WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!
North American box art For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Nintendo R&D1[1]
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console (3DS, Wii U), Game Boy Advance - Nintendo Switch Online
Release date	Game Boy Advance: March 21, 2003 May 23, 2003 May 26, 2003[2] June 6, 2003[3] July 4, 2005[4] Virtual Console (3DS) (Ambassador Program Release): December 15, 2011 December 16, 2011 December 16, 2011 December 16, 2011 Virtual Console (Wii U): April 3, 2014 April 10, 2014 April 10, 2014 April 10, 2014 Game Boy Advance - Nintendo Switch Online: February 8, 2023 February 9, 2023 February 9, 2023 February 9, 2023 February 9, 2023
Language(s)	English (United States) French (France) German Spanish (Spain) Italian Japanese Simplified Chinese
Genre	Action
Rating(s)	Game Boy Advance: ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - General Virtual Console (Wii U): PEGI: - Seven years and older
Mode(s)	Single-player, 2 players simultaneous (four minigames)
Format	Wii U: Digital download Nintendo Switch: Digital download Game Boy Advance: Game Pak Nintendo 3DS: Digital download
Input	Wii U: Wii U GamePad Wii Remote (horizontal) Classic Controller Wii U Pro Controller Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con Joy-Con (horizontal) Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Game Boy Advance: Gamepad Nintendo 3DS: Gamepad
Serial code(s)	AGB-AZWJ-JPN AGB-AZWE-USA AGB-AZWP-EUR AGB-AZWU-AUS AGB-AZWC-CHN

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, known as WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania in European languages and known as Made in Wario in Japanese, is a minigame compilation for the Game Boy Advance and the first title in the WarioWare series of games. It was released on March 21, 2003 in Japan; later that year in Europe, the Americas, and Australia; and on July 4, 2005 in China. The game has the player play through themed gauntlets of microgames, which are very short and simple minigames that only last for a few seconds each; the player must understand the goal of each microgame within this time, through a short written command and contextual clues. The game's plot centers around Wario, who founds a game company and creates a video game along with his friends, an entirely new cast of characters who reside in Diamond City. Some of the game's music and sound effects are taken from Wario Land 4.

Based on the "Sound Bomber" mode of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, Mega Microgame$! was a passion project for its development team, who developed it in secret before showing it to their producers. The game was praised by critics for its innovative concept and addictive nature, and would become a commercial success despite low internal expectations, selling over one million units worldwide.

It was re-released as a free downloadable title for the 3DS Ambassador Program in December 2011, only available to people who purchased a 3DS before the August 12, 2011 price drop. The game was also released on Wii U's Virtual Console in the Americas, Europe, and Australia on April 10, 2014, and for Game Boy Advance - Nintendo Switch Online as one of the application's launch titles on February 8, 2023.

64 of its 213 microgames eventually made it to WarioWare Gold on the Nintendo 3DS in 2018.

Story[edit]

Wario working in the new WarioWare, Inc. headquarters shortly before calling his friends.

One day, while lounging on the couch in his house in Diamond City, Wario sees a report from Ken the Reporter on TV about a video game called Pyoro that made tons of money. Wario thinks of all of the cash that he could get if he made a video game, and quickly sets out on his bike to obtain a computer. Wario's house then gets renovated into the headquarters of WarioWare, Inc., Wario's newly founded company. After trying to make a video game by himself, Wario grows lazy and calls up his closest friends to help; they agree.

At the end of the game, WarioWare, Inc.'s game becomes a commercial success. Wario ends up swindling his employees, though, refusing to pay them and taking all of the money for himself. In the WarioWare, Inc. headquarters, he runs away from his friends with the cash and escapes with a rocket attached to the building. However, Dr. Crygor, swimming in mid-air, accidentally bumps the rocket, causing it, Wario, Dr. Crygor, and the banknotes to all fall into the sea, with the rest of the employees watching from the harbor.

Gameplay[edit]

The "Gold Digger" microgame, created by Mona. Nose-picking is a recurring microgame theme in the WarioWare series.

