Hands on with WarioWare Move It!

With WarioWare Move It!…. moving fast towards its release on November 3rd, we were able to get some time at the Nintendo office for a quick look.

At first, I got to try some of the microgames that were stored in the Museum. I only had access to a limited amount, but we already know there are over 200 microgames to collect.

There are a few different stances that the microgames use; these are announced before each minigame. I’ve included each form/stance and the games that used them.

Choo Choo form

The Choo Choo form was the first form to try and the quickest to pick up of the bunch. You get both JoyCon and hold them in front of you, arms bent like you’re pretending to be a train. 

Locomotive

In this microgame, you are a Wario-faced train with beefy arms on both sides. The goal is to move your arms in the Choo Choo position, moving them like you’re controlling the train’s wheels. Ideally, you want to pick up speed to get the beefy Wario train to the station at the end. To do this, you need to roughly time how long the train will take to stop. To stop, you need to stop moving. I moved my arms like I was putting on the brakes and crashed the buff train right into a wall. I got better at this game with multiple runs. It was the first game I played, and it was a really quick indicator that the WarioWare microgames still nail the style the series has carried since the beginning. 

Bell Chorus

The Bell ringing game also involved the Choo Choo form/position, and instead of doing a moving train motion this time, it’s ringing the JoyCon-like bells. You have a note track for each JoyCon/bell and you need to ‘ring’ the bell when the note gets to you. I failed this one a few times, both in single-player and 2 player. This one isn’t hard, but it does take some getting used to the timing as you’re making a movement and not just hitting a button. It might be my least favourite game of the group.

Keeping Count

This microgame is a straightforward one to pick up. You get to hold the JoyCon and use each one as a counter. I played this one with the Nintendo buddy who was joining in on the 2 player/co-op microgames/modes. There are a bunch of creatures on the screen, and you need to click down on the top triggers to count the animals that correspond to that JoyCon. I did really well at this. WarioWare tries to catch you by chucking in the same colour fish but different shapes. It’s the microgame you’ve seen across various minigame collections, but it’s still great fun.

Fashionista form

The Fashionista form is one of the less straightforward forms for microgames. For this one you have one JoyCon at your hip with your elbow sticking out, with the other JoyCon up by your head, almost like holding a phone to your ear. 

Cowboy Up

This game does a great job of making the most of the Fashionista form (both games included are actually really good for it). You are a cowboy that needs to lasso various animals. To do this, you need to swing the lasso above your head (the JoyCon at your head), and then cast it out to throw the loop around the animal. It’s a straightforward microgame, but also a fun one! 

Shell Shine

Time for the Fashionista form again, only this time we are buffing some turtle shells. For Shell Shine you are a turtle man (not quite a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or the other Turtle Man) and your shell is dirty. The only fix for it is to move the JoyCon like you are toweling off your back, back and forth to clean it. It’s another quick and easy microgame, with a good use of a form that initially seems quite limited.im

Squat form

The Squat form involves squatting (at least a little) and then holding a JoyCon on each leg on the top of each one. It’s one of the forms that could be a pain for those with issues around holding squat positions. If you want to get around this by sitting on a chair, I am sure it is doable. 

Buttograph

Buttograph uses the Squat form, squatting with a JoyCon on each leg. I can’t even say this is the goofiest of the microgames, but it’s high up there! You need to copy symbols on the screen, drawing them with your butt. While it’s not technically drawing with your butt, doing the motions with the squat form works pretty well. However, as long as you can replicate the movement without needing to squat chances are you can get around that. 

Sumo Says

Sumo Says is one of the more clear-cut games using the Squat form. You need to copy an onscreen Sumo to match his leg positions. It was admittingly tricky for me at the time to hold the pose. However, it’s straightforward in what it asks of you, and if you can hold squat poses, you won’t have any problems.

Thigh Fishing

Thigh Fishing was another game that tested my capabilities as my squatting ability is temporarily limited. Fortunately, we played the co-op version, and my Nintendo buddy could carry the team. Once again, we are in the squat form, but instead of lifting your legs or moving your butt around, you must bring your legs together. So why are we doing this? The game is around two people standing parallel to each other catching fish. Only the fish are leaping under them and between their legs.

So the trick of this one is to catch the fish as it’s under both of you by bringing your legs together. It was all down to my fishing partner that we passed these as it didn’t feel like I was getting the motion right here. It’s one of the sillier games in the small collection available to me, and I look forward to working out if I can get the motion right for the full game.

Ba-Kaw form

The Ba-Kaw form is holding one JoyCon in front of your nose like a beak and a JoyCon at your butt, like it’s a tail feather. As with the other forms, it can be versatile with what the microgame asks of you. In the case of Feeling Peckish, it felt like the whole form was built for it. Super Mario Bros 3 is a fun way to use the form in an unexpected way to include the Nintendo classic.

Feeling Peckish

Feeling Peckish is a suitable microgame for the Ba-Kaw form, as you get to play as a bird. With the JoyCon at your nose and butt (yeah, I know it sounds kinda gross), you need to use the JoyCon to turn your bird to face the right angle to peck at a worm sticking out of the ground. For the record, I did not pass this once. It wasn’t a hard microgame, but getting the timing down might take a few goes. 

Super Mario Bros 3

It’s always good to see some of the old Nintendo games repurposed into a microgame. I am sure there are plenty more to discover. This one is really straightforward, as you hold the Ba-Kaw position while you have to keep Raccoon Mario in the air. You need to wiggle the JoyCon by your butt like you’re flapping the raccoon tail to keep Mario floating. It’s a quick little game that gets challenging if you miss the landing point. 

Story Mode & Party Mode

I also got to play a small part of the Move It Story mode, which I can only say so much about at this time. Story mode will seem familiar to long-time WarioWare fans, with each character’s mini-story generally focusing on certain types of forms. The small part I played was entertaining, and the WarioWare team still has what it takes to keep this game as silly as it has always been. 

To finish up the time with WarioWare, I got to try the Party Mode. This took the form of a mini-board game called Galactic Conquest. We played in 2 players, on what initially looked like a fairly small game board, where you go forward until you hit the goal. You both compete in the microgames for points as you try to move on to the finish. It was more challenging than I thought. Each square you land on can mix up the game in multiple ways. You can get extra squares or be forced to go back. You can all get moved back or forward to the player or lose a heap of points to your opponent. The back and forth of where you are on the board and the redistribution of points made the game go on a little longer than I thought it would. Still, one person can’t easily run away with the whole game if they score better. There’s more than one party game, but we ran out of time to check them out. 

It feels like there will be plenty to keep people busy when WarioWare Move It! launches on the Nintendo Switch on November 3rd. 

Thanks to Nintendo Australia for inviting us to check it out early.