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Review: WarioWare D.I.Y.
Do you want a new WarioWare game, with the same kind of rapid-fire microgame play you've come to love since the first game? WarioWare D.I.Y. is that. If you want the world's easiest game design utility, WarioWare D.I.Y. is that. If you want the long-awaited Mario Paint sequel, WarioWare D.I.Y. is, surprisingly, pretty close. If you want a game about shaking up a bottle of root beer and using it as a firehose to extinguish a fire ... you'll have to make that one yourself. WarioWare D.I.Y. does for making games what the original WarioWare did for playing them. The series has always been about distilling the act of gameplay down to its simplest elements, so that a game can be learned and completed in five seconds or less. In this case, a simple, menu-driven interface, combined with the harsh time restrictions of the games, allows you to go from idea to full (but tiny) game in just minutes. %Gallery-83841%
WarioWare D.I.Y. intermediate tutorials: a micro-class on microgames
While you wait for the release of WarioWare D.I.Y., why not get your learn on? Following the beginner-level tutorials released last week, Nintendo has put together a series of intermediate guides to the microgame creation process. Study these and you should be able to hit the ground running, translating your ridiculous ideas to ridiculous games in no time. Actually, F.Y.I., D.I.Y. forces you through a tutorial when you first begin the game, so you'll be familiar with this material no matter what. But you might as well learn how it works now and start planning your game designs in advance!
WarioWare DIY was in planning since the DS was called 'Iris'
In an Iwata Asks interview about the upcoming WarioWare DIY, Nintendo president and expert interviewer Satoru Iwata revealed a previously unknown codename for the system that would become the Nintendo DS: Iris. "Iris was the codename of a next-generation device we were exploring to succeed the Game Boy Advance-in other words, before development of the Nintendo DS," Iwata explained. "Eventually, it became a two-screen device with the codename Nitro, which went out into the world as the Nintendo DS. So, broadly speaking, Iris was the foundation for the Nintendo DS." And surprisingly, Software Planning Development's Gorou Abe had been thinking about a WarioWare microgame creator since the DS was called Iris. WarioWare DIY has been a long time coming. Elsewhere in the (fascinating) interview, it's revealed that some of the included microgames were made by debuggers during the QA process, who made microgames as part of testing. [Via Siliconera]
DS Daily: Made of win
The announcement of some actual DSiWare games was pretty welcome, sure, but the real winner out of Iwata's financial briefing is Made in Ore, which is sort of a programming suite for WarioWare games. We can't wait to start designing our own bite-sized games and playing them on the DS and Wii. Do you think the microgame style of WarioWare is too limiting for player-created games? Will it be frustrating to be restricted to the typical WarioWare format? Or do you think the limitation is going to help spur creativity?
We just noticed: Rhythm Tengoku Gold coming to Japan July 31
So between following things like massive survey leaks and price drop rumors and generally preparing for next week's big trade show, we've been a little preoccupied here at Joystiq's massive, 50-story headquarters. So preoccupied, in fact, that we haven't really been keeping up with the recently-announced sequel to one of our favorite crazy Japanese imports, Rhythm Tengoku.Luckily, our friends over in the DS Fanboy shack have been keeping up with Rhythm Tengoku Gold, which hits Japan in just a few short weeks on July 31. Like the Game Boy Advance original, Gold takes WarioWare style minimalist graphics and simple mini-game-fueled play and adds a much needed sense of rhythm to the proceedings. 1UP has some more details on the new title's 50 toe-tapping tasks, which include "keep[ing] a ping-pong rally going, taking pictures as a cameraman, running a choir by opening and closing your mouth at the right time, dancing with birds, attracting a lizard mate by using your maracas-like tail to shake to the beat," and more. Really, how can you not love a game that includes lizard mating?The chances for a domestic release for this quirky title are probably somewhere between slim and none, so if you're looking for some more rhythm-infused craziness, hit up your favorite importer. You do that while we go back to our reguarly-scheduled pre-E3 madness. Gallery: Rhythm Tengoku Gold
