Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Microgame$

WARIO WARE INC.: MEGA MICROGAME$

So, this is a bit of a difficult franchise to approach here. The series has a whole cast of iconic and loveable characters starring in it, but very VERY little of the game's actual gameplay is based on them. That said, over the course of the eight games in the series, nearly all of the main game hosts managed to pull off getting in, both through the things they do in their framing device stories and in the few microgames that are directly tied to them, but I'm still uncertain about how to approach actually laying it out in this series's context.

Wario being Wario, he decided he wants to make a bunch of money by selling video games, but doesn't want to put in the effort to actually make the games, so he creates a bunch of games that require the least amount of effort possible, and hires a bunch of people from around Diamond City where he lives to do the work of making them. These employees include local pizza girl Mona, disco enthusiast Jimmy T., taxi drivers Dribble and Spitz, kindergarten-age ninjas Kat and Ana, video game nerd 9-Volt, mad scientist Doctor Crygor, and alien invader Orbulon.

Each of these characters have both a framing-device story and a series of microgames built around a general theme. Wario's stories include him working out and bouncing on a trampoline only to get himself shrunken to Tiny Wario. He also later tries to skimp on paying his employees by escaping on a rocket but ends up falling into the ocean with the cash instead. All of his microgames are Anything Goes, meaning they're a general collection of games from all over the other characters' game types. A few are directly tied to him, like riding his motorcycle, picking his nose, lifting weights, and punching strongly.

Jimmy T., the disco lover, has probably the least to work with in terms of his framing story, as it's mostly just him dancing in the night club, though a moveset based on disco dance moves might be fun. Jimmy has two different types of gamesets, his own being a sports mix while his return appearances are both remixes of previous gamesets. His sports mix of games includes balancing on a unicycle, putting a golf ball, jumping rope, skiing, jumping hurdles, shooting a basketball, catching a ball, acting as a goalie, jumping on a skateboard, bouncing on a trampoline, and boxing.

Mona, the pizza girl most probably remember for her surprising crush on Wario of all people, is featured in a framing story being late to work at a gelateria and rushing to work on her moped. While trying to get there, she is pursued by cops while her three pets try to shake them off of her. These pets include an elephant throwing sludge at the road, a piggy kicking a soccer ball, and a chimp throwing bananas. Her gameset is listed as "strange," although most of it seemed to me like part of her morning ritual as she's rushing to work, including brushing her teeth, catching toast, frying eggs, picking her nose, squirting an eyedrop, and so on. Her main "boss" at the end is flying a paper airplane through a course.

Dribble and Spitz are a pair of taxi drivers known for picking up some unusual customers, their charge this time around being a mermaid they have to get to the coast. Their gameset is sci-fi themed, with a bunch of games including shooting alien fighters, avoiding meteors, assembling a robot, firing at a spaceship, shooting at freaking Mars, dodging lasers, with a bullet hell style level as the "boss" fight.

In Kat and Ana's framing story, a prince named after the player has been captured by a demon named Boneheads, with Ana failing to protect him. She sends a sparrow to seek help from Kat who then rushes the castle with her dog, the dog turning into a sword at the end to take down Boneheads. Their gameset is all nature-themed, with games like catching a fish, dodging a shark, catching a stick, taking a picture of a squirrel, picking vegetables, catching fruit, protecting a cat, and so on.

9-Volt, the Nintendo nerd, skates around on a hoverboard in his framing device and acts as a DJ. His games are all based on old Nintendo games like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, F-Zero, Stack Up, Legend of Zelda, the flyswatter from Mario Paint, Metroid, Mario Clash, and Wild Gunman, among others.

Dr. Crygor's story involves him creating and ingesting a secret formula, only for it to give him diarrhea and forcing him to run to the restroom. He also can fly on a jetpack as shown at the very end. His moves are all "reality" based using actual photographs, and include eating a banana, cutting a steak, eating an apple, bouncing a watermelon, squeezing peas from a pod, and decorating a cake. Hmm, that sounds more food-based than anything, but whatever.

Finally we have Orbulon's story, where his spaceship is hit by a meteor and he has to be helped out by a group of space bunnies, whose ship he attempts to hijack. His games are all I.Q. based, meaning the player has to think a bit to do it right. These include matching games, counting games, copying dance moves correctly, finding a hidden item, weighing items, and so on.

Non-"playable" characters in the game include Mona's boss Gelato Joe, and a local reporter named Ken. We also have Boneheads, the demon Kat fights in her story, who mostly attacks with ghostly fire. Then there are the space bunnies, the merperson, 9-Volt's pet Fronk, and so on.

As for stages, we have a number of locations all around Diamond City, including Wario's house, Club Sugar where Jimmy T. dances, Diamond Taxi where Dribble and Spitz work, the Gelateria Mona works at, Diamond Elementary and 9-Volt's house, Orbulon's spaceship, Doctor Crygor's lab, the Prince's castle, and of course, the poorly drawn waiting room for the games that has already become a Smash stage in its own right.

So here's what we've got so far:

Characters:
Wario: ride motorcycle, work out, trampoline, Tiny Wario, Anything Goes, picking nose, punching, rocket.
Jimmy T.: disco dance, sports, remix, unicycle, golf, jump rope, ski, hurdles, basketball, catch, goalie, skateboard, trampoline, boxing.
Mona: moped, elephant, piggy, chimp, strange, brushing teeth, catching toast, frying eggs, picking nose, eyedrop, paper airplane.
Dribble & Spitz: drive taxi, scifi, shooting aliens, dodging meteors, assembling robot, fighting spaceship, shooting Mars, dodging lasers, bullet hell
Kat & Ana: bird, dog, katana, shuriken, dog sword, nature, catching fish, dodging sharks, catching a stick, squirrel picture, vegetables, catching fruit, protecting a cat.
9-Volt: hoverboard, DJ, Nintendo, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, F-Zero, Stack Up, Legend of Zelda, flyswatter, Metroid, Mario Clash, Wild Gunman.
Dr. Crygor: secret formula, bathroom, jetpack, reality, banana, apple, steak, watermelon, peas, cake.
Orbulon: spaceship, meteor, space bunnies, IQ, matching, counting, copying dance moves, hidden items, weighing items.

Bosses:
Boneheads

Stages:
Diamond City
Wario's House
Club Sugar
Diamond Taxi
Gelateria
Diamond Elementary
9-Volt's House
Orbulon's Spaceship
Dr. Crygor's Lab
Prince's Castle
Wario Ware Inc.

Items:
Fronk

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover the console companion to the game, Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Party Game$!