After 2021’s WarioWare: Get It Together experimented with unique playable characters and a focus on button controls, WarioWare: Move It goes back to the motion controls that made the Nintendo Wii a hit. The result is a ridiculously fun experience that veteran WarioWare fans and newbies alike will enjoy, especially with friends or family.
Like the game’s title says, this new WarioWare game wants players to “move it” when taking on the hundreds of mini-games available. Each one has players holding both joy-cons, as they try to figure out how to play these mini-games before the timer runs out.
If that sounds familiar to anyone, that’s because WarioWare: Move It doesn’t really deviate from the series’ main formula. That might sound like a detriment to some, but it is genuinely fun and hilarious to discover each mini-game mechanic before time runs out.
Each mini-game will have players do a specific pose with the joy-cons and the results will get a laugh out of most. One pose can be as simple as holding both arms up, while another will make you put the joy cons on your head and buttocks, mimicking a chicken. The real fun is trying to decipher the mini-game within a five-second timeframe, which will have you shaking it all about.
Mini-games can range from putting a fire out with a bucket of water to making a snowman by moving your hips or sneaking back into your van to avoid an evil giant woman. As expected, there are also a good number of mini-games based on beloved Nintendo properties, like sliding down a pipe in Super Mario 64.
Due to the Switch’s handheld audience, WarioWare: Move It will have players do something they might not be used to: stretching their arms and moving their legs. While this game won’t be taking the exercise crown from Ring Fit Adventure anytime soon, they do result in a good stretch or two. You might even hear something crack in a good way.
Players will discover most of these games in the Story Mode, which can be played solo or with a friend. This time, Wario wins a trip to a mysterious island with his friends, where each of them get caught in a random predicament. Every level in Story Mode follows the cast members, as they get caught up in some random predicament.
Some of these predicaments include: Wario getting chased by natives, Dr. Crygor helping a caveman discover art, and Orbulon losing his memories. Naturally, the story doesn’t make much sense and each event is just an excuse to play through these mini-games.
You get four lives per level, and you lose one every time you fail a mini-game, which will definitely keep players on their toes as they try to discover how each one works. Players that are able to complete a certain amount of mini-games in these levels can then fight a boss.
Like the mini-games, these are also motion-controlled and are a ton of fun to play. Whether it’s hitting a Wario-faced octopus in its tentacles or shaking Snow White’s hips so she can poop out the poisoned apple from her evil witch, there’s enough variety here to put a smile on your face.
Story Mode can be beaten in a few hours, but there’s a decent amount of replay value to be had. You can replay levels to get a higher score and these can even result in harder bosses that require faster reflexes. There are also remixed versions of these levels, adding an air of unpredictability when it comes to the mini-games you’ll be playing.
Anyone who’s having a hard time with the mini-games in WarioWare: Move It can practice them in the Museum Mode. Granted, you’ll need to have played them in the Story first before they are available in the Museum. The lack of silly Story Mode content or multiplayer shenanigans makes Museum Mode feel unneeded, but high-score aficionados can always use these to “get good.”
Even though the Story Mode is fairly enjoyable, the single-player content in WarioWare: Move It is pretty lackluster. Once players get through the short story, getting high scores and playing through harder remixed levels can get pretty repetitive. Anyone playing this title will have a blast, but multiplayer is the main reason to pick this up.
Multiplayer is a huge part of Move It’s appeal, since doing silly poses with your friends always results in a good amount of fun. While the Story Mode can be played with a friend, Party Mode has up to four players competing to see who can Move It the best. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to give Party Mode a proper try, but friends are bound to have a good time if the variety of mini-games is anything to go by.
Fans of the Get It Together-style mini-games might also be annoyed with this installment, as the shift from button controls to motion is a radical one. Due to the focus on motion controls, there’s no way to play this collection in handheld mode. Even the single-player Story Mode relies on motion controls.
