WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!

Developer	Nintendo R&D1
Publisher	Nintendo
Platforms	Game Boy Advance
Date	March 21, 2003 (original) 🇯🇵 March 21, 2003 🇪🇺 May 23, 2003 🇺🇸 May 26, 2003 🇦🇺 June 6, 2003 🇨🇳 2005
Links	Wikipedia MobyGames The Cutting Room Floor
Related	WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games!

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, known in Europe as WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania and in Japan as Made in Wario, is a GBA game by Nintendo and the first entry in the WarioWare series. The game is built around a collection of 213 minigames of very short duration, unlocked in phases loosely organised by theme.

History

According to designer Goro Abe, the game's genesis was a desire to create something atypical of Nintendo's usual style (to the point where he wasn't entirely sure the company would actually release it). The concept for the gameplay has roots in Mario Artist: Polygon Studio's Sound Bomber mode, which used very similar minigames incorporating player-made models. The staff worked on the game in secrecy at first, only approaching their manager after some time had passed - he gave his approval without much comment. The team decided to use Wario because they felt his idiocy fit the game like a glove.

Every programmer on the team proposed individual microgames by writing their ideas on sticky notes and putting them on a table before going through and removing ones that they didn't like. (They ended up getting contributions from others in the same department once word of the project started spreading internally.) The staff wanted to avoid games that were excessively obscene, "Japanese," or difficult to immediately comprehend.

While the game was a passion project, no one at Nintendo initially thought it would be much of a success. The developers were not sure how to properly market the game - Shigeru Miyamoto helped out on that front, approving of its Japanese slogan ("More! Shorter! Faster!") and insisting it be put on the cover.

• "New Mario and Wario GBA Games" (IGN covers the announcement of Mega Microgame$! and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3; January 7, 2003)

Previews

• Impressions by GameSpot (April 9, 2003)

Advertising

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🇬🇧 2003

from Cube #19

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🇺🇸 2003

from GMR #6

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🇯🇵 2003

from Nintendo Dream #87

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Reviews

Electronic Gaming Monthly
🇺🇸 February 2006

Mega Microgame$! places 138th on the magazine's top 200 games of all time

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Video review from GameSpot (May 27, 2003)

• IGN (May 22, 2003)
• GameSpy (May 25, 2003; archived via Wayback Machine)
• GameSpot (May 27, 2003)
• The game's spot in GameSpot's Month in Review: May 2003 (circa June 8, 2003; archived via Wayback Machine)
• Nintendo World Report (June 22, 2003)
• Game Informer (circa June 2003; archived via Wayback Machine)
• Declared 2003's "Most Innovative Game" (alongside other titles) by GameSpot (circa December 26, 2003; archived via Wayback Machine)
• The game is #78 on Official Nintendo Magazine UK's list of the "100 Best Nintendo Games" (February 18, 2009; archived via Wayback Machine)
• The game makes #40 on Edge Online's "100 Best Games to Play Today" (March 9, 2009; archived via Wayback Machine)
• Eurogamer

Websites

• Official Japanese site
• Official Chinese site

Miscellaneous

• BBC News article on Mega Microgame$! winning the Edge award for innovation at the Edinburgh International Games Festival in 2004 (August 14, 2004)
• Game Developers Choice Awards site - the game (among others) won Most Innovative in 2004