On May 26, 2003, Nintendo gave the people of the United States something the Japanese people had for a while: a new video game. This wasn't your standard game, where you get one objective (Get the Princess' voice back before she blows up the whole world with her blabbermouth!) and go on a long epic journey to complete the task. Instead, this game focused more on unlocking zillions of tasks and trying to get high scores in each task. The focus was on super-duper-simple controls that anyone could master in one second, and super-duper-fast gameplay that never relented. Reflexes needed to be fine-tuned to the ultimate degree if one was to become the master of the game. The game was Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Microgame$!

Earlier this May, Nintendo gave us the sequel: Wario Ware: The Movie. It starred Bob Saget as Wario, Britney Spears as Mona, and Joe Pesci as Dribble.

Ok, so that's balderdash. As of yet, Wario Ware has not been made into a movie. But it did get a sequel, under the name Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party *insert confetti here* Game$! From day one, the selling point of this sequel has been one thing alone: new ways for up to four people to pit their wits against each other, all while having a crazy time.

But is this game good?

This Review uses a scale of 1 to 7, because I always did that before and I'm too lazy to change now. 1 is bad. 7 is good. 4 is average. But before I give any rankings, I'll provide a not-so-brief description of the gameplay.

Just about everything here revolves around microgames. All of the 213 microgames from GBA Wario Ware are back. In case you don't know, a microgame is a very short game. An instruction is displayed on the screen, and then, using only the D-pad (or, on the GameCube version, either analog stick) and the A button, you have about three seconds to complete that task. For example, one microgame tells you to "Catch!" and displays a hand at the top holding a stick and a hand at the bottom without one. When the top hand lets go of the stick, you must press A at the right time to catch it. The exceptions are some IQ games where you have seven seconds to win, and some "Boss" games which are much longer. These boss games only affect a few parts of Single Player mode, however. They never appear in multiplayer.

As I said, the biggest change is the presence of new multiplayer games, each of which revolves around mastery of the three-second (or seven-second) microgames that made the GBA version so famous. There are eight different main games in multiplayer, each of which is themed around a different character.

Survival Fever: This is Jimmy's game. Good when you want to get in a quick game with your friends. Simply watch the bouncing spotlight, and, if it lands on you, try not to lose the upcoming microgame. Lose three times, and you're out. The rules are simple enough that anyone who's familiar with the microgames can play this easily, although it's rather rough on beginners, since it gets very fast very quickly. This game has a high degree of skill. However, a sabotage factor is also present, as players who are eliminated may block the screen for the other players to make them lose, making this game good for 3- or 4-player brawls.

Outta My Way!: With a title like that, I would have guessed this was Dribble and Spitz's game (since they are cabbies), but I was wrong. Actually, Wario hosts this one. Each player plays 15 microgames, and must win as many as possible while their opponents try to block important parts of the screen to make him lose. Whoever wins the most microgames wins the game. Let's face it; sabotaging your opponents' attempts at victory is much more fun than just assisting your own attempt at victory. Very fun for multiplayer melees. All microgames are at their slowest speeds, so the characters blocking the screen may have to work for their victory if the person playing the games is really good. :)

Card-e Cards: 9-Volt's fast-paced game that combines luck and skill. Players take turns drawing cards with microgames on them until one of them gets the e-Reader. That player must win all of the microgames on all of the drawn cards to keep the cards; otherwise, they are lost, as well as any cards the player already had. Meanwhile, as one guy plays games, the other people can use accurate timing on their A buttons to steal cards from that person, or from each other. The person with the most cards when all cards are drawn wins. Being able to steal cards is a very fun gimmick, as it gives everyone something to do. There's a good amount of luck, but skill is also pretty important if you want to win. :)

Balloon Bang: Created by Dr. Crygor, master of photorealism in video games, this is one of those weird games where one person loses and everyone else wins. One person plays microgames on the TV, while the other players pump air into a balloon. You must keep playing microgames until you win, in which case the next person has to play and you get to start pumping. When enough air has gotten into the balloon, it will explode, and the poor sap who is on the TV will lose, while everyone else wins. It's perfect for when several people just want to have fun. Since this 4-player game has three winners, you're much more likely to win this game, so if you can't seem to win other modes, try this one out for a self-esteem boost. :)

Wobbly Bobbly: A strange game from Kat and Ana. Everyone starts out with one turtle. A multiplayer minigame is played. The winner of that game plays a microgame at a somewhat fast speed. Win, and all of your opponents get turtles. Lose, and you get a small turtle. Then, everyone stands on all of their turtles and must press the D-Pad left and right to stay atop the stack for a certain period of time without falling OFFFFFFF. . . *splat* The process repeats until one person is left, who is the winner. The multiplayer minigames are interesting, ranging from unusual skill games to games of chance, and most are easy to figure out. (I can't seem to figure out how to do the one where you tease the cat, though.) The sabotage factor is seen again, as players who fall off become turtles. As a turtle, you may move left and right while the other players are trying to keep balance, and use your A button to disrupt their balance. Also, you can still play the multiplayer minigames, and if you win, then all survivors gets turtles automatically. Hence, this makes for a rather hectic 3- or 4-player game.

