Wario Ware, Inc: Minigame Mania (Game Boy Advance) Review

By Adam Riley 28.10.2003

Review for Wario Ware, Inc: Minigame Mania on Game Boy Advance

Many in the industry complain that gaming is no longer innovative. We simply see the same old genres regurgitated time and time again – racing titles, beat-‘em ups, 3D platform adventures…the list goes on. However, there has nearly always been one company that manages to hold its head high in light of all this criticism, and that company is Nintendo. Be it the invention of the D-pad that is used on all controllers today or the transition of Mario into the first proper fully three-dimensional platform game, creativity just seems to pour out of its employees. Now, prepare to witness the latest marvel, as Wario starts up a new and unique business venture…

Wario, generally known as the epitome of all things bad (or should that be ‘stupid’? Hehe…), has believe it or not actually found a legitimate way of making money. He has noticed a recent craze that has formed in Diamond City and chosen to capitalise on it as quickly as possible. Therefore he gathers up a few of his fellow compatriots and forms a company by the name of Wario Ware, Inc., with the intention of making a video game – oh, and lots of money, naturally! In order to make his cash quickly and easily, him and his friends swiftly throw together two hundred-plus super-fast, instant-action micro-games that will challenge players, whilst not being too arduous to initially create. The plot certainly will not win any awards for its quality, but hey, it manages to set the scene for the oncoming assault on your reflexes just about perfectly…On with the game!

Screenshot for Wario Ware, Inc: Minigame Mania on Game Boy Advance

You will find that throughout the game there are many different graphical styles – with some of the micro-games consisting of barely anything more than black-and-white colouring (such as in the Eye-Drops game), others emulating NES and SNES gaming products perfectly (the takes on Super Mario Bros and F-Zero spring to mind) and some having photo-realistic qualities that push the GBA hardware to the limit (like the dog-shaking-hands stage). The quality is generally very high, unless purposely basic, and it is the cut-scenes between levels that are the most eye-cathing. Each has an extremely cartoon-like appearance, bringing character and humour to the game. Everything is stylishly produced and as a whole gives off an impressive feeling of freshness in the developer’s approach to making Wario Ware that extra bit special and different to the norm.

There is a wide range of musical styles in Wario Ware, right from funky hip-hop through to the downright kooky! But this eclectic mix works perfectly for what itself is a mish-mash of a game. The little ditty that is used during a micro-game is great in the background as it does not distract you at all, yet at the same time it definitely administers a reaction in your brain as non-distracting or not you certainly notice your blood pressure rising and your heart-beat speeding-up the more you play the micro-game due to the music subtly becoming faster in pace each time a new round commences. There are some classics deeper inside as well – when you reach 9-Volt’s retro section you will find several tunes that sound quite familiar!

Screenshot for Wario Ware, Inc: Minigame Mania on Game Boy Advance

Simplified sound effects may perturb some gamers, but their nature is suited to such a game, so they cannot be criticised at all. What can be complained about, though, is the sampled voices that are included in the package as well. Whilst it is pleasing that some speech is in there, it is a shame that they sound so poor and muffled in places, making it difficult to understand exactly what is being said. Although not integral to the game itself, it would have been better to be able to actually hear what is spoken – after all, Nintendo’s use of voice-sampling in the Mario Advance series has been exemplary, so why not here as well? But this is not enough to warrant a huge drop in the score level here…

Players are challenged with progressing through the game by completing a set of miniature tasks that last between three- and five-seconds one straight after the other, with there being over two hundred to play through in total. There is nothing too brain-taxing, however, as most will involve something along the lines of pressing a button at the correct time, or moving the controller so something on-screen moves into the right position. Sounds boring, yes? Hmm, on hearing what Wario Ware was about, those were my sentiments exactly! But there is, in fact, a degree of charm to the title. As soon as the instruction for each game appears on the screen (‘Catch!’, ‘Avoid!’, ‘Potato!’, for example) – hopping over Goombas, dodging vehicles in an F-Zero-style environment, shooting Mother Brain as quickly as possible or even picking a computerised nose will all suddenly achieve a place in your heart because you either love them or loathe them for being too tricky. Your reflexes are tested to the limits, especially when you survive the earlier stages and move on to the faster, more complex micro-games. The time limit drops to three-seconds, from five, and games that you think look all too familiar from the beginning change ever so slightly – for example more enemies to kill in the time allotted or the thing you have to dodge as it moves towards you either pauses a bit or jumps to confuse you!

One of the key points to increasing the game’s length is the ability to unlock specific games that become full versions, such as the Dr Mario-inspired Dr Wario or the game where you must time your jumps over the skipping rope, which gradually swings faster and faster. The game’s overall pace and range of micro-game genres (puzzle, shooting, racing – to name but three) will prevent boredom from setting-in and the levels of difficulty (of which there are three) is such that gamers of all ages and skill-types can appreciate this little innovative wonder.

Screenshot for Wario Ware, Inc: Minigame Mania on Game Boy Advance

As for the general gameplay modes in Wario Ware, you start with two main options – head towards the ‘Games’ folder for the central challenge or to ‘Grid’ where unlocked micros from the main game are accessible. The former involves the player facing Wario and his group of friends, one-by-one, in their respective micro-game styles. Granted four lives, you must complete each stage’s levels without dying that number of times. Once done, a final, un-timed boss game appears, adding increased skill and depth to the initial micro-game concept. As you pass a certain number of Wario’s ‘co-developers’, the next batch are uncovered, which you merrily continue on to unless you wish to head backwards to beat your previous high score and attempt to unlock the hidden full games and two-player modes. As for the latter mode, as soon as one micro-game has been done and dusted, it gets placed on the ‘Grid’ for future usage and fun. You can play on each individual game, with things getting faster and faster, until you eventually die from not being able to see what is going on for the speed! Complete instructions are also given for each game, making life so much easier if you are stuck in the main game for what needs to be achieved. Other developers take notice – Wario Ware succeeds on the most basic of levels, so why not try to emulate this sort of innovative idea in the future?

Wario Ware can be likened to the Duracell Bunny, in that it will just keep going on and on and on (and Ariston…erm, remember that advert?). Actually, there’s a chance that unless you have a plug adaptor, there will indeed be a strong need for many a Duracell battery, as you simply will not be able to put your GBA system to sleep. You may never sleep yourself in all honesty – that is how addictive this title is. It is true testament to the quality of the genii over at Nintendo HQ that they can knock-up such a simple idea as this in a relatively short period of time and make it into a ‘AAA’-quality final product. If you dive into this title with the sole intention of completing it in one go then you will be sorely disappointed as the experience will be over in two- or three-hours maximum. But that would be missing the point completely! There are extra mini-games that can be opened up through continuous play and beating certain scores, such as a full version of Dr Wario – a game that alone could keep a person occupied for months. Also, the simple fun factor of Wario Ware, topping your high scores, playing against a friend or just returning to one of the strange micro-games that caught your interest originally, is more than enough to warrant keeping the dust off the little cartridge…

Screenshot for Wario Ware, Inc: Minigame Mania on Game Boy Advance

Cubed3 Rating

9/10
Rated 9 out of 10

Exceptional - Gold Award

Rated 9 out of 10

An absolutely wonderful little gem of a game from those Kings of Innovation, Nintendo! You will certainly be hard-pushed to find a more addictive, more diverse and simply wackier title on the GameBoy Advance. A worthy successor to Wario Land 4, kicks Wario World in the teeth and may only be surpassed by Wario Ware on the GameCube later this year. I urge you to go buy this now!

Also known as

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!

Developer

Nintendo

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

Puzzle

Players

2

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  10/10 (3 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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