By Imani Brown

 It’s so speedy! WarioWare: Get It Together! is a Switch game where you always have to think fast. If you don’t think fast, you die. And then you have to start again. Simple as that. In Nintendo’s collection of micro games, there are as many 20 stages that run a few seconds in length. In free mode, every time you beat a level, it goes even faster … and faster. Yes, you die eventually. But I like to challenge myself to see how far I can get. 

Two of Nintendo’s great game makers created this brand new entry into the series: Goro Abe and Taku Sugioka. If you like the pace of Super Smash Bros., you will like this terrific bunch of rocket-fast micro games, which you can play online with you friends. Here. you can also find a section called Nintendo Classics, where you can indulge in micro games featuring the company’s popular stars. I really appreciate the levels featuring characters from Pikmin 2 and Splatoon. My favorite game mode is Splatoon because it has one of the most best designed maps and is the most challenging.

The story mode involves Wario starting up the new game he created. Oddly and magically, he gets sucked into the system. It’s a weird glitch and you’ve got play all the levels for Wario to escape being literally inside the game. As he moves through the code’s inner workings, he find his friends that helped him make the game. Eventually, after loads of zippy gaming, you find the person who pulled Wario inside. Players get coins to pay for another life, so when you die you revive yourself.

The intensity of the game makes me really kind of competitive. I feel I need to win, and so does everyone else. But even while playing alone, these small, fast game bits take me to another world. Plus, Nintendo-created games are family games. That’s the Nintendo way. It’s really good to play with your family too.                                                                                                             

One of the reasons to keep going: You unlock new characters as you progress and these new characters all have their own special abilities. Like, Wario uses this nifty charge attack and jetpack. 18-Volt, a long-time series regular, manipulates and destroys objects by delivering an electrical blast. In my opinion, there are no overpowered characters, as sometimes happens in Smash Bros. To me, this balance makes the game equal for everyone.

I love the sounds of the game because they make me feel energized. When you go in the level and it’s time for you to speed up and get things done, the sound changes and gets intense. Every micro game has its own excellent sounds like Rocket Rush with its big whoosh and three-note trumpet intro. But the further I got, the more I thought Nintendo could have changed up the music a little bit. It’s effective, though, and adds to the tension which always makes my hands a little sweaty. 

The 2D graphics for each little game is kind of old school. It’s no Breath of the Wild when it comes to art. But the character animations always match their personalities. Sometimes, I see that the backgrounds blur when I move to a new level. And sometimes I wonder why they didn’t add a few 3D games and a little more realism to shake things up.

After playing, I had some suggestions. Next time, I hope they add a design-your own-character or weapon in exchange for the coins you receive. That would keep a lot of more kids like me coming back to play the game again and again. More varied rewards like power boosts and double the coins would be great, too. Get It Together! seems to riff on the Super Smash Bros. menu and user interface, but I wanted it to feel newer, more like a badass Wario game. Also, when you unlock a new character, there should be clear guides to their moves and abilities. I even wish there could be a leader board and the Top 50 players could face each other in a battle of who can last the longest. Even though there’s a story mode and hundreds of different micro games, I feel WarioWare: Get It Together! could have benefitted from the different modes I outlined above. You can’t have everything, but I just wanted some more variety.

13-year-old Imani Brown is the newest NYVGCC contributor – and our youngest ever. He can often be seen in his Nickellodeon jacket as he makes his way around the Bronx.