The game is based around the concept of playing very quick, simple microgames (over 200 in all) in rapid succession. Most games only last about four seconds on the lowest speed. There is a wide range of microgames, each of which vary heavily in art style and gameplay; some games feature simple stick figures against solid-color backdrops, some games show photographs, and some games are based on classic video games. A microgame makes use of either the Control Pad, the button, or both, depending on the task it gives the player. Shortly before a game starts, simple instructions such as "Dodge!", "Pick!", or "Catch!" are displayed. Each microgame features three difficulty levels. Depending on the game mode, the difficulty of microgames being played may ascend from the lowest to the highest difficulty level.

The game's main progression takes place in the stages of the Games mode, hosted by Wario and his friends. After beating a certain number of the microgames in a stage, the speed of the microgames, and occasionally their difficulty, increases. The microgames appear in a mostly random order. In addition, there is also an arcade-style mode known as Grid mode, where the player aims for a high score in a single microgame, which cycles through its difficulty levels before speeding up. This concept was first used in Mario Artist: Polygon Studio in the Sound Bomber mode, albeit in a much simpler form with only eight microgames in total.

Games mode[edit]

Microgame stages[edit]

Choosing between stages and bonus minigames in Games mode. The in-game menus are set up to look like the screen of Wario's computer.

The Games mode serves as the game's main campaign. There are nine stages hosted by the different characters from the game. Each character has their own set of microgames based around a certain theme, in addition to two special stages that are composed of microgames from several previous sets. Each of the eleven stages must be beaten to progress through the story. All stages feature prologue and epilogue cutscenes focusing on their respective character, which are viewed before and after the actual gameplay.

To beat a given set, the player must beat a specific number of the microgames specific to that set without getting a Game Over. The last game in a given set is the boss stage, a more complex game that lacks a time limit. Players are given four lives, losing one for every microgame lost. Losing all lives results in a Game Over. Between every microgame, a short intermission displaying the current score and number of lives shows up, with its appearance being based on the character's story. Seeing a microgame in the Games mode unlocks it for free play in the Grid mode.

Dribble & Spitz's intermission in Games mode. It shows the current score and number of lives in the form of Spitz dolls in the taxi.

After beating a stage, a player can replay it indefinitely to obtain a high score. The player scores a point after every microgame, even if they lost the game, as long as they have at least one life remaining afterwards. In this challenge, the game continues after every boss stage on a higher difficulty level. After beating the boss stage on the third level and every subsequent time, the speed increases additionally instead. By winning a boss stage, the player also gains an extra life if they have less than four lives. In addition, after a boss microgame, a short break scene featuring the stage's host is shown, which the player can influence by pressing the button. Each stage only needs to be played once to reach the epilogue cutscene at the end of the game, but some extra content is only unlockable by getting a minimum high score on certain stages, and playing every microgame at least once is required to unlock two of the bonus minigames.

Extra content[edit]

By playing the stages, extra challenges can be unlocked. These include special minigames for one or two players, as well as mixes of the microgames from all sets. They are chosen from the same screen as the microgame stages in Games mode.

The single-player challenges feature special minigames, several of them being extended versions of certain microgames. There are also four 2-player minigames, which use the and buttons to allow two players to play using only one handheld. A single bonus minigame can only be unlocked by playing the microgames in the Grid, rather than the stages.

In addition, there are four tower stages that are unlocked after completing the game, which challenge the player to beat as many microgames as possible until all lives are lost. Microgames from all previous stages are put into the mix, with various additional rules applied for each. For example, one tower challenges players to not lose a single life while playing microgames at their hardest difficulty.

Grid mode[edit]

A screenshot of the Grid mode menu. If a microgame has yet to be unlocked, a question mark represents it in the Grid.