Milky Way Delirium: THIS is the game from Dribble and Spitz, and combines Wario Ware microgames with a strategy board game in the same way that Mini-Game Wars combines MP5 mini-games with a strategy board game. A 5x5 grid of asteroids represents the battlefield. On your turn, you shoot an asteroid, which knocks 1 off of its number. To continue making shots, you must win a series of microgames. If you win enough microgames to reduce it to 0, you claim the asteroid with your token, and your turn ends. (If you sandwich opposing tokens between your own, you take them, too.) If you lose a microgame, your turn ends, and you don't get a token. The number is still reduced, though, so if you took it down to 1, then lose, allowing the next guy to take it without playing a single microgame, then it stinks to be you. At various times, a microgame competiton will be played for poaching rights; the last player standing gets to replace any opposing token with their own, and possibly sandwich more tokens to claim them, also. Strangely, the game doesn't end when the board is full. Instead, whoever has the most tokens must defeat a robot by winning one more microgame. The leader's tokens disappear, but the remaining ones become asteroids which block the microgame screen. If this microgame is won, then the player wins; otherwise, ALL of his opponents win automatically. The poaching rights allow for reversals of fortune, and the final showdown against the robot, while a strange gimmick for sure, adds some suspense to the game, as the player with the most tokens doesn't win automatically. This is more interesting in 3- or 4-player, because the asteroids have higher numbers and you need to win more microgames to get them (in 2-player, most of the asteroids are 2's, so they require you to win only one microgame to claim them, although the corners and middle edges are 5 and 3, respectively). This game can take a while (it took me a good while to explain!), but it's worth it. :)

Listen to the Doctor: In Mona's game, each player gets four visits to the doctor. On each visit, the doctor will give orders, which range from the simple "While yawning" to the inane "As if you've just run a full marathon", then a microgame will appear. The player visiting the doctor will play the microgame. The other players will watch him to see if he's obeying the doctor. After the microgame, they will use their A buttons to applaud him, based on how well/humorously he obeyed the instructions. A really funny performance deserves as much button mashing as your thumb can handle, while a horrible one isn't worth expending any energy. When everyone has had four visits, the winner is the player with the most applause. The game relies very little on microgame abilities and very highly on your ability to be silly in order to get the others to applaud you. (Unless you cheat by stealing their controller and mashing A after you play. If they have a turbo controller, all the better. Of course, they could cheat back by unplugging their controller.) This is NOT a mode for serious Wario Ware players. It's a FANTASTIC mode for when four people want to let loose and act stupid, though. :)

All for One: This is not a competition, but instead a cooperative challenge that requires everyone to work together. The lights have gone out in Orbulon's ship, making it impossible for him to play his Game Boy Advance system... but wait! In a strange twist of fate, his friends have flashlights which can shed light on the situation. While one person plays microgames, all the other players use their flashlights to help him see what he's doing. Each lost microgame means the flashlight loses one of its three batteries. The goal is to get through as many games as possible before the flashlight loses all three batteries. Competition causes fighting. Fighting causes death matches. Death matches cause death. Hence, All for One is a great mode to play if you don't want anyone to die. The game keeps track of high scores, too, so there's incentive to keep on trying. My highest 4-player score is 35, with myself playing the games. :)

There are also four other multiplayer competitions, but they're not as fun. The two GC versions of Jump Forever reek as much as the GBA version did, and the 1-controller version of Survival Fever isn't nearly as much fun as the 4-controller version, although someone who really likes to try new things might find it interesting to get 16 people in one room to see who reigns supreme. But I must admit that the Paper Plane Race is an unusual concept for a multiplayer game. It's quite a bit more interesting than the GBA Paper Plane full game, as now there's incentive to get into a more vertical position to progress towards the finish line faster, at the risk of making it easier to hit obstacles. (BTW, hitting an obstacle doesn't eliminate you, although you're delayed for a few seconds.) And the sound of the paper planes revving up is a bit comical here. Paper Plane Race isn't as much fun as the other multiplayer modes, but it's a lot better than Jump Forever (although that's not really saying much. I'd be willing to bet that Ho-oh 59 would prefer Zebco Fishing over Jump Forever.).

