A short review for a short game! (Warioware: Move It! In micro-review)

 Hey friends! Today I thought it would be good to talk a little bit about a game that really flew under the radar due to being shoved in the release calendar right in between Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario RPG, WarioWare: Move it! This was definitely a fun time, and it seems really unfair that people just forgot about this one because of all the bigger games coming out around the same time. This is definitely a shorter game, but they also reduced the price from most games, which is pretty fair if you ask me. Let's just go ahead and get into it! I called this a "Micro-review" because the series is known for the Micro-games, which is like Mini-games (which you may find in Mario Party), but even smaller, only giving you a few seconds to complete each, so I'll try to move at the same breakneck pace today!

Not much of a vacation!

    This game begins with Wario winning a vacation to an island paradise, which also allows him to bring along the whole staff of his game company, WarioWare Inc. That's most of the story. Like always, this is not really a game about bringing a whole story, there are episodic little sequences that accompany each set of Micro-games, but nothing substantial enough to talk much about. Where the game shines is in the gameplay and personality, as always. If you played WarioWare: Smooth Moves on the Wii, you already know what to expect here. By utilizing the Switch's Joy-Cons, along with the wrist straps (which are definitely needed this time around, so you may want to find them before picking this game up), you're able to play the funky minigames using your whole body. If you're anything like me, your Joy-Cons have had drifting joysticks for years now and you still just haven't gotten around to fixing them, especially since you enjoy using a Pro Controller anyways. This game is fine for this though! The Joysticks aren't really neccesary for the most part, other than just to choose your next level on the menu, which is definitely nice. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to play the whole game (which is a big part of why I didn't buy it right away), but it really wasn't much of a problem for me. 

    The game is really short, which is pretty standard for this kind of game. it took me about two-three hours to get all the way through the main campaign. I don't want to say that it's not worth playing because it's so short, but my problem with these titles is that I always would like more. There is replay value in going for the high score in each minigame, or playing multiplayer modes with your friends, but even in those cases, I have to feel like the likelihood of taking this game off your shelf again once you play through all of these modes a handful of times does go down significantly. I feel like it goes up if you have friends over, because I could definitely see some fun party games breaking out from this title, but it's not for someone who is looking for their next big gaming fix. What is here though is a lot of fun.

    All throughout this game, somewhat like the aforementioned Smooth Moves, you're moving around and striking all kinds of crazy poses as the game tells you where to hold your two Joy-Cons, and I think there's something funny about just watching other people playing the game in addition to playing it yourself. So many of these poses make you just stand in such uncomfortable positions, it's hilarious. You'll have to do squats sometimes, you'll have to pretend you're pulling a bow-and-arrow, You'll have to pretend you're a chicken, with one Joy-Con pointed at your butt and one in front of your face (as your tail and beak, obviously), some you'll have to even put the controllers on the ground or drop them mid-game. It's really interesting how many different poses the developers were able to put in here, especially thinking about the pose that uses the IR Camera on the bottom of one of the Joy-Cons, which has only been used for seemingly three or four games in the 8 year lifespan of the Switch. There is a lot to love about this bite sized game, and even though I wasn't able to try any of the multiplayer modes (since I only have one pair of Joy-Cons), I did play through the story mode with some friends where we traded off after every few games, and it was a lot of fun. The Nintendo levels are the highlight of the game, as always, and really emphasize just how much fun this game allows you to have. Not all of the games are winners in this package, considering a lot of them don't adequately explain what exactly you're supposed to do, but for the most part, this is a really solid package, albeit one that goes by entirely too fast.

    Speaking of going much too fast, this review has come to a close! I hope you've enjoyed this very short review of WarioWare: Move It, and maybe try it out if you like something that you read! It's a very fun game, and I'm sure having more than one pair of Joy-Cons would greatly improve your experience, but I wasn't able to try it for certain. I have always loved this series of games, and the characters in this one are as charming as ever, and the minigames are as well. I love how there are always little nods to previous games without really making for any moments that could be missing for players that are new to the series. It's more like an inside joke than anything, only meant to make you chuckle, which blends well into the lighter and more comedic setting of these games!

    Thanks so much for reading my micro-review, friends! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that you're looking forward to a great new year in front of you! Thanks so much for all the support and I'm excited for a new year of great times to share with you all. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed WarioWare investor, and I'll talk to you again soon!