What could be seen as capitalizing on the less than three-second attention span of every gamer, Nintendo released Wario Ware Inc: Mega Microgame$ for the Game Boy Advance.
I never got the whole "Wario" thing. Yeah, great, he's Mario's long-lost evil twin brother with a bad attitude and a bit of a weight problem. We all have attitude problems and quite possibly weight problems, so what's not to like.
Getting to the game, Wario Ware features well over 200 different games that only last no more than five seconds to play (see top). They range from stopping Wario from spinning on a turntable to catching a stick when dropped. Seems simple enough. No real strategy required. That's how they suck you in.
Wario Ware is extremely fast moving. You jump from game-to-game fast enough to the point you forget about the game you previously played.
You start on a hopscotch style map with a different character that has developed games for Wario that fit into a specific genre. The funniest level was the Mona level which the game labeled the "Strange Genre." The games in this level include threading a needle, sniffing up a huge piece of snot, brushing teeth, and even hammering a nail without hitting your hand.
My favorite level was the old school level that featured all the Nintendo classics like Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, and even Robbie the Robot. I nearly started crying when I saw Robbie because I still have one of those.
The gameplay is simple enough. Press the A button or use the directional pad or both. To catch the toast, press A. To dodge the arrows, use the directional pad. To shoot down the enemy spaceships, use both.
Considering the simplicity of the various games, gameplay can pretty intense. I thought at different about why I missed the shot, or how couldn't i have gotten the fingers up the nose. They were aimed perfectly.
To add to the fun of the game, different bonus games can be aquired by finishing through different. There are four multi-player games. You don't even need another Game Boy. All you have to do is use the L and R buttons.
My favorite bonus is Dr. Wario. Wario Ware version of the classic puzzler. This is a full version of Dr. Mario except you have Wario in the lab coat instead of Mario.
Believe it or not, but the music is really good. As the levels get harder, the music gets faster and sometimes more nerve-racking. When playing some of the classics like Zelda, they have music from the actual game. Very good atttention to detail.
The graphics are good for being on a Game Boy. They are totally cartoony, but I didn't expect anything less. The game screens had that same attention to detail as the sound. In some of the games, I feel like I'm sitting at my NES playing these games I grew up on.
All-in-all, this game should defintely be in your collection. It's fun and mindless and chocked full of nostalgia. It makes you feel like a kid again, even with the instruction book which feels more like a kid's sticker book.
Ryan Eilders is the Webmaster and video games reporter for the ASU Web Devil. You can reach him at ryan.eilders@asu.edu.
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