Summary
The latest in microgame mayhem,WarioWare: Move It, allows the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-cons to take center stage. Using the unique capabilities of the controllers, the game allows for plenty of interesting range of motion to serve as the way to interact with its challenges at large.WarioWare: Move Itplayers will be opening and closing their arms to catch food, break chains, and even bob their heads down like a bird to catch fish. This is only the first of many, many things that the microgames encourage players to do in front of their friends at a second’s notice.
As the Switch title takes pride in itself as a party game,WarioWare: Move Ittakes advantage of this for co-op modes, and gives players the option of doing a Second-Chance Stance when they fail. These stances require standing in a specific pose, and potentially holding it until players are deemed worthy enough to revive and continue where they left off with extra lives. The poses range from simple and silly, such as “Anguished Cry,” to flat-out ridiculous to look at like “Tightrope Walker.” It’s a fun way to offer a chance for players to continue, but it’s also too forgiving.
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WarioWare: Move It’s Second-Chance Stances Aren’t Really Second Chances
How The Second-Chance Stances in WarioWare: Move It Can Embarass Players
Just like almostall theWarioWaregamesthat have come before it,WarioWare: Move Itoffers players four chances to fail at its minigames before telling players to start over. However, what makes the latest installment different is the little light that appears once all four lives are depleted. Using players' Form Stones, they can take the shape of a “sacred pose” to repent for a second chance. These poses are random based on a pool of ridiculous options and are there to make those playing at a party choose between embarrassment and continuing onward.
The Forgiving Nature of WarioWare: Move It is Great for Parties But Not for Players
It’s actually rather clever having a party game tease the potential for getting a completely new try behind making the players possibly look silly in front of their friends, but there are quite a few issues with this that make the Second-Chance Stances fall flat on their face. If players fail thefamous microgamesWarioWareis known for, performing the Second-Chance Stance gives them all four lives back and keeps them going where they stopped, but the Second-Chance Stance is only the first of many possible chances.
The Second-Chance Stances in WarioWare: Move It Are Too Easily Exploited in Single-Player
Contrary to what the gimmick is called, Second-Chance Stances happen every single time players lose all four lives. Considering that their progress is saved as well, this means that fans can keep using these poses to make their way through stages at any point, including the Boss Stages at the end of the rounds of microgames. This may be a blessing in moments where all players need is one last try to make up for one fatal mistake, but otherwise, it’s easy to makethe latestWarioWaregamebeatable in a few hours because fans find making a silly pose worth it to keep trying a difficult section over and over.
WarioWare: Move It Hides Its Difficulty Behind Its Story
While it’s possible for fans to somewhat brute force their way pastWarioWare: Move Itand its microgames, there are a few post-game surprises that will test the players who do so. There are dedicated gauntlets that function just like the original rounds of microgames from previous games that lack the Second-Chance Stance feature. In fact, the feature completely vanishes once Story Mode is complete, they’ll need to understand the formsWarioWare’s charactershad up to that point to complete everything the game asks of them.
WarioWare: Move Itis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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