Game & Wario

Game & Wario is a party game for the Wii U console. This game is a spin-off from the WarioWare series. The game stars Wario and, like WarioWare, it takes place in Diamond City. The game can be played by between one to five people. The title and logo are a reference to the Game & Watch series.

Story
Wario is watching television at his house. He changes channels, until noticing a reporting about a newly released console, featuring a controller with a screen (similarly to the Wii U GamePad). In order to make a lot of money, Wario decides to create games for that console and starts working on his computer. His friends in Diamond City also hear news about the console, and have shown interest in creating games for it as well.

Wario's Pirates game proves to be a success in the toy shop Toy Express, with Wario (in his pirate costume) stating that the game's success is due to him designing it. After hearing Wario say this, the game's fans (who happen to be other people dressed up as pirates) mistakes him for the villain of the game, create a large energy ball that blows Wario away. Wario crash lands into Club Sugar, where the rest of Wario's employees are dancing. After this, Jimmy T. smugly remarks "Crashin' the party? That's our Wario." Jimmy then proposes to go bowling, which the other WarioWare employees enthusiastically accept.

Gameplay
Game & Wario is a spin-off of the WarioWare series, The microgames of the previous installments have been mostly replaced by lenghtier minigames. The game features sixteen minigames, twelve of which are single-player (two featuring a 2-player mode) and four more multiplayer-only minigames, each of which is hosted by a WarioWare character.

Along with the solo and multiplayer modes, there is a separate game mode named Sketch, in which the player is tasked with choosing among four words suggested by Miiverse users and then draw the subject within the alloted time.

Cluck-A-Pop
The game features a mode where players can use tokens they find in the minigames to get prize capsules out of a machine resembling a chicken called the Cluck-A-Pop (know as Chick-N-Win in Europe and Australia). Each token gives the player one chance to "pop" a prize out of the chicken machine. There are 240 collection prizes, each listed below:

Gallery
The character design went through a style shift, with the WarioWare developers now being drawn with thicker outlines and (with the exception of Wario) solid black eyes. This makes the art style more similar to the Rhythm Heaven series, whom WarioWare ' s character designer Ko Takeuchi also works on.

Reception
The game has received mixed reviews. IGN gave the game a 5.1 stating that the game only had three games worth playing. GameXplain gave the game's single player a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars and its multiplayer a 3 1/2 stars out of 5. Joystiq gave the game a 2/5. Meanwhile, Destructoid gave the game a fair score of 7/10 which is followed by Famitsu, that scored the game as 31/40. Though the critics didn't rate it the highest, according to players on Miiverse, the game is a much greater experience.

Crowdfarter
As part of the game's marketing campaign, Nintendo of America opened a Crowdfarter (a play on "crowdfunding" and "Kickstarter") website. Instead of people denoting actual money, vistors donate with tweeting and facebook likes. The more publicity Game & Wario received, the more coins it gained. When a certain amount of coins was achieved, a small digital present was unlocked. When 5 bajillion coins were gained, a digital badge was allowed to be downloaded. When 25 bajillion coins were gathered, a wallpaper for the game was released. With 50 bajillion coins, ringtones of Wario were released. And finally, when 100 bajillion coins were there for kickstarting, a trailer was released.

Drawing contest
For the PAL launch, a "Game & Wario Drawing Contest" runs from June 28 to July 12 where participants will draw a scene of everyday life in the company WarioWare, Inc.., and send it to the respective Miiverse community with their Nintendo Network ID. The designs will be evaluated by experts, who will choose the top ten based on criteria such as creativity and artistic endeavor. Residents can participate in the following countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. The participants must be at least 12 years old. The first five will earn funds to spend in the Nintendo eShop for 100€, and the last five placed will raise funds for the eShop worth 50 euros.

Miiverse Sketch Masterpiece Collection
Starting on June 25, 2013, Nintendo of Japan's Youtube account had begun uploading a series of video named Miiverse Sketch Masterpiece Collection, which showcased drawings made in the game's Miiverse Sketch mode. Each video is themed around a specific word and features commentary by a WarioWare character. The series concluded on November 12, 2013.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The third stage of the Sole Man-esque microgame in Gamer features a Super Mario Bros. background, with its Brick Blocks, "!? Blocks", bushes and clouds, while a boy in a Goomba costume must actually try to be stepped on by Mario's feet. A puzzle in Patchwork also features this game's Star.
 * Game & Watch: As aforementioned, the title and the logo are references to this series. Additionally, Game & Wario features minigames with simple titles (e.g. Arrow, Kung Fu) and so does the Game & Watch series. A microgame based on Ball appears in Gamer. All of the small icons used to represent the minigames are in black and white and feature simplistic designs that resemble characters or elements from the original Game & Watch games. Also, in the "Bird" minigame, the gamepad features Game & Watch like gameplay.
 * Mario Paint: A micro game in Gamer takes the style of Fly Swatter.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: One of the puzzles in Patchwork depicts Mario's head and a Super Mushroom from this game.
 * WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!: Gold Digger and Sole Man are remade for the Gamer minigame. Another microgame makes full reference to Nighttime Allergies, with similar background, and the same woman with running nose. The game Pyoro is also remade as Bird.
 * WarioWare: Twisted!: Sal Out from Mona's stage in WarioWare: Twisted! makes a brief appearance in the opening cinematic of Game & Wario. In the Cluck-A-Pop game Mothership Catcher, Mona Pizza's theme song plays when moving the claw.
 * WarioWare: Touched!: The minigame Ashley features a remix of Ashley's original theme song. The boy and the girl from Hookin' Up occasionally appear after clearing a Patchwork puzzle.
 * WarioWare: Smooth Moves: Two of the Legendary Cat Dancers appear calongside Jimmy in the introduction of the game. The song used in the minigame Ski is a remix of Jimmy T. 's theme song from this game.
 * WarioWare: D.I.Y.: The "Sumo Wrestler" and the "Baby-face", who make regular appearances in WarioWare: D.I.Y., return in a few minigames from Gamer.
 * Rhythm Heaven series: The Chorus Kids from the Rhythm Heaven series appear together with Sal Out in the opening cinematic of Game & Wario. The interviewer and wrestler from Rhythm Heaven Fever appear on the sidewalk in the intro to the Pirate minigame and have their own slide in the ending credits. In Gamer, the Wandering Samurai from the Rhythm Heaven series has his own rhythm-based microgame. A Monkey from Rhythm Heaven is hidden in the crowd during the report of the new console. The credits also show an Onion from Rhythm Tengoku, and another one is seen on a pile of books in Ashley's intro cutscene.