and will play it with everyone for every waking moment and would probably be inclined to buy the GBA and DS games. You may also think the game is extremely stupid and never ever think about buying another game with Wario in it, even if it wasn’t WarioWare. Though I have my own thoughts about the second group, it’s not appropriate at this time.

Difficulty - 7.0
Difficulty is kind of hard to rate. The game has a very level learning curve. A person who never played video games in their life could probably be able to pick up this game and play it easily. However, if someone was trying to play the game and be T3H ALLTEMAT M@$TURRR!!!11 of WarioWare, it is probably impossible for a human to be able to discern what you are doing and actually do it in the short amount of time the game gives you.

Replayable - 7.5
If you like the game, then you’ll want to play this a lot. It’s a great game to play for multiplayer or just to pass the time. For the more hardcore of us, it is a testament to how something so simple involving only direction and one button can be so insanely addictive. If you only like playing single player though, the GBA versions would probably be better since it has the whole “portability” and convenience thing going on. Other than that, this game wouldn’t be bad to pick up for 20 bucks or used for even less somewhere.

Posted in Gamecube, Nintendo |