Hey, remember the Nintendo Wii? Remember motion controls? Remember WAGGLING and FLICKING?
WarioWare: Move It not only wants you to remember, it wants to show you what the world could be like if the Wii’s promise of motion controls revolutionizing video games would have stuck around. And let me tell you, friends, I want to live in the world WarioWare wants to exist.
WarioWare: Move It is the not-so-spiritual sequel to WarioWare: Smooth Moves for the Wii. I never played that WarioWare game because I falsely believed back then that motion controls were the inferior way to play any video game, let alone a WarioWare game.
What a fool I was.
Back in the days of the Nintendo Wii, EVERY game needed motion controls for something. Waggle the Wii Remote to make Mario do a spinning punch in Super Mario Galaxy. Slice with the Wii Remote to make Link swing his sword in Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Flick the Wii Remote down to throw a pass in Madden.
Honestly…it was too much motion control. What was initially a fun new way to experience games quickly becomes an annoyance by the 50th spin punch, sword slash, or pass thrown.
And so, games moved on from the motion control fad. Nintendo kept the Wii remote as the main controller for the WiiU and kept the gyroscope technology in the Joy-Con of the Switch, but the motion capabilities have been shoved to the back of the closet. With the Joy-Con, you tap A to make Mario jump in Super Mario Odyssey. You press Y to make Link swing his sword in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom. There's no Madden on Switch, but if there was, you can bet your butt you would press a button to toss the pigskin.
For the most part, you'd be excused for forgetting the Joy-Cons even have motion capability.
In steps WarioWare: Move It, SIX YEARS into the Switch lifecycle, unabashedly demanding that you flail your arms around your living room in the most joyful, ridiculous way imaginable. WarioWare: Move It is a game out of time. It's a game that didn't notice that the rest of the world moved on from motion controls. It's not the game that we wanted, it's the game that we NEEDED.
The WarioWare formula of ~5 second microgames with 1-3 word instructions works flawlessly.
Before each microgame, you're given a 2 second instruction of how to hold your JoyCons. "Tug-of-War": hold the Joy-Cons in front of you like you're holding a rope. "Squat": squat down and hold the Joy-Cons on your thighs. "Bu-KAW": hold one Joy-Con in front of your face like a beak and the other behind your butt like a tail.
Then, an instruction flashes onto the screen. “Cut” “Swim” “How many?” “Lay egg” “Punch”.
The screen flashes with a tree to chop. You're in a pool racing other swimmers. A cake with candles is turning. Wario is a chicken trying to force out an egg. A creature is barreling towards you on a barren street.
You swing your hands like swinging an axe. You “swim” your hands in the air. You hold up your fingers to the eye of the Joy-Con IR Camera. You pump your arms up and down. You deliver a haymaker.
There is no time to think, there is only time to do.
WarioWare: Move It is a game that can only exist, that can only be fun, with motion controls. I don't want to tap A to swing an axe. I don't want to alternate hitting the left and right triggers to swim. I don't want to hit A to add numbers to an on-screen counter.
I want to DO the motions.
In fact, after completing the story mode and every bonus mode in Move It, I kind of want to waggle my Joy-Con to make Mario jump. A part of me wants to swing my Joy-Con to make Link swing his sword. By God, I WANT TO FLICK MY JOY-CON TO TOSS A PIGSKIN.
Motion controls are our friend! They want us to be happy! We...we NEED more motion controls in games!
If you, like me, have forgotten what it felt like to control a video game via motion controls or are too young to have experienced it first hand, you owe it to yourself to check out WarioWare: Move It and experience the unrelenting joy of flailing your arms around like an idiot. Become a believer.