In this mode, players can play any microgame they have previously encountered in the Games mode. When a microgame is selected in the Grid mode, a single challenge is repeated endlessly in an arcade-style format until they lose the microgame four times. Like in the stages, the player scores a point after every playthrough. The game cycles through each of the three difficulties the microgame has, with the first one being easy, the next being of normal difficulty, and the third being hard. After that, the speed of the game increases, and the game returns to its easiest difficulty, starting the difficulty cycle again. Each microgame has a designated score to beat, ranging between 10 and 30 points for regular games, and 5 for boss games. Upon meeting this score, the microgame is marked with a red flower.

Options[edit]

In the Options menu, the player can view the epilogue cutscenes after clearing the Games mode sets, as well as tweak settings related to their save file, from changing the player name and gender to erasing the save file's contents. The player's name and gender only change some scenes in the character stories and lines of text, without affecting gameplay. In addition, on the name change screen, the player can change the background music by pressing the button; the songs available are "Drifting Away", "Four Seasons", and "Dr. Crygor's Bathroom Jam".

Characters[edit]

Main characters[edit]

Aside from Wario himself, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! introduces a completely new cast of characters in the form of Wario's friends and the other citizens of Diamond City, a __cpLocation which also debuted in this game. Each of the main characters host a set of microgames, and come with an individual story dedicated to them in the form of a prologue and epilogue. At the end of every story after the Introduction, the respective character meets with the other ones at the Gelateria. The characters were designed by Ko Takeuchi.^[5]

