QA (Quality Assurance) is one of the most important aspects of any video game (let alone, product); Wario and his developer friends of Diamond City are going to find out just how important in WarioWare: Get It Together. Mischievous bugs and glitches have invaded Wario’s brand new release, causing him and his team to get sucked right up into the game… think Jumanji on a budget! On the bright side, at least they can enjoy the fully immersive experience!

Will WarioWare: Get It Together bring in all those big bucks clamoured for by Wario, or does the game just not quite have it all together? Find out in our review, after the break!

WarioWare: Get It Together
Nintendo Switch
Developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo EPD
Published by Nintendo
Released: 10th September 2021
Review copy provided by Nintendo UK

The announcement that Nintendo were releasing a brand new WarioWare game got me pretty excited. I had always been a huge fan of the chaotic and absurd bite-sized fun since I first played the Gamecube remake of the original title, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! I could go into great depths of what the series meant to me during my childhood, but perhaps a separate feature would be a more suitable time. Hopefully, that should explain my excitement, especially since this is the first game, that wasn’t a remake or spin-off, in fourteen years; here’s hoping Wario Land is next!

Here’s a little overview of how the game works for those who have never played a WarioWare game before. The games generally follow the adventures and mishaps of the various residents of Diamond City, who also happen to be friends with Wario. Mona, for example, is a highschool cheerleader who holds many other small jobs, and Orbulon is an alien who has been saying he’ll invade Earth for at least the past 18 or so years! Each character has a set of microgames to complete, each one lasting only about five to ten seconds. The microgames are picked, at random, from the character’s respective categories. 9-Volt’s games, for example, are based on Nintendo classics, and Mona’s games are inspired by everyday events (such as picking your nose). If you complete the microgame, you’ll go onto the next one in rapid-fire action, fail it, and you’ll lose a life… I shouldn’t have to tell you that losing all four rewards you with a Game Over.

Every few microgames played will increase the speed at which you are playing, often demonstrating chaotic yet hilarious results. After a while, you’ll encounter a boss microgame, a special longer game with specific conditions, completing one of these will increase your difficulty level; what if you had to avoid the vacuous demise of three vacuum cleaners instead of just one? I won’t spoil anything, but there is one ‘collection’ of microgames in story mode that really switches things up a notch and is a nice change of pace.

In previous games, you’d simply control the microgame directly, this time you’ll be controlling Wario, or one of his friends, within the game itself; instead of twirling a tube of toothpaste to get it all out, now you’ll have to bash your character against the tube to squeeze out every drop. To make things interesting, each character has their own abilities and movements, for example, Mona’s motorcycle never stops until you throw your remote control boomerang. With there being more than a dozen different characters, there’s now a variety of ways each microgame could be tackled, some easier than others. Although this can take some time getting used to, it’s just another wonderful mechanic that brings out more chaotic fun in the gameplay… more so when playing at high speeds. Admittedly, there are some characters, such as 9-Volt at high speeds, which I find infuriating just because my dyspraxia is kicking in… but that’s part of the fun, right?

Most WarioWare games included some form of multiplayer option, Get It Together takes that further however by introducing two-player coop to its main story mode. Now a friend can join in to help, or even hinder, your progress through the 200+ microgames the title has on offer. I can only imagine how great this would be assuming I had anyone to play it with… unfortunately this mode does not include online play, only local. Either way, I did give it a try on my own and it was still pretty fun; having to use two controllers for two characters is a fun challenge in itself! One thing I did appreciate is how some of the games have been modified to account for two players, making them slightly more difficult. In addition to this mode being included in Story, you can also play coop in the Play-o-Pedia: your collection of previously played microgames, great for practising any you’re having difficulty with.

Before attempting any of the microgame collections, you’ll get a couple of options of how many characters to bring along with you. Depending on where you are in the story, you may get the option of bringing three, four, five, or all the characters along with you. The Play-o-Pedia however, will always give the option of one, three, five, or all. It’s really nice having these different options as you can mix and match characters to see who’s best for which microgames or, if you really want a challenge, you can just bring them all in a random order and put that chaos theory to work!

