Mood:
happyNow Playing: Wario Cooly
Topic: Nintendo DS Games
Check out wario ware. December 03, 2004 - If you haven't already noticed by now, the Nintendo DS has finally had its launch in the Japanese territories, nearly two weeks after North America's been enjoying healthy sales of the system. Other than Super Mario 64 DS and Mr. Driller Drill Spirits, Japan's launch line-up is entirely different than what stateside gamers have experienced, and one of the most attractive games in Japan's launch batch is the fourth game in the Made in Wario series, what we'll be getting in the US early next year as Wario Ware Touched! We've put a significant amount of playtime into the Japanese version today as well as snagged a huge batch of screens and video...all of which you can check out by clicking the media link in this article.
Made in Wario debuted on the Game Boy Advance a couple of years ago, and its quirky focus on rapid-fire mini-challenges of bizarre circumstances made the series one of the coolest series Nintendo introduced to the system. Though the company used its Anti-mascot to sell the product, it's one of the few new game franchises Nintendo has created in this generation of videogames. Though North America's had one game on the Game Boy Advance and another on the GameCube, this year Nintendo introduced Mawaru Made in Wario, a twisty sequel for the Game Boy Advance that utilizes an in-cartridge gyroscopic motion sensor. And the fourth game is a touch-screen, dual-screen, and microphone-savvy version for the Nintendo DS.
Though it's on a new platform, the game's theme remains the same: perform quick tasks at rapid-fire succession, and try to play through as many quick-shot challenges as you can without screwing up. But this time, with the exception of a few unlockable mini-challenges, nearly the entire game is played without the use of the D-pad or action buttons...it's all touch screen and microphone.
Each character in the game has his or her own "style" of mini-games. Wario, for example, is all about simple touching the screen. Popping balloons, chiseling rock into statues, swatting flies. Mona's games are more a "pulling" or "slicing" motion: shooting arrows, yanking ropes, rolling toiletpaper, cutting fruit. Jimmy T's games are all about rubbing: scratch-and-win games, beckoning a Genie out of a lamp. Ana and Kat's games feature "drawing" or "painting" on the touch screen, like writing a kanji character or a path for a skiier to follow. New character Mike uses, what else, the microphone, but most of the challenges are about blowing into it: some challenges involve seductively blowing into an ear or cooling off hot coffee. And, of course, 9-Volt returns to offer up some touch-screen versions of some classic Nintendo gaming. The favorite so far: touch screen "Duck Hunt." Like you didn't see that coming.
After playing the twisty version of Wario Ware just a few weeks ago on the Game Boy Advance, Sawaru Made in Wario on the Nintendo DS doesn't feel quite as "creative," almost as if it was handled by a completely different team. It's still a fun and frantic game, but it honestly feels like the designers of the Game Boy Advance sequel had more fun exploring all sorts of cool uses for an in-cartridge motion sensor than the DS team, Intelligent Systems, did creating touch screen and microphone sensitive challenge for this sequel. Some games actually have been recycled out of Wario Ware Twisted in touch-screen versions that require making circles with the stylus instead of rotating the system.
But it's still an amazingly fun batch of games that really put the two screens of the system to use. While a good handful simply use the upper screen to display instructional text, many minigames do require a quick eye to move up and down between the two displays to complete a challenge. And though we unofficially "beat" the game in just a few hours of play, it's far from over. There are tons of collectibles to unlock in this DS games, from simple toys like a stretchy pudding, to full-out mini-games like an olympic-style hammer throw.
Wario Ware Touched! ships in North America early next year, but if you can't wait that long, an import isn't completely out of the question. Like past Japanese versions of the series, there are only a couple of challenges that absolutely require knowledge of Japanese text, and even when they pop up they're not hard to defeat. Cutscenes, on the other hand, are handled completely with Japanese text, so don't expect to understand everything that's going on. Not that you would if it were in English...this game's weird.
-- Craig Harris
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