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). He figures he can make a fortune by making games, so Wario feverishly 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, mistaking him for the villain, create a large energy ball that blows Wario away. Wario crash lands into Club Sugar, where the rest of Wario's employees are dancing. In response, Jimmy T. smugly remarks, "Crashin' the party? That's our Wario." He 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 lengthier minigames. The game features sixteen minigames, twelve of which are single-player (two featuring a two-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 Miiverse Sketch, which isn't hosted by any WarioWare character and is the only game played using Miiverse.

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 (known as Chick-N-Win in British English). Each token gives the player one chance to "pop" a prize out of the chicken machine. The color of the capsules determine the type of prize, Call Codes come from yellow capsules, Bugband performances come from green capsules, Balloon Fighter microgames come from orange capsules, Mona Superscoops and Orbulon's Prized Masterpieces come from purple capsules, Hint and Character cards come from blue capsules, and all other items come from red capsules. Additionally, The Game & Wario Epilogue and the Illustrated Schnozzipedia come from golden capsules and are only obtained by completing Pirates and Bowling respectively. After obtaining all prizes, the player obtains a Cluck-A-Pop machine replica from a white capsule before the machine itself transforms into a token 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  series, which WarioWare ' s character designer Ko Takeuchi also works on.

Development
In 2011, WarioWare director Goro Abe was tasked to create pre-installed software for Wii U, and he in turn asked Intelligent Systems for assistance. As the development team knew the demo would be played by a wider audience than their usual titles, they deliberately restrained their usual "wacky" aesthetics. This changed when producer Yoshio Sakamoto played the prototype and asked the team to "shake things up".

In the summer of 2011, the developers felt the project had enough content to justify being sold as a retail game, and decided to make the title an original license. Due to difficulties creating a storyline that would coherently tie the minigames together, it was suggested to make the game part of the WarioWare series as it would provide a convenient framing device. Several of the Cluck-A-Pop capsules are leftovers from the original concept.

Near the end of development, personnel from other divisions of Nintendo SPD were brought in to assist in finishing the game on time. It was the first time the entire SPD department collaborated on a single project.

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.

Crowdfarter
As part of the game's marketing campaign, Nintendo of America opened a "Crowdfarter" (a play on "" and "") website. Instead of people donating actual money, visitors "donated" via 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. Finally, with 100 bajillion coins, a trailer was released.

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

Miiverse Sketch Masterpiece Collection
Starting on June 25, 2013, Nintendo's Japanese 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

 * Game & Watch series: 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.
 * 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.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: One of the puzzles in Patchwork depicts Mario's head and a Super Mushroom from this game.
 * Mario Paint: A micro game in Gamer takes the style of Fly Swatter.
 * 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.
 * Rhythm Tengoku: The monkey appears in the news report in the opening cutscene. Additionally, the onion from Rhythm Tweezers, named "Harry Onion" in Game & Wario, appears briefly in the opening cutscene for Ashley's minigame.
 * 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. One of the Call Codes features the player talking to a group of people jealous of the player's Wii U, in which they mention playing WarioWare: Smooth Moves on their Wii.
 * Rhythm Heaven: The Chorus Kids are seen performing with Sal Out on the television that Wario is watching in the opening cutscene.
 * 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 Fever: The reporter and wrestler characters can be briefly seen in the opening cutscene for the Pirates minigame.

References in later games

 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: This game features a stage based off the minigame, Gamer.
 * Rhythm Heaven Megamix: Penny and Dr. Crygor's artworks are used in the Fillbots portion of Wario... Where?.
 * Super Mario Maker: When playing as the Ashley costume, the death and stage clear cues are taken from the Ashley minigame.
 * WarioWare Gold: Gamer and some of its microgames return in this game, where the mode is named "Sneaky Gamer." The microgame Mole from Gamer returns as one of Mona's microgames. Penny's minigame Fruit appears as Orbulon's boss microgame under the name Sneaky Snatcher. The game is directly mentioned in the Souvenir for the Wii U.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Gamer stage from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U returns.