It is amazing to think that Wario has now appeared in more than 45 Nintendo titles, spanning fifteen years and eleven different platforms. In fact, his still-funny evil chuckle, nefarious deeds and fart gags have become as much a part of the gaming universe as your Yoshi, Princess Peach or Kirby. And while most of his appearances have been in average platformers, as a selectable character in multi-player titles, or as arch nemesis to Mario, Wario’s true calling is undoubtedly in his own Wario Ware games, where innovation and mad, mad fun has always been key to the gameplay, as the ubiquitous pink nose and black zigzag moustache motifs permeate your brain in the same sinister way that Freddy Krueger’s hooped black and green jumper warn you of impending dream-related evisceration.

Wario Ware is all about the microgames, short, sharp bursts of gameplay that seldom last more than five seconds apiece, and involve either carrying out a specific task in accordance to the onscreen instructions, surviving for the duration of the specific microgame, or defeating the “boss” in a slightly longer, more involved task in order to progress. The microgames are delivered at a rapidly increasing rate of knots, getting faster and more difficult the further you go. Failure to complete a task loses you a life; lose all four and it is game over. Extremely simple, seldom frustrating, and incredibly compulsive.

To date, there have been three handheld Wario Ware titles that have each pushed the envelope in genre defining fashion. Gamers had never experienced such quick-fire, fist-gnawingly addictive gameplay before when they first sampled Wario Ware Inc: Mega Microgame$, his Gameboy Advance debut. This was ported to the Gamecube with very little changing in the single player mode, but with the addition of a number of awesome multiplayer and co-operative modes that elevate the game to Supreme Deity status in the sizable pantheon of Cube party knockabouts. Wario Ware: Twisted! for the GBA added a mercury-powered motion sensitive control method and some always-welcome vibration to the fold. It was another brilliant handheld addition to the series, and the only one that did not get a UK release due to some idiotic reason or other. Touched!, for the DS completed a glorious triumvirate of microgame madness on the go, and featured typically precise touch-screen controls and microphone compatibility.

As with all previous Wario Ware instalments, Smooth Moves has a mildly amusing, cartoon-style story, here rendered in brilliant-looking, crisp technicolour, the same manner as the rest of the game and in following with the favoured style of the developer. This time, after some Tom & Jerry style shenanigans involving stolen cakes, Wazza ends up in an ancient palace, where he discovers the Form Baton – a mysterious device that looks eerily similar to the Wiimote, the theft of which triggers an Indiana Jones-style giant rolling boulder, which is the cue for the inevitable series of riotous minigames.

Of course, the games are completely based around the remote controller, and require you to adopt a plethora of different poses, or “forms”, in order to complete each task. The many forms are brilliantly demonstrated using a series of introductive screens, that not only feature clear, logical drawings of exactly how to hold the Wiimote, but also feature a wonderfully spaced out narrator, who mutters a superbly inane description of each form in a seductive drawl, somewhere between Bill Murray and an overdose of Mogadon. The forms themselves range from “The Remote Control” (does what it says on the tin), to “the Mohawk” (place the contoller on top of your head), via “The Waiter” (balance it on the palm of your hand as though presenting a dish, waiter-style), with a total in excess of twenty crazy positions. Later on in the game the Nunchuck becomes the “Balance Stone”, invoking “The Diner” form, where you hold the two accessories as you would a knife and fork.

The microgames themselves are varied and nearly always hit the spot in terms of control sensitivity and recognition. One minute you could be casually tossing a pan of vegetables, or opening a door by turning a key in the lock. The next you are forced to carry out squat thrusts whilst holding a game controller on your head. The characters that inhabit the game will be familiar to fans, whilst being funny and charming enough to appeal to newcomers. The standouts are 8-Volt, whose tasks are drawn from other historic games in Nintendo’s history; sassy witch Ashley, whose stage has truly wonderful music and some cool skulls, and returning faves Dr Crygor and Mike, whose stage is a hamstring and wrist-busting fitness ordeal – you will need to play it to see what we mean. Other old favourites return, such as the famous nose-picking or searchlight in the darkness, and each new discovery, whether it is a new form, or a new stage, is a delight rather than a chore. In time honoured bad workman/tool fashion, the failure to accomplish a task can easily be blamed on the accuracy of the controller, but will usually be because you are so physically involved in the proceedings that you have pointed the damn thing in the wrong direction, or in a frantic fit of pique are just not doing something right. There are over 200 games on offer, along with several different stages (in the form of Wario’s friends and contemporaries on a map of Diamond City) that are unlocked by beating the boss stage on each. Once completed, each stage becomes an endless survival mode, with the chance to compete with your high scores.

Accomplishments in single player mode also unlock some extra mini-games, and damn fine they are too. Pick of the bunch is an ace “simon” style affair where you are required to mimic, using the Form Baton and Balance Stone, the actions of a red and white-flag waving rabbit, with much hilarity. A vertically scrolling, ping-pong ball balancing effort is compulsive and good fun, whilst a straight game of darts is always nice, even if it is a wee bit tricky. The brilliant Can Shooter demonstrates, much in the same manner as the missed opportunities of Wii Play, that Namco, or indeed Nintendo themselves need to get working on a shooting gallery game, and fast. It is terribly good fun.

All in all, there is plenty to keep you occupied, and even if the game is a tad slower-paced than it’s handheld cousins and therefore easy to complete the meat of the game, it is still something you will want to return to, especially after a few beers, or when mates are round. You see, it is hella fun just watching people play Smooth Moves. Case in point: the sight of a twenty stone man pretending to hula a donut, and the hilarity it regularly causes in this correspondent’s household. But as amusing as it undoubtedly is, this otherwise wonderful game is annoyingly spoiled by the multiplayer options on offer. Mii synchronicity is used to portray each player profile, and we are told there is an option to party with two to twelve players. But a paltry one mode of standard microgame-based multiplayer frivolity is included, and this consists of sharing one Wiimote, and taking it in turns to play one microgame at a time before passing it on, survival style. That is it. It is enough to make you try and somehow use some sort of crazy technology to get your Gamecube version working with the Wiimote, until you calm down and settle for sticking Mega Party Game$ into yer Wii when your mates come round, instead. This is bitterly disappointing, for a good few reasons. Sharing one Wiimote is awkward, no matter how you look at it. The game recommends that the wrist strap is used at all times, so this means if there are several of you there is a good chance of personal injury, someone standing in front of the screen, people missing their turn and being eliminated, or the precious form baton being dropped and damaged. Arguing that more than one remote would get confusing holds no sway – this “pass the parcel” approach is narrow minded and a cop out. There really needed to be some way of combining more than one controller in a more imaginative multiplayer mode, even if the upper limit for players was four.

There are a large number of games for Nintendo’s new console that employ mini-games, lazily or not. It is to Intelligent Systems’ credit that in terms of utilising the new control method, whilst retaining the feel and strong standards of their excellent franchise, this is easily the best current example of the genre available. The extra unlockable games, the fun factor of seeing friends and relatives hospitalised whilst pretending to be an elephant, and the sheer gloss of it all make this an essential purchase. Look at it this way, too. Show your non-gamesplaying, middle-aged relative a GBA and a copy of Twisted and they would probably barely glance up from their Daily Mail. Give them a Form Baton and the power to blow away a giant robot with a fan and you realise that, like Wii Sports, Wario is always going to be able to captivate and entice. Just don’t go in expecting the real daddy of all party games, because sadly the multiplayer thrills on offer do not cut the mustard.