WarioWare: Smooth Moves

WarioWare: Smooth Moves, known as Odoru Made in Wario (おどるメイド イン ワリオ Odoru meido in Wario, lit. "Dance! Made in Wario") in Japan, is the fifth game in the WarioWare series. It was released for the Wii, in Europe on January 12, 2007 and in North America on January 15, 2007. It features many of the characters from previous games in the series, such as Mona and 9-Volt, while also including new characters, such as Young Cricket and Master Mantis. This game takes full advantage of the Wii Remote. Microgames are played by placing the Wii Remote in numerous positions, called Forms in-game, which often results in the player being required to perform odd actions. Alongside the microgames are several longer minigames, some of which can be played with friends.

Gameplay
As with previous WarioWare titles, Smooth Moves is structured around completing short, simple tasks (dubbed "microgames"), which increase in speed and difficulty as the player progresses. The various microgames are divided in sets hosted by a WarioWare character. Unlike previous WarioWare games, most of the character sets do not have a clear differentiation in theme or control method, apart from ways to hold the (dubbed "forms") being progressively introduced.

Most microgames solely use motion controls, though an handful of games require pressing and one set uses the  + Nunchuck combo. Before each microgame, a "form card" appears briefly to show the player how to hold the.

Between each sets, the player can select a map icon named "Temple of Form" to practice unlocked microgames, which are grouped by both microgame sets and forms. Unlike previous WarioWare games, the player cannot set scores for individual microgames as the session automatically ends after going through each three difficulty level.

Wii Remote Forms
In the game, the micro-games use different variations of holding the Wii Remote, called Forms. These positions are the following:
 * The Big Cheese – The hands are held at the hips, with the Wii Remote in the dominant hand
 * The Boxer – The Wii Remote is held horizontally from above in the dominant hand, buttons facing up
 * The Chauffeur – The Wii Remote is held by both ends horizontally, buttons facing the player
 * The Diner (A) – The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are held with the tops facing up
 * The Diner (B) – The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are held with the tops facing the screen
 * The Diner (C) – The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are held with the tops facing each other
 * The Discard – The Wii Remote is placed face-down, only to be picked up when suggested by the game
 * The Dumbbell – The Wii Remote is held horizontally from underneath in the dominant hand, buttons facing up
 * The Elephant – The Wii Remote is held in both hands up to the nose
 * The Finger Food – The Wii Remote is held from the base by the thumb and index finger of the dominant hand
 * The Handlebar – The Wii Remote is held horizontally from above with both hands, buttons facing up
 * The Janitor – The Wii Remote is held vertically with both hands
 * The Mohawk – The Wii Remote is held with both hands, atop the head
 * The Mortar and Pestle – The Wii Remote is held with the dominant hand, with the base resting in the non-dominant hand
 * The Remote Control – The Wii Remote is held with the dominant hand facing the screen, with the thumb resting on the
 * The Samurai – The Wii Remote is held by both hands to one side of the body, to be moved by the dominant hand
 * The Sketch Artist – The Wii Remote is held with the thumb and index finger by the middle
 * The Thumb Wrestler – The Wii Remote is held in the dominant hand near the top, thumb resting over the sensor
 * The Tug-of-War – The Wii Remote is held by both hands, with the top facing the screen
 * The Umbrella – The Wii Remote is held by the dominant hand vertically, thumb resting on the
 * The Waiter – The Wii Remote rests in the dominant hand, face-up

Microgames
The game features 205 microgames in total, all of which have three difficulty levels and various speed settings. The microgames are divided by characters, which host a varying number of microgames each. One game, Bungii!, is not tied to any specific set and has a chance of appearing in any stage after they've been beaten once.

Microgame sets
In addition to the stages played during the course of the storyline, there is a handful of microgame mixes with special characteristics. None of these sets feature boss microgames or games from Orbulon's set.

Minigames
In addition to microgames, there are Minigames which can be unlocked by completing a certain stage in story mode. These minigames are extended versions of existing microgames (excluding Pyoro S).

Multiplayer
Alongside the single-player minigames are a set of games meant specifically for multiplayer. These games are unlocked naturally as the game progresses. Some of them are based around playing sets of microgames, while others are separate minigames.

Development
The idea for a WarioWare game on the Wii came shortly after WarioWare: Smooth Moves ' s director, Goro Abe, and producer, Yoshio Sakamoto, first saw the Wii's controller. The game's development started with around twenty people, with others coming and going, but the number remained relatively consistent. From the start, multiplayer was a big aspect in the development of the game, and the idea was that one person would play the game while the others around them enjoyed the comical positions. While teams working on other projects were worrying about how to fully utilize the Wii controller, Abe and Sakamoto had great optimism for the system, saying that "If you’ve got one of these Remotes, you can pretty much do anything".

The various positions came into play when the development team realized that restricting the Wii controller's to one way limited the amount of entertainment, which led to the discussion of which positions would and wouldn't work. Microgames were decided mostly by the developers writing down ideas, sending them to Abe, and having him pick out the ones he liked, after which they began to design the ones that were picked. The developers and designers were often asked to create a unique design for the microgames, giving the desired effect of having a wacky environment. Feedback about the previous WarioWare games and suggestions for improving them were looked into, but were disregarded if they didn't fit with their own idea.

