ranking the warioware series

about a month ago i finished the last three warioware games in the series, so it’s time to look back at the entire series and post my ranking. at nine entries the franchise is clearly at a lower tier compared to nintendo’s core series, like the mario, zelda, and metroid series, and looking over the list although the series started out extremely strong (its debut in the spring of 2003 was a jolt of originality and the manic “microgame” formula still holds up today), it’s sort of scraped along for the past few years. several of the more-recent titles could be considered to be offshoots as opposed to evolutions, and you could argue that there hasn’t been a true core warioware title since wii’s smooth moves (released 8 years ago), but in any case i’m still holding out hope that the series will rediscover itself before too much time goes by. in the meantime, it’s nice to be able to celebrate all that it has accomplished.

when i ranked the zelda series earlier this year i included excerpts from nintendo power, but this time around for lack of any better alternative i’ll just include metacritic’s ranking and excerpts from reviews close to the metacritic score (although it turns out that my ranking is pretty similar to metacritic’s). hope that’s not too confusing. oh, and before i get started, i should give a shout out to the best unofficial warioware title (not created by nintendo), which was feel the magic XY & XX by sonic team. i should also give a mention to two actual spin-offs of the game, both based on extras from the first title and released as DSiware: paper airplane chase, which included new time trial and vs. modes, and birds & beans, which has the same two modes as the GBA version but changes the size of the board to 30 squares (vs. 20 squares for the GBA version and 12 for the game & wario version). anyway, without further ado:

