WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (GameBoy Advance & GameCube) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 424

Get ready for randomness!

I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!,[a] stylized as WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! and known in the PAL region as WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania, is a minigame compilation video game for the Game Boy Advance. The debut title in the WarioWare series, the game is about rapid completion of "microgames", short minigames given to the player consecutively and with increasing speed per each game complete. Developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo, the game was inspired by the "Sound Bomber" mode of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio for the Nintendo 64DD. The game was produced by Takehiro Izushi and directed by Hirofumi Matsuoka. Matsuoka was also the director of Polygon Studio. Mega Microgames! was released in 2003; in Japan in March, in North America and Europe in May and in Australia in June.

Upon its release, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! received critical acclaim, winning GameSpot's Editor's Choice Award and Most Innovative Game Award of 2003, among other awards. The game went on to receive a multiplayer-focused remake called WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! on the GameCube.

The game went on to spawn the WarioWare series of video games, which all have the same formula of gameplay as the debut title, with the exception of Game & Wario. "Pyoro" and "Paper Plane", two bonus minigames that appear in Mega Microgames!, were re-worked into two full titles for the Nintendo DS and sold as DSiWare as Bird & Beans and Paper Airplane Chase. In addition, some of the microgames featured in Mega Microgames! also appear in WarioWare Gold. The game has also been re-released through the Virtual Console on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

WarioWare's inception began during the development of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, a successor to Mario Paint being developed for the Nintendo 64DD; a game where players could create three-dimensional models and animate them. A feature of Polygon Studio was a mode called "Sound Bomber", where the player completes rapid consecutive "microgames". This idea would be re-used for Mega Microgames! for a full-fledged video game.[9] In addition, many of the mini-games in Polygon Studio bear heavy resemblance to some microgames found in Mega Microgames!.[10]

The development team used post-it notes in order to come up with microgame ideas; whenever someone had an idea for a microgame, they would write it down on a note and stick it to the director's table. The game became well-known around the department, as other members not working on the game gave their ideas as well.[9] Microgames that were too obscene or "too Japanese" were cut to make sure all people playing could understand the game.[9] As individual programmers coded individual microgames, each microgame has a vastly different artstyle.[9]

At first, the game was developed without the knowledge or consent of Nintendo. A team inside Nintendo R&D1 came up with the idea and started developing the game for the Game Boy Advance without their manager's knowledge. Later, they presented the game to their manager, who said "okay" to the idea.[9] According to Yoshio Sakamoto, Wario was chosen as the game's protagonist as he "is always doing stupid things and is really idiotic".

[milkdribbly]

Well, to each their own. Wario Ware is one of my favorite Nintendo series for all the reasons you didn't care for XD It's arcade-y and fast, I don't mindlessly zone out when I play. Unfortunately, NES remix just didn't do it for me. I found it repetitive and got bored of the same challenge, slightly altered on the same board over and over... but hey that may be what people like about it. It just made me want to play the actual games so I could progress and get somewhere lol