Okay, I disagree with Mark Crawley on every single page.

Nah, it's not :P

Okay, so the learning curve is greater than five seconds. Thankfully, non-gamers are human beings and NOT gold fish.

Wario Ware doesn't 'look' like any other games. There is a word for this: original.

Collectively, the 200 of them form a game, I'd say. The mini-games were originally billed as Micro games, until something happened at NoE and they changed the sub-title to mini-game mania. I'd say a two line excerpt fulfilled the quality of 'micro'.

Since later in your column you use 'already owning the game' as a reason not to play (in this case, Dr. Wario) then I feel I can use the same argument here as a counter.

IF YOU WANT TO PLAY F-ZERO LONGER, GET A BLOODY SNES AND PLAY THE DAMN THING!

Such hypocrisy bodes well not. With me.

Dr. Wario is inside the Wario Ware cart. Tetris isn't.

Pyoro was unlocked in a few days for me. The last unlockable however is not worth it (don't mention what it is...spoilers and that.)

Vs Bonanza: If I was showing off Wario Ware's multi-player mini-games, I'd make damn sure I was actually holding MY Game Boy.

Jump Forever: Nintendo doesn't force you to play it.

We're consumers, not games developers. If we see a bad film, it doesn't make us want to rent a video camera and a boom mic for a week and attempt to make a better film. (Well I can't actually speak for you, Mr. Crawley.)

Movies aren't interactive; games are. Therefore, you're wrong. Sorry.

Wario Ware doesn't have to be thrust upon new-born children serving as their first taste of game-o-play. By all means show off some simpler stuff and THEN move up to Wario Ware when the time is right. the non-gamer-turned-gamer will be much more grateful (even if, only at a sub-conscious level) and will be able to appreciate its charms more.

Just because non-gamers don't understand how to play a game (say, Golden Eye or Chrono Trigger) doesn't make it crap.

I agree with the need to introduce gaming to more people than at present but there's no need to flaunt Wario Ware when utter novices aren't ready for it. That's just silly. Silly and stupid.

For years I've been showing my younger sister the odd game, preparing her for more complex and subtle titles. Now she enjoys the delights of Wario Ware, Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. I'm not mean enough to merely toss the cart in her general direction and shout "You'll like that. Dead easy to figure out on your own! Have a blast!"

* * *

In short: your article seemed to be a needless attempt at balancing Digi's love for Wario Ware. Thank-you.


giant_frying_pan

The following people have played my copy of Warioware:

Me - loved it
My sister (20)- loved it, didn't like the fact it wouldn't be coming out for GBC
My friend the PS ownining, liscence game buying guy - loved it, especially the 2p stuff
My rockstar, Xbox hugging friend - loved it, 2p and highscore beating at lunchtimes was a must
My Grandad & Mom also played it although I would mearley say they liked it
My 6 year old cousin wasn't keen the first time he played it. Second time he had more of an idea what to do and was hooked. Especially on the highscore based single games.

I think you get the idea. 450,000 Japanese WW owners can't be wrong!

Man I disagreed with the article too, and i've already said my bit in the wario thread so I can't be arsed to regurgitate. But hey it's nice to have a balance of oppinions. And it's even nicer when an oppinion winds you up royally.

top stuff.

I was playing it on within a circle of friends on the way out somewhere on a train, and they were all going nuts for it! Even the non-games players. It's not the game you tell them is "the high end of all gaming" - it's just a bit of fun, for lumber's sake.

I personally cannot wait for the GC version and sequel.

Ta for the comments. I'm less than stellar at the moment (damn you end-of-summer-flu-thing-that's-definately-not-Wario-Ware-withdrawal) so I'll be a bit* brief if that's okay.

It's very kind of your friends to humour you so, but I can assure you that behind your back they were indicating your lack of marbles via silent hand signals. You know, when you point to your ear and rotate the index finger in a circular motion? That sign.

It certainly can't be that WW is more interesting than sitting, staring at a carriage table for several hours because, in the interests of research, I've tried both and the table won easily (although, to be fair, it did have piece of rubbish on it that would move from time to time... a bit like your GBA when it runs WW ).

The "Argh, my head" thing is a parody of Digi's explanation of what happens if you show a typical game (with complex controls) to a non-gamer... I'm surprised you don't recall the piece, not being a goldfish. Let me refresh your failing memory:

The point of this mimicry? To clarify that even the simplest play mechanic can be made just as excluding as the most torturous by the context of its introduction and nature of its employment... an inconvenient facet of The Truth that the original piece strangely managed to avoid mentioning. This is where we would usually talk about thesis, antithesis and synthesis... but I'm too in need of Lemsip for that. Go to uni or something.

