Allow me to start off by stating this – Wario Ware has to be the best handheld game released in a very long time. It wasn’t pumped up, there weren’t many people talking about it, so I was extremely shocked to see how good this game was and is. Most definitely, this game deserves a lot more credit and recognition than what it’s gotten.

The basic premise of the game is to get through each minigame in a level, you have four lives in each, and if you lose all of them, then you have to start the entire level over again. As little as this may sound, it becomes very irritating, to say the least. As you beat the levels however you will begin to notice minigames popping up beside the levels that you have earned, and can play at any time you please. The minigames on the side last a lot longer, and are bigger than these in the level, focusing on one general theme.

Each level consists of its unique theme, unique backdrop, and even its own delectable music. This, I think makes for a more addictive atmosphere. Because I know I couldn’t wait to see how the next level was going to be, and what different minigames there were going to be. With over two hundred games, most being very different from the next, you will never know what you’re going to get. As you move on, the levels begin to become much harder. While you may skim through some of them with ease, at the end when you get to some of the bosses and lose all of your lives, it’s enough to want to throw the game down and give up. But it’s too addictive to just put it down. So you continue to go back for more, eventually getting through it and heaving a big sigh of relief.

One of my favorite attributes about the game was the music. Don’t get me wrong, I liked everything else, but I think music can either make or break a game. In Wario’s case, it definitely made it. The beat of it all was really fun to play the minigames to, and when the game sped up, so did the music, with a heavier rhythm and beat. This carries on through the entire game, each level having a new song, new beat, new rhythm, which really shows me a lot of originality and tact went into the music.

The story is kind of scattered, but I’ll go through the basics that it started out with – Wario created a game and company (Wario Ware Inc.) him and his crew, the characters in each level, got together and each made their own minigames. The purpose of this is? To get a lot of money, of course! Other than that, each level has its own story and plot to it, leading from one thing to another. For example, trying to get to work on time and shooting all of the cops with bananas in order to escape their clutches. I won’t give anything away, so you’ll just have to play the game to find out more.

The graphics are great, especially for a GBA game, but I can say honestly that even if it didn’t have that, the game would still be awesome. Some of the backdrops for each character (examples – cell phone screen, stereo, computer desktop) are so original and fun to look forward to in each level that it’s amazing. The minigames go from pixilated 8 bit glory, to what GBA can top with graphics. And the stories in the beginning of each level also have high-quality graphics, which makes them fun to watch, but as I said, it doesn’t matter in this game how well the graphics are, it does make a nice extra addition, but if they were bad, it certainly wouldn’t have put a dent in it.

Before I conclude, I have to dwell on the replay value here; so far, I’ve beaten this game three times. With each time I beat it, I find more games waiting for me, and even if you have played it ten times, I’m sure you will still be finding more games that weren’t there the previous nine times. This is definitely not a game to just pick up and beat once then put down, it provides hours of entertainment that you can pick up a dozen times and still be completely enthralled within Wario’s universe of unique micro games.

If you don’t already own this game, and you enjoy fast-paced fun, with only having to use one button, and high replay value, then you should check it out. I doubt I could express how great this game is in just one review. Wario Ware Inc. truly takes all, even with such a simple concept; it’s in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best Gameboy Advance game on the market right now.