Topic: Wario Land vs. WarioWare

Last WarioWare game released: 2018. Last Wario Land game released: 2008. A ten year difference between these series for this character and personally, in my opinion, I would have preferred that Nintendo continue the Wario Land series over WarioWare because it had the spirit of the Super Mario Land games by trying something unconventional in the platforming genre.

These games took on something new with each title like light Metroidvania elements or a hand-drawn art style. Current 2D Mario platformers have been in the New Super Mario Bros. series, games that have recycled the same assets and ideas for over a decade. I'm getting sick of hearing that "bah, bah, bah" music while playing through an Winter/Ice themed world for the 4th time. Nintendo could have made up for this by releasing Wario Land alongside NSMB but instead we get nothing but a bunch of flash mini-game compilations a.k.a. WarioWare.

It's just my personal taste here and I don't outright hate WarioWare or anyone that may enjoy it but they never held my interest for very long. I like playing games with a core design that is iterated or layered upon and that was something the "Land" games did so well. The "Ware" games are the exact opposite. Those games don't have a core design at all. What they do have are so called "stages" which are really nothing but difficulty settings for the same lot of mini games.

The "Ware" games have become too prominent for the character and I feel it's starting to harm him as a whole by leaving him stuck with these shallow games and by changing his personality from his platforming titles. To elaborate, I'm saying that Nintendo is neglecting this series, just like the F-Zero and Advance Wars games, and they need to give this series another chance in the spotlight and bring back the manly, treasure hunting Wario. I'm getting sick of the lazy boss of a game company that sits around and makes jokes about gross humor Wario.

I want to know how anybody else feels. Which series do you like more, are any of you dying for a comeback of Wario Land, and how much do you agree or disagree with what I said?

I'd rather they continued with both. The first three Wario Land games were great, and WarioWare does tend to take full advantage of the hardware inputs (touch screen, camera, motion controls etc.)

It’s important to note that Warioware had quite a long hiatus with there being no true Warioware games for 9 years between Warioware DIY and Wareware Gold with only a spinoff on the Wii U that except for one small mode didn’t really play like Warioware. For a while I remember people thinking Warioware was a dead series just due to a lack of a 3DS entry (until very recently of course).

Although it's a release, Warioware gold seems a bit of a best of, and no major new content, it's just an easy win, like rhythm 3ds. So both at the moment are a bit dead.
I'd love a new wario land! shake dimension was totally different to previous titles and used the remote really well, no add ons etc. Also what about wario world! Such a bizarre game you could complete in about 3 hours but did some different stuff.
Warioware I don't think has been beat since the first, I loved how it just used a d pad and button, no changing how you hold the remote mid flow or waving the console about.

I like both series but tend to prefer Wario Land; I've played all of the latter's main titles barring the Virtual Boy game and also haven't played what I'd consider its spinoffs (Master of Disguise and Wario World). I'd be down for another series entry as long as it sticks closer to the formula of the GB/GBC/GBA games; while I enjoyed Shake It! overall (particularly the animated cutscenes), I much prefer the previous entries.

As for WarioWare, I've only played WarioWare Inc. (the first one) and WarioWare: Touched!. I'd like to get a hold of Smooth Moves for the Wii and am waiting to pick up Gold when it goes down in price somewhat.

@mrjelly That's a good point but I still feel like that Nintendo is still favoring the "Ware" games. They had gone on record and said it wasn't as simple as porting these mini games so it would have been possible to remake one of the classic "Land" games. The fact that Nintendo didn't tells me that they don't see Wario Land as being relevant or profitable anymore.

@John_Koshiro
Yeah very true. With all the remakes I'd love a Wario land collection or even better land collection with mario land and 2! Especially as the game boy ones lose battery and your save along with it.
It always surprises me that Kirby gets so many games and remakes! I'd have thought Wario was better known

@mrjelly You talking about things that I didn't realize I want. I would definitely put down some money for that but hopefully they won't redo it in a bland NSMB style.

@Mrtoad I feel like Nintendo had grander plans for the series after that but the story of the Wii U is...a sad one.

I found this video a while ago and it had some pretty interesting information about him. Also, between 3:20 and 3:55 in the video, is how I feel the Wario should be and Nintendo has been discarding these traits through something like his appearance in Smash Bros.

In my opinion, WarioWare and Smash has had an negative affect on him and unfortunately there isn't sign that this will end. I don't why this version of him keeps getting presented because most of the comments for this video also seem to hate this shift in character as well.

I like both, but I wish they would give more love to the Land games. Like you said, the last one was Shake It way back on the Wii. :/

I also wish they would do another DIY game again.

@Joeynator3000 Maybe this Nintendo Direct has something for us but I hate to say I doubt that anything will be announced for this dormant series.

On a side note, I played the Wiiware game for D.I.Y. and I wasn't amazed by it. Was the DS version better?

@John_Koshiro ....The WiiWare thing just lets you play the microgames. The actual game lets you create your own microgames.

@Joeynator3000 I guess it was the wrong decision to get that one.

Wario Land 2 was the first Nintendo game I ever owned so it has a special place in my heart. Best in the Land series IMO; 1 and 3 are close but not quite there. I've never really been able to get into 4, though I'll give it another chance someday. I enjoy the WarioWare series too though, and I hope they make one for the Switch. The cast of goofballs is arguably the best part.

Yeah WarioWare DIY was fun, even though it was limited with what you could do, especially when you couldn't import images/music. The in-game music maker was fine, but...it's just not as great as the music you hear in other WarioWare games.

Still was fun, though, you could pull off some clever microgames and all that. Dunno if Nintendo would go for the import option, but it would be awesome if they did if a sequel ever happened.

(I also want a DIY for Rhythm Heaven, lol)

Hey, remember me? I think we discussed this sort of topic on the Super Mario Land series article.

I just wanted to add that Switch is going to last quite a while so I think it is guaranteed we'll get another game in the series on Switch and hopefully it will kick off a new string of sequels so don't stress too much about having none at the moment.

@Elvie I feel that being relaxed about it will actually make the problem of its absence worse. There needs to be voice for its return somewhere.

I detest the way Wario is portrayed now.

@Franklin I assuming you are talking about games like Smash Bros. I can go on for next to eternity on how much I disapprove of his portrayal in those games.

That link to the video I posted several comments above has a interesting section about Wario's character and I feel like you will agree with it.

It honestly feels like Warioware is kinda done. Outside of the original, it mostly existed as a series to promote different gimmicks Nintendo was doing, so unless they get really creative with Joycon use, I'm not sure they're gonna bring it back. Also, the only Warioware games in the past decade have been a create your own game...game, a Wii U game that got overshadowed by its own Smash bros stage, and a best-of collection game that seemingly only existed because Rhythm Heaven did the same thing and Nintendo wanted 3DS alive for a while longer. So to me both have been on the decline tbh. Which is a shame. I just played Wario Land 2 last year, and it's pretty ambitious for a Gameboy platformer, it has multiple endings like it's the Zero Escape of Nintendo platformers. :V

But that being said, while Wario Land is great, the GBA Warioware games are legit top tier video games. Probably my two favorite minigame games ever.