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The Lowdown
Pros: All new microgames with a cool twist feature.
Cons: The twist feature takes away from the diversity of games seen in
the previous Wario Ware.
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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Mawaru Made in Wario is Nintendo's follow up to the creative, albeit
strange title Wario Ware Megabucks. This time around the game has a
built in twist sensor, similar to the one found in Kirby's Tilt and
Tumble. Instead of using the D-pad you'll have to shake your Game Boy
Advance left or right and sometimes even spin your whole body around.
Since the game has this brand new hardware feature you can bet that most
of the games are built around tilting and spinning.This game is
actually comprised of 200 "microgames" in one package. Each microgame is
about a couple of seconds long and you're given no instructions on how
to play them. Basically, you'll figure them out by trial and error. Most
of them can be figured out using a little bit of video game intuition.
For instance one game has a stick figure holding up a mirror and a demon
flying around. It doesn't take long to figure out that you need to tilt
your GBA to angle the beam of light to hit the flying menace. Another
game has a sleeping kid with a bubble over his head. In this game you
need to press A at the right time to pop the bubble. Each microgame is
bare bones and really basic, but when you play them in a rapid fire game
after game fashion the title comes together.
Wario Ware Megabucks was known for having "unique" games like the one
where you have to place a finger in a nose and one where you have Wario
jump over a giant hotdog. Mawaru Made in Wario has games just as wacky.
One game has a person waiting to enter a bathroom stall and you have to
push A at the right time to make them move in the bathroom. One of the
boss fights takes the nose picking microgame one step further. In this
game you'll be controlling a giant robot who shoots finger missiles,
which you'll need to get into a huge floating nose that shoots boogers
at you. Strange yes, but funny at the same time.
Even though there are 200 games to try out most of them have the same
gameplay. You'll either be spinning the GBA around accurately, pressing
the A button at the right time or twirling the GBA as fast as you can.
The concept of spinning gets old fast, when you're doing the same thing
over and over. The first Wario Ware game had classic NES scenes built
in, with a number of different challenges. This game just doesn't have
that many "different" games. It's kind of like doing the same thing over
and over with a different setting.
WarioWare Megabucks didn't have the world's greatest graphics. In
fact many people criticized the game's bare bone graphics, line art,
stick figure characters. So Mawaru Made in Wario and WarioWare Megabucks
aren't eye popping for the GBA, but the game has a style all its own.
The simple graphics match the simple gameplay. The bizarre animation
style keeps up with the humor of the game. No one is saying that the
graphics are great, but they're not great for a reason.
As a whole package, Mawaru Made in Wario is a pretty fun game to play. It's got something
unique, the tilt sensor. However, it would have been nice to have the
option to use the control pad instead of being forced to shake your GBA
around. The other issue with Mawaru Made in Wario is that you can get
through the game really quickly. The two hundred or so microgames can be
master in a weekend and you can collect everything in the game within a
week.
The game and all of the menus are in Japanese. However, the menus are
simple to navigate through and are in katakana. Most importantly, you
won't need to know any Japanese to play through the microgames unlike
the first Made in Wario title.
US Bound?
It seems likely that Nintendo of America will release this game in the
US. The only wild card is if the tilt sensor can work with the upcoming
Nintendo DS or not.
Overall
Mawaru Made in Wario has a new twist in its unique microgame concept.
While still fun, Mawaru Made in Wario just doesn't hold up to the
original title.
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