Welcome once again to Recovery teamwhere the Nintendo Life staff gathers for a mission to explore an old classic, with veterans leading new recruits into the unknown.
We last reviewed Rareware’s Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. For today’s mission, we’ll be looking at WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, or Minigame Mania! as it was known in Europe.
This triumphant 21-year-old GBA classic was Wario’s first foray into the world of microgaming and is available to play on Switch if you subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.
After the usual various promotions and demotions, this is the crew we assembled for this mission to Diamond City circa 200X:
- Captain Gavin Lane – WarioWorn
- Commander Alana Hagues – WarioWise
- Lieutenant Ollie Reynolds – Mi$$ed this one
- Ens. Jim Norman – Where?
Gavin: Good day, team. Are we all in this together?
Alana: Right and present, sir.
Jim: Right now, Captain.
Ollie: A’up!
Gavin: Good. We’re here a little later than expected after our mission to assist with the terraforming efforts in the Ro’stk system, and I’d like to keep today’s briefing as short and sweet as possible given the micro nature of the task.
First, let’s see a little background. Ensign Norman, is this your first encounter with the WarioWare series?
Jim: With the series? No sir. I once dabbled in the wonderful Wii entry, WarioWare Smooth Moves, and I also have a particular soft spot for the DSi’s WarioWare: Snapped! (although, in retrospect, it’s not very good, is it?). But this was my first encounter with the place where it all began.
Gavin: Ah, Smooth Moves – and my first encounter with the series! I first played this GBA debut while serving as a 3DS ambassador. Are you familiar with the other entries in the series, Lieutenant Reynolds?
Ollie: That! I dipped in and out of the WarioWare franchise, and if I remember correctly, I played DIY and Gold the most. I have very hazy memories of the original, but I don’t think I’ve actually played it myself; maybe i watched a friend play it during school or something. Who knows. It’s a cool series though!
Gavin: And you are a seasoned veteran, Commander?
Alana: Experienced is a generous term, sir, but I played Mega Microgame$ when it came out on the GBA. I haven’t played any WarioWare titles on 3DS or Switch – it’s a series I’ve kind of left behind. But I have some fond memories of this one, and especially Touched!.
Gavin: Interesting, you’re the only one who played this on the original hardware. Okay then, it’s worth starting with some constructive criticism, because I believe I speak for the crew when I say this one holds up extremely well. I was only going to tune in briefly via NSO to refresh my memory, but I ended up playing the whole thing.
So, the villains. Anyone?
Ollie: Heh… Honestly? Not really. Like you, I think it holds up very well. The ability to communicate exactly what is being asked of a player in literally seconds is amazing. I also love the whole vibe of this one. It kind of reminds me of the early MTV Animation shows, but that’s before Wario became known for, you know…farting and such.
Alana: I’m on the same page as you. I actually like how gimmick-free the original is. It’s really just a bunch of little mini-games thrown together with no microphone, trackpad, motion controls… just you, two buttons and a d-pad.
Jim: God, I better think of something negative to say then. Hmm… the Paper Plane minigame too addictive? I hands got too sweaty in the final level? I have nothing! I expected to play this one over the course of a week, but I ended up playing it from start to finish in one go. How more.
Gavin: Really. The ease of entry works so well. If you get the instruction wrong due to speed, there will be almost no confusion next time. As for the negativity, hmm. Compared to the others, Orbulon’s observation games aren’t exactly the best since Earl Grey. And the very slow ‘upload’ bar when you unlock the next round of games is pointless. That’s all I got.
Moving on, let’s talk about favorite characters and certain minigames. I personally have a soft spot for Jimmy T.
Jim: Jimmy is great and maybe the best defined character in the game, but choosing 9-Volt was the highlight for me. After playing the later entries in the series, I was wondering when all the Nintendo references would pop up, and here they are! I also like the shameless addon for the GBA SP upon completion.
Alana: Nintendo games are always highlight, isn’t it, Ensign? I will praise Mona for being this goofy, energetic character. It also has some of those classic WarioWare games, like eye drops, nose picking, fried eggs. I love it when WarioWare gets silly. But I hate nails and hammers.
Ollie: The Nintendo games are really nice, but I have to admit that I prefer the more original custom games. There’s a sense of the unknown when you first play them that is missing from those established Nintendo themed games. I favorite characters are Dribble & Spitz, purely because I love the effect of the rain on the taxi windshield as the wipers clean it. It looks so cool!
