snappy warioware: snapped!

i squeezed in a few quick games to round out the year. i’m a pretty big fan of the warioware series, and next up for me was warioware: snapped! for DSiware. i’d read a fair amount about the game before i bought it and knew that it was going to have limited appeal; the reviews at nintendolife and gamespot.com are pretty typical.

as an entry in the warioware series the game would be fairly disappointing due to its limitations, chief of which is its short length (about 20 micro-games, 5 of which require coordination with a second person) and the lack of any extras: you can easily breeze through the game in less than half an hour. i didn’t have too much trouble getting the camera to recognize me, but my nephew and i weren’t able to get through all of the 2-player set even after several attempts.

the game’s camera-based controls are enjoyable and novel, although the playstation’s eyetoy that preceded it by more than 5 years and microsoft’s kinect released a year and a half later no doubt has featured similar games. and despite the always enjoyable wacky warioware exterior, the game as a whole does have a tech demo feel, as many critics have noted. but a large part of the real enjoyment of the game is showing it off to other people, not just for the trademark warioware goofiness, but for the recap at the end of each stage that replays recorded footage of the player. it’s a pity that you don’t have any option to save these silly antics, but the iwata asks article about the game sheds some light on both the practical and emotional motivations for this seemingly odd design choice, motivations that are probably much more relevant to japanese societal norms than those of the US.

in terms of a recommendation, though, for people other than completists and hard-core fans of the series, making the decision to shell out $5 for this game really comes down to how much you’re willing to pay for a mechanism to entertain your friends and watch them being entertained. (in that sense the game is much like the somewhat infamous muscle march for wiiware.) in my case the combination of that enjoyment along with the appeal of warioware makes this an unregretted purchase, despite its limited gameplay and use, but for an introduction to the warioware series in general there are clearly better choices.

snap up these warioware: snapped! links:
- thorough FAQ at gamefaqs
- entry at wikipedia
- and recommended viewing only if you’ve already played the game: highly entertaining footage of nintendo CEO satoru iwata and nintendo translator bill trinen playing the game

wario party

i’ve developed into quite a fan of the warioware series, and despite having no video game buddies i decided to go back and give wario ware, inc.: mega party game$! a quick run-through. the game is a bit odd in that it’s an expansion of the original warioware game for GBA (my review of that game is here) with a focus on multiplayer rather than a true sequel.

the single-player mode is somewhat tedious since you have to play through every character’s games (usually 25) to progress rather than a subset as in the original. this mode doesn’t feature the fun cartoon intros and unlockable toys and games of the original either, or any new microgames, so it’s all pretty barebones. still, it was nice to revisit all the microgames, although playing through all of them did highlight the ones that are anomalously difficult and/or obtuse. there are a couple of new unlockables in the form of a “master” (i.e. marathon) mode in which you play through all 204 of the microgames (it doesn’t include the 9 boss battles) and see how many you can get, and two random minimalistic music videos (which can be seen here and here, lyrics at the bottom of this page). the most worthwhile single-player addition is a time attack mode where you try to complete 20, 40, or 60 microgames in the least amount of time (for every one you win the speed goes up and for every one you lose the speed goes down).

despite not having anyone to play with i also sampled all the multiplayer options. they’re pretty much all variations of “who can win the most microgames”, but there’s an entertaining 1-controller survival mode featuring a rainbow of tingle-esque suited characters, and an othello-based board game that requires a bit of strategy beyond just winning microgames. the entry at mariowiki.com has a good run-down of all the modes.

not having been able to play much of the multiplayer games leaves me not being too qualified to comment any further, but at some point i may come back to this. i’m not quite sure how much “pick up and play” gameplay this offers, however, since people who have played through the original or the single-player mode will be at a distinct advantage, but it was fun to see the games on the big screen and it’s whetted my appetite for the handful of warioware games left that i haven’t played yet.