Image	Name	Description
	Wario	"Its-a me, Wario! Yeah, yeah, I'm the bad guy... but this time, I came up with a legit way to make fistfuls of cash using my superior intellect! That's right! I'm not cheating-this time, anyway! Listen, will ya?! I've created a software company to make the best, most interesting games the world has ever seen! And it's going to make me filthy rich! Wah, ha, ha, ha!"
Wario's first story: Wario is seen exercising in the WarioWare, Inc. headquarters. He promptly leaps into a boombox from up high and appears on the monitor, kickstarting the microgames. In the epilogue, a shrunken Wario emerges from the boombox, alongside a few vehicles from the microgame "Crazy Cars". After dodging them, Wario re-enters the boombox before re-emerging at his normal size and promptly flattening the cars. Wario laughs, and his story ends. Wario's second story: Wario is once again seen in the headquarters, before throwing his laptop up high, and having it land onto him. Like the boombox from before, Wario is sucked into it, and appears on the monitor. In the epilogue, Wario once again emerges from the laptop, and an advertisement is shown for WarioWare, Inc.'s own game. The game becomes a success, but when WarioWare, Inc.'s employees ask Wario for their pay, Wario runs away with the cash and escapes with a rocket. However, the escape fails when Dr. Crygor accidentally bumps the rocket, and the two fall into the sea as the money flutters down with them, as the rest of WarioWare, Inc. looks on. While rowing an emergency boat with Dr. Crygor, Wario complains about his friends.
	Jimmy T.	"Hey, hey! It's Jimmy T.! Big moves, bigger wigs, and only the biggest sports games! To boogie with me, you've gotta send me cell-mail. And you? You say that you and Wario are really tight? That's cool! C'mon, let's hit my favorite disco and get funky 'til dawn! I know Wario looks offbeat, but he and I go way back. Plus, he always sends me cell-mail!"
Jimmy T.'s story: Jimmy T. goes to Club Sugar at night to start dancing, before pulling out his cell phone, which begins receiving incoming messages. In the epilogue, he leaves Club Sugar, and hears a ring tone on his phone while strolling through the city.
	Dribble & Spitz	"I'm Dribble. This is my pal Spitz. Together, we make one crash-bang cabbie team! When Wario asked us to team up and make some hard-drivin' sci-fi game, we couldn't say no! Hop in our cab and try-em out! We'll cut you a deal on the fare! Oh, hey! Between us, we taught Wario how to drive! He'd never admit it, but it's true..."
Dribble & Spitz's story: At night, Dribble & Spitz are driving with the taxicab through the city and get a customer who is named after the player, who requests to go to the city's harbor. In the epilogue, they arrive at the harbor, and the customer leaves the taxi and transforms into a merperson. They jump into the water and bid Dribble & Spitz farewell. When the person has already disappeared, Dribble & Spitz notice that the customer did not pay their fare.
	Mona	"Hey, you're a new face around here! Well, I'm Mona! I scoop gelato at the Gelateria—when I'm not at school or making games, that is. So anyway, you should know that that fortune-hunter Wario has inspired many of my strange games! He's always one degree ahead of cool, and he's even let me tag along with him on some of his money-grubbing adventures!"
Mona's story: Mona is driving to her workplace, the Gelateria, when she gets caught up by a long line of children. In an attempt to make it to work on time, Mona begins speeding; however, the Diamond Police notices her and begins chasing. Mona calls her three animals for help, the Elephant, Piggy and Chimp. One by one, they start to put the police cars out of action, and the player takes control of her Chimp, who has to aim at cars to slow them down with his banana peels. In the Epilogue, Mona arrives at the Gelateria and clocks into work at the last second.
	9-Volt	"Hey! My name is 9-Volt! I'm the grade-schooler gone old school! I've put together a collection of retro classics that'll make you late for class. Come on over and try a few out! I'll spin the tunes while you play the games! I think Nintendo games are the greatest, so you can imagine my surprise when I found out that Wario lives in my... uh, I mean that I live in his city!"
9-Volt's story: After school ends, 9-Volt goes home on his skateboard. Once he arrives at home, 9-Volt spins records in his room, and begins remixing a new song. An oversized Game Boy next to 9-Volt uses a contraption to insert a cartridge into itself, starting a game modeled after a turn-based role-playing game, where the player encounters the microgames as battles. In the epilogue, Ken the Reporter suddenly appears and announces that the Game Boy Advance SP is on sale now. Excited by this, 9-Volt leaves the house, his skateboard transforms into a hoverboard, and he rushes off before later showing up at the Gelateria.
	Orbulon	"Hello, I'm the outer space life-form known as Orbulon. It might be hard to believe, but my carbon matter will turn 2000 years old this year! My fun units test the limits of your brain matter with challenging IQ games. You know, my propulsion transport device crashed into Wario's house on a previous visit. Since then, he allows me to crash there whenever I want!"
Orbulon's story: Orbulon is headed toward Diamond City's planet with his UFO, when a meteoroid flies right into the spaceship and damages it. Orbulon sends a distress call, and a rescue team of Space Hares appears. They send a container connected with a chain into the UFO, which Orbulon enters. In the epilogue, the Space Hares finally retract the chain, but as soon as Orbulon arrives in the rescue ship, he attempts to use his alien powers. Before he can do this, the Space Hares immediately reject Orbulon back to the Porker, which has since disentangled itself from the meteor. Spinning out of control, Orbulon and his ship make a crash-landing by the Gelateria.
	Dr. Crygor	"I am Dr. Crygor, the genius scholar. Others have said a "dangerous" scholar, but I pay no mind to their opinions. My laboratory is set up to further my experiments in reality games. Feel free to stop by and contribute to my research. It is quite fun. Did you know that I was the one who created Wario's car? What? You do not know? Do your research!"
Dr. Crygor's story: Dr. Crygor is mixing chemicals in his laboratory, and then reaches for something to drink. Without looking, he grabs a beaker filled with a blue liquid, and drinks it. When his stomach starts cramping, Dr. Crygor runs for the restroom and opens the toilet lid. In the epilogue, after he has done his business, the toilet suddenly erupts a jet of water and begins to flood the lab. While Dr. Crygor tries to swim away, he is instead sent rocketing into the sky and is sent plummeting down. Luckily, Don the Sparrow catches and rescues Dr. Crygor.
	Kat & Ana	"We're Kat and Ana! Yep, we're cute, we're kindergartners, and we're ninjas! We like plants and animals so much that we included them in our games. Apparently, we are graduates of Wario's school of Kindergarten—at least, that's what the graffiti on the wall said! If I remember, the teachers weren't too happy about that..."
Kat & Ana's story: An evil skeleton spirit named Boneheads appears at the Castle, and curses a prince or princess named after the player before taking over the Castle. Ana and her crew of ninjas attack Boneheads, but they all fail. Ana quickly sends a letter with the help of Don the Sparrow to her sister Kat to call for help, before being captured by Boneheads. Kat, residing with Paw the Dog at a place far away, then receive the letter, and her and Paw make the long journey to the castle, where Kat has to fight Boneheads atop the roof. In the epilogue, Kat duels Boneheads, and almost loses, before Paw transforms into a giant sword. With this weapon, Kat manages to destroy Boneheads and saves Ana and the royal.

