| Sawaru Made In Wario review |
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This reviewer remembers the first time he encountered the despotic character Wario in Super Mario Land 2 on the GameBoy: the cheeky bugger had stolen Mario’s (rather regal) castle, and turned Mario Land into a miserable place infested with particularly inconsiderate inhabitants. Therefore, it was with great satisfaction that you laid a suitably harsh smack down on the blighter.
It wasn’t until recently that Wario re-appeared in this reviewer’s life. Made in Wario was one of the best games ever made, and Mawaru Made in Wario bettered it. The games tempted everyone with Wario’s cheeky grin and the joyously simple yet highly addictive gameplay (one associate openly admitted the games to be “portable gaming crack”, which is not too far off the mark). Amongst the Nintendo DS’s launch line-up was yet another Made in Wario game, utilising the device’s new touch-screen interface. How could it be any less than “maximum awesomeness” contained within a diddy gaming cartridge?
Well, Sawaru Made in Wario (or Wario Ware Touched! as it'll be known in the West) is outstandingly good and upholding the series’ pedigree of addictive and inclusive gaming fun. In many ways, Sawaru builds upon the previous games: the first Made in Wario (including the ‘Cube release) used the respective devices’ buttons to interact with a slew of varied and challenging mini-games, all of which amounted to linear progression in terms of the player’s skill. Initially, challenges would appear and the player would be a hapless buffoon until the rhyme and reason behind the mini-game had been ascertained (which was important; after all, mental preparation for each game was a must in order to progress further).
Mawaru was also very similar in this respect with players hunched over, making precise movements in order to register on the highly sensitive and responsive motion sensor within the game’s cartridge. Sawaru builds on these aspects, but it does take a new and interesting turn. The touch-screen functionality makes the mini-games in Sawaru considerably more diverse, and the utilisation of the Nintendo DS’s microphone for a section of the game makes matters far more innovative and, consequently, rather surprising.
Some sections of the gaming world have raised contention with the variety in the latest release. This is due to the apparent lack of skill (and subsequent concentration on the “fun” quotient) in Sawaru in comparison to the previous releases. This is misplaced; Sawaru is most certainly a Made in Wario game, but it has taken the series in a fresh, new and ultimately more inclusive direction (though this is entirely the by-product of the Nintendo DS’s touch-screen functionality). You can’t be a twitch-gaming ninja, relying on increasingly inhuman feats of gaming skill in Sawaru – you have to be far more laidback (but still alert, naturally) in order to enjoy the full extent of what Sawaru provides. It is also an exemplary Nintendo DS title, utilising the utmost that the machine has to offer. In many ways, it is a system-defining title.
The mini-games themselves are remarkably varied. Some have the player slice objects with a swift horizontal stroke of the stylus over the touch screen, others require more general input, like rubbing food off a kid's face. Then there are instances where the player has to wire up a light bulb from a choice of electric connections, with some of them being duds. Despite the change of presentation for each game, the gameplay content is also modified along with it. As for Sawaru's use of the microphone, the games are unique to one character (called Mike, who is a karaoke robot). There are fewer variations between these games simply because they all require the player to blow on the DS's microphone. Some have you blow lovingly onto a person's ear, others have you blow a large bubblegum bubble. The boss stage takes things a stage further by having to control the descent of dandelion seed by judicious bursts of blowing. It is not uncommon after running this gauntlet of hyper-ventilation that many will feel quite dizzy, if happy (although this may be the result of carbon dioxide deprivation).
Despite Sawaru’s excellence, though, there are problems. It’s a bit limited in terms of size - both Mawaru and the original were bigger, had more characters and consequently more games to offer (not to mention Mawaru’s massive number of unlockable “executive toys” – something that Sawaru has a pitifully small amount of). There are also certain characters missing from the roster, though new ones have (partially) taken their place.
Moreover, the first batch of Sawaru Made in Wario have a fault with certain models of the Nintendo DS, where the touch screen does not work properly during three of the mini-games. This means that the final bonus gotcha is unavailable, and progression is harder than it should be here and there. Nintendo have fixed this problem in subsequent batches, and offered a free exchange for problem carts, but it is frustrating for those who have already imported. However, this problem should have been fixed in time for the English language versions of the game.
It could have also been a wondrous multiplayer title; after all, with the Nintendo DS’s superb wireless support a four-or-more-player-versus setup akin to the GameCube release would have been excellent.
Regardless of these setbacks, Sawaru Made in Wario is an utterly outstanding game. It is also one of the few games in existence where friends gleefully swipe said Nintendo DS hardware in order to play it, resulting in various skirmishes and the subsequent prising of gaming hardware from contorted, cold, dead hands. To anyone that owns a (compatible) Nintendo DS and doesn’t have Sawaru - you’re bonkers. It’s gaming brilliance. |
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System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
Version: Japan
Reviewed: Feb 2005
Writer: Ollie Barder
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Pros:
- Varied content of mini-games
- Inclusive to all and sundry
- Highly addictive
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Cons:
- A tad short
- No wireless versus capability
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