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He’s back but even more fun.
Last May, Nintendo released Wario Ware Inc. Mega Game$ for the Game Boy Advance to an unsuspecting audience. This review will focus mostly on how the game has been updated for Gamecube. If you want to read all about the GBA version, click here.
Basically, what you do in Wario Ware is complete over two hundred five-second “microgames.” As in, you have five seconds to realize what you needed to do from the one-word instructions and successfully complete it. Mega Party Games is the supreme version of Wario Ware Inc. It includes every single “micro-game” from its GBA counterpart but includes plenty of new multiplayer ideas to put that “Party” in the title to good use. Best of all, Nintendo released it for a budget $30 price.
The single-player portion of the game is basically what GBA players played last year. If you played it, you’ll notice that some of the fun is gone since the much-needed shock value is no longer there. If you didn’t play the GBA version, brace yourself for the craziness of Wario Ware. When you get some friends to play with you, though, you’ll find that Wario Ware is quite different and still a blast. There are a number of modes to play through. Here is a breakdown of the most fun.
In “Wobbly Bobbly,” you’ll play Wario Ware’s multiplayer games. The winner of the multiplayer game will then play a single-player game. If they win, a turtle is added to the stacks of the other players. If they lose, a small turtle is added to their own stack. After the mini-games, everyone has to balance their stack of turtles. Those that do so, survive into the next round.
In “Survival Fever,” everyone is in a club and will get randomly selected by a spotlight to complete a microgame. If that person does it successfully, the spotlight moves on. If that person fails, that person loses audience members. Fail three times and you lose.
In “Balloon Bang”, one player will play mini-games while the other players pump a balloon. If the competing player wins, they can then start pumping. If they fail, they keep playing until they win. The person caught playing when the balloon pops, well, loses.
In “Listen to the Doctor,” you’ll receive instructions like striking a certain pose and what not and you’ll actually have to do it, in person. The other players are asked to clap (by pressing A), if you did as you were told.
There are even more modes included. In “Milky Way Delirium” players complete microgames to collect icons that are needed to win the game’s version of Tic-Tac-Toe. “Card-E Cards” has players picking cards, completing microgames while trying to make sure no one steals their cards. In “Jump Forever”, you’ll be jumping rope with as many as fifteen other players. Lastly, “Outta My Way” has one player trying to beat a microgame while the other players move around trying to block his/her view.
Wario Ware wasn’t bad looking on GBA, although you couldn’t tell much due to the GBA’s technical shortcomings when compared to Gamecube. On the Gamecube though, you need to deal with a much larger resolution which only amplifies the disadvantages of the original version. Luckily, Nintendo added some new art and animations for the characters and some of the microgames have new border art to eliminate unnecessary zooming-in.
The sound portion comes mostly from the GBA version of the game, although they do sound better now, largely thanks to there being much more space in the Gamecube disc.
Wario Ware is an incredibly fun game, there’s no denying that. But much like Nintendo’s Mario Party series (which interestingly enough is now going handheld) you’ll need to you have some friends to play with to get the most out of it. If you’re interested solely in the single-player version, I would recommend that you get the GBA version. The microgames work best when you can move around and not be stuck to your TV. If you do get some friends who can live with some of the crazy stuff found in the game, you’ll have hours and hours of fun. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Apr 12, 2004
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