WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania

Reading a rule in seconds

A microgame rarely gives you enough time to study it. An image and a short instruction must communicate the goal while your fingers are already acting. That makes recognition part of the challenge: the same simple controls can mean catching, dodging or stopping at exactly the right moment. Returning games become easier to read, then the rising speed makes them difficult again. The visual jokes benefit from this brevity, although a first failure sometimes teaches a rule more clearly than the instruction did.

Play a few character stages before chasing a score. On a return visit, notice which microgames you recognise immediately and which still need a moment of interpretation. A short session is enough to see the design at work.

The first WarioWare

The original WarioWare reached Japan and Europe in 2003. Its European title is Minigame Mania; the North American name is Mega Microgame$!. This button-controlled game finds variety in rapid changes of task, before later entries build microgames around motion and touch inputs.