the warioware series
as ranked by geozeldadude and metacritic
#	geozeldadude‘s list	ranking according to metacritic
1	warioware: smooth moves (wii): smooth moves was my first warioware experience, and i was definitely spoiled by it. at the time i was impressed by the series’ hallmarks, namely the lightning-speed pacing and the laugh-out-loud humor (not to mention fun reworkings of nintendo classics), but i also appreciated how well-structured the game was, in terms of taking all the myriad possible ways of using the wii remote and clearly organizing them into categories via “poses”. although some of the pointer-based movements take some trial and error, once you figure them out it’s pretty much non-stop fun. it’s a great intro to the series, and in my opinion has never been bettered since the versatile wii remote allows the game to offer even more variety than the original title, and even twisted. some of the later games felt more like tech demos than actual games, but this one felt like it not just showed off the new (and revolutionary) possibilities of wii, but really reveled in and explored them. a game that i’ve come to appreciate more since i first played it, and one i’m looking forward to revisiting.	warioware, inc.: mega microgame$! (GBA) (critic score: 89, user score: 8.8) Nintendojo (90): It may be over quick, but it’s got the sort of staying power and pick-up-and-play appeal that’ll keep you coming back whenever you get tired of the latest games. It’s the perfect title for anyone who craves addictive, fast-paced action or just something different from the status quo. IGN (90): There’s no way you’ll see everything on the first time through. This game is amazingly fun, incredibly funny, and a really intense gaming experience in the later levels. Eurogamer (90): If variety is the spice of life, then Wario Ware is the digital equivalent of Phall curry, burning the inside of your face with its charm and originality.
2	warioware: twisted! (GBA): yet another case of a close second, and another case where if i had played this before smooth moves i could easily see myself giving it the edge. the microgames have a level of variety, wackiness, and over-the-top presentation only rivalled by smooth moves, all the more impressive since the hardware (accomplished by the cartridge’s included gyroscope) is more limited than the wii remote. the game, like others in the series, also includes tons of unlockable “souvenirs”, including music tracks, virtual kaleidoscopes, musical instruments, gadgets, and minigames, which 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 and the ones included in this entry to the series were particularly strong. twisted was one of those cases where a sequel really took the original’s ideas and improved them in almost every way. a definite classic.	warioware: twisted! (GBA) (critic score: 88, user score: 8.9): the critic score is only one point lower than the original game, and the user score is actually one point higher than the original game. here’s what the critics said: Electronic Gaming Monthly (90): The technology works perfectly – spinning your GBA around feels utterly alien yet supremely fun. [Apr 2005, p.135] GameSpot (88): The spin sensor feels less like a gimmick and more like a tightly integrated feature that makes the entire game feel inventive and unique. Nintendojo (87): A must own title for your Game Boy Advance. It’s the perfect traveling game even though the story mode is over quickly.
3	warioware, inc.: mega microgame$! (GBA): the game that started it all. although i feel like the formula achieved more with twisted and smooth moves, the original is still completely enjoyable and fun. in some ways it’s even more of an achievement since it relies on simple button presses instead of a “gimmick”. a definite classic, and definitely the obvious choice for the top 3.	warioware: smooth moves (wii) (critic score: 83, user score: 7.3): NintendoWorldReport (85): Variety is king in WarioWare, and while the game does not contain an absurd amount of pointless unlockables, or a true high-score mode for individual games, it is still a ton of fun. PALGN (80): An excellent addition to the Wario Ware series and the ideal game to show what the Wii can do. Its lifespan may be a little on the short side but there’s definitely enough enjoyment here for your money.
4	warioware: D.I.Y. (DS): i don’t really look to video games to be my creative outlets, but i was still impressed by all the tools D.I.Y. provides for making your own microgames, as well as 4-panel comics and songs, and not just that but provides ways to ease players into those modes without intimidating them. the game also included enough microgames, albeit simplified, to make it feel worthwhile even if you completely ignore the design modes.	warioware: D.I.Y. (DS) (critic score: 82, user score: 8.7): 1UP (83): Creativity often thrives under the most severe limitations, and those who relish the opportunity to entertain others (or even just themselves) in videogame form will love WarioWare D.I.Y. It provides a detailed yet streamlined mechanism for creativity, meaning the challenge is in coming up with creative ideas rather than wrestling with the interface.
5	warioware D.I.Y. showcase (wiiware): past the top 4, the ranking of the remaining games in the series really depends on your preference. D.I.Y. showcase provides a way for you to take your warioware D.I.Y. creations from your DS and view them on your TV via your wii, and overall works quite well. games look pretty good in the transition from DS to TV, and the wiiware title also includes about half as many microgames as the DS game, all of which can also be transferred back to your DS for modifying into new creations. there’s not a whole lot to do and the $8 price tag does feel a bit on the high side, but for fans of the DS title this is be a nice complement, although not essential.	warioware: touched! (DS) (critic score: 81, user score: 8.2): Edge Magazine (80): It may be formulaic, but that formula is still one of invention, surprise and excellence. [Jan 2005, p.87; JPN Import] Play Magazine (80): My only criticisms are that the NES-themed games aren’t as creative as before, and the game is a bit easy. [Apr 2005, p.70] PALGN (80): But my biggest problem with the game is really just the slight lack of craziness that I’ve come to expect from Wario Ware. I rarely laugh out loud at a game, but the original Wario Ware provided me with much humour with its general wackiness.
6	warioware, inc.: mega party game$! (GCN): the game is definitely more of an expansion to the original than a new game, and recycles all the content while adding new modes, mostly multi-player. there are a couple of new unlockable single-player modes, namely a “master” (i.e. marathon) mode in which you play through all 204 of the microgames (omitting the 9 boss battles) and see how many you can get, and two random minimalistic music videos. 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). not being into multi-player much in general the other modes were sort of wasted on me, but i appreciated them despite not getting much of a chance to play around with them.	warioware, inc.: mega party game$! (GCN) (critic score: 76, user score: 8.3): GameBiz (77): Unless you’ve never played the first Wario Ware or are going to take full advantage of the multiplayer aspects, there isn’t really too much new for you here. IGN (75): The fact that the vast majority of minigames in this GameCube title heralds from the GBA is a huge disappointment. But even if you haven’t played the GBA game, know that the single-player setup that worked so beautifully on the Game Boy Advance doesn’t translate well to the GameCube.
7	warioware: touched! (DS): the game was designed to show off the DS’s capabilities, but otherwise didn’t feel as original as entries in the series. the game would have felt more novel when it was released around the time of the DS’s launch, but its core experience doesn’t hold up nearly as well as twisted or smooth moves. a prime example of a “by the numbers” sequel that, thankfully, the series’ developers haven’t had to resort to before or since.	warioware D.I.Y. showcase (wiiware) (critic score: 73, user score: 8.4): Vandal Online (75): Its real potential resides in its connectivity with the Nintendo DS version. That is the real showcase. Eurogamer (70): Still, if you fancy a means of enjoying the unhinged insanity of user-created microgames on the big screen, Showcase is a worthy purchase.
8	warioware: snapped! (DSiware): 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 microgames, 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. the camera recognition, while enjoyable and novel, was a little iffy with two players, although solo it worked fine for me. 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. 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.	game & wario (wii u) (critic score: 61, user score: 6.1): games(TM) (60): Well below the standards we’ve come to expect from Nintendo’s inventive, silly franchise. [Issue#137, p.123] ZTGD (60): Game & Wario is disappointing mainly because the heart of the series feels stripped out, and in its place is a collection of mostly uninspired minigames. I really wanted to see Nintendo take advantage of the Gamepad in unique ways, not just have me tilt to steer. Eurogamer Italy (60) Even though some games are funny, Game & Wario loses most of the appeal of its predecessors proposing just a bunch of “not-so-special” games.
9	game & wario (wii u): feels like a real step back. almost completely eschewing the series’ formula to date (i.e. an onslaught of microgames to conquer), this game focuses on mini-games, pretty much none of which are that much fun. it’s pretty sad that i found i didn’t even want to play through all the levels, few as there were, and that unlocking each mini-game just resulted in another stab of disappointment instead of excitement. another case where i’m waiting for the next entry in the series and hoping that it gets the series back on track.	warioware: snapped! (DSiware) (critic score: 53, user score: 4.9): Cheat Code Central (50): It’s a WarioWare game and it works with a camera, so it may pique your interest at first. However, it’s very short, it won’t let you save your goofy pictures or videos, and it’s tough to make it work! Eurogamer (50) It’s fun for as long as it lasts.