The single player mode isn't very different from the GBA single player mode. Gone are the full games like Sheriff, Pyoro, and Dr. Wario (most of which stunk anyway). But all 213 microgames from the original game are here. You have a Games mode, and an Album mode. I'll describe Album mode first. You may pick any of the 213 microgames, and either "Beat the Record", or "Practice" it. First off, there are 16 save files on the game. Not one as in the GBA game, but a whopping 16. That means multiple players may play on the same memory card and have separate high scores. In the GBA version, if multiple players played the same Game Pak, then only the SINGLE best score would be recorded, with no way of knowing WHO got the score, or WHAT the top scores of the other players were. This is a MAJOR plus, IMO.

Also notice: you do not have to have played the microgames already in Games mode to unlock them in Album mode. They're all there from the start. This means you can focus less on trying to unlock every microgame in what feels like a Wario Ware lottery, and more on obtaining records. Yes, the clear scores in "Beat the Record" mode are the same as before, meaning most of the flowers are quite easy to obtain, but if the clear scores were too high, then frustration would kick in with harder microgames, so lower scores aren't a bad idea. Unlike the GBA version, if you pause the game and then quit, your score at the time you paused is saved. This might make a difference to people who hate having to deliberately lose lives in the GBA game just for their score to count (although I don't know that many people who are like that).

The "practice" mode is great. You select a level and a speed, and then you repeatedly play the microgame at that speed and level until you're bored. At low speeds, it's good practice. At high speeds, this allows you to enjoy microgames like never before. I remember playing Dungeon Dilemma (one of my favorite microgames) at the highest speed once, and it was challenging. (I must disagree with CPF's Review that called this boss microgame a "no-brainer"; he apparently never played that one in Grid Mode. At higher speeds, you have less time to read the choices and discern which one is correct, and if you're too slow in selecting a command, the monster automatically wins. At the top speed, you have only about two seconds to choose the right answer.)

While I'm talking about microgames, I'll mention the music. The GC microgame music is pretty much identical to the GBA music. Some of it sounds strange at first, but you'll get used to it. As the microgames speed up, the music increases in tempo, but no longer does the pitch increase. I thought this added character to GBA Wario Ware, but I admit that it made some music (such as Hurry Hurdles and City Surfer) sound freaky/creepy. Since a lot of players are a bit more abhorrent of the increased pitch, this may have been a wise decision on Nintendo's part.

This leaves just the Games mode. At first, you get only Stage Clear, which is sadly lacking, I'm afraid. You start at the Introduction and play all of the Introduction microgames in a random order, with the boss being last. Like before, each time you lose a microgame, you lose a life. You must beat the boss to clear a stage. When you do, you gain a life, and move on a stage. The game ends when you either beat the last stage, or lose all of your lives. Unfortunately, this mode has no top scores like the GBA version's stages, so replayability is lower. You can try to beat all of the stages on one continue, or if you're daring, try to do it on one life, but that's it.

Beat that, and you get All Mixed Up mode. All microgames (except bosses) are jumbled together as you play for a high score. Lose four lives, and the game ends. This mode is pretty interesting. I think Lemmy asked for a mode like this. :)

Beat a certain score in All Mixed Up to open up Hard mode, which is identical to the GBA version. Beat a score there for Thrilling mode, which is... identical to the GBA version. Beat a certain score THERE for Time Trial, which is a very original way to play. You play a sequence of 20, 40, or 60 microgames. Each victory speeds up the microgames; each loss slows them down. Your goal is to get through them all as quickly as possible. Getting a good time gets harder as you go along, since you WANT the microgames to speed up in order for you to finish quickly, but that makes them harder to win, so you begin losing, and they begin getting slower. :)

From what I've read, the last single-player mode is opened up when you have flowers in all 213 microgames in Album mode. I've never opened up this mode yet.

So, what do I think of Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$? Here are some ratings.

Story: 1
I admit, the GBA version had much more of a storyline that the GC version has, but I'm not sure if this game really needs a storyline to be fun.

Graphics: 6.1
The microgame graphics are the same as before. In some games, they're good, and it's clear that they're meant to be good. In other games, they're not good, and it's clear that they're meant to be not good. The point of the game has never been to inspire awe with its beautiful graphics, but rather to make the player crack a smile. I think the graphics serve that purpose well. The graphics elsewhere in the game are good. For example, the graphics for the ten Multiplayer characters are all good; they look colorful without trying too hard to look nice. In fact, aside from just a few 3D images which are clearly drawn with polygons, no part of this game really tries too hard graphically. The game isn't supposed to be awe-inspiring to look at, but instead, it should be fun to look at. The game succeeds at that. If you play the game enough, you'll even unlock a couple of DVD-quality videos, which are pretty interesting to watch, despite being in Japanese. :)

