Developer: Nintendo R&D 1Publisher: NintendoRelease Date: March 28, 2010System: Nintendo DSESRB Rating: EOfficial Web site
In a nutshell: Ten years of computer science education condensed into a one-hour tutorial.
0:00 I've played every WarioWare game obsessively for seven years now, and used my atrophied computer science skills to program simple games on my own for about twice that long, so a game that lets me make my own WarioWare games seems like a winner to me. I puttered around with this a little bit on the GDC show floor, which was hardly the ideal environment. I'm also using this hour as a try-out for the DSi XL Nintendo was kind enough to send me. So far it seems like a bigger DSi.
0:01 An overhead view of a cartoony "Diamond City" on the water. Gulls call out in the background as we focus on the island-based Crygor Labs. There, the visored Dr. Crygor plays games, when suddenly all the characters fly out of the TV. It was all a deam, but it inspires Crygor to make the Super Markermatic 21.
0:02 Wario comes in and demands Crygor fix his TV... or at least trade it for the Makermatic. Without few words, (but many pictures) Crygor explains that the Makermatic is no mere passive TV -- it lets you merge graphics, sound and AI into a game. "This just might be my ticket to riches!" Wario says with a triumphant jump. I place a stamp on the cartridge that comes out of the machine and we're off.
0:04 Looks like I have to start at the DIY shop. "This is where you can play games, read comics, listen to music... you know, cool things." Funny... only one of those was considered a "cool thing" in my middle school days.
0:05 "Oh, you must be the shop manager! Hello!" says a little Raggedy Ann-looking girl. She's Abby. I enter my name as nine star symbols, because I can.
0:07 Mona from Diamond Software just sent over some games that I'm invited to try out in the Game Blender area. "Mona's stage is packed with strange games" I'm told. They go in the blender and come out as "Mona: Temple Explorer." In a brief cut scene, Mona and her Camera-dog stumble upon a jungle temple to explore.
0:08 The usual litany of five second micro-games commences, all controlled by simple on-screen stylus taps. I primp a woman by fixing her hair ribbon, break bricks in a wall, stomp tin cans with a bare foot, stop a cube on its one smiling face, and more. I mess up on a few games, including one that asks me to "Notice!" something about a butterfly in the center of the screen ...I can't figure otu what it wants. The "Boss" stage has me tapping to pop multicolored balloons and land their riders safely on a platform. Compared to other WarioWare boss stages, it's depressingly simple.
0:10 Back in the shop, Wario is suggesting I stock his games. But his designers all left, so I take on a design job for him. "I need you to draw a monster" To the monster-creator we go, where I trace the outline of a not-very-monstrous looking monster. "Hey! That looks pretty good! You've got a future!" Yeah, in tracing...
0:12 I get to play the final product in lieu of pay. The monster appears on a cliched RPG field and I tap it three times to kill it. Thrilling...
0:14 Unsurprisingly, this game shop also sells comics. I read through the four panel black and white selection rather quickly. One is about a dad who doesn't know what DS means and assumes it stands for "Dads are Splendid." Another is about a dad and son confusing a snail for glasses. Yet another is about a guy farting fire. How wacky!
0:17 OK, the game is called D.I.Y., so let's do it, uh, ourselves. Before we can do that, though, I have to finish the "DIY 101" lesson.
0:18 "In this lesson you poke a ladybug and make it run away." Sounds like my freshman botany course.
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