Nintendo recently announced their “elite status” rewards for Club Nintendo members. Gold members can choose a calendar or one of several downloadable games, while platinum members can choose a 3-poster set, a Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask CD soundtrack, or any of the gold rewards. I really would have loved that Majora’s Mask soundtrack, but I was only a gold member this year (mainly due to Pikmin 3 being delayed). I had no interest in the calendar, so I ended up choosing from the downloadable games available. A lot of the games were games I already owned in one form or another, so I ultimately went with Wario Ware: D.I.Y. Showcase for Wii.
If you’re not familiar with Wario Ware games, they’re essentially a collection of mini-games…or micro-games. Each mini-game only lasts a few seconds, but you’re bombarded with many of them, one right after the other. The original Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgames is my favorite Game Boy Advance (GBA) game.
But in addition to the included mini-games, Wario Ware: D.I.Y. Showcase works with the DS version, called Wario Ware D.I.Y.; the DS game lets you create your own mini-games, save them, and upload them. So if you’ve created mini-games on the DS, you can play them on the Wii “Showcase” game. Unfortunately, this D.I.Y. Showcase doesn’t have a mini-game editor itself. Nintendo, of course, wants people to buy both versions of the game. But the good news is that D.I.Y. Showcase can download mini-games that other players have created. But for now, I’m mainly sticking with the built-in games.
As usual in Wario Ware, the goals of the mini-games are wacky and varied. You may have to grab pieces of pizza, toss bombs, drive a car, place candles on a birthday cake, spear a falling leaf, shoot finger rockets up the nostrils of a nose-shaped ship, figure out which cat ate a fish, break out of an egg shell, or sneak up on an octopus.
There are also some mini-games that include segments based on classic Nintendo games. You may have to shoot the ducks from Duck Hunt, blast Donkey Kong’s barrels before they bowl over Mario, shoot Koopa Troopa with a shell in a Mario Kart race, dodge a punch in a scene from Punch-Out, and so on.
From what I’ve played so far, the game is fun and enjoyable. It doesn’t seem as addictive as the original Game Boy Advance game though, but it’s still too early for me to give a final verdict. I’ll be playing more of this in the coming weeks, and you can expect a review of the game in the not-too-distant future. Here is a gameplay video of the “Wario Man” stage, which features mini-games that include Wario himself, in one form or another: