Disturbed Memories

Ah, Wario Ware. I remember when I accidentally came across you while buying my GBA SP. You had a colourful box, with people on it I didn’t know. I had heard nothing of you, as Nintendo’s advertising for you was basically non-existent.

Were you ever a surprise. At first, I was puzzled. You told me to jump, but how? You told me to fly a little bird onto clouds, but how? You never left me your info! For this, I fell in love with you. You were a mystery; a mystery to be solved. Once I had unlocked your secrets, you showed me old NES games and crude toilet humour. You were unique, yet spawned many sequels, which themselves were unique. For all this I owe you; I owe you a dramatic intro. Paid in full, Mr. Wario Ware…paid in full.

The Premise

The idea of Wario Ware games is simple: smush hundreds of 2-second games onto a cartridge, and get players to play them in succession, while gradually speeding up the gameplay. It sounds ridiculous, and it is. It’s the best ridiculous you have ever played. Add in quirky themes (picking noses), and the nostalgia factor (old NES games in mini-game format), and you have a recipe for gold, my friend.

The Wii version is no different, supplying all of the familiar elements. Of course, the move has been made to 3D motion sensing, to accommodate the Wiimote. Considering the game has come out so early in the life of the console, and couple that with the fact that the Wiimote is an entirely different kind of input device, the smoothness (pardon the pun) of the game could have been in question. Would the controllers react to varying degrees of motion, as different players of different sizes played? Would the games be glitchy, not allowing even the proper actions to be registered? Thankfully, by some miracle that most third parties have not been able to grasp, Nintendo has come through.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee

In the game you will be pushing people over, hooking fish, boxing, picking noses, spraying winners of a race with champagne, making Mario jump and Link land, all with the same device. This game, above any other released so far, shows the versatility of the Wiimote.

There are so many different ways of using the Wiimote that they had to come up with a way to organize all the different ways to hold it. You will be holding the Wiimote like a remote control, like a steering wheel, like a dumbbell, like a french fry and many other ways. Luckily, before each mini game starts you will be shown exactly how to hold the Wiimote in your hands. The game doesn’t lose its trademark speed either, as it gives you just enough time to turn the Wiimote in your hands, and get ready for the next mini-game.

The controls are great, and I have yet to come across any problems while playing. Every motion I have performed has been registered, and this is something considering the fact that in some other games, switching from quick to slower movements sometimes causes the software not to register the slower motion. Bottom line: the game allows you to forget about the controls, and just have fun.

Wii would like to play

The game includes some multiplayer support, but no games use multiple controllers. You will be either passing the Wiimote back and forth as you both compete separately, or you will be using the Nunchuk while the other player uses the Wiimote. This is kind of a let down, as it would have been fun if there were some sort of real multiplayer games. Even cooperative games where both players would need to work together to complete a quick task would have been a nice addition. The game has always mainly been a single player experience, but hopefully the next Wario Ware will be full-on multiplayer, and not just about taking turns.

Although you will finish the game quickly, you will no doubt go back and play again and again. It’s especially fun for making a fool of yourself in front of others. For that reason it is a decent party game, but nothing like Wii Sports; simply for the fact that watching people do funny moves while trying to accomplish tasks isn’t as fun as actually doing it with them. The game definitely deserves praise for its varying uses of the Wiimote and its very off-beat games. Not to mention the fact that it was released so early in the Wii’s lifetime. If you want to see what that controller can do, this game will show you, and you will have fun with it.