Sales
For its US launch, WarioWare: Smooth Moves was the best-selling Wii game of January 2007 and the fourth best-selling game of the month according to NPD data. Smooth Moves debuted in Japan with around 63.000 units sold. By 2014, the game had sold around 658.000 units in the region according to Famitsu sales data. In the UK, the game debuted at the No. 2 spot, behind Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions. In Europe, the game was rereleased as part of the Nintendo Selects range, budget rereleases of commercially successful titles.

By the end of the first quarter of 2007, Smooth Moves had sold 1.82 million units worldwide.

Critical reception
WarioWare: Smooth Moves received generally favorable reviews, holding a score of 83 on Metacritic and a score of 82 on GameRankings. Many critics complimented the game on its controls and its multiplayer, though it was criticized for its short length. It received a score of 34/40 from Famitsu (around 85%), while the Official Nintendo Magazine gave it a 92%, commenting that Wario should "take his place alongside Mario and Link as a true Nintendo great". Eurogamer gave the game a 70%, complimenting the game's "beautiful" use of the controls and "superb" humor, but criticizing that it is "short on long-term appeal" because it does not "dare to test players". It won IGN's Best Action Game award at its Wii Best of E3 2006 Awards, and was later named the site's Game of the Month for January 2007. It has also received an award in the Trend and Lifestyle category at the 2007 Nuremberg International Toy Fair.

Quotes

 * "BWAHAHAHA!!! Waaaaario here! The other day, I found this crazy stick-thing in those old ruins. I just KNOW it's worth something! All I gotta do now is figure out how it works."
 * "Letting the Form Baton fall is like letting a mohawk droop: shameful and forbidden."
 * "This stance honors the CEO, unsung hero standing proud on the backs of his employees."
 * "Like riding a bicycle, perfecting this stance requires grace, steadiness, and tight shorts."
 * "Remember, cans are your mortal enemies!"

Pre-release and unused content
The E3 2006 demo did not feature the Elephant form and some of the microgames featured different graphics and instructions.

Staff
The game was a coproduction between Intelligent System and Nintendo SPD Group No.1. Goro Abe is the director and Yoshio Sakamoto is the producer, as with most WarioWare games. The game was Yoichi Kotabe's last credited work as a full-time employee of Nintendo before his departure from the company.

During the credits, each member of the development team is represented by a Mii avatar. The player can place a hole under each Mii as they take a bow, the amount they trap is recorded and kept as a high score.

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong: Opening Night uses the level start song from Donkey Kong as well as Donkey Kong and Mario's sprite, as well as a recolored version of Mario's sprite made to resemble Luigi.
 * Super Mario Bros.: A microgame titled Super Mario Bros. involves Mario hitting a set of blocks to obtain coins. Opening Night reuses Toad and Peach's sprites as well as the overworld theme. Sifty Character also uses the same theme. The microgame Super Nostalgic Entertainment System uses the game's theme, it may also appear as one of the cartridges used.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: Opening Night reuses several themes from Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Dr. Mario: The level settings song is used in Opening Night.
 * Super Mario World: The game's cartridge is one of the ones used in the microgame, Super Nostalgic Entertainment System.
 * Mario Paint: The game's cartridge is one of the ones used in the microgame, Super Nostalgic Entertainment System.
 * Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3: A microgame named Wario Land revolves around Wario throwing a Pirate Goom.
 * Wario's Woods: The game's cartridge is one of the ones used in the microgame, Super Nostalgic Entertainment System.
 * Paper Mario: A microgame's title, Paper Wario, is based on Paper Mario ' s title.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: One of the microgames, called Super Mario Sunshine, has the player extinguish fire with Mario and F.L.U.D.D..
 * WarioWare: Twisted!: Several microgames from Twisted! are included in the microgame called WarioWare: Twisted!, including Iron Stomach, Cutting It Close, and Hat's Off.

References in later games

 * Game & Wario: A Call Code features a group of people playing the game while talking to the player via telephone.

Trivia

 * The instruction guide is presented as a newspaper called "The Weekly Wario", and explains several elements of gameplay under the guise of random "stories", though it only has one issue because Wario was too lazy to write a second one. On page 18 of the instruction booklet for the game, Wario says the next issue will be out "whenever he feels like it".
 * The music played on the title screen is different in the Japanese version of the game. In the Japanese edition, the music has the same theme as the Temple of Form. In other editions of the game, the title music is a cover version of the title theme from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!.
 * With the release of the Korean edition of Smooth Moves, all the artworks of the Wii Remote (Form Baton) have a Wii Remote Jacket to protect the remote. Other editions of the game got artworks of Wii Remotes without protection jackets.
 * On the Nintendo Channel, one video incorrectly named the game as Wario Ware: Smooth Grooves.
 * The instruction booklet released in North America has a mistake on page 22. The bottom of the page is written in English while the section of the instruction booklet is supposed to be in French.