WarioWare: Touched!

WarioWare Touched! is a minigame compilation video game released by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. This is the fourth installment of the WarioWare series as well as the first on the DS. This game was simultaneously developed with WarioWare: Twisted! while also being the game that will use the features on the DS.

Plot
Wario is walking down a street after having proudly stolen a Game Boy Advance and a Game Boy Advance SP. Wario then trips and drops both systems down a manhole which led to The Sewer Guru appearing in front of Wario not only the two handheld systems but also a DS, The Guru asks Wario which one he drops only for Wario to lunge the Guru and both feel into a manhole all because he wanted all of the systems. After a brief scuffle, Wario has the Nintendo DS in hand which has two screens. Wario finds it odd that there are no buttons which caused him to rage after losing to a Whack-a-Mole minigame. Wario then finds the stylus attached to the DS and realizes that he must use it to tap the bottom screen. He wins the minigame and then realizes he could make double the profit out of this double-screened apparatus and so he uses it to make touch-style microgames.

Why You Can't Keep Your Hands Off It

 * 1) The microgames in this game are now exclusively controlled with the Nintendo DS touchscreen and microphone so it's definitely something new to the series for its time. All microgames can only be controlled with either of the two. So the idea of doing that sounds clever.
 * 2) 180 microgames to play from.
 * 3) Introduced new characters. Three are major characters who would later appear in later installments.
 * 4) *First we got a duo character so you better learn their names 'cause they are Ashley & Red. Ashley is an adorable-looking yet serious witch (don't let yourself be fooled by her innocent demeanor) while Red is a shapeshifting imp who has the personality that is the polar opposite of Ashley.
 * 5) *Mike is a robot created by Dr. Crygor. He is a karaoke robot that was programmed to do the cleaning around the doctor's lab. He will make you get up on a stage and sing a little ditty for him!
 * 6) *Though not major characters, we get to meet Jamie and James who host the mix segments of the microgames. They happen to be related to Jimmy.
 * 7) Gameplay is basically the same as you see in WarioWare only with new mechanics due to the DS. That's really simple, right? While simply just doing DS capabilities may sound basic, but the microgames do make the gameplay addicting and fast-paced.
 * 8) There is a major change made to this game. Compare this to Mega Microgames and Twisted as most characters have stages with 8 (and 16 if the microgame is long) beats or 4 (and 8 seconds for long ones) seconds. Touched decided not to have beats as every stage now has both standard and double beats.
 * 9) A variety of microgame themes. They consist of things that are clever for each microgame thanks to the DS. You got your usual training in the mode of Touch Training. You then got the more exciting ones consisting of Cute Cuts, Dance Club Rub, Ninja Scribble, Total Drag, Slightly Unscrewed, Mic Rocking, Retro Action, and Super Zero.
 * 10) Good controls that make good use of the capabilities of the Nintendo DS. The usage is responsive enough.
 * 11) Mike and Ashley's Theme Song sound crisp to listen to for DS standards complete with catchy lyrics to the boot.
 * 12) Fashionable graphics that became a step up from the GBA titles, especially realistic objects like food and animals. The sprites here look more bright enough. The artwork of the characters looks so stylized as well. Even the map for Diamond City looks stylish.
 * 13) You can unlock souvenirs by completing various tasks. They can be stored in Games and the Toy Room. If you have WarioWare: Twisted!, you can unlock Mona Pizza.
 * 14) During the opening cutscenes for each character, there will be moments where you get to interact with the touch screen. For instance, there is one scene in Wario's story where you have to remove the cavities from his teeth, although they are not significant unlike its predecessor.
 * 15) *Jimmy's story has a moment where you have to shake his afro from a fly that got in. You also got moments where you get to play with Mona's guitar, add ingredients to Ashley's pot, draw a note with Ana, blow dust with Mike, insert a game with 9-Volt & 18-Volt, spin the wheel of the TUNA (a machine) for Dr. Crygor, and kill the viruses in Wario's stomach.
