The WarioWare series has always intrigued me. It’s an almost eternal party game, but it never really seems to evolve with each iteration. From the first installment of Mega Microgame$ on the Game Boy Advance, to my personal favorite Smooth Moves on the Wii, all the way to Get It Together on the Switch in 2021, WarioWare has essentially been the same game, year after year. Marginal update. And that’s the case again with this November’s WarioWare: Move It.
Now it should be said that this is both a good thing and a bad thing. The WarioWare series has stood the test of time because it’s fundamentally fun, and Move It hasn’t changed. However, if you’ve played any of the previous games, you’ll definitely be familiar with what Nintendo has to offer here, too. The ingenuity and progression we’ve seen in various Mario series doesn’t translate to Wario’s party effort, but as I just mentioned, it’s still a blast to play.
WarioWare: Move It consists of a variety of game modes tailored for a single player, a pair of players, or a team of up to four players. You can play more party-centric modes, where you compete with friends or team up, or you can jump into a really weird and silly story that sees Wario and his colleagues basically in a tropical Vacation on a resort island. No matter which mode you choose, you’ll need to use your Joy-Cons in a variety of silly and creative ways to overcome and continue beating fast-paced mini-games.
Here is an ad:
The story mode is very short and doesn’t really do much beyond simply teaching you the basics and basics of how the various moves work and are handled. There’s a story at the heart of this mode, of course, but it’s so unusual and unapologetically WarioWare that it’s largely incoherent and makes no sense to it. Beyond the main narrative beats, there are at least various bonus modes and ways to continue playing alone or with friends in the story mode portion, but as anyone who’s played a WarioWare game before knows, this game really Specializing in multiplayer games and party elements.
WarioWare is pretty much the place to be when you team up with a few friends for some local fun. It’s an absolute joy to watch your friends contort themselves into strange shapes to beat mini-games that will leave you with more questions than answers. Why clean cavities in koala teeth? Why do I sit on a balloon and crush it? The mini-games are weird and wonderful, making WarioWare: Move It a top party title as you and your friends embrace the chaos. However, Move It lacks multiplayer support and feels more limited than previous WarioWare games in this regard, which is a huge letdown considering this is usually where the series excels over other games.
As expected from the series, the mini-games once again pay homage to Nintendo’s many other series and games. You’ll find yourself digging for fossils in Animal Crossing, defeating Koopas as 8-bit Mario, and escaping Link as a chicken. Whether it’s Ring Fit, Super Mario, Paper Mario, Wii MotionPlus, Pikmin, this is a great title that once again highlights the brilliance and breadth of Nintendo’s portfolio, which is why Control is a major letdown once again.
Here is an ad:
Because the biggest disappointment with Move It is the unreliable motion controls of the Joy-Cons. This is a game without a lot of room for error, as each mini-game only gives you a few seconds to understand them and then beat them, which means there’s no time at all to fight the Joy-Cons and have them record you actions and actions. However, this happens in almost every mini-game that appears. I find this to be a particularly big problem when you’re running out of lives and have to match a pose in the second-chance system, as the Joy-Cons don’t realize you’re contorting yourself into some weird shape. Very painful, hope the fun can continue.
Some of the most movement-dependent moves are also difficult to pull off. Using the Joy-Cons’ infrared sensor to track the movements of the other hand barely works, which means that whenever you’re asked to complete the action, you basically have to expect that you’ll fail unless you can “cheese” it. And try to fundamentally fool the system. It’s a shame that the game is let down by the hardware it relies on, but the often frustrating nature of unreliable Joy-Cons movement and movement does have a major impact on this game.
However, if you can live with the control issues, WarioWare: Move It is once again a fun party game. The other major problem is that Nintendo clearly isn’t taking any risks with this series, as Move It reminds me of almost every other WarioWare game. In this regard, its originality and creativity are indeed limited. However, as they say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”because you’ll have a lot of hilarious moments with this game when you team up with some friends and let loose.
