Mario's diabolical, greedy and slightly-overweight rival Wario is a genius of sorts. After all, why bother with long games when you can make many quick-paced, five-second challenges? The third game in the WarioWare series, entitled WarioWare Twisted!, never made its way to Europe - which is a crying shame, as it's one of the most unique instalments in an already innovative series.
After losing at a game, Wario destroys his Game Boy Advance out of anger. Instead of buying a new one, he pops down to his loony scientist mate Dr. Crygor and asks for it to be fixed. The end result were oodles of the handheld system, with buttons replaced with motion control. Never one to pass a money-making opportunity, Wario once again enrols his friends to help out with creating over 220 micro-games for the funky new system of his.
Each entry in the WarioWare series usually has a gimmick going on. With this game, it's all about twirling the console softly left and right to control the game - like a steering wheel, but without the fear of smashing into other drivers. The game cartridge has a gyro sensor fitted into it; it's certainly a fresh and new way of playing the game compared to mashing away at the buttons. The aforementioned sensor is also very functional and is perfectly balanced between not-too-sensitive and not-too-stiff. Of course, gyro controls are commonplace in mobile games these days thanks to the accelerometers installed inside every mobile phone and tablet, but back in 2004, this was truly groundbreaking stuff.
Most games are five seconds long, hence the name 'micro-games'. A command will pop up, and you'll need to complete them. Quick! Feed the alien! Shave the beard! Shake Mario's hand! Chug the drink! No, stop reading this and go...ah, too slow. Each stage has four lives, and failing a game will take one away. Lose all four, and it's game over. Win a boss battle, and you gain one. With silly sights like nose-picking rockets and a shaving Earth, Wario really has a surreal sense of humour; some of the objectives or outcomes will likely make you chuckle. They all have brilliant graphics, as well as some appropriately silly sounds and suitable music.
Most stages usually have specific control styles for their games. They're all held by Wario and his weird and wonderful chums, all of which have a story to their stage and an ending if you complete it for the first time. The cut-scenes are quite goofy and are very fun to watch. The disco-dancer Jimmy has games that require big spins, whilst the jack-of-all-trades student Mona will require little twists for her stage. The weakest stage has to be the nursery school ninjas Kat and Ana, since only the A button needs to be pressed, meaning most of their games are pretty easy.
Other stages will have some nifty twists to them. The old school grade-schooler 9-Volt has his usual assortment of Nintendo-themed games with some remixed game-play. For instance, his boss stage is a game of Super Mario Bros., except each level is curved, and turning the GBA to the right will move Mario and speed up the environment, so his jumps must be perfectly timed. Orbulon the super-intelligent alien has his usual assortment of challenging brain-puzzlers, but his games have twice as much time to compensate the player. Since they're a notable step up in difficulty and require all sorts of movements to win, these are some of the strongest stages.
There are unlockable stages that offer one life, put all the games in the mix, and even crank their speed up to the max, which are perfect for any hotshots out there. Wario's stages all have time limits instead of lives, where winning games will grant a bit of time and losing them will stall the clock. They're quite different from the other stages but excellent fun nonetheless. An odd inclusion are the Fronk micro-games. Fronks are small, pixelated things that appear in the WarioWare series. The gimmick here is that each Fronk game offers half as much time to complete, and will appear in any stage since it does not have its own. Because of this, they can be quite frustrating to play, since they'll catch you off guard and cost you a life if you're too sluggish or clumsy.
Those who love collectibles will be in for a treat here. After beating boss-stages, a machine can be given a twist to unlock a souvenir. There are over 130 in total, ranging from trinkets that aren't too fun to more interesting toys like musical equipment and records of in-game songs, like the iconic Mona Pizza tune and the funky Wario De Mambo theme. Some micro-games are turned into longer mini-games, such as ice hockey, which have plenty of replay value and are amusing distractions. Sometimes a phone number will appear, which can be used on the unlockable phone, so you can get a silly message. If you get all unlockables, all you'll be getting is numbers, so you might see the same messages again and again.
It all might sound tough, so playing each micro-game individually is an option, allowing players to adapt to the gradual increase in difficulty. If the high-score is beaten, a crown will appear over the game. Get crowns on all of them to win the super-secret souveneir: an in-game cartridge of WarioWare: Twisted. In other words, it restarts your game. Erm...woo-hoo?
Conclusion
Without a doubt, WarioWare: Twisted! Is one of the strongest inclusions to the series, offering oodles of micro-games and unlockables, meaning there's plenty of replay value to be had in this downright surreal game. It's got some great graphics and appropriately wacky sounds, as well as some catchy jingles to listen to. Whilst some of the stages are notably weaker than others, and the final big souveneir is a waste of time to unlock, this game is most definitely an excellent step-up to the otherwise already-brilliant first game in the series. Here's hoping it'll find its way to the Wii U Virtual Console eventually - the GamePad's gryo controls will allow for a faithful conversion.
Comments 35
I know the motion controls for other games like Yoshi's Universal Gravitation wasn't fun to play, the challenges were too tricky to properly do with it
Amazing game.
Still have my cartridge here with all micro-games with a golden crown.
The mini-games included were fun too. (especially that sewing one)
When I saw this, I thought it was on the eShop and got excited...
