Video Game of the Day is a daily show available on Amazon Alexa devices and here on this website. Each day, we briefly discuss the history of a single game, randomly chosen. If you would like to listen on your daily flash briefing, you can enable Video Game of the Day here: https://amzn.to/2CNx2NJ.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome! My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s Video Game of the Day.
Most times, when I look at a successful game, I can figure out the things that made it work with people. Call of Duty has fast, smooth movement and a large multiplayer community. The Witcher 3’s level of detail in their open world is mind-boggling, Super Mario Odyssey throws moons at you every couple of seconds, giving newer players that desired dopamine rush. One series that I’ve never quite understood personally, though, is the WarioWare series. Today’s game is WarioWare: Smooth Moves, developed by Nintendo SPD and Intelligent Systems and released on the Wii in 2006.
If you haven’t played a WarioWare game, here’s how they work. You choose a character who’s story you will play through and are then given a series of microgames to play through. These are usually 3-5 second objectives with some goofy animations to go with them. Instructions will show on the screen like “spin the wheel” and you will have to move the Wii Remote in a certain way to accomplish that goal. A fuse is quickly burning towards a bomb at the bottom of the screen and if you can’t complete the microgame in time, it explodes.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves re-introduces multiplayer to the franchise, which had been missing from the DS games. Once the single-player stories are completed, multiplayer is unlocked where up to 12 players share a single Wii-Mote to complete microgames in a hot potato-like game. Fail a microgame and you’re out.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves received high praise and even higher commercial sales. While critics noted the relatively short length of the game, they all praised the multiplayer game mode which was great for parties. As a launch game in Japan, WarioWare: Smooth Moves was only outsold by the pack-in title Wii Sports, Wii Play and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Even now, WarioWare holds the title of 35th best selling game on the Wii platform, beating out heavy hitters like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Red Steel, and Kirby’s Epic Yarn.
The WarioWare franchise has continued sporadically over the years with the most recent entry being the compilation WarioWare title, WarioWare Gold for the 3DS in 2018.
Thank you so much for listening! If you want to hear more, check out our archives on videogameoftheday.com. Also, if you want to help spread the word about the show, please consider leaving us a review on Amazon. It really helps us out and I’d love to know how I can improve the show. Don’t forget to check back here tomorrow for another Video Game of the Day.
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