WarioWare: Get It Together! [Nintendo Switch] | REVIEW

Whilst Wario has gotten up to all sorts of devious shenanigans in his pursuit of treasure over the years, one of his most successful ventures has been video game development. He doesn’t spend ALL of his time getting up to no good, you know, but actually has a collection of micro-games that are outrageously weird but also a whole lot of fun. WarioWare: Get It Together is the latest collection of such games, bringing with it a different take on the micro-game formula that’s both refreshing and utterly enjoyable – whether that’s when playing solo or with friends.

Check out a gallery of screenshots down below:

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You wouldn’t think it given the concept of the game, but there’s a fun little story to be found in WarioWare: Get It Together. Alongside his rag-tag band of friends, Wario has just finished work on his latest video game. The only problem? It’s packed to the brim with bugs, with Wario and pals getting sucked into the game in order to try and take them all out. This means actually playing the levels they’ve created, each of which is a micro-game that challenges the player to zany quick-paced tasks.

The Story Mode itself won’t take players too long to beat, with it coming in at around two-hours. It does give a good introduction to a selection of the micro-games players will spend their time completing though, as well as the new character-based gameplay setup.

Whilst previous WarioWare titles essentially put the player in the role of the star of the show, WarioWare: Get It Together sees you controlling individual characters for the first time. You won’t be tapping screens, spinning consoles, or yanking your controller around, but instead leading one of the twenty playable characters through each micro-game and using their varied abilities to your advantage.

“Alongside his rag-tag band of friends, Wario has just finished work on his latest video game. The only problem? It’s packed to the brim with bugs…”

Each character feels significantly different to use in-game. Wario flies around in his jetpack and can dash in the direction he is facing for example, whilst Mona zips around freely on her moped whilst launching out a player-controlled boomerang. Crygor will essentially swim in the direction that he’s facing by mashing the action button, whilst Orbulon will hover around in his spacecraft whilst sucking up objects below him with his hover beam. Then you’ve got 5-Volt who can instantly teleport to different areas of a level by pressing on them, whilst Mantis can jump super high and stick himself to ceilings. That’s just six of the playable characters available in the game too, with the additional fourteen all bringing their own unique skills to the fray.

It adds a satisfying twist to the formula where you’ll find that some characters are significantly better at some micro-games than others. You’ll often have to take a party of characters with you into levels too, with the game randomly switching between them as you flick through micro-games. It adds a cool sense of unpredictability to the formula where you haven’t only got to focus on the task at hand, but also how you’re going to approach it with the character you’re using.

“You won’t be tapping screens, spinning consoles, or yanking your controller around, but instead leading one of the twenty playable characters through each micro-game and using their varied abilities to your advantage.”

The difficulty for each character is balanced out well for the most part, though there were a few exceptions where the character selection could hinder my progress. Bashing my way out of a garbage bag as Orbulon was a nightmare for example, whilst using 5-Volt to rock a baby’s crib was tough too. On the flip side, some character’s abilities can make some micro-games feel RIDICULOUSLY easy. This was most apparent when using the aforementioned 5-Volt, where her teleportation ability made some challenges feel trivial. It made me use her a lot less than the other characters, especially since their abilities were typically more fun to use anyway.

Whilst the characters and their abilities are important to the gameplay, it’s with WarioWare: Get It Together’s vast selection of micro-games where the game’s creativity truly shines. There are over two hundred to play in total that challenge the player in different ways, with each broken down into a variety of categories that follow set themes. They’re all very simple in design and only require some basic movements and actions, though that simplicity can be deceiving if you’re not switched on – you’ll need both quick reactions and quick thinking if you want to succeed.

Some personal favourites of mine included dislodging objects from Wario’s stomach, smashing a pig off a peculiarly built tower (a nod to Angry Birds), hitting water over a man’s face to clean off shaving foam, sorting different types of objects between a pair of angels, pulling out the armpit hair off a statue, hitting a percussion instrument in time with an orchestra, and playing ‘rock-paper-scissors’, just to name a small few. I didn’t hit a single micro-game that felt like it was bad, with each bringing with them plenty of variety and ingenuity in their silly design.

