WarioWare: Twisted Was the Pinnacle of the Franchise

I’m not a big fan of the Warioware series, but when I’m craving some microgame action, I go to Warioware: Twisted every time.

Wario is usually overlooked by Nintendo nowadays, who mostly only bring the character out for one of two reasons — either as a rival figure for Mario whenever it’s time for the annual party or sports competition, or for his bite-sized adventures in the WarioWare series. For as much as I may love those early Wario platformers like Wario Land 3 and Wario Land: Shake It, the character never really had an identity of his own until the first WarioWare game released in 2003.

Since then, each console generation usually gets a Warioware game chock full of brief minigames with creative uses of the system’s native capabilities. Whether it be touch screen mechanics in WarioWare: Touched or the Wii U’s experimental gamepad for Game & Wario, each installment finds some way to innovate and deliver a unique experience.

But no matter how many new WarioWare games may come out, including the recently released WarioWare: Move It, in my opinion the series peaked with its second (technically third) installment, WarioWare: Twisted. Even when compared to the rest of the series, Twisted improves upon the formula established by the original game and adds plenty of impressive mechanics that still stand apart from later entries. And, of course, there’s no denying just how much fun the microgames in this release are.

In Twisted, Wario is able to acquire a weird Gameboy Advance that has no buttons but is instead controlled by tilting and shaking the system around. In turn, this means that in order for you to play the minigames in WarioWare: Twisted, you’re going to have to rotate and shift your Gameboy Advance as you play, all thanks to the game’s built-in gyroscope.

The game wastes no time in throwing its central gimmick at you, requiring you to rotate and spin the Gameboy Advance in order to do basically everything, including selecting options in the menu. I don’t think I ever once touched the D-pad, which sounds so weird to say for a handheld game. In fact, you only really need to use the A button to play, and even then most of the microgames you play don’t even require that. Sometimes the games will require you to only move a tiny bit, while other games will require you to rotate the entire system in order to play.

Each of these styles of microgames is separated by the characters associated with them, so when you’re playing with Kat and Ana, you know that their games will only require the press of one button, or that Mona’s games will only require small movements of the Gameboy Advance.

None of these will really matter at the end when the stages begin to mix with each other. By the time you reach the fearsome post-game Skyscraper stages that ratchet up the difficulty, you’ll be frantically flailing your Gameboy Advance around hoping to complete these bite-sized challenges.

As is always the case, these microgames never overstay their welcome and become more and more challenging the longer you play. With 223 minigames to play — the second most in the series — you’ll have plenty of reasons to replay the game and try for a high score. Not only that, there are a whole host of modifiers you can throw in, with some modes giving you a strict time limit and other modes just giving you one chance to get as far as possible.

Sure, other WarioWare games may contain more style and do more with the multitude of features that its system may offer, but WarioWare: Twisted perfected its one gimmick. Unlike a game like WarioWare: Smooth Moves, which takes time to tutorialize each of the positions you should hold the Wiimote before you complete a microgame, there’s no need to tutorialize anything in WarioWare: Twisted. Its one and only mechanic is moving the system, and almost all of its microgames can be solved by that one mechanic.

The joy in figuring out the correct motion to make is part of the challenge. Do you need to gently move the system, or forcefully thrust it? How much do you need to do it? And with so little time to assess the situation, like every game in the series, your reaction time needs to be almost instinctual.

Plus there’s just such a fun thrill with moving your Gameboy Advance around. During my most recent playthrough, I decided to play it on my Gameboy Micro, a system that was actually smaller than the gargantuan cartridge that WarioWare: Twisted was put into. WarioWare: Twisted’s cartridge is easily distinguishable thanks to its absurdly bulky shape that houses not only a gyroscope but also a rumble pack.

And it was a blast playing it on the tiny Micro! I was effortlessly turning the system upside down and all around in the comfort of my large hands. The Micro’s screen’s tiny frame did nothing to inhibit my enjoyment of these microgames that all felt so fresh and fun. It had been years since I played through it, but it was like slipping into an old pair of pants. After a quick refresher with Wario for the introduction, I was back in the saddle and trying to beat my high scores from years ago.

And the game rewards you for your efforts. There is an absurd amount of prizes and toys you can get in-game that encourage you to keep playing. Some of these are fairly basic distractions, like musical instruments you can tinker with, but there’s also a telephone that, when you input specific numbers, you’ll get a response back.

It’s all fairly basic and rudimentary by today’s standards, but, even after over a decade of it being in my possession, I still haven’t unlocked everything WarioWare: Twisted has to offer. Yes, this game is really only intended for single player fun and it’s not easy to share this experience with a friend, but I had more fun playing this game by myself than any other entry in the franchise.

Sadly, it’s not easy to get your hands on WarioWare: Twisted. Used copies of the game aren’t cheap, given its unique characteristics. WarioWare: Twisted is only one of two Gameboy Advance games to feature a rumble pack, the other being Game Freak’s Drill Dozer.

It’s also possible that some cartridges may not have working gyroscopes or rumble packs due to how old these pieces of hardware are. Even my own copy, which has been kept in pristine condition, is losing some of its rumble features just from age. I felt a weak surge every so often as I played, making me realize that unique proprietary cartridges like this only have so long of a shelf life.

All hope isn’t lost yet for a digital rerelease though. With the recent release of Kirby: Tilt n’ Tumble on Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo just proved that the Switch can handle the complex gyroscopic controls of a game like WarioWare: Twisted. Now whether or not Nintendo will want to do that is another question entirely. The WarioWare games, for as much silly fun as they are, were never big system-sellers, and WarioWare: Twisted was an especially poor-selling installment. It was released in 2005 several months after the Nintendo DS came out, and its larger box and cartridge size didn’t really help get it off store shelves.

To make matters worse, WarioWare: Twisted actually released in the US a few months after the series debuted on the Nintendo DS with WarioWare: Touched, despite Twisted having been released in Japan several months before Touched. This no doubt cannibalized many sales of Twisted. And, if you live in Europe, Twisted was never even released there. It’s almost as if Nintendo did everything in its power to bury this game.

I have no idea why that would be the case though since WarioWare: Twisted is a classic. It shows up on several lists of the best Gameboy Advance games, and I would go so far as to call it a perfect handheld game. Its mechanics are instantly understandable and fun to play, with the gyroscope delivering gameplay moments that can’t be replicated.

I have never had to turn my system upside down to play a game, but WarioWare: Twisted literally made me rethink my perception of what a handheld game could even be. No other WarioWare game has given me that thought, so Twisted has to be doing something right. If Nintendo decides to ever release WarioWare: Twisted on Nintendo Switch Online, then I hope more people can give it a shot and see just why this game is handheld brilliance.