WarioWare: Move It! is the latest installment in the chaotic world of Wario and his eccentric allies, bringing with it over 200 microgames and an inventive new multiplayer mode. Though the long-running Nintendo series just celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, it still maintains its trademark brand of comedy and fast-paced gameplay. A recent hands-on preview at a Nintendo Holiday Showcase gave a glimpse at what players can expect from the upcoming title’s style, games, and various modes.
Just as its predecessor Wario Ware: Get It Together!, Move It! takes full advantage of the Switch’s motion control capabilities in its gameplay. This time the mechanics center around different poses – called Forms – that players assume with their controllers prior to each microgame; the demo showed off a handful of these like Fashionista, where the left hand is on the hip and the other is raised and pointed towards the right ear, and the self-explanatory Squat, where a controller rests on each thigh. Though only a few were shown during the preview, it’s likely this library of positions will greatly expand over the course of the game.
The demo first took a partner and I through assorted microgames via the Museum, which houses a collection of all unlocked activities. It’s here players can try each game independently to improve at them, with optional settings to make the timer much shorter, amping up the difficulty a significant amount. The first microgame shown here used the Fashionista pose, putting us in the role of a turtle scrubbing their shell clean with a towel behind our back. Lots of the activities within Move It! also pay homage to other Nintendo titles in fun ways, like a game where players navigate the sky as old-school Racoon Mario.
Not a huge amount was revealed about the game’s Story Mode during the demo – though the franchise has never had overly-complicated narratives to begin with, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the framing device didn’t go too far beyond what was shown during the preview. The mode began with a change of scenery from the usual Diamond City, with Wario and crew arriving at an island resort for a vacation. The island’s map is dotted with different levels of microgames to progress through just as in previous installments, centering around exploring new parts of the island.
Characters like Ashley, Mona, and Jimmy T. have all returned, though it’s not yet clear if they’ll be utilized similarly to Get It Together!, where each has specific movement patterns that suit different microgames. Players can choose from the familiar roster of Wario’s colleagues in the game’s Party Mode, which is a fresh new way to play inspired by the mechanics of games like the Mario Party franchise. Here up to four players will work to make their way across a game board, competing in ranked microgames that will determine who will roll the dice and advance.
Of course, in typical WarioWare fashion there will occasionally be random wrenches thrown into this formula, like random transference of movement between players. As fans have come to expect, this sort of silly chaos permeates all the games in delightful ways, and with the new full-body movement mechanics things can even get a bit exhausting. However, it’s the kind of exhaustion that begets laughter – commiserating with my partner as we both held the Squat position for several minutes straight desperately trying to catch giant fish between our legs is the exuberant exasperation the franchise is known for.
This hands-on preview really showcased the large amount of fun to be had with WarioWare: Move It!, particularly in a multiplayer setting. While single player still offers the same breadth of microgames, this installment in particular seems to be even more focused on chaotic group activities. Players will be able to take the tropical journey for themselves when WarioWare: Move It! releases next month.
WarioWare: Move It! will release for Nintendo Switch November 3. Screen Rant attended a special hands-on event for the purpose of this preview.