“Whilst the characters and their abilities are important to the gameplay, it’s with WarioWare: Get It Together’s vast selection of micro-games where the game’s creativity truly shines.”

Want to know the best micro-games of all? It’s the ones that are based around ‘Nintendo Classics’, with players completing tasks from the likes of Super Mario Land, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Splatoon, and Luigi’s Mansion, amongst other Nintendo franchises. It was such a pleasant surprise when these showed up, with each feeling like a real love letter to fans of Nintendo.

With varied levels of difficulty to be found in each micro-game, an ever-increasing speed, as well as the challenges brought with each character’s ability, completing micro-games can be tricky. It’s always a shock to the system the first time you encounter a micro-game too, especially since you’re given a small clue as to what you need to do and just a few seconds to do so. Of course, sometimes it’s obvious enough just by looking at what’s in front of you, but other times you’ll find yourself completely stumped until it’s too late. It’s something that players will get used to after seeing the same micro-games pop up on a regular basis, but I’ll admit that a few STILL manage to catch me off-guard after more than ten hours playing…

Players can unlock more micro-games by re-visiting story levels, whilst the ‘Play-o-pedia’ collects them all together to re-visit whenever you fancy. It’s an effective means to look at how many micro-games you have missing from your collection too, whilst it’s always fun to play through the boss levels again (which were some of the most creative in the game). With so many micro-games available in total though, you won’t run out of things to do fast, whilst the vast selection of Missions on offer will give players an extra incentive to vary up their playstyle and tackle individual categories.

“Want to know the best micro-games of all? It’s the ones that are based around ‘Nintendo Classics’, with players completing tasks from the likes of Super Mario Land, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Splatoon, and Luigi’s Mansion, amongst other Nintendo franchises.”

Those who want more of a challenge will want to spend time in the Wario Cup, where weekly tasks see players storming through an array of micro-games to amass a high score. This score will then be put in a global leaderboard where you can see how well you’ve done when compared with friends and other players, whilst amassing high scores will also unlock more of the in-game currency. It’s a neat little feature and one that will certainly keep me coming back for more WarioWare fun for a long, long time. And hey, the more currency you earn, the more you can spend buying presents for your characters to unlock all-new costumes. I’ve already got a zombie outfit and a gold outfit for Wario, and he looks glorious.

Whilst I’ve gone into great depth about playing WarioWare: Get It Together as a single player experience, its greatest strengths lie in its multiplayer. The whole of the Story Mode can be played with an additional player where teamwork makes the dream work (or sometimes causes chaos depending on how co-ordinated you are), whilst the unlockable Variety Pack brings with it ten unique and creative mini-games to play. Each micro-game has been created to complement multiplayer play perfectly, whilst the Variety Pack’s offerings bring with them hours of entertainment. You wouldn’t think that it’d be fun playing WarioWare’s take on keepy-uppies for hours on end, but my friends and I have amassed some ridiculous scores in it and had a good time doing so. Prefer something a bit more competitive? Expect to lose friends when playing the volley ball-style ‘High Five’, whilst ‘Duelius Maximus’ will really help determine the champion of WarioWare amongst your friends…

“Each micro-game has been created to complement multiplayer play perfectly, whilst the Variety Pack’s offerings bring with them hours of entertainment.”

It’s a wonderful party game for multiplayer romps and one where anyone can just pick up and play comfortably, with the anarchic setup of WarioWare: Get It Together’s gameplay allowing even the most ineffective of players to succeed with ease. Just expect a few funny looks from family members when some of the game’s more peculiar micro-games show up (yes, I’m talking about you, robot that loses its towel). It is a bit of a shame that there isn’t an online multiplayer component though, which is something I would’ve especially appreciated given that some of my friends live a bit further away.

Developer: Nintendo, Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch (Reviewed)
Website: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/warioware-get-it-together-switch/