Sooooooooooo I played this via some methods that Mr. Miyamoto and the Nintendo lawyers would consider ''problematic'', but guess what, the game never released here on Europe, so it's not illegal if I didn't have any way to play it!... That's how it works, right?
I initially intended to skip over this one, one of the main reasons being because after playing WarioWare: Touched!, I really wasn’t all that keen on playing another portable title focused on another control gimmick, but I remembered some of its minigames appear in WarioWare: Gold and seeing how some people actually have some really fond memories of this one, I decided to give it a chance, it’s not like it would take much of my time to beat anyway. However, my biggest concern of this having similar problems to Touched! was still very much present, and after playing it, it does have a ton of similarities with the title that would come after… while also being even more fun than the first title and so far the best game in the series I’ve played… HOW?!!!!
How in the flying fu-Paratroopa does a game focused solely on gyro control as a gimmick, one that could be even more limiting than touch screen controls, manages to be just such a fantastic time that knows how to use its mechanics to its fullest potential and having a 10 out of 10 minigame selection ALL THE WHILE it keeps the insanity of the series completely intact and the humor is on point? Who the paratro-fuck designed this game????
Luckily, I think I have the answer to all these questions: yes, the whole game is simply controlled by twisting the system and, after Kat & Ana’s stage, pressing the button A when needed, but at no point you feel like you are repeating the same actions; you are definitely performing them, but the minigames are so incredibly varied and throw ideas non-stop that it really doesn’t feel like that, which was precisely the biggest flaw that Touched! did. There are some minigames that share some DNA, but Twisted! is a master at differentiating them enough so you don’t even think about it, almost every single one of them is a hit, and the boss micro-games are both unexpected and fun (9-Volt’s final game specially, holy hell what a fantastic send-off to that stage). It also really helps that the visuals and sound design are on point, and that, coupled with the fact that the actions you are perming require your constant movement and reflexes and how the games are perfectly designed around the idea that you always know what’s happening at every moment, gives in return a fantastic sensation of feedback: you feel as if you are directly performing these actions, and despite their brevity, it leaves a huge impact. Add in that from a certain point you also need to press A to perform certain actions, and we have an absolute bat-shit and chaotic mix that’s just so, so fun and addicting. It really feels like each stage explores a new way to use the gyroscope, the Orbulon and Dr.Crygor’s stages being fantastic examples of variations that really mark a difference, and then there are the spins that the game has inside itself, like the WarioWatch stage, which is such a perfect idea and fit for this series I’m almost mad it wasn’t here since the beginning. This are only examples tho, every character’s stage here is fantastic, and also surpringly challenging of all the games of the series I’ve played, this is the one I’ve lost the most by a long shot, which seems appropriate since otherwise it would be the briefest out of all the games.
In everything regarding both presentation and pacing, is exactly it was in the original WarioWare but perfected: it’s crazy and unexpected, fast yet comprehensible, it’s fucking Wario, babyyyyyyyyyyyy! My notion of this being a quick spinoff within the series was quickly shattered as I began playing, they went hard on every single aspect possible and the game never slows down. Themes are once again a banger and while I overall prefer the first game’s soundtrack, this one still works really well and there are some that give you the feeling for each character even better. And the humor… we truly have achieved the funny over here. The absurdity levels are unprecedented, and it came to a point where I didn’t even try to wonder what would happen next.
It’s clear that the next entry picked up a ton from this one, or maybe both where designed in tandem considering how close they released within each other, but whatever the case, one thing is clear: Twisted absolutely knew what it was doing, while Touched got lost along the way. I see this one as a true sequel with all the letters of the word, it both expanded and changed the basis of WarioWare and turned into something different, but something that worked, and even if the base game is still pretty short and some of the secondary content is just fun for a minute or so, this is the most fun I’ve had with the series and there’s no possible contest. I’m so glad I decided to play it, and it taught me once again to not judge a game by its gimmick, and this time I’ll try to not forget the lesson…
… I’ll say however that this game introduced 18-Volts’s terryfiying gums and it gave the name ‘’Dinosaur Pizza’’ to an evil pizza company. That slander alone should take off at the very least 8 stars, but I’ll let it slide this time since JIMMY T. IS BACK WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
I initially intended to skip over this one, one of the main reasons being because after playing WarioWare: Touched!, I really wasn’t all that keen on playing another portable title focused on another control gimmick, but I remembered some of its minigames appear in WarioWare: Gold and seeing how some people actually have some really fond memories of this one, I decided to give it a chance, it’s not like it would take much of my time to beat anyway. However, my biggest concern of this having similar problems to Touched! was still very much present, and after playing it, it does have a ton of similarities with the title that would come after… while also being even more fun than the first title and so far the best game in the series I’ve played… HOW?!!!!
