Although in the first week of the Nintendo DS’s launch in Japan
Mario 64 DS emerged as the most popular launch title, in the weeks that followed it was actually
Wario Ware: Touched! which overtook it in terms of sales and popular support. It certainly makes more obvious good use of the DS’s unique features, with more than 200 new mini-games all of which make bizarre use of the touch screen and microphone. For those not familiar with the original GBA version,
Wario Ware features a huge collection of extremely strange mini-games, the majority of which last for no more than 5 seconds.
These are played in rapid succession so that you literally never know what is coming next. One minute you're cooling down a cup of tea by blowing on the microphone, the next you’re chopping up flying fruit by wielding your stylus as a sword. Unrolling toilet paper, striking matches and blowing toy yachts across the screen may not sound like much written down, but when they’re all thrown at you at such a dizzying pace the desire to see what nonsense the game will come up with next is infectious.
Wario Ware: Touched is both inventive, often uproariously funny and thanks to the mix of equally strange art styles one of the most relentlessly odd games ever made. More importantly than this it’s also one of the most fun, and an absolute must-have for any DS owner. --David Jenkins