How much story should WarioWare even have?

[warelander]

Inspired by @Glowsquid's post here, since I do think that this is worth futher discussion.

In direct reponse to his post I will say that even I, as someone who blatantly adores the Ware cast can say that I did not enjoy the cutscenes in Touched, for being dragged out and dull, some might say that let's say, Mona's story is more ''in depth'' then usual WW plots, but frankly I found that one to be the worst in terms of just not moving along and crawling at a snails pace.

In my opinio the first game, Twisted, Smooth Moves and even Game & Wario had the right idea, by having their cutscenes very short and to the point, just like the games they serve as a framing device for, I see no value in trying to drop character and story altogether though, especially since those who don't like even these short scenes could always just be given a skip option for their first playtrough as well, something previous games lacked for whatever reason (why do so many games have problems with that?).

The main thing I'd like to see the most is more interaction between the cast, but even that can be done easily in these short fast paced scenes, Smooth Moves even went as far as to connect several stories in what little time these cutscenes had and that's all I'd really like to see, as much as I like the characters I also always made it a point to admit that WarioWare in it's inherent format doesn't allow for more.

So yeah, keep the cast and stories and perhaps try to integrate them more into each others plots, but keep cutscenes quick and to the point, that's all I really want to see, WarioWare isn't meant to be story drivens, but it shouldn't abandon it's character either.

 

[Glowsquid]

have cutscenes snappy and fun like the one in G&W and make them skippable on a first-time playthrough. Warioware can have a "story" but it should never conflict with the main appeal of the games.

 

[Magma]

This is a bit different but I think what G&W did with making lore collectable could be a good approach. Have the lore be part of the gameplay but make it unobtrusive and ultimately optional.

 

[The 3rd Wario Brother]

Same random stuff as always but have them a bit more interconnected like the one on wii, (forgot the name ATM) Just a little more involved than WW Wii did it.

 

[ShyGuyXXL]

I agree that Mona's story in Touched was executed waaaay too slowly. And it wasn't even complex or anything.
It was basically just:
-Mona is the new number 1 with her new band, her rival is pissed and wants revenge, hijinks ensues.
Compare that to Twisted's Mona story:
-Mona gets all the customers with her new pizzaria, her rivals are pissed and want revenge, hijinks ensues.

They're basically the same but Twisted gets all the necessary information out much faster.
What does Touched do?
Throws slow, unnecessary, long-winded dialog at us to explain and pad out the music charts, when it could've just been like "BIG NEWS! LONG-TIME POP STAR VANESSA GOT KICKED OFF HER MUSIC THRONE BY THE NEW NUMBER 1: MONA AND THE WHATEVERS!" Done. Next scene.
The little slicing "tutorial" could also have been much shorter. Then we basically get a re-enactment of Twisted's scooter chase scene...
Then Joe has to slowly circle around Vanessa's plane instead of just appearing and getting kicked out.... or not appearing at all... I mean he didn't even do anything, besides referencing the previous game, where he, y'know, actually did something. Same with mona's 3 pets.
I guess it's cute to have callbacks to the previous games but... the whole scene already felt like a callback... ...if you don't wanna call it a rip-off...
I dunno, they should've just trimmed the fat at the beginning, maybe then I would've been more open to animals in tiny planes getting their asses handed to them.

I like the cutscenes in Smooth Moves. They are short, simple and to the point. Very easy to get behind.
-Wario chases a dude, finds treasure, runs from a boulder.
-Mona is a cheerleader and some dude has a crush on her.
-Kat & Ana defend the castle from an Oni.
-Young Cricket wants nums.
-Jimmy befriends some cats and dances with them.
-Ashley wants to learn a growing spell from a book.
-Penny is in an inventing competition against Dr. Crygor and creates a bike. (foreshadowwwiiing ;D )
-Dribble & Spitz simply drive a customer to tomorrow hill.
-18-Volt breaks 9-Volt's Game&Watch and tries to find a replacement.
-Alolan Jimmy dances with dogs this time.
-Wario gets a bike that turns him into lotsa minies and.... strawberries, I guess?

What I like about them is that despite being simple, they still flow really well. The animations, the editing, the pacing and especially the music, it all fits together really well and makes it pleasant to watch. Almost like a cartoon.
And there's still a bit of humor and some great expressions sprinkled in as well. And the twists at are fun as well.

I especially like 9&18-Volts story for how relatable it is. I think we all at one point watched a buddy play a game and really wanted to play too and got into fights. Maybe it didn't end in a broken console but you could imagine the reaction. Especially if it's a rare console. And we all know that feeling of wanting to get an old handheld or console or game but it's just not available anywhere in the big stores.
I WISH we had something like that little Iwata store in our city but nope, I have to look online if I wanna find a discontinued product.

...uh... I think I went off on a bit of a tangent there.