Wario Ware is not remotely original -- I refer you to Abyss on the Acorn Electron (amongst others) and the more recent PSX Bishi Bashi outings for previous examples of subgame-oriented play. If you're restricting your comments to the visual style of the thing then, well, the game quite clearly apes many existing graphical styles, deliberately, for effect.

No, Wario Ware is three of the following: Brave. Unusual. Rubbish.

Yes. Just like catching a one minute snatch from thirty different TV shows in sequence makes for an excellent, fully formed half-hour sitcom episode, then.

WW doesn't, for the most part, contain games; it contains examples of play mechanics. Stringing them together just means the player ends up staring at the conjoining score screen for 50% of the time... I wonder how tolerant you'd be of Resident Evil if you spent exactly half your game-time staring at a door animation?

"Mini" and "Micro" are interchangeable. In fact, I only opted for "mini" because it uses less space (important for obvious reasons), the game has retained its original title elsewhere. But anyway, being microscopic does not automatically excuse you (or your constituent parts) from being coherent and whole. Would you be happy with a "micro" hi-fi system that only came with half a speaker and two inches of mains wire?

Don't do that. Don't invent major faults in an argument that plainly aren't there just so you can have a go at being indignant. It's a pitiful rhetorical device that will immediately have observers (and your opponent) assuming that you're desperate (a state of mind that is already obvious from the fact that you like Wario Ware).

There's no hypocrisy in my position whatsoever. In reference to Dr Mario, I said that already owning the game of which it is an inferior clone makes working to unlock it unrewarding. Given the popularity of Tetris, it was a particularly woeful choice of game by Nintendo, akin to rewarding PC gamers with a poor man's version of Minesweeper.

Also, in terms of wanting a "full go", what I mean is a coherent, holistic play experience... I even gave the example of providing one entire track (because at least then you could indulge in a time-trial) but the ways of crafting a decent mini-game out of the F-Zero franchise are numerous: Displays of skill against the clock, without hitting the rails; insane jumping challenges; ever depleting energy and distanced recharge-strips; drone-chicken. Sorry, but merely "being on a straight bit" just does not cut the mustard.

:lol:

I don't really think you should develop your own games, just that you shouldn't have to hand over cash for games that are so simplistic that you could make them with relatively (RELATIVELY) little difficulty yourself. I'm saying they're too shallow to be value for money, see?

Using the word "therefore" without any supporting reasoning apparently makes whatever one writes correct. Therefore, I was right all along. That's okay.

There you go again, inventing faulty assertions that haven't been presented just so you can knock them down. How should I respond? That the word "virgin" is a mistranslation? That Burger King is a British company, actually? That "til" is a viable word in its own right and not just an abbreviation of "until"?

Which random fact should I pretend you got wrong?

None -- the Lemsip is calling, so I'll stick to what was said: That the title promotes an approach to interactive entertainment that giddy game-heads might be able to get behind, but which could prove particularly off-putting to rookies for the reasons stated. Hence, when describing Wario Ware, keep your pants on.

Especially as it's rubbish.

Yeah, about thesis, antithesis and synthesis... you really have to do the last bit yourself. Not until you’ve been over to my GBA import-me-do thread and made some use of yourself though. See you there!




*Quite a small bit, given how far down this notelet is.

I'm looking forward to Wario Ware 2: Daly Thompson's Decathalon and Wario Ware 3: Joystick Waggling Mayhem.

Is pushing a particular button at the correct moment really the height of videogaming? Is Dragon's Lair the greatest game ever produced? Should Time Gal have received rave reviews? Was memory-o-test Rick Dangerous years ahead of its time? Should we all sell our £60 GBAs and buy one of those Simon machines (you know, with the four coloured buttons) instead? Can you see where I'm going with this?

Um, that's what ALL videogaming is, love.

Most games make at least some effort to hide that fact. Except those games that pigs play to keep them entertained and fill up spare time in regional news programmes. Wario Ware doesn't even give me a sweet when I manage to catch the falling stick.

agh! that darned stick! the bane of my life!

See, the GBA has no analogue sticks or rotating things to get in the way here and the shoulder buttons are ignored in single player.

I understand what you are trying to say, but if non-gamer friend understands that all he/she will be touching is the A and the D then SURELY his/her brain/cpu can figure out the rest? It doesn't take very long to realise what you are supposed to do and in essence, that's what Wario Ware is all about.

