WarioWare Gold

WarioWare Gold is a greatest hits of 300+ microgames from the series. I recognised some games from Touched (DS) and Smooth Moves (Wii) which are the other games in the series that I have played. The game is a sequence of quick microgames; each one usually is completed with a basic action and you have a few seconds to complete it. It’s not about raw skill; it’s more about recognition and reactions, so you get better with practice/familiarity.

The graphics are usually simplistic, but there’s a whole range of graphical styles which add to the madness. The content of the games can be absurd. It’s all about being quirky/zany.

Initially, there’s 3 sections, you have Mash League, Tilt League, and Touch League with 5 characters in each. When you play these for the first time, you just have to beat the “boss stage” to finish and move on to the next. After that, you can endlessly play it with increasing speed to set a high score. Each League has an intro and ending cinematic which is fully voice acted rather than the usual Nintendo style of single sounds.

When you complete all the Leagues, then there are a few more that open up which are a combination of the same games. Once you complete them, then there are more of these remixes, with some interesting gimmicks. One has the games alternating on the screens, another has a shared timer so the quicker you complete a game, the more time you have in total. What makes the remix leagues more difficult is that you have to switch control schemes, so you will be switching between pressing buttons, tilting, tapping, and it also introduces some blowing ones too for extra confusion.

Whenever you play, you are rewarded with coins. These are used on the random machine which churns out a prize. These can be viewed or played with in the Toy room. These can be various types of mini games, music, pictures. It’s a really random collection of content, but they are all simple distractions.

I loved “Touched!” on the original Nintendo DS, and this is very similar. However, the novelty of the craziness has worn off for me, so I think that was the main reason I didn’t enjoy it as much. It is a great game to pick up and play for very short periods of time. I often found myself playing it for 5 minutes here and there, and will no doubt return to it year after year.