Other characters[edit]

• 

  Ken the Reporter

• 

  Pyoro

• 

  Gelato Joe

• 

  Mona's Elephant

• 

  Mona's Piggy

• 

  Mona's Chimp

• 

  Diamond Police

• 

  Shag

• 

  Space Hares

• 

  Paw the Dog

• 

  Don the Sparrow

• 

  Ana's Crew

• 

  Boneheads

Games[edit]

Microgames[edit]

Main article: List of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! microgames

There are nine different sets of microgames, each one created by one or two WarioWare developers and focused on a certain theme.

Genre	Developer	Description
Intro Games	Wario	Games that all involve Wario in some way. The set only features 12 normal microgames.
Sports	Jimmy	Games that feature a certain sport, such as baseball and tennis.
Sci-Fi	Dribble & Spitz	Games which focus on science fiction elements, such as aliens, space fights, and superheroes.
Strange	Mona	Games which present realistic tasks, such as nose-picking and sawing, in a strange way.
Nintendo Classics	9-Volt	Games which are based on classic Nintendo games and toys, such as Super Mario Bros. and the Ultra Hand.
IQ	Orbulon	Games that last twice as long as usual, due to involving tasks that require more thinking than other microgames, such as counting and finding an object on the screen.
Reality	Dr. Crygor	Games which feature partly animated photographs, such as photos of people and animals.
Nature	Kat & Ana	Games that involve animals or plants, such as frogs and flowers.
Anything Goes	Wario	Games that all overtly feature Wario, with no other specific theme. Some microgames in this set are parodies of other Nintendo games.

Microgame set compilations[edit]

Besides the single sets, there are also six extra microgame stages involving the microgames from more than one character. Two of them are remixes of Jimmy T.'s set, which act much like the regular stages and need to be beaten to unlock either three new stages or a single new stage, respectively. The other ones are hosted at four different towers located in Diamond City, all featuring pig sculptures. The intermission between the microgames in the tower stages looks like a child's drawing of the inside of an elevator, with inverted colors and an animated pig head on the doors.

Name	How to unlock	Description
Jimmy's Remix No. 1	Beating Dribble's, Mona's, and 9-Volt's stages	A mix of the microgames of Jimmy and the aforementioned characters. However, Jimmy's boss stage, "Punch Out" (which starts at level 2), is the only boss stage to appear. The games also start on the normal difficulty level.
Jimmy's Remix No. 2	Beating Orbulon's, Dr. Crygor's, and Kat's stages	A mix of the microgames of the aforementioned characters. Again, only Jimmy's boss stage is featured (which is always on the hardest level), and the games start on the normal difficulty level.
Easy	Beating Wario's second stage	The microgames of all characters on the lowest difficulty level randomly appear. No boss microgames appear, meaning that no extra lives can be earned. The speed is at its default, and never speeds up.
Total Boss	Beating Wario's second stage	Only the boss stages appear in this stage, in a constant order and at a high speed, forming an optional boss rush with four lives. The bosses are played in the order Sparring Wario → Jimmy T → Mona → 9-Volt → Dribble → Kat → Dr. Crygor → Orbulon → Wario's Adventure. After beating Wario's Adventure, it starts at the first again, and the difficulty level increases like in normal microgame stages. If the player fails a boss microgame, they must redo that microgame again until they pass it. Extra lives cannot be earned.
Thrilling	Scoring 15 or more points in Easy	The speed is at its slowest, and never increases. However, all games are on the third difficulty level, and only one life is available, meaning that the game is over after only one lost microgame. Boss microgames are not included, and no extra lives can be gained.
Hard	Scoring 15 or more points in Thrilling	All microgames are set at the lowest difficulty level, and no boss microgames appear, but all microgames are played at a high speed, and the player cannot gain any extra lives.

