WarioWare: Move It! Review

Wario is an often underutilised character in the Mario universe, only being seen alongside Mario and cohort in Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart in recent years. Luckily for the garlic-lover, his own series of games has never left Nintendo’s lineup, spawning 12 entries in the last 20 years. WarioWare is arguably the most chaotic and unhinged series in Nintendo’s wheelhouse, and WarioWare: Move It! Takes the series to new and outlandish heights with its near-on perfect use of the joy-con’s functionalities.

The story is short and simple. Wario sees a TV commercial advertising a competition with the top prize being a vacation to Caresaway Island. He wins, of course. The catch? He needs to take 20 friends with him. Wario, of course, hates this but decides to ask his “friends” so he can redeem his prize. Once on the island, the gang receives stone Joy-cons called Form Stones. These Form Stones are what each character uses to navigate the island and complete microgames to get them out of trouble.

Like previous titles, each character has a different type of microgame assortment. The first Form you are introduced to is the Choo-Choo, which is part of Wario’s microgames. Next, Mona hosts the Sky Stretch and Knight Forms, and it goes on. There are just shy of 20 forms to master, all with unique microgames. I was surprised to see so much variety. Almost 7 years into the Nintendo Switch’s life, and this game has showcased the capabilities of the joy-cons more than any other game on the platform.

WarioWare: Move It! has a comically entertaining returning cast. My personal favourites were Ashley & Red, Cricket & Mantis, and 9-Volt. 9-Volt’s microgames take you on a journey through Nintendo’s repertoire of video game series, like sliding down the castle carpet from Super Mario 64 and plucking Pikmin out of the ground as Olimar.

The amusing and organised chaos of the WarioWare games is something Nintendo does so well. Every round of microgames I played had me in stitches at my actions with the joy-cons. If it wasn’t that, there was something ridiculous occurring on the screen in front of me. One particular mini-game had me waving my arms in the air to mimic seaweed at the bottom of the ocean so a shark wouldn’t eat me. At times, the joy-cons weren’t registering the movements I was doing, but the microgames were so fun that it never thwarted my experience.

There are two forms that, in retrospect, may have seemed like a great idea to include in the game, but it often felt like the game was asking a bit too much of me. The Pounce form required the joy-cons to be on a flat surface (that isn’t your hand), while the Hand Model form uses the IR sensor, which I forgot was even a functionality of the joy-con. Getting into the stance for these forms were fine if it was at the start of a round, but once the speed increased, it got very difficult to swap between a standing form and a form requiring the joy-cons to be on the ground. When doing these Forms, all that was in the back of my mind was how someone with accessibility needs is meant to play this game.

Most Forms require you to be standing. There are no options that I’m aware of that allow players to play sitting down. It does, however, allow you to set your dominant hand, which allows for a more comfortable stance if you’re left-handed. I understand that the whole point of the game is to “Move It!,” but no accessibility options are such a bummer, especially in 2023.

A Party mode is available, which offers microgames for more than one player. I never had another person to play WarioWare: Move It! with, but I can see nothing in the game that would hinder the experience when involving more than one player. In fact, once you complete the Story Mode, additional microgames are unlocked on the island map built specifically for multiplayer.

WarioWare: Move It! has a lot of replayability despite the Story Mode only lasting 1-2 hours long. You won’t even see half the microgames available through your first playthrough of the Story, with over 200 available. While the game has some shortcomings with its lack of accessibility, it is definitely worth the money and will be a hit at your next game night.

WarioWare: Move It! takes the chaotic and unhinged WarioWare series to new heights with its near-on perfect utilisation of the joy-con functionalities. While some microgames are hindered by inaccurate joy-con registry, they are still ridiculously fun.. just make sure you have friends to play with to get the full experience.

GREAT

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