Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ on GameCube (2004)

Brief synopsis of Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$

Japanese to the core and extremely well received on a global scale, the GBA's Wario Ware, in all its wonderful weirdness, is arguably the greatest multi-player frenzy ever to grace the world of video games. It delivered shockingly poor visuals and its style and presentation was cheesy at best, but none of that mattered - it took gamers back to a lost age when gameplay took precedence over any other aspect of development, and that's what makes it special. Better still, Wario Ware is now venturing onto GameCube in Mega Party Games. On the face of it, Mega Party Games is merely a welcome re-issue of the 200+ mini-games that were on offer for the GBA outing, and to a degree, this is true. But that's no bad thing - poking fingers up people's noses, skipping, catching falling pencils and balancing cakes on a unicycle are all fun things to do. Like the GBA version, no instructions are given for any of the games, and gameplay is extremely fast-paced, but that's all part of the fun. There are even more mini-games available between challenges that see players strutting their stuff on the dance floor amongst other things. All in all, some games are harder than others, but most last just a few seconds, if that. It's frantic and highly addictive. But Mega Party Games doesn't stop there. Also included are bonus modes, movies and music videos, but most importantly Wario Ware GameCube plays host to an array of multi-player options for as many as 16 players. Simultaneously, a maximum of four players can partake in a frenetic multi-player game, and it's here that Mega Party Games supersedes its GBA counterpart. We've no doubt Mega Party Games will be massively popular, and with good reason. Wario Ware is quickly becoming a classic, and we're sure that as long as the developer's imagination can hold out, we'll see a lot more from Wario and his fellow party maniacs.