How in the flying fu-Paratroopa does a game focused solely on gyro control as a gimmick, one that could be even more limiting than touch screen controls, manages to be just such a fantastic time that knows how to use its mechanics to its fullest potential and having a 10 out of 10 minigame selection ALL THE WHILE it keeps the insanity of the series completely intact and the humor is on point? Who the paratro-fuck designed this game????
Luckily, I think I have the answer to all these questions: yes, the whole game is simply controlled by twisting the system and, after Kat & Ana’s stage, pressing the button A when needed, but at no point you feel like you are repeating the same actions; you are definitely performing them, but the minigames are so incredibly varied and throw ideas non-stop that it really doesn’t feel like that, which was precisely the biggest flaw that Touched! did. There are some minigames that share some DNA, but Twisted! is a master at differentiating them enough so you don’t even think about it, almost every single one of them is a hit, and the boss micro-games are both unexpected and fun (9-Volt’s final game specially, holy hell what a fantastic send-off to that stage). It also really helps that the visuals and sound design are on point, and that, coupled with the fact that the actions you are perming require your constant movement and reflexes and how the games are perfectly designed around the idea that you always know what’s happening at every moment, gives in return a fantastic sensation of feedback: you feel as if you are directly performing these actions, and despite their brevity, it leaves a huge impact. Add in that from a certain point you also need to press A to perform certain actions, and we have an absolute bat-shit and chaotic mix that’s just so, so fun and addicting. It really feels like each stage explores a new way to use the gyroscope, the Orbulon and Dr.Crygor’s stages being fantastic examples of variations that really mark a difference, and then there are the spins that the game has inside itself, like the WarioWatch stage, which is such a perfect idea and fit for this series I’m almost mad it wasn’t here since the beginning. This are only examples tho, every character’s stage here is fantastic, and also surpringly challenging of all the games of the series I’ve played, this is the one I’ve lost the most by a long shot, which seems appropriate since otherwise it would be the briefest out of all the games.
In everything regarding both presentation and pacing, is exactly it was in the original WarioWare but perfected: it’s crazy and unexpected, fast yet comprehensible, it’s fucking Wario, babyyyyyyyyyyyy! My notion of this being a quick spinoff within the series was quickly shattered as I began playing, they went hard on every single aspect possible and the game never slows down. Themes are once again a banger and while I overall prefer the first game’s soundtrack, this one still works really well and there are some that give you the feeling for each character even better. And the humor… we truly have achieved the funny over here. The absurdity levels are unprecedented, and it came to a point where I didn’t even try to wonder what would happen next.
It’s clear that the next entry picked up a ton from this one, or maybe both where designed in tandem considering how close they released within each other, but whatever the case, one thing is clear: Twisted absolutely knew what it was doing, while Touched got lost along the way. I see this one as a true sequel with all the letters of the word, it both expanded and changed the basis of WarioWare and turned into something different, but something that worked, and even if the base game is still pretty short and some of the secondary content is just fun for a minute or so, this is the most fun I’ve had with the series and there’s no possible contest. I’m so glad I decided to play it, and it taught me once again to not judge a game by its gimmick, and this time I’ll try to not forget the lesson…
… I’ll say however that this game introduced 18-Volts’s terryfiying gums and it gave the name ‘’Dinosaur Pizza’’ to an evil pizza company. That slander alone should take off at the very least 8 stars, but I’ll let it slide this time since JIMMY T. IS BACK WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-