WarioWare: Smooth Moves

Written by Chris Reiter  on November 02, 2006

First Impressions: Slick as a pimp, mah man. Tight as a gangsta, brutha. You got tha salt, tha spice, an' every little ting' that's nice. You got tha Smooth Moves.

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Ever since the first WarioWare game appeared on the Game Boy Advance, gamers have been in an uproar about the Nintendo franchise. Why? You don't embark on an epic quest with Link or squash baddies in a platformer with Mario. The appeal lies in testing players' reflexes across dozens of addicting mini-games. Having spent time on all the recent Nintendo systems, WarioWare now heads to Wii, a console it was seemingly designed for.

One day in his home of Diamond City, Wario stumbles upon a building known as the Temple of Form. The ratty looking Wario goes inside only to find a treasure the likes of which he has never seen: a mystical object called the Form Baton. Legend has it, he or she who wields the baton (i.e. the Wii remote) can overcome any obstacle. With this, the craze of "form" spreads throughout the land, challenging everyone to achieve victory through the mastery of moves.

Like the previous WarioWare titles, Smooth Moves is a collection of seconds-long mini-games. There won't be much in the way for a complex duration, but if you're up for the quick and frenzied challenge of balancing your Wii controller every which way you probably won't care. About 200 micro-games make up WarioWare: Smooth Moves' assortment of mayhem. The play style differs with each game. In one game you hold the Wii remote with both hands like a drill to pound a pair of teeth into an old lady's mouth. You operate the track game by holding the remote and flailing your arms wildly in the air to reach the finish. Crossover games like a Super Mario Bros. mini-game and an Animal Crossing fishing sim round out the variety of these frantic selections.

There's nothing new to report on WarioWare's evolution in terms of graphical affairs. The game's graphics reflect the gameplay--simple and wacky . This matters little in the long run. Players will be moving through oodles of mini-games so fast that they won't have time to stop and admire the visuals.