WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, known as WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania in PAL regions, is a 2003 action game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The debut title in the WarioWare series, the game is about rapid completion of "microgames", short minigames given to the player consecutively and with increasing speed per each game complete. The game's concept was inspired by the "Sound Bomber" mode of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio for the Nintendo 64DD. Many of the music tracks and sound effects (including Wario's voice clips) were recycled from Wario Land 4. The game was produced by Takehiro Izushi and directed by Hirofumi Matsuoka. Matsuoka was also the director of Polygon Studio. Mega Microgames! was released in 2003; in Japan in March, in North America and Europe in May and in Australia in June.

Upon its release, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! received critical acclaim, winning GameSpots Editor's Choice Award and Most Innovative Game Award of 2003, among other awards. It is also revered as one of the greatest games of all time. The game went on to receive a multiplayer-focused remake called WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! on the GameCube. The game went on to spawn the WarioWare series of video games, which all have the same formula of gameplay as the debut title, with the exception of Game & Wario. "Pyoro" and "Paper Plane", two bonus minigames that appear in Mega Microgames!, were reworked into two full titles for the DSiWare service as Bird & Beans and Paper Airplane Chase, respectively. In addition, some of the microgames featured in Mega Microgames! also return in the ninth installment, WarioWare Gold. The game has also been re-released through the Virtual Console on Wii U, the Ambassador Program on Nintendo 3DS and on the Nintendo Classics service.

Gameplay

thumb|left|The microgame "The Legend of Zelda" from 9-Volt's stage, referencing [[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda. 9-Volt's stage's theme is "Nintendo Classics".]]

WarioWare<nowiki>'</nowiki>s core gameplay principles revolve around the concept of "microgames", fast-paced minigames that must be completed within a demanding time limit. Mega Microgames! features over 210 microgames across nine stages hosted by Wario and his companions, each centered around themes such as sports, nature and classic Nintendo games, as well as remix stages that feature microgames from previous stages.

Development and release

WarioWares inception began during the development of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, a successor to Mario Paint being developed for the Nintendo 64DD; a game where players could create and animate fully polygonal three-dimensional models. A feature of Polygon Studio was a mode called "Sound Bomber", where the player completes rapid consecutive "microgames". This concept would be reused and fleshed out for the first WarioWare title. In addition, many of the minigames in Polygon Studio bear heavy resemblance to some microgames found in Mega Microgames!.

The development team used post-it notes in order to come up with microgame ideas; whenever someone had an idea for a microgame, they would write it down on a note and stick it to the director's table. The game became well known around the department, as other members not actively working on the game contributed ideas of their own in the hopes that the development team would be receptive.

<!--Reviewers-->

| EuroG = 9/10

| GSpot = 9.1/10

| GSpy = 95/100

| IGN = 9/10

| NLife = 9/10

| NP = 4.6/5

| NWR = 9.5/10

| GI = 7.5/10

Mega Microgames! has won numerous awards and received critical acclaim. It was voted the winner of the Edge Award at the Edinburgh International Games Festival in 2004 by a panel of videogames industry members, academics, and journalists.

At GameSpot, it was awarded the Editor's Choice Award, "Game Boy Advance Game of the Month" prize and was nominated for its "Best and Worst" of 2003 in the "Most Innovative Game" category.

Reviewers wrote enthusiastically about the game. Jeff Gerstmann from GameSpot gave it a 9.1 out of 10 and praised the game for its portability, being able to play it in "short bursts" and being able to return to it again and again. Craig Harris from IGN said that the sheer number of minigames, its simplicity, and replay value made the game original and great, and gave it a 9.0. The game was ranked 138th in Electronic Gaming Monthlys "The Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time" in 2006. Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 78th on a list of greatest Nintendo games.

Remakes and re-releases

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games!

Mega Microgames! was remade for the GameCube as WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games!, as a more multiplayer focused game than the original. The game features all of the same microgames as the Game Boy Advance version, but the microgames are set up in competitive environments for two to four players rather than an environment for one player.

Virtual Console

In December 2011, Mega Microgames! and nine other Game Boy Advance games were released on the Nintendo 3DS' Virtual Console as part of Nintendo's Ambassador Program for early adopters that purchased and registered their 3DS systems prior to the console's first major price cut in their home markets. The game was later released on the Wii U's Virtual Console on April 3, 2014, in Japan and April 10 in North America and Europe. In 2023, the game was re-released on the Nintendo Classics service.

Notes

References

  • 50px Text in this article was copied from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! at the Super Mario Wiki, which is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license.
  • Official website (in Japanese)
  • Instruction manual (in Japanese)
  • Instruction manual (in China)
  • Japanese web site for Bird & Beans
  • Japanese web site for Paper Plane

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