Get this gem of a game if you can find it used!
Story: 6/10
The story is kind of bland, but who plays an adventure platformer for story, anyway?
For those who don't know, Wario is Mario's greedy, treasure-hunting rival. He's a bit of an anti-hero, and is always looking out for himself. He doesn't mind if his actions are for good or evil as long as he gets profit in the end.
In the intro of the game, Wario is seen sitting in his castle, rejoicing over his massive hoard of treasure. However, unbeknownst to Wario, his most recent treasure acquisition included the Black Jewel, a monster that looks like a black diamond but has the ability to create monsters from inanimate objects. The Black Jewel awakens while in Wario's possession, destroys his castle, and transforms his treasure into a hoard of monsters!
Wario sets off to reclaim his treasure and comes upon the Spritelings: little forest sprites that sealed the Black Jewel away the last time it did something like this. If Wario is to reclaim his treasure and defeat the Black Jewel, he will need their help.
Gameplay: 7/10
Basically, this is an adventure game with platforming elements. You control Wario as he searches through 8 worlds for his lost treasure. Over the course of your adventure, you will encounter enemies that can be defeated in a variety of ways including knocking them unconscious, swinging them like Mario swings Bowser or, my personal favorite, piledriving them into the ground! As you free imprisoned Spritelings, they will give you hints and tell you how to execute techniques, but all of the techniques can be used from the start if you know how to use them.
The game is divided into 4 stages, and each stage is divided into 2 worlds. At the end of each world, you will face a boss. None of these are overly challenging, but they are all fun to fight. At the end of each stage, you will have to face a boss that is slightly tougher than the world bosses, but still not too difficult.
The enemies in each of the 8 worlds feel a bit rehashed as you progress through the game. Some worlds have completely unique enemies, but most of what you are facing will just be a differently skinned and possibly powered-up version of what you encountered in the first level.
Graphics: 7/10
These are standard Gamecube graphics, here. The worlds are beautiful, and the characters are well designed. There isn't anything remarkably excellent, though.
Sound: 9/10
Others may disagree with me on this point, but I loved the sound in this game. In addition to the music (which is tailored to fit the theme of the current world), most of what you will be hearing is comments from Wario as he defeats enemies! There's just something about hearing him yell out things like "Have a rotten day!" and "Get out of here!" as he chucks enemies at eachother that just cracks me up. Of course, Wario is voiced by the famous Charles Martinet! Mr. Martinet has done the voices for several other Mario characters including Mario himself, Luigi, and Waluigi.
Length: 5/10
My only major complaint with the game is its length. Although the world's aren't tiny, it just doesn't take that long to finish them when there are only 8 of them. Even collecting every possible thing in the game without the aid of a walkthrough, I was finished in a little over 10 hours. On the other hand, the game is short enough that I would gladly play through it again many times.
Additional Content: 9/10
I know this isn't something normally reviewed, but there's some pretty nice bonus content here if you have a GBA and a GBA to Gamecube link cable. If you have never played a WarioWare game before, this is your chance! As you play through the game, you will earn 8 downloadable microgame collections that can be transferred to your GBA. These games can all be found on the original WarioWare: Mega Microgame$, but it's nice to have them here.
Replay Value: 6/10
There is no multiplayer support, and it's fairly easy to find everything on your first playthrough. In spite of this, it's still fun to play through the levels even if you have already beaten them.
Overall: 7/10
In spite of it's few flaws, this is still a great game. If you are a fan of Wario, you should definitely play play this. If you have never played a Wario game before, this is a good place to start.
Rent or Buy?
If you can find it used, you should definitely buy it! However, if you can't, a rent is probably what you are after since the entire game can be completed in just a few hours.