WarioWare: Get it Together! Review

Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: NIntendo
Release: September 10, 2021

Come Together, Right Now...

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s here. That’s right, it’s finally arrived. The age old question has finally been answered and what has been delivered to us is a dish best served garnished with garlic. WarioWare: Get it Together! Is finally upon us. I’ve been waiting so long for a Switch WarioWare title that it started to feel like it would never come. However a glimmer of hope shined in the strangest place that let us know that WarioWare Gold wasn’t the only title they had for us in recent times, through a Nintendo Customer Survey. For whatever reason, Nintendo had decided that WarioWare wasn’t somehow meeting their expectations in sales historically, so they dropped a question asking “How much would you expect to pay for a WarioWare title?” as if it were just a question in passing.

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While extremely out of character for Nintendo it was definitely a valid question; WarioWare is pretty niche as a game itself. Personally it’s something I’d pay full price for because despite it’s generally short length of time for completion across the entire series, WarioWare is something I can simply go back to whenever I feel like trying to best my own score. Couple that with a multitude of different ways to play each game, as they are games that aim to abuse the gimmick of the console they reside on, and you have one of the most wacky and chaotic games that Nintendo has ever released. That being said however, not everyone is me, and a 5 – 10 hour playtime is a huge stretch to pay a standard price for if you’re only going to get the entertainment from start to finish and never go back. Once you’ve experienced all micro-games in a WarioWare game and mastered them it can feel like a slightly dulled experience if you aren’t into the wacky nature it embodies.

Wah!…

That being said, Nintendo did actually listen. They dropped the price point by ten dollars (Australian), making the game at launch cost roughly 59 dollars at most outlets which doesn’t seem like a ton, however paying that price tag is actually going to give you one of the most solid WarioWare titles to date. Somehow Nintendo has managed to pull it off once more for another series on the Switch. WarioWare: Get it Together! Is a game that aims to revolutionise and rebirth a series to overhaul it’s image, and better yet it succeeds in so many ways, even if it does feel a little watered down compared to other titles.

What I mean by that is that this time around the gimmick is multiplayer which is fantastic to be sure, but because multiplayer with single Joy-cons is the gimmick of the Switch it means that they’ve delegated all controls to button and stick, akin to the original WarioWare for Gameboy Advance. For those of you that have never played a WarioWare title, the core gameplay is centered around quickly completing simple “micro-games” in an attempt to climb higher, with the speed and difficulty of the games getting harder the higher you reach. Ever since WarioWare Twisted!

We’ve seen the series utilise this formula in tandem with many different control schemes, from gyro to touch and even full range movement with the Wiimote in Smooth Moves (Still my favourite to this day) making the series feel uniquely fresh and interesting every time. Multiplayer is very solid and working as a team to beat micro-games together is as fun and chaotic (No online multiplayer though which is a shame), but singleplayer feels somewhat dry throughout your initial journey in Get it Together! However, this is my single qualm with the game overall, and the positives outshine the single negative by a huge margin.

First of all, WarioWare Get it Together! Does something that no other WarioWare has attempted to do, which is tell a complete character filled story from start to finish, including voice acting and involving all characters in one single journey as opposed to splitting them all up in their own “micro-stories” like usual. While being a very simple story, it does help stitch together WarioWare’s universe just that bit more so that we know where this huge cast of simple characters fit in with each other. Being that WarioWare is now technically Wario’s main series and these characters have been silent yet present for years, it’s a much welcome addition that doesn’t impede progress, keeping at levels that suit the pace of the game. What also helps play towards to highlighting every character’s traits is that every single one has a unique way to play.

it's a great entry point to the series that will likely keep you hanging around if chasing high scores is your thing, and for veterans it's a solid entry into the series that we know and love that aims to shake things up a bit

This puts WarioWare: Get it Together! In a position that at first glance was a little concerning. In the past some micro-game collections were locked behind using specific control methods to play them, and in the case of games like Twisted! And Smooth Moves, this could mean something as simple as a broken peripheral meant no longer being able to touch that specific part of the game, or at least hindering your ability to complete it. The concept of introducing twenty characters with their own unique abilities poses the question as to whether some characters will even be able to effectively complete every micro-game, given that some characters have restricted movement, some can and cannot shoot projectiles, and a host of other possible hindrances. Gladly, it doesn’t, and after experiencing every micro-game in the game I can safely say I cannot find a blind spot. They’ve thought of ways for even an immobile character to complete a dodging micro-game, changing the micro-game to suit that particular character’s gameplay style on the fly and not restricting your choice of micro-game collection based on who you like to play.

