This is a pretty interesting one for me because I think it's a really good demonstration of what exactly NOT to do when making games like this. I have been fascinated by just how fucking horrendous Snapped! is especially in comparison to other WarioWare titles. For context - I adore WarioWare. It's one of my favorite Nintendo franchises and I don't think I'd be able to live without it. Consistently entertaining and amusing, it's short, sweet fun that knows exactly what it wants to do and executes it almost perfectly. Later entries in the series post-Mega Microgame$ would become known for their unique use of the hardware's capabilities, such as Twisted! taking advantage of the GBA's gyro sensor and Touched! taking advantage of the DS' touchscreen. The list goes on, with it all coming full circle in Gold, with the game putting the 3DS' capabilities on display spectacularly, by demonstrating just how far Nintendo has come with their handheld consoles but also acting as a display of past minigames and unique features (touchscreen, gyroscope, etc), making it the "definitive" WarioWare experience.

So what exactly happened here?

Let me outline what exactly this game is first - WarioWare: Snapped!, also known as the next coming of the Antichrist, was released for the Nintendo DS way back in 2008 as Nintendo felt a revival of their franchise was imminent and 4 years after Touched! was released on the same system, hell broke loose. I'll keep it simple by saying that this is one of the most mechanically broken but also lifeless games I have ever played - which is the polar opposite of what WarioWare is known for, ironically. Antichrist that this game is, for it takes full (and by full I mean ENTIRE) use of the DS' camera. You may see the problem here already. The DS' camera is not good. It is not good at all. Desperate to find things to cling on to, Snapped! chose perhaps the worst avenue to take: using nothing BUT the DS' camera to execute the minigame tasks WarioWare is known for. This means that half of the time you will end up failing minigames because of the camera just refusing to work. Instead of scrapping this idea and going with something else (as they should have), they instead released it but lowered the stakes to where it makes Gold look like Furi. There are no stakes here and there is absolutely nothing preventing you from failing all the minigames and moving on to the next challenge. Oh yeah, remember when I said lifeless? The minigames lack any sort of charm at all, which is absolutely detrimental to the experience as it forgoes the teachings of WarioWare games past. This game is a stain on the legacy of WarioWare and I am very glad they learned from this mistake going forward.

If I didn't have such a miserable time I would give this a 2/10 because the recordings of your actions during the minigames are pretty funny sometimes

Reviewed on Feb 09, 2023


1 Comment


1 year ago

i should give pizza tower a shot to cleanse my soul