Nintendo has had an interesting time with mobile gaming. Miitomo and Super Mario Run were not the hits they wanted, but they had success with Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing. They have more coming, including a Mario Kart game, but what would be perfect would be a Warioware game for mobile devices.
Wariorware is a perfect choice for mobile devices for a few reasons. It is a game composed of microgames and those microgames are often made to use their platforms feature’s in inventive ways. A Warioware game could make good use of a mobile phone or tablet’s features, such as by shifting the view to landscape for a different effect for instance. It would need to be entirely touch controlled, but that would work fine if the games were designed around this.
Warioware would also be a good fit for a free to play title. While I personally dislike the way mobile games use microtransactions, they would be a good fit here, either to quickly bypass a game if you don’t want to play one specifically, or to get optional help if you are stuck. Plus Nintendo could make light of that with Wario’s greed being lampshaded.
The biggest reason I think this would work though, is that Warioware might actually be the best fit for the mobile audience. It can be played in short bursts and constantly changes. It does not require a lot of time, and is perfect for things like bus rides, waiting for an appointment and so on. It is also the perfect type of game for mobile in terms of gameplay. Think of the big hits like Candy Crush, Angry Birds and so on. Warioware’s gameplay has that same hook and will easily appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. It is a perfect way to bring in new players, especially as a tease for a proper Switch entry.
This is just my opinion though. What do you all think?
Disclaimer: This editorial is solely the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of ROG or its staff.