Bonus minigames[edit]

Besides the microgames, minigames without a strict time limit can be unlocked. These mostly include expanded versions of the microgames, as well as ports of previously released Nintendo games, altered to include Wario and his friends. Some of these games also include other WarioWare developers than Wario.

Single player[edit]

In these games, the player aims for a high score, which are saved.

Name	How to unlock	Description
Jump Forever	Beating Jimmy's stage.	Wario has to jump a rope. Its speed and position change during the game. Jump Forever ends the first time Wario's body touches the rope. If the player reaches 100 jumps, they unlock the option of being able to change the BGM when starting a new game.
Skating Board	Beating Jimmy's Remix No. 1 stage.	9-Volt has to avoid obstacles and birds with his skateboard by jumping and ducking. The game ends with one miss.
Paper Plane	Beating Jimmy's Remix No. 2 stage.	The player has to move a paper plane that glides downward through a tower, without touching any obstacles.
Dr. Wario	Scoring 20 or more points in Jimmy's stage.	The Viruses have to be eradicated by placing the capsule segments of the same color in line with them. The speed and difficulty of the game can be changed at the start of the game, and both increase as the game continues. This minigame is a slightly altered port of the NES game Dr. Mario.
Fly Swatter	Scoring 25 or more points in Jimmy's Remix 1 stage.	In each level, the player has to hit all of the insects and avoid their attacks; after this, King Watinga appears as the boss. This minigame is a altered port of the minigame Gnat Attack from the SNES game Mario Paint. The player moves with the Control Pad, rather than the Super NES Mouse|Super NES Mouse.
Sheriff	Scoring 25 or more points in Jimmy's Remix 2 stage.	Betty has been kidnapped by bandits, and Wario has to rescue her by shooting all of the bandits in each level. This minigame is a slightly altered port of the arcade game Sheriff.
Pyoro	Unlocking all games in the Grid.	A small bird named Pyoro must catch falling beans by extending his long tongue. The higher away the beans are, the more points they are worth. If a bean hits Pyoro, the game is over.
Pyoro 2	Earning a flower in all games in the Grid.	Similar to the previous game, but instead of using his tongue, Pyoro spits seeds in front of him, which can destroy the vegetables. The player scores more points when two or more beans are hit at the same time. Again, the game ends as soon as Pyoro is hit by a bean.

Two-player[edit]

In all of these games, one player has to press the button, while the other one has to press the button. Unlike single-player games, there are no high scores, and the game ends after one player has earned the necessary points and won, with each game played in a best-three-out-of-five system.

Name	How to Unlock	Description
VS Chiritorie	Beating either Dribble & Spitz's, Mona's, or 9-Volt's stage.	The players move vacuum cleaners and have to pick up as much trash as possible. Based on the toy Chiritorie released by Nintendo in 1979.
VS Chicken Race	Beating one more of the stages named above.	Based on the game of Chicken. 9-Volt (P1) and Shag (P2) have to get as close to the edge as possible, but must not exceed it.
VS Dong Dong	Beating either Orbulon's, Dr. Crygor's, or Kat & Ana's stage.	Both characters, Mona (P1) and Dribble (P2), have their own side. The game's goal is to use the bar that moves up and down to push one of the yellow blocks to the other side, in order to squash the opponent.
VS Hurdle	Beating one more of the stages named above.	Orbulon (P1) and Dr. Crygor (P2) take part in a hurdle race, where they have to jump hurdles and run on mud.