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big-screen mini-games with warioware D.I.Y. showcase and game & wario

even though i’d recently “finished” warioware D.I.Y., i was so close to finishing up the 9 games of the warioware series that i went ahead and played through warioware D.I.Y. showcase on wiiware and game & wario on wii u.

first off, warioware D.I.Y. showcase does exactly what it sets out to do, which is provide a way for you to take your warioware D.I.Y. creations from your DS and view them on your TV via your wii. the touchscreen controls are replaced by moving the wiimote’s cursor and pressing its main button, and although these controls make things more difficult because it takes more time to move the cursor on wii than the stylus on the DS, overall the change in input works fine. games look pretty good in the transition from DS to TV, and the wiiware title also includes about half as many micro-games as the DS game (featuring the characters who were left out of the DS game, including more retro games thanks to 18-volt), all of which can be imported back to the DS game for use in making your own micro-games, and a small set of comics and songs. while nintendo had wi-fi support for this title you could also download new micro-games, but otherwise there’s not a whole lot to do and the $8 price tag does feel a bit on the high side. still, for fans of the DS title this would be a nice complement, and the warioware formula is surprisingly strong, as there are quite a few micro-games included that are as funny and memorable as any that have come before.

D.I.Y. showcase may have been pretty basic, but game & wario feels like a real step back. almost completely eschewing the series’ formula to date (i.e. an onslaught of micro-games to conquer), this game focuses on mini-games, pretty much none of which are that much fun. each mini-game has multiple levels, but only beating the first level is required to unlock the next mini-game. this keeps things moving along, but the mini-games themselves aren’t interesting enough to even warrant the extra levels. it’s pretty sad that i found i didn’t even want to play through all the levels, few as there were, and that unlocking each mini-game just resulted in another stab of disappointment instead of excitement. in their review nintendolife commented that one of the games felt “like it’s all been done before on mobile devices”, but i felt that way about pretty much all of them. many of the games felt like the developers were really straining to justify the wii u’s gamepad, and in that sense felt like nintendo land, which i found to be similarly tedious and also more like a series of tech demos than a gaming experience. my affection for the warioware cast was the main thing that kept me even remotely engaged, and the only other memorable experiences were the virtual toys whose wacky humor fans of the series should be familiar with; “gamer”, the mini-game that actually revisits the typical warioware formula (including some hilarious variations of familiar micro-games from the past) but with the added trickiness of having to hide the gamepad when your character’s mom is nearby; and the miiverse sketching game, which is basically a pictionary-type drawing game where you can select from other people’s prompts and then view others’ responses alongside your own.

it’s too bad that the most-recent two entries of the warioware series are so middling compared to the brilliance of the first titles, but i have hope that nintendo and intelligent systems will be able to turn things around from here. in the meantime i’ll be taking a look back at the series before too long, and will be looking forward to revisiting some of my favorites in the series.

