Wario Ware Inc. Mega Microgames Review by Chao of Time
Game Boy Advance Reviews
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Wario Ware Inc. Mega Microgames Review

When you first play or hear of this game, you’ll either be confused or enthralled. One second, you’re picking your nose, the next, you’re shaking hands with your dog. And soon enough, you’ll have parked your car, bent a spoon, and played a quick game of Curling. Here’s hoping you have a high tolerance for insanity.

4, 8, 16, 32, pick any number of bits you want, they’ll be in there somewhere. Some of the sprites are taken from actual photos, which compliments the general weirdness found in this game.

Let me ramble a little here: I never play GameBoy games with the sound. Metroid Fusion is hell on the ears. On a whim, I turned up the sound during a game. Now, when I play Wario Ware, those speakers go all the way up, and they stay that way. I’m especially fond of the tune that goes along with the Dribble and Spitz levels.

Wario expresses an extreme interest in the game Pyoro, the subject of a TV news report, mainly on how it sells so well. So he decides he’ll make a game of his own. Wario rushes out, buys a computer, and begins programming. Five seconds later, he gets bored and falls asleep. And so he decides to enlist the help of some friends so that he doesn’t have to do all the work himself.. If this was everything to the story, I’d give this a five, but that’s not the case. Each character has there own little plot that goes with there game set. This isn’t “Final Fantasy” caliber, but this isn’t an RPG. Judging by the speed of the gameplay, anything that long would lose the fans within seconds. The little stories are amusing, amusing enough to knock this rating up a few points.

There are 200+ microgames, as you’ve probably heard several times before, if you’re reading this. Just to be clear: they’re not minigames, they’re MICROgames. “Micro” is a very appropriate term in this case, mainly because the games are 4 seconds long! This means you have about one second to figure out what you’re expected to do, and another three to do it. There are also two second breaks in between games, and if you use those two seconds wisely, you’ll be fully prepared for the next game (meaning you blinked, scratched your head, or took a drink of your soda).

Most of the games fall into one of these categories: 1. Press the “A” button as much as possible. 2. Press the “A” button at the right time. 3. Press the D-pad buttons in a set order. I know what you’re thinking. “How can anybody find something that stupid FUN?!”. Well, I’m not so sure myself, but it is. This simplicity is also reflected in the directions for games. One word, such as “Dodge”, “Enter”, or “Build”, flashes on screen as you begin a new game.

Okay, bare with me here. In this game, you are required to use Your directional pad and the A button. Of course, the menus require a bit more movement of your fingers, but they don’t time those. Two thumbs, two things to press. And sometimes you only need one.

This is the epitome of what a handheld game should be. People make RPGs and other complicated games that you need to set aside an hour of your life to advance in. These are fine for long car trips or when you’re lounging around at home. And that’s fine, but it’s not that great a way of using the portability of it. With Wario Ware, you can pass a few minutes at a time when you wait for a bus, or keep a ling session up for an hour on your plane.

Buy or Rent: Buy

This game is simply magnificent, and is the perfect companion for your sleek little GBA:SP. Refer to the previous paragraph for my justifications of this statement.

Graphics: 9/10 Beautiful, save for the Atari-esque 4-bit parts.
Sound: 8.5/10 Catchy!
Story: 8/10 Not an epic by any standards, but humorous.
Gameplay: 10/10 Fast, addictive, wacky.
Controls: 10/10 Two thumbs, two things to press. You do the math.
Replay Value: 8/10 You will find yourself playing this over and over and over.
Overall: 10/10 A game which satisfies every expectation for a piece of handheld software.

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