Locations[edit]

Diamond City, the main place of the WarioWare series, features several locations in this game that are mostly connected to one character or character pair each.

• 

  Diamond City

• 

  Wario's House

• 

  WarioWare, Inc.

• 

  Club Sugar

• 

  Diamond Taxi

• 

  Gelateria

• 

  Diamond Elementary

• 

  9-Volt's House

• 

  Crygor's Lab

• 

  Castle

• 

  Outer Space

Objects[edit]

The following list includes the objects mostly seen in the character-related cutscenes.

• 

  Wario Bike

• 

  Computer

• 

  Jimmy's cell phone

• 

  Dribble's taxi

• 

  Mona's moped

• 

  SK8

• 

  Orbulon's UFO

Development[edit]

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! was developed by Nintendo R&D1, and first announced in early 2003. It was directed by Hirofumi Matsuoka and produced by Takehiro Izushi. Other key developers include Goro Abe, Ko Takeuchi, and Kazuyoshi Osawa.

The "Jump" game in Mario Artist: Polygon Studio on which the microgame "Crazy Cars" is based.

The WarioWare concept with very short minigames coming one after another was first used in Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, a game released for the Nintendo 64DD in 2000 only in Japan. The game's Sound Bomber mode includes eight microgames, and six of the microgames in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! are based on those.^[6]

Made in Wario was originally made in secrecy by several developers on the development team Nintendo R&D1, without telling their manager at the time. The developers came up with the idea of using Wario for the game, as they could not think of anyone else who would be best for the game, and because according to them, Wario is "always doing stupid things" and is "really idiotic"; thus, they used him alongside other newly created characters.^[7]

Proud of their work, the developers presented their idea to their manager at a certain point. He was reportedly unsurprised, and simply gave his approval of the project, so the team continued development.^[7]

Concept art of several WarioWare characters at a board.

For the creation of the microgames, each person on the team would come up with their own ideas, which were then written down on notes and attached to the director's table. After this, the developers went through the ideas to decide which ones could be included in the final product. Since the game became well-known around the department, even employees who were not formally on the project started to submit their microgame ideas. Because each of the programmers created their own graphics during the development of the games, the art style also wound up being very different with each microgame.^[7]

Shigeru Miyamoto put a lot of thought into how best to market the game. He wanted to show how its unusual playing style made it distinct from other games, in the way it could be simply picked up and enjoyed. Miyamoto gave the staff the approval to use the slogan "More! Shorter! Faster!" (最多 最短 最速 Saita Saitan Saisoku), which prominently appeared on the Japanese box art, even surpassing the actual game logo in terms of size.^[8] The slogan was not used for the later Western packages, which depicted Wario and his friends, rather than just a portion of Wario's face as seen on the Japanese counterpart.

The original box art of Made in Wario, sharing its simple style with all subsequent Japanese covers.

Made in Wario, or WarioWare as the franchise is called in international languages, was first announced by Nintendo in early January 2003^[9] and originally released in March 2003 in Japan. Nintendo did not have very high commercial hopes for the game; however, the game's sales figures grew significantly more than expected, and the game gained a very good reputation.^[8]

Since WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! was commercially successful, Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, requested a remake of the original WarioWare, Inc. for the Nintendo GameCube that had to be finished "as soon as possible." The development resulted in the first sequel, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, which focuses on multiplayer and was released in Japan only half a year after the first game.^[10] It is also the first WarioWare game that was formally co-developed by Intelligent Systems.^[11] More WarioWare sequels have followed since, which mostly make use of a new piece of Nintendo's hardware, resulting in WarioWare becoming one of Nintendo's headliner titles whenever they release new hardware.^[5]

Pre-release and unused content[edit]

The unused F-1 Race microgame

Main article: List of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! pre-release and unused content

Within the game's files are a few unused microgames. One of them is based on the Family Computer game F-1 Race, likely meant to be used in the Nintendo Classic microgame set. The player must keep the racing car on the road without bumping into other cars until the timer runs out. Its command is "Continues running", which lacks the exclamation point present in the used microgames' commands. It shares its music with Munch a Bunch.