wario’s mega party links!
- good FAQ at gamefaqs.com
- review at nintendojo.com
- the entry at mariowiki.com for the original GBA game has listings for every microgame. is it just me or does this guy look like jeff buckley??
- for a comparison of the various entries in the series, you can check out the listings at gamerankings.com
- entry at wikipedia

feelin’ the magic

[just a quick mention of e3 which nintendo completely rocked. really psyched for the 3DS now, and so psyched to see kid icarus back, FINALLY. this is going to be a pretty great next 12 months. now back to your previously scheduled program ...]

apparently i was in a somewhat mindless mood because i picked up a game i’ve had lying around, feel the magic XY & XX by sonic team for DS. the game draws immediate comparisons with warioware: touched! which i reviewed at the beginning of this year, and in fact both games were launch games and released the same day as the DS in japan (although in north america feel the magic was released three months earlier than touched, although it doesn’t seem that it ended up stealing much of the latter’s thunder). both feature mini-games and show off the DS’s capabilities in similar ways, but both have suffered a bit more than five years and many DS games later. now that the novelty has worn off the games have lost their element of surprise, but despite this and a setup almost too similar to the warioware games feel the magic stands as an enjoyable game in its own right.

it’s helped in no small part by the stylish and distinctive presentation by sonic team, and although it does feel based on the warioware concept it features its own brand of quirkiness. in many ways feel the magic feels like a sequel the warioware crew should have evolved ages ago, but while that series has stagnated this game offers a fresh spin on a now too familiar type of gameplay. although on metacritic touched averages an 81 to magic‘s 75, i’m going to have to side with the latter. it has more interesting games overall and a higher level of difficulty, and some surprisingly touching moments, like the mini-game where you have to try to hold your female love interest’s hand. although i enjoyed the game overall i can’t say i feel the need to rush out to play the sequel, but i certainly liked it enough to pick it up sometime in the future.

feelin’ some magical links:
- entry at wikipedia
- FAQ at gamefaqs
- entry at metacritic

wario’s wares … touched!

i seem to be repeating 2009 so far, having started with a new super mario bros. game this year and then following it up with a warioware game. i’ve been working my way through the warioware series, and playing through rhythm tengoku and part of rhythm heaven reminded me that i still have a few warioware games to play.

i wasn’t particularly looking forward to warioware: touched! for DS which seems to have gotten good but not great scores overall. the game was about what i expected, namely a warioware game that utilizes the new hardware well but that doesn’t really offer many surprises. it was one of the launch titles in japan and came out just a few months after the launch in the US, and at the time it was probably enough to just revel in the DS’s brand-new capabilities. but now, more than five years later, the game’s mechanics have been seen in many, many games since then, and the microgames themselves also feel overly familiar and the in-game toys much more throwaway. it also doesn’t help that the game is imo the easiest of the series either.

on the gonintendo boards one user described the series as becoming little more than a bunch of tech demos, and in some ways touched! does feel that way. i haven’t played snapped! yet, but i feel that smooth moves still keeps the fun factor even while showing off the wii remote’s capabilities. it’s been a while since i played it, though, so i’ll have to try it again now that i’ve had several more warioware games and many more wii games under my belt.

not much more to say. smooth moves and twisted! are my favorite warioware games so far and i don’t expect that to change anytime soon, but i will play through the remaining ones. i’m not a big fan of creating my own content in games, so there isn’t much about the forthcoming warioware D.I.Y. (due out in just a couple of months) that sparks my interest, but maybe i’m underestimating the potentially great user-generated content that will be available. i’ll try to keep an open mind anyway. for wario’s sake. bwahahahhaha!

getting in touch with wario’s links:
- FAQ and list of unlockables at gamefaqs
- entry at wikipedia

heavenly rhythm

[wrapping up one more review from last year before i post my end-of-year list ...]

i don’t remember where i first heard about rhythm tengoku (for GBA), but i’m guessing it was soon after i started getting into the warioware series a couple of years ago. this was before its DS sequel, rhythm heaven, a.k.a. rhythm tengoku gold, was released, but both games were created by Nintendo SPD who co-developed the warioware games. fans of that better-known series will definitely fall for its sister series as much as i did.