Outside of the Story and Play-o-Pedia modes, there are a couple other sections that may satisfy your microgaming needs. The Variety Pack is another multiplayer mode and contains a variety (get it?) of games to team up or compete against each other. There are ten games in total ranging from quirky platformers and volleyball to microgame duels and even WarioWare’s own version of Multi-Man Smash. A couple of these are fairly forgettable, but there are a few which I really cannot wait to play with friends… yup, I had to play as multiple players at once again.

I felt fairly nostalgic while playing Balloon Bang, a multiplayer game that originally appeared in Mega Party Games. One person competes in a random microgame on the TV while the other will try to blow up and burst the balloon sitting on top. Instead of pressing buttons to inflate the balloon, players will instead have to interact with the dials, levers, or pumps that appear outside the TV. Another game I really enjoyed was Pucker Up. This is essentially a game of air hockey, but to score the goal, you have to complete the microgame while the other players try to mess with your screen.

If you’re a bit of a hoarder, then you may want to check out the Crew menu. Not only can you see all your crew members and practice their controls here, but, after you’ve completed the majority of Story Mode, you can also purchase a whole lot of prezzies by using your well earned Wario Coins. This in-game currency can be obtained by playing through Story Mode, competing in the Wario Cup (more about that later), or by fulfilling missions, special achievements which can be completed by performing certain tasks, such as collecting all the microgames or covering up cat poop without letting any litter touch the cat… we did warn you this game is weird!

Gifting prezzies to your crew will increase their level and will also unlock characters art, customisation options, and also raise their base score in the Wario Cup, a mode I feel that really shines in Get It Together! Every week the mode presents a new devious challenge where you’ll be put to the test in true WarioWare fashion. Week one, for example, forces you to use 9-Volt in a pre-selected collection of 34 microgames at maximum speeds. The following week then allowed you to bring five characters to the challenge, but each microgame you fail will eliminate that crew member until no one remains.

Each microgame you win will give you a score based on that characters base value (which can be increased by giving them prezzies) multiplied by the difficulty level of the character, the difficulty of the microgame, and the game speed. Once you reach the end (or a Game Over), you may net yourself some Wario Coins depending on how highly you score. If you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription and connect to the internet, you can also compete with the world and may even be able to win some super rare prezzies to gift to your crew members.

One thing I really appreciate is how you can go back and replay any of the previous challenges, even if you missed them in their original run. You can also score yourself any missed Wario Coins, though the prezzies can only be obtained if you score d highly enough during that challenge period. I’ve found myself increasingly addicted to this one mode, always tempting me to give it one more go to best my score. I honestly can not wait to see what other challenges come my way.

If you hadn’t realised before, WarioGames are weird, but that’s something I adore about the games, and Get It Together is no different. Some of the microgames are completely barmy and the cutscenes for each character are hilariously ridiculous. Honestly, why haven’t we gotten a Wario animated series yet?

WarioWare is back and better than ever with WarioWare: Get It Together, and the inclusion of characters tackling the microgames is definitely a breath of fresh air. The game is a perfect concoction of chaos, insanity, mischief and, most importantly, a lot of fun. You may be able to beat the story mode in under a couple of hours, but with more than 200 microgames, 100 prezzies, twenty characters, ten multiplayer modes, and weeks of devious challenges (and even more missions), there’s not really any shortage of content here.

WarioWare: Get It Together is out now, exclusively for Nintendo Switch Family Systems.

Final rating – 4.5 out of 5

Leon Fletcher

I am a huge Nintendo fan, hence why NintyBuzz exists. I especially love all things Zelda and Metroid. NintyBuzz was started by me back in the Summer of 2014, it started out mainly as a hobby, though the site has gradually grown, and I hope it grows for many years to come!