Wario is back with some crazy minigames, no button mashing this time, time to get out of that sofa and get moving. Move It! uses the Joy-Con to get your body moving and boy is it ridiculously fun. Let’s jump in!
Time for a holiday
WarioWare: Move It! starts on a happy note with Wario winning a trip to a sunny tropical island. Less fun for him is the fact that he won a trip for the entire WarioWare crew, making it a lot harder to relax! Once arrived on the island, Wario quickly discovers the mysterious Form Stones, a strange object shaped in the form of the Joy-Con. A Form Stone holds a mysterious power when you use it in the correct pose. Throughout the story, you’ll learn to master 18 different poses, which are explained to you with a funny video about the ancient history of the pose. It’s fun to learn the poses and the humor really shines bright here, WarioWare is all about having fun but it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is also reflected in the poses. If you want a serious party game, skip right past this one since WarioWare will have you posing like chickens in no time. The poses are crazy and funny to perform, especially when you’re playing the game with other players. You can master the 18 poses in 200 microgames, which is pretty decent for a game like this.
In story mode, you’ll follow the classic WarioWare pattern of playing themed microgames linked to one of the WarioWare characters. Most microgames can be completed between five to ten seconds but the more you advance, the higher the pacing gets, making it a lot harder to clear those microgames. It’s not a new concept but it’s one of the best-looking story modes in the franchise. With gorgeously created cartoony cutscenes that are all fully voiced, you’ll get sucked into the crazy WarioWare universe in seconds. It’s a shame it doesn’t take that long to clear the story mode because I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of those cartoons, they often made me laugh out loud. That being said, the main attraction of the game is of course the use of the Joy-Con.
Joy-Con party
With the Nintendo Switch on the market for seven years, I expected this WarioWare game a lot sooner to be honest. It’s one of those games that truly showcases the power and versatility of the Joy-Con. WarioWare made me use the controllers in ways that were new to me and got me wondering why no other game used the Joy-Con that way before. When WarioWare: Move It! works as intended, it’s a true party and perhaps one of the best games to showcase how crazy a Joy-Con party can get, sadly, it’s not always that accurate. It happened a couple of times that the game wasn’t able to correctly translate my Joy-Con movements, resulting in me losing a life during one of the microgames. This can become a bit frustrating since you’re not failing the microgames because you were too slow, you’re failing them due to some technical hiccups. The developers clearly knew this could be an issue and made this entry the most forgiving one in the franchise just yet. When you’re playing the story mode with another player, you can fix each other’s mistakes by clearing the failed microgame of your partner, keeping your precious hearts safe. It doesn’t end there, when you lose all of your hearts in story mode, you can try again by holding a certain pose for a couple of seconds, respawning you back right where you failed. It makes the game a lot easier and even less stressful, which isn’t something I expect from a WarioWare title. The more you play however, the more you anticipate potential hiccups and the more you exaggerate the movements to have more success. When it works, it’s a great game and luckily, it works most of the time.
More than just a story
WarioWare: Move It! offers more than just the story mode and has plenty of other modes to keep you entertained. The party mode which can best be described as a micro Mario Party with unfair rules is probably one of the most fun modes to play with your friends. It’s full of crazy microgames and unfair rules to truly test your friendship. Besides that there are fun modes to test your strength in muscle-focused microgames or to go crazy in a tense remix of all microgames, forcing you to constantly switch your pose for an extra challenge. The extra modes offer some extra value to the game and thanks to some innovative multiplayer modes, it’s a fun game for parties as well. Just be advised that WarioWare: Move It! is most enjoyable in short gaming sessions, it’s not a lengthy game and you can easily finish it in a couple of hours so if you want to keep it fresh and fun, make this one of those games that you play during a short break. It certainly has a lot of modes and fun poses and microgames to experiment with but for its price, I expected a bit more, to be honest.
Conclusion:
WarioWare: Move It! offers a lot of ridiculous fun that’s perfect for parties. It showcases the power of the Joy-Con but suffers from the occasional technical hiccup. Nevertheless, it’s one of the most fun games to play with a friend, although it could have used a bit more content to justify the price tag.
