Nintendo has been expected to deliver some sort of next-generation console — probably a revamp of the Nintendo Switch — in the next year or so. As I played the new WarioWare: Move It game with my kids by waving around Joy-Con controllers, I kept hoping the next version of Joy-Cons remain as inventive as the Switch’s. I also want them to get better.
Move It is a game full of minigames, which shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the WarioWare series. It’s about random and downright weird challenges you have to figure out and pull off before an all-too-quick timer ends. Some WarioWare games use buttons or touchscreens. The last WarioWare game on the Switch focused on platform-style gaming using Joy-Con buttons. This time, all the fun is had standing up and waving the Joy-Con controllers around. The motion-control action feels like throwback Nintendo Wii games. I found the challenges sometimes brilliant and sometimes frustrating. The Joy-Con motion sensors aren’t always great.
My reference point for motion gaming has shifted to VR action games on the Quest 2 and 3 or PlayStation VR 2, where motion controls are more precise. Controls on WarioWare: Move It felt more primitive. Sometimes that odd motion awkwardness can create fun challenges, like figuring out how to pluck a giant vegetable up, or slice something fast with a giant sword. Other times, I found myself flapping my arms and getting confused that nothing was happening.
A recent wacky VR motion game, What the Bat, has clear bat-like controls, but what you can do with the motions changes. In WarioWare: Move It, your interface keeps changing, too. Different poses with controllers held in different directions (you’re directed to your form before playing each game), and sometimes even using the Joy-Con’s dormant IR camera to do things like see your fingers and hand (why don’t more Switch games use that IR camera?).
The…
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