 * 16) Laugh out loud moments. From the usual microgames to the charm of the cutscenes. This is WarioWare so what do you expect?
 * 17) *Examples include Wario saying "Wow!" to some funny microgames like a chicken egg that hatches into a yolk in Pet Petter, a character falling down while spinning too much in Goin' Loopy (which it returns in WarioWare Gold), or a person tripping in Sweeping Victory.
 * 18) *Examples for the cute moments are Feeling Saucy, Sweet Sorrow, and Crowd Control. With the first showing a cute boy when the player covers the food in ketchup, the second involving a person waving to another person or aliens, and the last one features a realistic character after the player blows away the crowd.
 * 19) The main menu is clever. You get to have a menu consisting of small sprites of the characters or a star on the touchscreen.
 * 20) For a limited time only, My Nintendo members were able to redeem the game as a Nintendo 3DS exclusive DSiWare download for 1000 Platinum Points from March until July of 2016. This was good for those who didn't want to get the game's physical copy.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game is pretty short so it can be beaten in a few hours.
 * 2) The microgames can get really repetitive due to the mechanics such as Lung Capacity, Fatapult, You Scratch Mine, and Divide and Conquer.
 * 3) The European, Wii U Virtual Console, and the 3DS versions of the game won't allow players to unlock the Mona Pizza souvenir. You need a copy of WarioWare: Twisted! to unlock it despite the game not being released in Europe and the game reads very specific data from the cartridge in the GBA slot on the Nintendo DS. However, it's present in the game's data and Europeans can still play the game if it is present in a copied save file of the game.
 * 4) A few bad moments in the game:
 * 5) *Mike and Dr. Crygor dissing each other due to the latter's "horrible" singing voice while the former later on leaves,
 * 6) *A fly getting revenge from Jimmy, twice, thus leaving his wig itchy,
 * 7) *Vanessa raiding Mona's concert after the latter forgot to deliver the pizzas only for Vanessa to finally get on stage, imitating as Mona, and causing the audience to throw objects on her, as a result of a punishment.
 * 8) *Ashley and Red threatening to use Orbulon as an ingredient,
 * 9) *9-Volt and 18-Volt being late for school since they are playing the game all night.
 * 10) Plot Hole: How did Dr. Crygor, Dribble, and Spitz know where Mike was despite leaving Earth and going into space?
 * 11) Storing souvenirs in the Games section would be rough because the Games section has limited space.
 * 12) Some music and sound effects are reused in Wario Land 4 similar to Mega Microgames and Twisted.
 * 13) On the Wii U version, the touch screen controls can be sluggish.
 * 14) Does have some glitches:
 * 15) *If you rapidly pause the game before Spario begins, Wario's arms and mustache may not appear making the microgame impossible to win.
 * 16) *Three microgames in Kat & Ana's set are impossible to complete on some first-run Japanese DS models. The lines in Bright Idea and The Proud, the Fuse cannot be drawn while the flashlight in Midnight Weirdo blinks on and off. Thankfully, Nintendo gave replacement copies for the ones who were affected and the glitches were corrected for later printings of the game.
 * 17) Hot Flash (or Heat Wave from Gold), a microgame that shows nudity when a player removes his boxers after they remove Wario look-alike's clothes or spandex suit, though this may be played for laughs.

Reception
WarioWare: Touched! received favorable reviews for its visual style and gameplay yet it was criticized for its brevity. The game itself got an 81 on Metacritic while Nintendo Life gave the game 9/10 stars. However, there has been a polarized response in regards to the touchscreen mechanics yet was still praised for the game's use of the Nintendo DS' dual display.

Trivia

 * At E3 2004, the game was titled WarioWare, Inc. DS
 * There is a hidden easter egg in Ashley's song that happens to be a message that says "I have granted kids to Hell".
 * If the lines in the Japanese version of Ashley's spells are read backwards, it says "umeido in uario iju nanuba wan" meaning "Made in Wario is number one".

Videos
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