User:Glowsquid/Brain Palace

This is where I dump my half-baked projects and any other wiki-relevant things.

Overview

Mechanics and structure

The WarioWare series is centered around completing microgames, short simple tasks that come in rapid succession. Microgames typically have no instruction on how to complete them beyond a short, often one-word command that appears as the game begins. The input method and tasks vary widly, although microgames can be broadly divided in either completing a task in the alloted time or preventing a failure state from happening.

The microgames are grouped by characters, which often have a precise visual theme or input method to differentiate their games. Each character has an unique "Boss microgame", a longer, more complex game that needs to be completed to beat the character stage on a first-time playthrough.

For each play, the player is given four lives. Lives are lost when failng a microgame and can only be recovered one by one by successfully completing a boss microgame. If all lives are lost, the game ends and the player's high score is recorded.

In addition to microgames, the WarioWare series often features standard minigames and interactive souvenirs, which are often unlocked by beating a set high score on a microgame set or reaching other milestones. Game & Wario eschews the traditional microgame structure in favour of minigames.

WarioWare was inspired by the "Sound Bomber" mode of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio. All of the Sound Bomber microgames were reused for Wario's opening stage in Mega Microgames.

Storytelling

The series center on Wario, his company WarioWare, Inc., and his friends in Diamond City who develop microgames for his company, though greedy Wario usually refuses to pay his friends, despite the high success of the games. WarioWare introduced several new characters, which are featured solely in these games, except for minor appearances in Super Smash Bros. series. Most games of the series include short stories in the form of cut scenes dedicated to each of the developers, telling about adventures or the everyday life of them. These cut scenes are split into two parts, the first one can be seen before the developer's respective microgame stage, while the latter part with the ending appears after the player beat the stage.

Creative talents

Goro Abe, a key developer of the series.

The original WarioWare was developed by Nintendo R&D1, the department that had created Wario and developed the Wario Land series. Starting with Mega Party Games, the games were developed with assistance from long-time collaborator Intelligent Systems. Following R&D1's dissolution, the series would be taken over by its successor, Nintendo SPD Development Group No. 1.

The original WarioWare was developed by several new Nintendo staff who had previously worked on Wario Land 4, and it shared the same director (Hirofumi Matsuoka), who would leave Nintendo following the completion of the game. Goro Abe, a programmer and designer on the original game, would be promoted to Director position for Mega Party Games and assume this role for all subsequent games with the exception of Snapped!. Artist Ko Takeuchi designed the series' cast and Wario's biker costume with supervision from Wario's original creator, Hiroji Kiyotake. R&D1 veteran and manager Yoshio Sakamoto acted as a producer starting with Twisted!.

WarioWare share several developers with the Rhythm Heaven series. The two series have similar structure, aesthetics, and sense of humor.

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(original template stolen from the fine folks on the Burnout Wikia)

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
SNES	George Wood, Flight of Fantasies	n.d	"Donkey Kong Country is truly perfect. If you do not get this amazing new generation of Donkey Kong Country madness, you are stupid. Yes, I know it's insulting, but that's also the truth. If you're a true video game fan, you will not hesitate in the slightest bit to buy this piece of gaming history."
SNES	Mr. Goo, Die Hard Game Fan	100 out of 100	"When you see Donkey Kong Country for the first time, you'll do what I did ... turn into a blabbering, drooling idiot! This is the most amazing 16-bit game yet, and that's a fact. Simply everything about DKC is kick-butt rocking magnificent ... you'd swear it was 32-bit. If you possess a SNES, you have no excuse not to buy this game NOW."
GameBoy Advance	Electronic Gaming Monthly	60 out of 100	"Besides the graphics, which still look good, the game has not held up well."
Wii Virtual Console	Lucas M. Thomas, IGN	8,5 out of 10	"A sacrifice may be offered of some of your nostalgic feelings for this title, as its revolutionary-in-1994 visuals aren't as spectacular any more, now in 2007. But DKC's gameplay is still a lot of fun, and it's still easy to see why this was the game that saved the Super."
Aggregators
Release	Compiler	Score	Comment
SNES	Game Rankings	88.8%	n.d
SNES	Metacritic	88%

Proposed format for Reception sections

Review listing

Reviews
Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Bob Mackey, Joystiq	2 out of 5	"Playing it safe may make short-term sense for Nintendo's bottom line, but the company should never forget that their most innovative and beloved classics often operated on risky and untested waters. Game & Wario, on the other hand, lazily floats in a half-full kiddie pool, trying its best not to make any waves."
Hedi Kemps, Gamespot	5 out of 10	"Overall, Game & Wario doesn't have the consistency or the creativity expected from the series. Seeing Wario's once-awesome microgame galleries turned into a bog-standard minigame-fest is disappointing in its own right, too. WarioWare farted in the face of conventional game design, and further installments made creative use of new control schemes without losing the pacing and craziness the original established. Game & Wario, in contrast, feels like the aged former punk rocker who has got an office job now but still wants to convince the kids that he's hip and with-it. There's still some spark of that rebellious Wario genius, but for the most part, the game seems to give up and settle for stable mediocrity."
Jonathan Holmes, Destructoid	7,5 out of 10	Game & Wario is the most "normal" game in the WarioWare series (assuming it's officially a part of the series) which is part of what makes it so weird. As a whole, it's all over the place, sometimes original, sometimes derivative, sometimes dry, sometimes funny, sometimes simple, sometimes complicated. It's clear that Nintendo just wasn't sure what to do with some of these games, so they threw them in the Game & Wario package whether they fit there or not."
Aggregators
Compiler	Score	Comment
Game Rankings	61,30%	n.d
Metacritic	61%	n.d

Summary

Game & Wario received mixed to negative reviews. Common complaints include the relatively low number of minigames, the uneven quality of them and the shift away from the microgame format. Also words words words.