Sound: 6.06
Again, as mentioned before, all the microgame music and sound effects are the same. All microgames have good music, despite them being short (3 or 7 seconds long!). As someone else mentioned, repetition is uncommon, as there are a lot of themes, so no theme gets really repetitive. Although I don't think any of the music is awe-inspiring, as mentioned before, the point of the game is to make the player smile, so the music doesn't have to be awe-inspiring. My favorite microgame BGM is probably the one from Petri Panic and Catterwall. Again, the music and sound outside of the microgames is just good enough. The Survival Fever theme is funky, while the theme that plays while the doctor gives you his orders is a little zany, which is a perfect match for a zany game. The game is supposed to be fun to listen to, and it is. I do, however, find Spitz's voice rather unspectacular. Another gripe is that, on my game anyway, in Dungeon Dilemma, there seems to be no fanfare when I win or lose. Hence, my victory doesn't feel very victorious. :)

Gameplay: 6.3
The gameplay is very original. As explained before, the gameplay focuses on giving you many tasks to perform at breakneck speed, rather than putting you on an epic journey to rescue Princess Insert-Name-Here. In fact, the entire game is loaded when you first turn it on, so that there are no loading times during gameplay. It's clear that Nintendo did this to preserve the game's quick pace. The idea of giving the player 200 different tasks to master instead of one long task is very original. The idea has only been done once before, in the GBA version of this game. :) And the concepts for the eight multiplayer games are all very good, although some are clearly more original than others. However, among all of the microgames and multiplayer games, you will find a bit of variety. Variety has never hurt a game, has it? :)

Difficulty: 7
Perfect. Most of the 213 microgames are very easy to learn, and the Album mode only makes it easier to get good at them. They are usually ridiculously easy at the slowest speed and lowest difficulty, but at higher speeds, expect more challenge. At the highest speed, just about every microgame is extremely challenging. Spunky Monkey is disappointingly easy, though. Anyone with sufficient patience and at least one finger can get 999 points on that. Just a few of the games, like Wario Kendo, Hopping Mad, Hammer Toss, and Pompeii Back, seem a little bit difficult, but hey, they can't all be easy. :) The multiplayer modes are also very easy to learn and play. Really, the true challenge here isn't learning the game, but mastering it. That's how a game should be.

Controls: 7
All you need is the Control Pad, A, and, on VERY rare occasions, B. And by rare, I mean rare. So far as I can tell, B is only used for going back in menus, and for taunting in Outta My Way. L and R are never used in gameplay; they only serve to speed up the scrolling messages. And you'll NEVER use X, Y, or Z. If you can't master these controls, then you're hopeless.

Replayability: 5.2
There are lots of records to get in one-player mode, so if you like getting records, then expect lots of playtime. And the multiplayer games are pretty fun, too. You never know when something strange will happen that will make the game memorable. For example, in one game of Milky Way Delirium I played, I had 19 asteroids, while my friend had 6, so I faced the robot. My final microgame was "Find My Behind" at level 3. However, one of my friend's asteroids completely covered up the bottom part of the top guy, so I had only a 1 in 3 shot of winning! Thankfully, luck was on my side, and I defeated the robot. :)

Fun Factor!: 7
The one-player mode is about as fun as the GBA game's one-player mode. They got rid of most of the horrific games, and added some good ones. I still kinda miss the high scores in Stage Clear mode. But the multiplayer games are all very fun to do, aside from Jump Forever, and the more people playing, the more fun you'll have. The most fun I have ever had in my life was when I played lots of 4-player Wario Ware games. I'm surprised that my friend's mother was able to get any sleep, considering all the raucous fun we had! Mostly all of the 213 microgames themselves are fun to play, which can only enhance the fun of the game, since they're such an important part of the proceedings.

Overall: 7
I think this game is splendid. It takes almost all of the good stuff from the GBA game, and filters out almost all of the stinky stuff, replacing it with much better stuff. The eight main games in multiplayer are super-fun, so if you can get two, three, or four Wario Ware addicts together, expect the game to last a while. The single-player mode hasn't changed much, so the game is still playable if you're alone. The two biggest flaws are the presence of Jump [BLEEPING] Forever and the absence of high scores in Stage Clear mode. However, ever since I first played the GBA game this January, I've been hooked. Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ ranks among my two favorite games of all time. (What's the other one? Dance Dance Revolution, of course. I'm not quite sure which one outranks the other.)

Recommendation:
In my not-so-humble opinion, this game is pretty fun. The single-player mode hasn't changed much at all, so if you own a GBA version and you have no friends with whom to play multiplayer, then this remake probably isn't worth buying. But if your friends are also Wario Ware lovers, and you own a GameCube already, then you should consider buying or renting the game so you can have a big multiplayer soiree! If you've never played Wario Ware before and have no friends who would play with you, then I don't think you'd want the GameCube version unless you own a GameCube and don't own a GBA or GB Player.

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