Point is, I like them when they aren't longer than they need to be, but not so short that they sacrifice personality or feel hastily thrown together.
I can forgive longer cutscenes when they actually entertain me all the way through, (for example, Kat&Ana's intro in the first game is pretty long but I love it because of it's mood. It's somber, sorrowful... and then so triumphant at the end, when Kat [or was it Ana?] kicks the monster's ass, perfectly accompanied by the awesome music.)
I'd never skip the cutscenes the first time I'm playing a new Wario Ware but I can see that some people would want to, so yeah, sure, add a skip button.

anyway, I'm super tired and I keep going on tangents and keep forgetting my actual points so Imma just stop here and go to bed good night <3

 

[Koopaul]

I want my WarioWare light on story but heavy on world-building. Basically we get bits of lore and facts about the characters sprinkled throughout the game.

 

[Magma]

Now it's time to come full circle...

I hope the next WarioWare game has an epic story and is 100% serious save for maybe a few moments of comic relief.

 

[Just a Wario Fan]

Warioware should focus moreso on the characters then story
Give us little interactions between the characters here and there and reveal little hidden things about them that we didn't know beforehand every now and then
Basically more stuff like the diaries from the Japanese Warioware site and the Smooth Moves Blogs (And to a lesser extent, the Ashley badges)

Warioware has never been strong on the story front and really shouldn't be
It should be simple and straight to the point, with the game ulitmately being the main show, but little bits of character sprinkled throughout (Not too much mind you, but a little bit) will greatly enhance the overall experience

Edit: Yes I did post here at one point, but I disliked the old post, so I deleted that one and made this one in it's place.

So you mean more depth, especially in the characters, but without too much influence on the main storyline?

 

[TB100]

So you mean more depth, especially in the characters, but without too much influence on the main storyline?

Generally what I mean is letting the characters shine, but in a way that doesn't affect the simplistic nature of the series too much, (Hence why I said Warioware should focus more on character then story.) this could range from characters interacting in the cutscenes (More stuff like the Ashley cutscenes in Touched basically) or things on the side like the Diary or Blog Entries on the Japanese sites (Or even doing it like Sonic Channel and Arms and have new artwork for the characters every few weeks or so) or the little short films in Mega Party Games and other stuff like that.

I think I said the above wrong honestly,
I don't want these characters to go on the level of let's say Bojack Horseman or anything like that (Where they're these deep and complex characters), but I would love to see more of them and how they interact with the world around them.

Now it's time to come full circle...be

I hope the next WarioWare game has an epic story and is 100% serious save for maybe a few moments of comic relief.

I know you're possibly joking, but Honestly I wouldn't be against a more epic and story based game with the Warioware cast. Granted I feel like such a game would work best with a similar tone to the Mario RPGs (Lighthearted, but not afraid to raise the stakes when it needs to.) and it probably shouldn't be a typical Warioware game. But beyond that, yeah, I would definitely be interested in seeing something like that as it could be very interesting.

 

[Koopaul]

A game where the gameplay revolves around random unrelated mini games can't have much of a story. Rhythm Heaven tried to insert a story in their last game and... it kinda sucked and was completely unnecessary.

 

[Magma]

I genuinely would like to see something a little more serious with the Ware cast but definitely not a typical Ware game. While I wouldn't say the cast has a lot of "untapped potential", I do feel like they're flexible enough that you could do some surprising things with them.

 

[BooDestroyer]

I want my WarioWare light on story but heavy on world-building. Basically we get bits of lore and facts about the characters sprinkled throughout the game.

Yeah, you got a lot of those in the Game & Wario prizes, right? Stuff like that is where it's fine to throw this into the game.

Like others have said, the opening cutscenes should be short and straight to the point, enough to give you something before you spring into the action.

 

[ShyGuyXXL]

Rhythm Heaven tried to insert a story in their last game and... it kinda sucked and was completely unnecessary.

It didn't HAVE to be though! It could've worked, if it was executed differently.
It sucked because it was slow, had way too much dialog and didn't even really tie the rhythm games together, since there was no theme to them until the remixes.
In a game like this, the story needs to be unintrusive.
They need to have it there for those who want to follow it, but those who don't shouldn't be held down by it.

The stories in Wario Ware work because they are short, sweet and to the point. As little dialog as possible, a steady pace, and since they all tell different stories they don't get repetititve.
Sadly, the Megamix story WAS repetitive. The gist is simply "I wanna get home." But then there's obstacle after obstacle, and long dialog with shallow character after shallow character...
I don't dislike the characters as a whole, but ones like these need funny cutscenes to be entertaining, not pages upon pages of dialog.
How about instead of TALKING about how the big bee dog wants his stuff back, we just SHOW how Tibby brings back his stuff (with his rhythm magic or whatever) in a short little cutscene?
You don't need to talk, talk, talk to give characters personality and get a story across. Just show it.
....I guess writing text is easier than animating cutscenes. :/

 

[JS Shantae]

I think the usual format works just fine. Personally, I could do with even a little more story-- I don't just play these games cause they are fun, I like the characters and want to see stuff happen with them. Not so much to bog down the game, but just enough to keep things interesting.