That was the idea, yes.

TV isn't interactive, the viewer has no control over what is being shown so 30 x 1 minute clips of various TV shows would likely infuriate and annoy but a game is differnt. At least the gamer has the power to change what is going on and if the envronment in the game changes every five or ten seconds then it is up to the gamer to adapt and react accordingly.

I don't like Resident Evil AT ALL, thankyouverymuch.

All I can say in reply to that is that your analogies aren't all there either. Sheesh.

I merely pointed them out.

In what way am I desperate? You don't like Wario Ware but that doesn't instantly invalidate your comments so why should that apply to someone with an opposite view?

There's a natural characterisation present in Dr. W/Mario. The only time someone's face cropped up in Tetris was the multiplayer mode. As amazing as it may seem, I *don't* own Dr. Mario, but I've got a few dozen spare copies of Tetris lying about...

So effectively you are angry at the squandered potential? F-Zero could have made a good boss game against a rival, yeah.

Hmm the £40 GCN version could really make your anger node explode then. In the meantime, why not have a go at making Wario Ware yourself and report back?

You gave me all the supporting reasoning I needed when you wrote this: "but that's about as acceptable as a horror movie actually trying to kill you dead."

Look, you criticised Wario Ware for being to hard for non-gamers to understand how to play. I don't think it's fair to blame the developer when the gamer can't handle the game itself (unless it's Steel Batallion or something).

That's entirely understandable, but I'm not going to sing the praises of Wario Ware down the pub. I know who the game is for and I tell those people about it. It's unfair to Nintendo for blaming them when a casual gamer doesn't 'get' one of its titles.


giant_frying_pan

Any idiot can play wario ware.

Even my mum.

Oy! You (EDIT: giant_frying_pan I mean. Thanks for sneaking in between us there Sossy... and don't call your mum an idiot, devil child) are supposed to be over in the other thread, giving me retail advice.

I could pick back at your comments one by one, as tends to happen (excruciatingly) in many a forum, but there's no point. You hit the nail on the head really -- I think the game squanders its potential and doesn't deserve half the adulation it has received. I'd love to see something similar from Nintendo with more fully developed sections... it wouldn't have to go mental, just provide a bit more substance. And maybe not have Wario's face in the beatbox, as that kinda’ creeped me out.

The control system annoys exactly because it is such a perversion of perhaps the most accessible system ever. The "dpad and A" combination should not be problematic but, nevertheless, with the game placing players on the hotfoot it manages to be as alienesque as both the N64 and Cube do with their fancy pads (and you must have seen members of Nintendo's supposedly core demographic struggling with the things in Game before wandering off, disinterested, during the two machine's launch periods, surely?)

Anyway [reverts to type], if the GC version is equally rubbish it should keep me in gin vapours for some time. Fingers crossed...

If the GCN is the same kind of thing, I'll be pleased, but I won't take issue with your complaints.

Incidently, it's due for release in Japan on the 17th of October. Rush job?



giant_frying_pan

As you can probably guess, I genuinely hope not. On the subject, though, despite knowing that technically and politically it would be practically impossible to develop, I really think that the fundamental Wario Ware structure would be a good way for Nintendo to whet people's appetites for many of the games that are out there. I could see a Cube version that offered fleeting moments from actual commercial games being an effective way to encourage software sales... kinda like a jam-packed, super-tantalising demo disc that refuses to give you enough of any one game to make you think "nah, I don't need to bother with the full thing."

I mean, had Wario Ware (GBA) given you a taste of a bucket load of the system's titles rather than piddling around, getting you to press A over and over to "eat" an "apple" then it could well have stood as one of the most thematically sound and inspirational marketing tools ever to grace the shelves.

Me, I'm saving up my pennies for Soul Calibur II -- if I'm going to continuously hammer A like a looney then, at the very least, I expect to be rewarded with duelling wenches.

Well seeing how Wario Wario GCN could feature snippets of existing Nintendo GameCube games, ones that are already on sale, then that idea is actually very feasible.

Soul Calibur II will be £29.99 at Amazon with free delivery, by the way ;)


giant_frying_pan

Wario Ware is the gaming equivalent of 'Andrew WK', or even 'The Darkness' - people either think it's the best thing ever or the worst thing to happen to the industry.

Hey, it's fun, and that's all that matters. Maaaaan.

i love andrew wk

Why don't you marry him then?

Used under license from Adam Kingston (aged 7)