I really hope this game does get released on the eShop.
Saw this review, and started to freak out internally. "When was it put on the eShop?!" But yes, I went into the game off my enamorment* of the earlier ones, and it wasn't until I was reading reviews some time after beating it that the word "gimmick" ever came to mind. This game is so built around its gyro and knowing the screen will be turning, it never felt too forced (though playing Crygor's stuff on an SP over the at-the-time-of-release GBA felt slightly misaligned). If the New 3DS's added power would allow true Virtual Console conversions of GBA games, I might would have to buy this as soon as it hits eShop, to beat it for the third time.
*not a word, but sounds like it could be
@Gridatttack "Sew Hard"!! Even my friend who never caught on with WarioWare had his fill on that minigame.
When you successfully get a boxed copy of this game, and you live in the UK B)
"Here's hoping it'll find its way to the Wii U Virtual Console eventually", especially as it was never released in Europe for obscure reasons. And the cartridge isn't cheap...
Aww when i saw this review I thought it meant the game was already coming to Wii U. Definitely the best of the Wario Ware games.
This is THE BEST Wario Ware game and THE ONLY ONE not released in Europe. What the actual f... anyways, I bought my copy years after original release and loved it.
I love the series, but this is the only title I somehow never got a hold of. Sadly I doubt Nintendo would ever care to put this on VC since it would require a little extra effort due to the gyro controls and getting it to work right with the game pad.
I really loved playing this in my elementary years, so I'll probably order it online if it never comes to the eshop.
Ugh what a tease! I definitely thought this was coming to Wii U. The gyro controls would be a perfect fit for this game! Twisted was one of the best WW games.
I have a Gameboy advance and 1 game...this! If it was to be released on VC then it would be an immediate purchase. One of my favourite games ever made.
I loved this one so much...My brother gave it to me for Christmas. I still have it around here somewhere...
I still have the cartridge. Probably the best game to have if you have the first-generation gba. It would definitely work better with the wiiu then 3ds.
Why is it being reviewed now if there is no forthcoming VC release?
@Blastcorp64 We've always reviewed retro games, not just those on the VC.
"relax"
-Yoga Man
I was hoping this review was for some upcoming VC release on WiiU, but hopefully that happens since the gamepad seems perfect for Twisted...better than my GBA SP was back in the day even
Thought it was on WiiU already because of this review, tis a bit misleading.
I've never been able to play this in its original form. I'd love to give it a go.
I have the cartridge, but it doesn't really work properly anymore.
I hope they release it for WiiU.
In UK?
I read the whole review, wondering how it played on the Wii U. Why are they reviewing a game this old now if it's not on the Virtual Console?
I won this game in a UK magazine, and loved every second of it. It was the American version that I got, and I was extremely lucky since it took ages before they released it in Europe!
@Henmii But the game was still never released officially in europe...
@DarthKirby NIntendo Life reviews old games from older consoles, not only current gen ones
This was the only Warioware game I didn't play because I could never find the pak when I was still buying GBA games and it's impossible to emulate due to the gyro sensor. Warioware 1 (and the GCN game which is pretty much a party version of 1) and 'Touch!' are my all time favorites in the series, but I think I would have loved 'Twisted!'. As for Smooth Moves, D.I.Y and Game & Wario (shudder), the former 2 are competent Warioware games, but the latter for Wii U... Just... No...
I really hope Ninty figures out how to put this game on the e-shop, but after seeing this review, I may have to hop on Amazon and try to track a pak down.
Also, I apologize in advance for calling cartridges 'paks'. Blame Nintendo Power and growing up in the 90's.
I emulated this game on my iPad and was pretty enjoyable. Sadly can't do so anymore, so I would love it if this was put on the eShop as I'm sure it can use the Gamepad gyro. (and 3DS if possible)
I just remembered that all I have to play GBA games is my DSLite, will the gyro work at all with it since the pak is upside down on the DSLite instead of upright as it would be on a GBA/SP?
@ChibiJib Ditto. waits for VC release
@Gridatttack,
It must be a urban legend, because I DID see it in a shop back in the day. And I am sure it was a European version. The thing is, it got released very late because of a dispute regarding the gyrosensor. The American gyrosensor technology wasn't accepted in Europe, so they had to change it!
Wario Ware and Wario Ware Twitted are the best Wario Ware games!, I got excited for a second thinking that this was coming to Wii U.
My favorite in the series.
@AshFoxX Yup, it'll work.
I still have a boxed (mint) copy of this that I imported
years ago. Only thing is I traded my DS Lite so lost the
ability to GBA games.
I could pick a SP GBA model up but I've never found
one in good enough condition, I should never have
sold my beautiful metallic blue model all those years
ago.
@AshFoxX: I used to play it on my DS Lite without
an issues. Wouldn't it still be upside down on an SP
model as cartridge slot is at the bottom of the unit?
Anyway it's well worth importing. I got my from a third
party seller on the amazon uk market place.
@Satans_Therapist I actually ordered the game not long after I made that comment and have been enjoying it immensely. I had forgotten that the slot on the GBA SP was on the bottom too, had I remembered that I would not have considered a problem on DSLite.
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