GENRE
	Action/Puzzle
	DEVELOPER
	Intelligent Systems
	PUBLISHER
	Nintendo
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	No
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WarioWare is currently Nintendo’s most innovative franchise. The first title brought a completely new type of game to the Nintendo audience, Touched! created a whole new way to experience the genre that Nintendo invented. Twisted succeeds in duplicating that same feat once again. The franchise seems limitless in its potential if Nintendo can continue to put a new spin on the micro game frenzy that is WarioWare.

visuals

Twisted echoes the wacky visual style of its predecessors. It doesn’t attempt to pump pixels and sprites out of Wario’s factory, which is part of the style. It generally utilizes fairly simple drawings or even silhouettes in order to portray a mini game. This adds to the charm. Many of the games are made so amusing because of the bizarre approach to the visual style or scenario of a mini-game. You tend to laugh as you blast through Wario’s world just because of the random and strange tasks you are given, and the bizarre nature of these tasks has been matched by the unique and amusing artwork. Most of the time, a mini-game consists of a simple 2D picture, such as a silhouetted samurai, but it works extremely well to amuse the gamer and capture his or her attention. The team at Intelligent Systems also did a stellar job adapting the environments to rotation of the GBA-—every environment or object responds as you might expect when you twist and turn your GBA. The menus are the most obvious example: each one is set up like a dial and you must turn the GBA in the proper direction to access an option on the menu. The screen scrolls in a circle appropriate to your movements. Everything works extremely well on the Game Boy Advance.

audio

The sound is just as crazy as the graphics. Like Touched!, it does an excellent job of adding to the speed of the gameplay. By increasing the tempo of the various tunes the game succeeds in making the player a tad more frantic, which can sometimes make you panic if you get hit by a somewhat difficult mini-game. In addition, several songs, each just as bizarre as they need to be, have been recorded for specific characters’ levels. You’ll also find remixes of classic NES tunes in the 9-Volt/18-Volt characters’ stage. Plus, you can collect all the songs with a vending machine bonus that appears after you play a boss battle in story mode. Once you have a song, you can take it into a DJ mode and spin the disc around on a turntable to make your own remix. All the games make the appropriate, amusing noises such as splats and cracks. Finally, there’s a good deal of voice acting to complement the already excellent sound design. All the characters in the game were given a voice, but, given the limitations of the GBA, there isn’t a large array of extensive voice samples from the characters. This is not a problem (I’m not sure I’d like to hear Wario talking constantly)-—everything works extremely well.

gameplay

Twisted’s gameplay is a hyper-addictive, frenzied, innovative blast for any player anywhere. With perfectly tuned gyro-sensitivity, the player can turn the GBA the slightest iota and see a reaction on the screen. With visual charm, fast and fun gameplay, and hoards of souvenirs to collect, Twisted is the best in the WarioWare series…almost.

Twisted has some great gameplay. The gyro feature is used to the best of the tech’s ability. It responds well to all movement and performs its designated function per mini-game. Some problems inevitably arise with gyro rotation. Some games require the GBA to be rotated rapidly in a full circle, which can result in dropping, and 99% of the time, you lose sight of the action on-screen. This becomes a problem with some mini-games, and can grow frustrating.

Still, the implementation of the gyro control fits the scenarios perfectly: coil flowers, straighten Wario’s spine, screw in light bulbs, and play the entire first level of the original Super Mario Bros. with extremely refined tilt-sensitive controls. It’s all pulled off perfectly, and the nice audio and visuals harmonize with the gameplay to compliment the experience. The rumble feature also adds to the experience by offering feedback in various creative ways to enhance the experience. For example, there is a dance mini-game called “Turn it Up!” where Wario is in a club surrounded by flashing lights. The rumble creates a steady bump to simulate the bass beat in the club. It’s very subtle, but adds to the experience.

One other problem occurs besides losing sight of the screen while rotating. The rotating is mostly the whole emphasis of the gameplay. It gets somewhat repetitive. There is some variation, such as a mini-game that tricks you by requiring you not to move the system at all, but the experience seems far less varied than WarioWare: Touched!. I found Touched! to be a bit more entertaining simply because I enjoyed using the touch screen and microphone much more than relying solely on tilt control.

Some issues with the gameplay made the game second best behind Touched! for me, but this game does have quite a bit more extras than its DS counterpart. You can collect new mini-games (which are very fun and addictive by the way), songs from the game to play with on a turntable, and all sorts of other bizarre souvenirs that will bend your mind in various fashions. As a result of all these tons of extra souvenirs, the game lasts a long time to get everything. Still, I found myself more entertained with the souvenirs in Touched!, which I still go back to from time to time. I don’t feel a desire to go back to anything in Twisted. I do, however, go play with the parrot or with the wind chime in the DS game every now and then. Even the amusing mini-games in Twisted aren’t enough to draw me back to the title.

The game has stellar gameplay without question, but I simply preferred the DS interface over the repetitive turning in this title. I feel the extras, although hugely plentiful, are not as amusing as they could be for the most part. This is not to say it’s not an incredibly fun game—-this is a game you should own, but make sure you go for WarioWare: Touched! before Twisted. If you can, buy both by all means.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

This is a must own title for your Game Boy Advance. It’s the perfect traveling game even though the story mode is over quickly. Like Tetris or Dr. Mario, it offers hours of replay value solely on the merits of addictive gameplay. It shares nothing with the aforementioned titles other than its addictive qualities, which is a good thing as it is one of the most unique pieces of software to grace any console ever. The use of the gyro technology is much more refined than in Yoshi: Topsy Turvy and the rumble feature creates an extra element of palpability. The entire package is masterfully crafted, and if not for some repetition that occurs in the mini-games and some pointless extras, it would be an undeniable classic. As it stands, it is arguably the best in the WarioWare series and should be purchased by any GBA owner unless, for some reason less fathomable than some of the scenarios in Twisted, you are not a fan of Nintendo’s crazy franchise. I like what Nintendo has done thus far with gyro technology. I really hope they continue to use it in future titles—-when done right, it truly innovates gameplay. Now that you’re done reading, go buy this game.

8.7/10