It’s been a while since we’ve had a new WarioWare game to play and WarioWare Gold has come along to fill the void. The 3DS release incorporates games from across the WarioWare franchise including; WarioWare Inc Mega Microgames, WarioWare: Twisted, WarioWare: Touched, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, WarioWare: D.I.Y, and Game & Wario as well as some all-new ones.
All up, WarioWare Gold offers over 300 microgames to sink your teeth into, which is a hefty amount. As is standard with this franchise, while many of the microgames are pure genius, some are absolute rubbish.
Thankfully, the latter seems to be the minority.
WarioWare Gold Review
If you’ve never played WarioWare before, let me give you a quick run-down.
Players are tasked with completing a succession of ‘microgames’ at increasing speed. What’s a microgame? Like a mini-game, it focuses on one mechanic, but instead of lasting a minute or so, it lasts only a few seconds.
Examples of some of the microgames in WarioWare Gold include using the stylus to pluck an exceedingly long nose hair, jumping over an obstacle at the right moment, using the 3DS’ gyro to balance a ball on a platform and playing a game of Simon-says.
Every microgame in WarioWare Gold is like those that came before it. You’re given very little time to figure out what to do and minimal instructions. Thankfully, the microgames are generally very straightforward so they’re easy to figure out.
In the event you’re stumped, you’ll continue onto the next microgame with one less life.
Gyro No-No
WarioWare Gold attempts to make the most of the 3DS hardware by including multiple control styles. There are games that rely on the face buttons, others that use the stylus and yet others that use the gyro.
These motion controlled games are by far the worst in WarioWare Gold. Not only did I find the motion controls unresponsive most of the time, it was also much more difficult to work out just which motion to use.
Do I need to shake the 3DS or move it side to side? Does it need to be tilted or held still? These issues work to compound the motion control problems and meant that I actively avoided the gyro microgames.
This takes out a good chunk of the game, about one-third in total. Your taste may differ to mine, but in my experience with WarioWare Gold, gyro microgames are no fun at all.
It’s fortunate then that the stylus and button microgames are huge amounts of fun.
Pushing Buttons, Drawing Lines
WarioWare Gold offers plenty of options for playing. You can jump into the campaign and play in the different cups or you can head to the other menus and view art, listen to music, play special minigames etc.
From playing the campaign, you’ll have earned coins which you can spend to unlock additional content.
One of the best unlockable features is the ability to re-record the cutscenes using your own voice. WarioWare Gold is the first title in the series to feature full voice acting. It’s really well done and definitely adds to the “charm” of Wario and his cast of characters.
Being able to layer your own voice over the top will definitely tickle younger fans, but older players like myself still got a kick out of it.
By and large, WarioWare Gold is a great collection of microgames with some funny moments and an oddly charismatic Wario. It’s certainly much better than Game & Wario.
WarioWare Gold was reviewed using a retail cartridge provided by Nintendo.
PowerUp! Reviews
Game Title: WarioWare Gold
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Over 300 microgames - 7.8/107.8/10
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Not all that much new - 6.2/106.2/10
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Still great fun - 8.8/108.8/10
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Motion controls are horribl - 3/103/10
