Summary
The fun and joy of theWarioWareseries doesn’t simply end with the rapid-fire micro-games, the silly sense of humor, orthe presence of Wario. A notable part of the series is the unlockables strewn across almost every title. Some are full-length mini-games based on the bite-sized micro-games present in the title, while others are small inclusions to distract players every once in a while.
Not every unlockable is worth it, though. Out of all the bonus game modes, souvenirs, knick-knacks, and whatnot, some of them are pretty underwhelming as they fail to deliver anything of interest, be it a wobbly custard to slap, a dull side-scroller, or a pointless inclusion among a pile of random loot.
The cheekiest trick ofWarioWare: Twisted!is the so-called ‘reward’ for completingevery separate micro-game with high scores. That requires unlocking and playing each one repeatedly until the quota is met. Of course, each must be beaten without losing the four lives on offer as well.
It’s not so much a daunting task, but it is a tiresome one. The big reward at the end of this Herculean task is a copy of the game itself. Clicking on it acts as a soft restart; the game will be rebooted from the Game Boy Advance logo screen onward. The only difference is the boot-up sound is replaced with Wario riding his bike, and eventually crashing.
WarioWare: Touched!is full of silly toys that are offered as random dropsfrom playing the game. One of them is a talking parrot. That might sound like a questionable thing to criticize at first. Like, how could a digital parrot not be of any interest to anyone whatsoever?
The thing is that this particular one utilizes the microphone of the Nintendo DS. The chatty bird is supposed to repeat back any spoken audio that is produced into the microphone, but the audio does not pick up very well. Usually, it plays back a fragment of barely audible noise. Sometimes, it doesn’t pick up anything at all.
The Cluck-A-Popis a handy gadget that dispenses all sorts of potential goods inGame & Wario. The rewards that pop out inside its plastic eggs are completely random, like codes, records, full-length mini-games, and so much more. It’s alovely inclusion, for sure.
Yet, one of the most pointless inclusions is a miniature replica version of the capsule machine. It essentially serves as a milestone unlocked when every reward has been obtained. Interacting with it plays the same noise that the Cluck-A-Pop makes, just in case a player feels nostalgic about getting all those rewards and just wants to hear the noise it makes again.
4Custard (WarioWare: Touched!)
Slap this dessert to watch it wobble…
A little blob of custard for dessert sounds great, although perhaps not this one fromWarioWare: Touched!For one thing, it cannot be eaten. What a player can do with it is slap it with the stylus. With each swipe or stretch, one can watch the image distort as it wobbles, shakes, and finally retracts into its original shape.
Nothing else is on offer with this sweet treat. It doesn’t do anything else and is only minutely entertaining. Though, calling that is a bit of a stretch in itself as well. It won’t provide much entertainment beyond a few seconds.
5Kaleidoscopes (WarioWare: Twisted!)
Digital kaleidoscopes are not particularly exciting
Six different types of kaleidoscopes can be collected inWarioWare: Twisted!Four of them are based on the seasons of the year, while two are called “Happy” and “Sad.” So, who would be interested in something as frivolous as that when people can just choose something that is far more entertaining, anyway?
Twisting the Game Boy Advance will change the pattern slightly, just like with an actual kaleidoscope. It’s only as interesting as the real thing too. So, in other words, it might distract a person briefly, but there’s no reason to use them more than once. In fact, why bother using them at all in the first place when there are mini-games like ice hockey to play instead?
6Light Wands (WarioWare: Twisted!)
Two different images of a character will appear when waving a light wand
Similar to the kaleidoscopes, the light wands are randomly dropped from playingWarioWare: Twisted!They come in different forms, with one wand for each respective character. Tilting the console sharply will revealan image of a character from the game. For example, waving the Wario wand will illuminate and reveal one of two images of the titular garlic-guzzler in the shadows.
Once both images are revealed, there’s nothing else to do here. The fact that there are 12 of them means that they’ll offer far less than about a handful of minutes of entertainment combined. A gallery of images of the characters would’ve been a more interesting and worthwhile alternative to all of these.
Unlocking every micro-game inWarioWare: Mega Microgame$!will unlock the first ‘Pyoro’ game, which is pretty fun in its own right. This is the game that appears at the beginning of the story, which serves as an inspiration for Wario to become a developer. Reflecting a stretchy tongue off of surfaces to catch falling beans before they destroy the ground is quite addicting.
It even has a sequel of its own. All it requires are high scores in each of the 213 microgames. Some of them are carbon copies of one another, while others require as many as 30 points without losing all lives. The reward is “Pyoro 2,” a minor edit of the first Pyoro game where the objective is to spit seeds at beans instead. It feels less creative and gets old quickly because of its lack of strategy and reliance on button-mashing in its place.
8Grandma Simulator (WarioWare: Touched!)
This grandmother slowly shares information and opinions
The joys of spending time with one’s grandmother is available in the form of a toy inWarioWare: Touched!The animated grandma that appears in this “simulator” talks via wobbling text that gradually and slowly appears on-screen. At first, she’ll require a player to blow into the microphone to cool her tea.
With each blow, a randomly generated message will appear (e.g. “Wario is a grump!"). Some of them are quite amusing, but it won’t be long until they keep reappearing constantly. Considering how slow these messages are to appear, this unlockable gobbles up too much time for something that is already a minor distraction.
9Musical Fans (WarioWare: Twisted!)
Fans produce a brief tune and share an image of a character from the series
What a great way to show how much ofa big fan a player is for each and every cast memberofWarioWare: Twisted!Sarcasm aside, these fans have little substance to them. A flick of the console from side to side will unveil a fan with a picture of a character.
What makes them different from light wands is the fact that they produce a musical sound when opened. That’s mostly it, though. No other bells and whistles come with these silly inclusions.