like the warioware games, rhythm tengoku combines a wide range of wacky art styles and situations (tap-dancing monkeys! lady rappers!), and most notably, music, in a series of mini-games, in this case all rhythm based. the R and L buttons aren’t used in the main game, and many games only require a single button, but the gameplay can get quite tricky. chris kohler has a good description of the sequel’s gameplay which is exactly the same as the original (as is nintendo’s oftentimes maddening custom). in short, both games provide a refreshing take on the rhythm genre as everything is centered on feeling the pulse of the music as opposed to hitting complicated button patterns in sequence. the structure is also very cleverly arranged in that the games/songs are grouped somewhat thematically, and at the end of each group is a “remix” track that combines all the music and gameplay from that group. also, like the warioware series the games include little unlockable diversions in the form of toys and mini-games, as well as stories and a music player. for those wary of importing the original GBA game, although it’s all in japanese, for the most part everything is easy to follow and self-explanatory, although having played a bit of the english version of its sequel i realize more how much of the humor i was missing out on. (you can find a basic translation for the menus here.)

the only design choice of the series that seems questionable to me is that you can earn a medal if you perform well on a song, but to earn the highest rating you have to be absolutely perfect and not make any mistakes. in general i’m against “perfection” in gaming as it ends up making a game much less fun, but in this case since the songs are so short getting a perfect on all of them, while certainly requiring a fair amount of effort, wouldn’t be crazily impossible. all in all, despite the language barrier and the emphasis on perfection, this is a great game and a lot of fun, and it’s an easy recommendation. as semi-regular visitors to my blog might expect, i’ve already played through the sequel a fair amount. even though it is a sequel from a company notorious for not tinkering with well-established formulas, it all feels a bit too same-y to me, and the humor and scenarios don’t seem quite as crazy and off-the-wall as the original. i’ll prob. finish playing through that game sooner than later, though, so there’s still a chance i’ll end up being pleasantly surprised. we’ll see.

for now, feel the b-b-b-beat of some r-r-r-rhythmic links!
- i linked to this already, but it’s worth linking again: this is a handy site with translations of the menus and a guide to every song
- entry at wikipedia
- youtube video of an early favorite from the game
- an exhaustive survey of the man behind the music, tsunku

wario’s twisted wares

i’ve been in the mood for sequels lately, so for my second game of the year i played through the now classic warioware: twisted! for the GBA. this is the 3rd warioware game i’ve played so far, and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet (even despite the fact i’ve been playing them out of order). the series has stayed fresh in large part by the variety of physical mechanics they’ve incorporated: the original only utilized the D-pad and one button, whereas the DS and wii versions made full use of those systems’ capabilities. as you probably already know, twisted includes a gyroscope which instantly makes your GBA a completely new device, and this new mode of gameplay is immediately compelling. (although i’m not alone in recommending that you forego your GBA SP for this one, as the shape of the original GBA is much more suited to “twisting”.)

but on top of the unique mechanics, and what makes the game ultimately a more fun game than the original, is that the microgames themselves have more variety. after i’d unlocked all the microgames in twisted i actually went back and played through a fair amount of mega microgame$ (partly to make the comparison, but then largely because i realized i hadn’t unlocked all the microgames for it). revisiting mega microgame$ really showed up the fact that many of those microgames feel very similar, whereas in twisted i rarely felt like any of the microgames were repeats. this isn’t solely due to the addition of the gyroscope, but also b/c the variety of situations in twisted and the even wackier and more over-the-top presentation cleverly disguise any similarities in actual gameplay. this iteration is noticeably more difficult than the first game, and the inclusion of tons of unlockable “souvenirs”, including music tracks, virtual kaleidoscopes, musical instruments, gadgets, and mini-games, also definitely adds to the fun and replay value, despite the fact most are completely random, throwaway, and useless. but, like the microgames themselves, almost all of them will leave you smiling, shaking your head in disbelief, or chuckling to yourself like an idiot. oh, and yes, 9-volt’s retro nintendo fanboy games are still the best. haha.

