Wario Ware: Smooth Moves Review

Just under two years ago, Nintendo introduced their new Nintendo DS handheld in style. Wario Ware: Touched!, which contained 180 wacky “microgames,” was the perfect way for DS owners to reach out and touch their new handheld in ways they’d never thought of. It’s early 2007, and as Nintendo Wii owners finish up their Legends of Zelda, it becomes that time again. Wario’s back, and he’s back with that same ridiculous style, creativity, and grace that makes his green clouds of flatulence as pleasant as a field of roses.

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves turns your Nintendo Wii remote into…well, into just about anything you could possibly think of. The game uses 21 different poses, and each one is introduced as the game progresses. You’ll drive cars with the “Chauffeur” pose, holding the Wii remote like a steering wheel. What if you’re attacked by a ninja during the night? Well, you’d give him a good lashing with the “Samurai” pose, of course! Maybe you’ll have to balance a broom on your hand with the “Waiter” pose, or use a flashlight and find characters with the “Remote Control” pose, holding the remote…well, like a remote! Just like the Touched!, Smooth Moves! uses simple mechanics that are sometimes only difficult because the player thinks too much about what it is that he or she is supposed to do. One of the poses, the “Discard,” is as simple as putting the remote on a solid surface (like the ground) and picking it up at just the right time.

Deserving a paragraph of praise all on his own is 9-Volt, the Wario Ware veteran with Nintendo-flavored microgames. 9-Volt had some classics before, but makes a valiant return in Smooth Moves! with microgames that really take you back in time, popping in SNES cartridges and even playing a few levels of Star Fox with the remote. You’ll catch fish from Animal Crossing: Wild World, fly in Balloon Fight, slap paws with Nintendogs, and douse flames in Super Mario Sunshine. What a wonderful collection of microgames!

The surprise this time around is that each character doesn’t use a specific pose. Each character in Touched! had a unique control mechanic, and Smooth Moves! switches things up a little, forcing the player to think even faster. As the game progresses, the player might be using the Thumb Wrestler pose one moment, only to switch things up the next moment and hold the remote above his or her head with the Mohawk pose. In fact, 9-Volt uses all 19 of the normal Wii remote mechanics! This makes Wario Ware: Smooth Moves! even more intense than its predecessors, adding some extra excitement to the game.

With that said, the ways that the remote is used are all quite creative, and the microgames themselves are just as hilarious. You’ll hula-hoop donuts with the Big Cheese pose, unlock trapeze artists from closets with the Finger Food pose, and blow up balloons like dynamite with the Handlebar pose. Rarely if ever is the insanity held up by Wii remote inconsistencies. In fact, the only time most gamers will have a problem is when they simply don’t understand what a microgame is asking them to do. Fortunately, Nintendo implemented a replay mode where microgames can be tried at will, giving players no excuse not to understand games once they’ve tried them out.

Some will discredit Wario Ware: Smooth Moves! as a visually unspectacular game, but others will be very happy with the variety of things happening on the screen. The game never slows down a bit, and the visuals are absolutely absurd. It would be unfair for anyone to be spoiled with revealing information about the graphics, so that will be withheld. Just the way that the different styles are introduced is entertaining, and the character storylines are told with hilarious cartoon cinemas. Wario Ware: Smooth Moves! keeps all of that style and ridiculous humor that fans will want to see when they pop the game into their Wii. The sound effects and music are just as insane, with the former consisting of bytes from classic games like Super Mario Bros. and the latter constantly getting more and more intense with each passing microgame.

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves!, like its predecessors, is only faulted by its short length. It took myself and fellow GameFreaks365.com reviewer Matt just three hours to unlock almost everything in the game. Though that three-hour mark certainly wasn’t the end of Smooth Moves!, as we didn’t dabble into the multiplayer mode, almost everything else was seen and done. At least everything can be enjoyed multiple times. As such, Wario Ware fans and Wii newcomers will want to check out Wario Ware: Smooth Moves!, as it is more than what that crowd could ever want or expect. Other gamers might be wary of its short length, but that is really the game’s only problem.