Critical reception[edit]

Critical reception of WarioWare, Inc. was positive. GameRankings' overall score for the game is 89%.^[12] WarioWare, Inc. also won numerous awards.

The Japanese Famitsu magazine rated the game a score of 35 out of 40.^[13] 1UP.com's Shane Bettenhausen rated the game 9.5/10 and enjoyed how fast-paced and frantic the game was. He also stated that playing the games was all it took to convince his friends of the game's value. Bettenhausen enjoyed the weirdness of the game, too.^[14] Jeff Gerstmannf of GameSpot stated that the combination of minigames and pacing of puzzle games such as Tetris came together wonderfully. He rated the game a score of 9.1/10.^[15] IGN's Craig Harris loved WarioWare and awarded it a score of 9/10. He stated that it did not matter that the main quest only took one or two hours. The additional replay value made up for it. He also cited the game's "pick up and play" qualities as reasons for his high score.^[16]

Awards[edit]

The game was awarded the Editor's Choice Award at both GameSpot and IGN.^[17][18] At the Edinburgh International Games Festival in 2004, WarioWare took the Edge Award, and was named the most innovative game of the year.^[19] WarioWare, Inc. also gained one of the three Innovation awards at the 4th annual Game Developers Choice Awards in 2004.^[20] In 2008, Game Informer named the game one of the top ten weirdest of all time.^[21]

Staff[edit]

Main article: List of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! staff

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! was entirely developed by Nintendo R&D1. The game was directed by Hirofumi Matsuoka, who previously directed Wario Land 4 and Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, the latter of which contained the "Sound Bomber" mode that served as a direct inspiration for WarioWare. WarioWare was Matsuoka's last work at Nintendo, as he would depart the company to join Creatures, Inc. shortly after the completion of the game.

Gallery[edit]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

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  Wario on his bike

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  Jimmy T. with his cell phone

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  Mona driving her moped

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  9-Volt on his SK8

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  Orbulon with his UFO

Media[edit]

Main article: List of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! media

Title Screen theme

File infoMedia:MMG MainTitleTheme.oga ​

Main Menu theme

File infoMedia:MMG MainMenu.oga ​

Gelateria epilogue

File infoMedia:MMG Gelateria.oga ​

Dribble & Spitz's theme - Drifting Away

File infoMedia:WWMM KoeNoTadayoNamimaMade.oga ​

Kat & Ana's theme - Four Seasons

File infoMedia:WWMM HaruNatsuAkiFuyu.oga ​

Dr. Crygor's theme

File infoMedia:WWMM CrygorTheme.oga ​

Main Menu theme (after Staff) - Used on the main menu after fully watching the Staff credits

File infoMedia:MMG MainMenuAfterStaff.oga ​

Paper Plane

File infoMedia:WWMM PaperPlane.oga ​

Title 1 - Used on the title screen of Pyoro, Skating Board, Jump Forever, and Paper Plane

File infoMedia:GameSouvenirTitle.oga ​

Cutscene - Opening cutscene

File infoMedia:WWMM OpeningCutscene.ogv ​

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

Names in other languages[edit]

Trivia[edit]

• The Nintendo 3DS release requires 78 blocks (9.9 MB) of memory to be installed.
• The game has never been released in South Korea, including in Game Boy Advance - Nintendo Switch Online. No official reason has been stated, but it is likely that it was caused by Kat & Ana's level heavily featuring Japanese culture, for which there was still a stigma against in South Korea when the game was released in 2003.
• The language selection in the European version only shows up when starting a new game, so the only known way to change the game's language is to choose "Clear Data" to delete the existing savefile.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! coverage on other NIWA wikis:

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SmashWiki

StrategyWiki

The Cutting Room Floor has an article on WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

• Official European Website
• Official Japanese Website
• Official Chinese Website
• European manual (EN/DE/FR/ES/IT)