WarioWare: Twisted!
WarioWare: Twisted![lower-alpha 1] is a party video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Nintendo SPD with Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It was released on October 14, 2004 in Japan; May 19, 2005 in Australia; and May 23, 2005 in North America. The third game in the WarioWare series and the seventh in the Wario series overall, Twisted! was the last Wario game to be released on a Game Boy family system.
| WarioWare: Twisted! | |
|---|---|
 North American box art | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo SPD Intelligent Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Goro Abe |
| Producer(s) | Yoshio Sakamoto Ryoichi Kitanishi |
| Artist(s) | Ko Takeuchi |
| Composer(s) | Kenichi Nishimaki Masanobu Matsunaga Yasuhisa Baba |
| Series | Wario |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action, puzzle, rhythm |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Wario and his friend Dr. Crygor invent a Game Boy Advance that only reacts when tilted around. The game follows the WarioWare formula with a variety of games that last for only a few seconds. The cartridge utilizes a gyro sensor and players must spin and twist in order to play the games.
Twisted! was critically acclaimed and has won numerous awards. Reviewers found the gyro sensor to be innovative and adding to the gameplay aspect.
It is one of only two Game Boy Advance games to include force feedback, the other being Drill Dozer.
Gameplay
Twisted follows a similar format to its predecessor, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, in which players must play through a series of "microgames"; short minigames that require the player to understand and clear its objective within a few seconds. Twisted! features unique gameplay thanks to its built-in gyro sensor, which detects the rotation of the handheld system. As such, many of the microgames require the player to physically rotate the system in order to clear. For example, players may have to empty a bin's contents, steer a plane, or guide something through a maze. Microgames become more complex as the game progresses, with later microgames sometimes requiring the player to fully rotate their system.
This game changes the scoring from the other WarioWare titles. Previously, the score was the number of games that were played, but Twisted only counts the number of games that the player won. The game features items called "souvenirs", which are unlocked after boss stages in story mode. Records, musical instruments, figurines, games, and many quirky items are possible to unlock.
Gyro sensor
The Twisted cartridge has a built-in gyro sensor and rumble feature (for feedback during rotation). Most of the microgames are played by rotating the entire handheld device. The gyro sensor uses a piezoelectric gyroscope developed by NEC[1] to detect angular movement.
Because the game automatically calibrates the gyro sensor when the game is turned on (and after every "micro-game"), it works with both top-loading slots (like the Game Boy Advance) and bottom-loading slots (like all other models after the original GBA: Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Micro and Nintendo DS Lite). The manual states that Twisted! is not compatible with the Game Boy Player;[2] although the game loads as normal, players would have to carry and tilt the connected GameCube console and use its controller for button presses, thus it is simply not practical.
Plot
One day, while Wario was playing with his Game Boy Advance, Wario becomes frustrated with a particularly hard game on it and throws the system at a wall, causing it to bounce back and hit him on the head. After his temporary rage, he notices his GBA is broken. He requests Dr. Crygor's help in mending it. Crygor, however, places it in his new invention, the Gravitator, which spits out dozens of buttonless objects similar in form factor to a Game Boy Advance. It demonstrates that in order to play, the device must be physically moved. Mona and 9-Volt arrive and toy with these new units, enjoying themselves. Wario, taking note of their reaction, decides to take advantage of these motion-sensing abilities as a selling point, and recruits his friends to design microgames based on this concept.
The rest of the game features stories of all the characters in the game, each one going to Club Sugar once their stage is complete. Wario chases a mouse that breaks his watch. Mona tries to deliver pizza while avoiding a rival restaurant. Jimmy T. and his parents play on their phones at Club Sugar. Kat and Ana encounter a troll after getting lost on a field trip. Dribble and Spitz fix their taxi and add an additional feature that allows it to travel through space. Dr. Crygor attempts to upgrade the Gravitator. Orbulon tries to figure out the password to initiate warp drive in order to escape a black hole. 9-Volt becomes friends with a new student named 18-Volt at his school.
Finally, after an accident in the Gravitator, Wario turns into a superhero persona named Wario-Man. He takes Crygor's invention and turns it into a giant robot in space. Wario's friends use Orbulon's ship to get to Wario-Man, but they blast the robot not knowing Wario was inside. After falling into the ocean, Wario shouts that everyone is fired.
Development
Nintendo programmer Kazuyoshi Osawa took the lead of developing the game engine with several members of the original WarioWare staff.[3][4] Intelligent Systems provided half of the workforce including several programmers.
European release
Despite initially being announced for a European release, WarioWare: Twisted! has never been released in Europe.[5]
After its Australian and North American releases, WarioWare: Twisted! was originally scheduled to be released in Europe on June 24, 2005.[6] It was later delayed to September 2005,[7] then to February 24, 2006,[8] then to December 8, 2006.[9] Nintendo of Europe later changed its release date to "TBD" on the company's website. In the January 2008 issue of the Official Nintendo Magazine, in the "Ask Nintendo" section, a representative for Nintendo of Europe stated that the delay was because Twisted! was still undergoing the compulsory LGA testing and approval for Europe. Near the end of 2008, however, with still no release in the region, Nintendo removed the page for the game from its European website, following the discontinuation of the Game Boy Advance.
Contrary to a popular rumor that the lack of a European release is due to the Game Boy Advance's gyroscope using mercury,[10] it uses a piezoelectric gyroscope that does not contain mercury.[11] European copies of the 2008 Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl list the title in the GBA section of the included database of Nintendo games as "Not released".
Reception
| Reception | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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WarioWare: Twisted! currently, has an aggregate 87.79% rating on GameRankings.[12] Craig Harris from IGN channel named Twisted! the No. 1 GBA game of all time, and gave it a rating of 9.5/10.[13]
Notes
- Known in Japan as Mawaru Meido in Wario (Japanese: まわる メイドインワリオ, lit. Turning: Made in Wario)
References
- Ceramic Gyro, NEC-Tokin
- WarioWare: Twisted! manual. Nintendo. p. 4.
THIS GAME PAK WILL ONLY WORK WITH THE GAME BOY ADVANCE OR NINTENDO DS VIDEO GAME SYSTEMS. NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE GAME BOY PLAYER ACCESSORY.
- "Iwata Asks – Rhythm Heaven". Nintendo. Archived from the original on August 13, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- "Kazuyoshi Osawa". MobyGames. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- Donlan, Christian (July 29, 2018). "The best WarioWare was the one we never got in Europe". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- "PRESS RELEASE: Wario Becomes Even More Twisted Than Ever Before!". gamesindustry.biz. May 4, 2005. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- Reed, Kristan (June 1, 2005). "WarioWare Twists to Sept". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- "Early 2006 release dates announced". Nintendo-Europe.com. Nintendo Europe. November 3, 2005.
- RawmeatCowboy (October 9, 2006). "Wario Ware Twisted finally makes it to Europe". Go Nintendo. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- Brown, Mark (September 30, 2010). "Top 10 GBA games we want to play on the 3DS". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- "Piezoelectric Devices >ceramic gyro". NEC TOKIN. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- WarioWare: Twisted! reviews. GameRankings. Retrieved August 7, 2006.
- Harris, Craig. "Top 25 Game Boy Advance Games of All Time". IGN. March 25, 2007. Accessed April 11, 2007.
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)