Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo / Genre: Puzzle / Release: 02-14-05
This Valentine’s day you and your DS will have a date with a most unexpected Romeo… This date will not bring you flowers or candy, but he and his buddies admire attention deficit disorder, nose picking, and blowing (into the microphone, dirty mind). Sweet, noble Mario’s opposite, chubby Wario will arrive at your place with his friends, since Mario’s obviously out making sweet, sweet love to the princess on a heart-shaped bed full of rose petals (no plumbing jokes this time..). Even if you’ve got a date on Valentine’s day, your DS and WarioWare Touched would make an interesting diversion from those three hour waits at the “casual dining” restaurant chains, even more if your date has his or her own DS (ahh, the long waits Adam and I have endured since…well, since we accidentally bought each other one for Christmas.), since they will probably not take too kindly to your neglecting them on such a commercialized day of forced affection; no, I’m not bitter.
Anyway. WarioWare Touched, set for release February 14th, is not unlike its predecessors. However, the premise moves to the DS which allows it to grow and become far more interactive. As for story, there’s not an elaborate one, but just enough to keep the whole thing from becoming insane. It’s basically a focus on quickly maneuvering the addictive mini-games and, after completing one set, unlocking another, much like what gamers are used to. Players can also unlock various other goodies — from toys to other mini-games. This time around, it will be virtually entirely touchscreen. An interesting aspect of this is that each of the various characters have specialized types of games. For example, Wario‘s mini-games are probably the most simple — they require the player to touch the screen to complete tasks like popping ballooons. A new character, Mike (oh, kill me now…this is worst than the Frost guy in Project: Snowblind), utilizes the DS’s microphone capabilities. Don’t expect to be screaming at your DS when completing these games, though; most of the games focus on blowing — to cool hot coffee, for example. Mona‘s are all about making sharp tugs — these are the games in which the player can expect to cut up fruit or shoot arrows. Ana and Kat are the creative ones and their games focus on drawing on the touchscreen in some fashion (as an artist myself, these are quite appealing). 9-Volt‘s games center on touchscreen updates of old school Nintendo games. Finally, Jimmy T., like the narrator in an R&B song from a slow jams sex cd, has mini-games that involve rubbing…the screen; these tasks are things like scratching off lottery tickets or rubbing a lamp.
If you’re thinking about grabbing WarioWare Twisted for your GBA as well as WarioWare Touched for your DS, then you should know that some games from WW Twisted have actually been duplicated for the DS — you’ll be using your stylus to make circles rather than spinning your GBA around and looking like a moron.
With the release date soon, keep your eyes out in the weeks following for the official review!