all in all twisted is a clear winner, and one of many sequels that is a clear improvement upon the original. i wouldn’t rank it as “the #1 game boy advance game of all time” as craig harris did over at IGN in march of 2007, but it’s def. a classic. of the three warioware games i’ve played i’ve come to appreciate smooth moves for the wii more than i originally did due to the amount of actions you’ll be called on to perform, but, not surprisingly, twisted feels a bit fresher since it was earlier in the series. next i’ll probably tackle touched for the DS, which actually came out before twisted in the US. looking forward to it, although the general concensus seems to be that it’s easier and shorter than previous installments.

out of curiosity, and b/c i’m a big geek, i thought it would be interesting to compare review scores of the various warioware games (although of course the actual reviewer may not have been consistent for each review). i limited the table to just nintendo power, IGN, and 1up, and used the original japanese release dates. a list of the games in the warioware series can be found on wikipedia.

Game	Release	meta	NP	IGN	1up
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (GBA)	3/21/2003	89	92	90	N/A
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! (GCN)	10/17/2003	76	75	85	85
WarioWare: Twisted! (GBA)	10/14/2004	88	85	95	80
WarioWare: Touched! (DS)	12/2/2004	81	92	85	85
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (wii)	12/2/2006	83	90	82	80

wario’s twisted links (bwa ha ha ha ha!):
- entry at wikipedia
- PDF of instruction manual at replacementdocs.com
- FAQ on all of the microgames and a prizes FAQ at gamefaqs
- list of unlockables at IGN
- pretty good review at 1up
- wikipedia entry on the newest installment, for the DSi, utsutsu! (which means “reality”, as it uses the DSi’s camera). looks interesting, although it seems the controls may not work that well.

mega microreview

quick review of warioware, inc.: mega microgame$! which i finished a couple weeks ago, even though i’d played through smooth moves recently. the original made me appreciate the changes made for the wii version, and having played the wii version first it’s prob. no surprise that i found the original to be much more limited. still, i was kept entertained for the most part, and 9-volt’s games were awesome of course, and i’m still interested in what the other warioware games have to offer. w00t. (how’s that for a microreview!)

mega microlink$:
- thorough FAQ at IGN
- run-down of unlockables at IGN
- guide at IGN
- entry at wikipedia

warioware: moves smoothed

[i got behind posting due to a game that turned me from the regular gamer that i usually am to an obsessive gaming freak. if you've been paying attention to the blog it should come as absolutely no surprise what the game was, but more on that in the near future.]

i’ve been strategizing about what games i should take home this christmas to accompany my new wii; i’m looking forward to seeing how my family reacts to it, esp. my 5-year-old nephew. to that end i picked up a copy of warioware: smooth moves which i’d heard good things about, to see how it might fare with the clan.

the game immediately sucked me in with its quintessentially nintendo brand of zany humor. it’s rare that a game makes me laugh out loud, but this was a notable exception and even had me at the point where i was shaking my head in disbelief at how wacky some of the scenarios were. a fair amount of the wackiness felt distinctly japanese as well, which makes me think it would be interesting to see how non-japanese families would react to it, although japanese culture has def. become more and more mainstream in the US.

as my first entry to the series the game lacked a little more depth than i’d expected, but since then i’ve already gone on to play through a fair amount of the original warioware game, warioware, inc. from that i’ve gained an appreciation for how perfect the wii controller is for this type of game and how great a job the warioware team at intelligent systems did in taking all the disparate ways to use the wii remote and presenting them in one cohesive package. there’s a fairly interesting interview with the developers on nintendo’s site where, perhaps unsurprisingly, it sounds like they had a great time making the game. in the interview iwata also says, regarding the warioware games, “We had no idea at the start that the games in this series would become milestones of sorts.” it’s rare nowadays that new genres are created, and warioware is def. an exception.

anyway, i’ll def. be posting about how it goes over after the holidays, but i’m fairly sure that it’ll deliver more than a few rowdy sessions. and of course i’m def. looking forward to playing the other warioware games.

some wario-made links:
- guide at IGN
- gamespot has a bit more detail on the unlockables than the IGN guide
- bozon’s review at ign
- entry at wikipedia