big-screen warioware D.I.Y. showcase link:
– entry at mariowiki.com

big-screen game & wario links:
– miiverse community
– official site, includes wallpapers
– parody kickstarter promo for the game, includes a ringtone
– tips from nintendo UK

mario and wario paint and compose in mario paint and warioware D.I.Y.

it’s been a long time since i’ve “completed” a warioware title, and the reason is that warioware D.I.Y. for DS was next in line and i’m not really into games that focus on creativity since i’m not very artistic, and when i’m playing a game i’d rather just be playing a game than creating. anyway, before i get into warioware D.I.Y., it’s pretty much impossible not to talk about that game without mentioning its well-known predecessor mario paint on SNES. i’d never played mario paint, so i gave it a quick spin. one thing mario paint was famous for was introducing the SNES mouse and basically has three modes: a cute and cartoony version of photoshop in which you can create still images and animations; a cute and cartoony composer mode in which you can create music with a maximum of three notes at a time; and a bonus mini-game called “gnat attack” (aka “coffee break” or “fly swatter”) in which you navigate the mouse around to swat at flies and other enemies. i enjoyed my time with mario paint and it’s cute and colorful, but a big drawback to the game (and a deal-breaker by modern standards) is that you can only save one image and otherwise there’s now way to save your results other than record it to a video recorder via your TV, or utilize modern means, such as an emulator’s save states.

as for warioware D.I.Y., i dove into playing through the mini-games first, and these are the typical warioware fare. the game focuses on touchscreen controls and in that sense is very much like warioware: touched, although the games feel somewhat average in general, although that could just be that the formula has worn thin. before long i was exploring what the rest of the game has to offer, which includes 4-panel comics to read that unlock daily, many of which are quite entertaining (albeit fairly surreal), and a listening center. on the creative side the game includes a comic strip maker and a music maker (with a max of 4 simultaneous notes + 1 rhythm track instead of mario paint‘s 3).

the game offers multiple ways to ease you into the main event, microgame creation: one way is the “jobs” section, where you can take on tasks to replace artwork from microgames (taken from the original warioware title, i believe). the photoshop-like art creator, which is pretty much the same in all the modes, is similar to mario paint‘s, and is equally cute and colorful and similarly surprisingly deep. the game also provides three in-depth tutorials to take you through increasingly complex ways of creating objects and programming simple interactions in order to create your game. after working through some of the microgame creation it becomes clearer why the pre-made microgames feel more basic than usual, because you can actually import any of them and modify them as you like to create your own version. this is a great way to get into the creation without having to start from scratch, and also a great way to learn how the game programming works since you can see how other microgames were set up. the game also includes stamps that you can use in lieu of having to create your own artwork, which is also helpful for people without much in the way of artistic skills.

when the game was originally released, the wi-fi connection features were a big part of the interactivity, with new microgames made available on a regular basis (some by famous real-world game developers themselves) and contests were held to make a microgame that matched a given theme. it’s too bad those features were available for such a short time, since the game came out at the tail end of the DS’s cycle (just a year before the 3DS was released). the game also features interactivity with the wiiware title warioware D.I.Y. showcase, where you can transfer your creations (or any of the other microgames) from your DS to the wii to play with the wiimote (another reason why the microgames were more simplistic, since they had to be compatible with the wiimote’s point-and-click capabilities). i haven’t sat down and played through that yet, but prob. will in the near future.

all in all mario paint, although regarded as a classic, seems fairly superseded by warioware D.I.Y.. the latter provides many more capabilities as well as plenty of options to save your games, although still no ability to export to anything outside of your DS or wii. although i enjoyed my time with the game, i’m not really the intended target since i’m not really into being creative within my gaming time, but otherwise this is an easy recommendation to people who are looking for that kind of experience.

paint and compose with these mario paint and warioware D.I.Y. links:
– article on mario paint on wikipedia
– SNES a day’s entry on mario paint, including footage of all the different actions you can take on the title screen, the different “erase all” tools, and the three songs built into the composer mode

– a theme from sonic recreated in warioware D.I.Y.
– review at nintendolife.com
– list on unlockables at gamefaqs, and a list of medal requirements
– how to get mario paint theme music to play in D.I.Y.
– list of all the games that were downloadable with descriptions, at mariowiki.com
– the game was ranked #13 in IGN’s top DS games, published in 2010

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