Wah-hahaha!...

SOLID POINTS

✔️Captures the WarioWare charm.

✔️Lots of completionist aspects that will keep you playing past the story mode.

✔️Many more possible scenarios than ever before, keeping the game challenging and fresh at all times.

❌Some characters are made better than others, which means picking your team has obvious choices while others are left to the wayside.

❌The main gimmick doesn’t affect people who play single player much, making it a little drier than it’s older titles.

This change has also made Get it Together! Significantly larger than every other game in the series by default. Traditionally, most WarioWare games tend to aim at a soft cap of 200 micro-games per title, with all micro-games featuring 3 difficulties. This means that there is roughly six-hundred solutions in every WarioWare game, with the game telling you how the game is operated before every one. With the addition of 20 characters with their own tool kit to utilise, this number jumps to a whopping 12,000 possible solutions in game. WarioWare has never had so many variables that ultimately keep you thinking on your toes, and it keeps the game interesting for hours at a time. If that sounds like too much, you needn’t worry, as the game also strives to make sure that you are never too lost at all times. Before each micro-game, you’re given a few seconds to identify the character you’re playing (including messing with their controls) and just as a micro-game starts, an announcer will tell you exactly what you need to do, another series first which adds much needed accessibility to those who struggle with fast text pop-ups as the only form of instruction.

Couple all of this with the fact that WarioWare: Get it Together! Has the largest amount of unlockables in any WarioWare game to date, and you suddenly have a five hour long game that is optionally entertaining for a huge amount of time. To start, Get it Together! Has 10 mini-games that you can play alone or with friends, ranging from a HP based brawling game to air hockey which you will gradually unlock during your play time through the story. Speaking of, the micro-games are also “unlocked” in the play-o-pedia as well, meaning that you can attempt them at any time with any character that you please endlessly so that you can brush up on your weak points. It also predominantly features an “Achievement” list in missions, giving you many different goals to chase, even narrowing down to particular micro-games.

These achievements will reward you points which you can spend in the Cluckade; a gachapon that gives you prezzies you can gift to characters in order to raise their levels, granting access to character customisation for every character, as well as unlocking five pieces of concept art for every one. This alone will give me the drive to keep playing regularly so that I’m able to unlock all skins for every character, and being that beating my high score was my only drive to keep playing before hand, all these things are an extremely welcome addition. There’s also something here for the competitive crowd too with the addition of the Wario Cup, a mode that changes a particular challenge weekly so that you can compete for top score and earn rewards just for participating.

You can participate even offline, constantly bettering your gameplay until you think you’ve reached your best possible score, and then submitting it to the leaderboards once you are connected to the internet. The rewards for competing aren’t all that much; more items and points for your gacha to be precise, but to be honest I’d much prefer that overall to the rewards in Mario Tennis and Golf’s ranked modes. If you simply don’t have the time to chase the gold cup, you aren’t going to miss out on anything important by not participating. Personally the rewards aren’t even the reason I would particularly play Wario cup, rather, I’d play to see if I can keep on top of the friends leaderboards for the week for bragging rights. Nothing wrong with friendly competition!

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Honestly, I’m floored by WarioWare: Get it Together! Not only does it bring the best of WarioWare to the table; zany charm, an up-beat soundtrack, and a chaotic laugh filled experience, but it also brings some of the greatest revolutions of the series that make it a far more complete experience than the series has ever been graced with. While it lacks a little of the charm of it’s older brothers Touched! And Smooth Moves, it brings so many needed additions to help justify the cost of the game, which again, Nintendo openly queried earlier this year. Personally as a WarioWare fan, I would have happily paid full price knowing that so much had been added in comparison to previous titles. WarioWare: Get it Together! Isn’t my favourite WarioWare, but it comes pretty damn close. The series has always been a case of “Here for a good time, not a long time” and that’s still the case here, however some of that zany charm is lost by moving away from the usual gimmick exploiting romp it usually is.

That certainly doesn’t mean that it fails though; what you’re provided in Get it Together! is more substance to make up for the loss of gimmick which is bound to satisfy those players that continue to play WarioWare well past it’s initial play time, and something that I very much appreciate. For those that are new, it’s a great entry point to the series that will likely keep you hanging around if chasing high scores is your thing, and for veterans it’s a solid entry into the series that we know and love that aims to shake things up a bit, with a lot of improvements that help the game’s overall longevity. Either way, you’ll have a fantastic time with WarioWare: Get it Together! Anyway, I’m off to to make a picket line to campaign for Smooth Moves 2. I want my main course loaded with motion controls and garlic Nintendo, give it to me!