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Fans of mini-game madness shouted in delight today when Nintendo announced a new Warioware game during its Nintendo Direct event at E3 2021.
Titled "WarioWare: Get It Together!," the upcoming September 10th game will be available on Nintendo Switch. Seeing as the series hasn't received an entry since the 3DS' Warioware Gold, fans of Wario and his Microgame crew will be ratcheting up the hype for Nintendo.
In addition to single-player play, Nintendo has confirmed that players will be able to enjoy two-player co-op multiplayer as well. An alleged 200 microgames await players at breakneck pace, ensuring the staple frantic enjoyment of Warioware is alive and well.
Warioware: A brief history of the franchise up to this point
Hailing originally from the Game Boy's Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario has been a permanent fixture in Mario Bros. properties since 1992. He returned in Warioland: Super Mario Land 3 and Japan's Mario and Wario before spearheading his own puzzle game with Wario's Woods for the Super Nintendo. For much of the 90's and early 2000's, Wario would appear alongside the Mario Bros. cast in games such as Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Mario Tennis.
In 2003, Director Hirofumi Matsuoka and Producer Takehiro Izushi geared Wario up for another new avenue of enjoyment. This came in the form of WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames! Based on the Sound Bomber mode of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, the game was developed largely in secret as a labor of love before being presented to publishers at Nintendo.
At the time of release, WarioWare's quick-paced minigame mayhem was a novel concept that would eventually inspire several other games, particularly in the mobile space with the rise of smartphones.
WarioWare's popularity skyrocketed, and it became one of the highest-selling Game Boy Advance titles of all time. A sequel was fast-tracked in 2004 known as WarioWare: Twisted! which made use of the Game Boy Advance's attachable rotation sensor and rumble pack.
Twisted! would also go on to make the top-selling list for Game Boy Advance games, and it was only a matter of time before Nintendo started thinking bigger for the future of the franchise.
The next entry in the series was WarioWare: Touched! in late 2004 which made use of the Nintendo DS' touch screen hardware to interact with the microgames even more. New major characters such as Ashley, Mike and Red were introduced.
The game also featured obtainable gifts by achieving certain tasks, adding to the game's replay value. In retrospect, gaming media has considered it one of the best games to utilize the DS touchscreen and microphone hardware alongside titles such as Kirby: Canvas Curse and Metroid Prime: Hunters.
WarioWare finally hit a non-mobile console in 2006-7 with the Nintendo Wii's WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Similar to previous installments in the series, Smooth Moves made full use of the hardware available, and players used the Nintendo Wiimote to move their way through Microgames using the Wii's motion controls. Though shorter than expected given the 200 Microgames it shipped with, Smooth Moves sold well and the WarioWare franchise rolled on.
In 2008-9 came the Nintendo DSi's WarioWare: Snapped!, which relied on the incorporation of the Nintendo DSi camera to mimic actual player movements.
A year later came the Nintendo DS' WarioWare D.I.Y, allowing players to design their own Microgames complete with rules and even limited music capabilities somewhat similar to Mario Paint. As the 2000's began to come to a close, however, WarioWare would see a short break in game entries until 2013.
When the Nintendo WiiU released in 2012, Intelligent Systems and Nintendo aimed to create the "spiritual successor" to WarioWare and its successes. Mimicking the title of the Nintendo series Game & Watch Gallery, Nintendo dubbed the new entry Game & Wario.
The game utilized the WiiU's gamepad, while also being playable for up to five people. Unfortunately, this spinoff failed to capture the critical success that Nintendo had aimed for, and most outlets panned it as only having a few decent Microgames and being cheapened compared to WarioWare.
In 2018, WarioWare would throw its fandom another bone. Not with a necessarily new title, but with WarioWare Gold. This release was branded under a new name but compiled several older Microgames (along with some new arrivals) from previous WarioWare titles into one release.
With over 300 Microgames and taking advantage of the Nintendo 3DS touchscreen, 3D controls, camera and microphone, Gold returned to classical form for WarioWare fans.
With WarioWare: Get It Together! set to be released in less than two months, there is no doubt that fans will rejoice in the return of Mario's comical doppelganger. Sometimes simplicity is best when it comes to enjoying video games, and few series can encapsulate that pleasure in quite the way WarioWare does.
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