The Wario Cup Thread

re latest challenge: How in hell are you supposed to do the "Remove the syllables" game? I know you're supposed to "merge" Dribble and Spitz by moving into the corner, but when I do that and try to remove the one in the middle, they end up shooting the next syllable anyway
I've always been wanting to formulate a strat too, since that microgame would be a run ender, but it occurs so late into the run I haven't been able to. I usually have good luck with it anyway, but touch wood.
 
Week 10 features the top two most hated characters in the game together at last.

Time Out forces you to play for as long as you can with Kat and 9-Volt, the two most infamous auto-moving characters in the game. Despite this, you'll just need to power through the endless microgames (including an unhealthy amount of Bad Fit games) to score high.

I promise I'll update my score once I get a Gold. (I never made it last week, sorry.)
 
I finally got the A-Rank with 4400 points and around 15%. This cup blows so much ass and made me think about my issue with 9-Volt and Kat/Ana as playable characters. Which is, more than just being bad at most microgames, they're bad in a way that's eventually imposible to compensate with player skill.

Let's take the microgame where you have to collect the same mask as what a character is wearing in the background. For that microgame, you have to:

1: Recognize the objective

2: Look at which mask you're supposed to wear (which is randomized so familiarity with the prompt will not save you)

3: Find where the collectable mask is and move to it without accidentally picking up the wrong one (which instantly fails the game)

It's a lot of thing to look for the span of a microgame, but with one of the more versatile character, it's doable. However, when you're playing with Kat/9-Volt and you get to the upper speed and microgame difficulty combos? Forget it. With Kat, you have to very precisely time your movement so you jump above or below the masks you're not supposed to collect, and 9-Volt has only one shot to collect the correct mask. Unless your eyes were already looking at the right part of the screen when it started, it probably is already too late. I guess typing this without sounding scrubby as hell is impossible, but I don't think even fighter jet pilots can process information that fast.

There are ton of games like this. And even pure timing games eventually become hair-pulling with 9-Volt because the Switch has very high inherent input lag compared to other video game systems (no really, people compared shmup ports and arcade archives releases between Switch and PS4 and typically Switch version of games have anywhere from 1 to 3 more frames of input lag on average), so your attempts to collect items will often miss by a country mile.

Hell, 9-Volt's very existence makes the game slightly more difficult for some of the other characters. Notice how the notches in some microgames (to keep him locked into a certain area) stay even when he's not in play? Well, this screws over Kat for the Super Mario Bros. microgame because shurikens fired at the very bottom of the screen will be blocked by the notch and not hit Bowser.

An easy fix that, perhaps, would've not entirely fixed these problems but make them more bearable would've been to give both of the automatic movement characters some way to control their movement speed, make them move/fall faster or slower. That way you can more easily anticipate things and avoid unwinnable situations. None of the previous WarioWare games featured more than one action button and perhaps they thought doing otherwise would complicate the games too much, but I don't think it would've been a problem with the implementation I suggested.
 
Week 11 finally lets you choose your crew again.

Speed Trap introduces yet another gimmick not yet seen previously; the ability to change speed without a massive "Speed Up!" screen, as well as the ability to lower rather than increease speed. Contrary to what Wario would lead you to believe, the speed is actually fixed to the microgame (it's another one of those challenges where it's in sequence), rather than at random, so learn the speed and you'll be fine.

Finally another Gold! With a score of 2,414, it's just barely over, but since I have no NSO that doesn't matter.
 
Fittingly, Week 12 gives you difficulty to control, again, with high speed.

Opposable Fun gives you Jimmy T, and the same speed as Timed IQ Test-o-Rama and askes you to clear 16 microgames. Probably not Time Out levels of bad, but still, maybe not the best. I'll take it.

After a week, I've only got 0:38.06, for a Silver. Not worth trying any more than that, really.
 
Sorry for inactivity. I'll get both 13 and 14 done in one post.

Week 13, like many other challenges, does not actually introduce its own gimmick, so don't get tripped on that.

Introduction to Gravity sees us through microgames that rely on gravity as their main gimmick. At least you have your choice of crew. Meanwhile, Mother and Son is exactly what it says on the tin. You're gonna play as 9-Volt... and 5-Volt... at the same time, in our third Double Play challenge, and the first one to use different crew members for P1 and P2. In a microgame set that seems to be inundated with That's Life. Despite this, it's not too bad, given that you can use 5-Volt to compensate for 9-Volt's weaknesses.

I got a score of 2,219 for Week 13/Intro to Gravity and 8,359 for Week 14/Mother and Son. Both Silvers.
 
They're asking for more than ever!

Week 15's Kick It Up a Notch supposedly has all the easy microgames. Indeed, a few are Intro, and others are, well, handlable. The problem is that the set speed is the absolute maximum. Previously, the only way to achieve such a speed in Wario Cup was doing exceedingly well at endless challenges. At least it's Level 2, not like the Level 3 oft preferred by a lot of challenges of this nature. Also, the return of 5 crew members is somewhat reassuring, last seen in Week 2. That could make your job harder as well, though...

I've not managed to hit this speed in normal play, so I was in for a rough ride. For me, even the more controllable characters like Ashley were far too slippery for my liking. At least it's not 9-Volt levels of bad, right?

I've got a Bronze at 3,024.
 
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Week 16 finally sees Wario Cup get a day in the limelight.

Super Mario World Marathon is the first cup that requires beating boss microgames; specifically, the namesake Super Mario World. You're given a crew of three, who'll always be assigned to the same level: Penny on L1, Master Mantis on L2, and Lulu on L3.

For Level 1, the only real danger is the first two obstacles, after which it's mostly a straight run if you stick to the middle of the course. I got 00:17.65 for this level. Sure, Penny ain't the greatest, but at least she's kinda fast.

For Level 2, take advantage of Mantis' upside down walk to speedily dodge the pipe and pit maze, and forget the platform. You've got the ceiling! Just be careful not to fall on a spiny (harder than I'm making it seem), and you'll be right. I got 00:32.68.

Despite being harder than 2, I actually found Level 3 to be a bit faster. Main thing you want to watch out for is that Lulu is very slow when grounded, and speeds up dramatically when airborne. This does make the final Thwomp dodge section hard as hell, though, and you really need to watch your timing and altitude to get through.

In the end, I achieved 00:51.73, well enough to bank that Gold. I do appreciate just how much publicity this one got, after previous Cups were barely acknowledged. First NoA tweets it, then fanart galore about it. WarioWare finally is getting the attention it deserves.
 
Happy New Year! I guess I'll do Week 17 and 18 in one go.

Week 17 involves Wario's version of All Stars. Mario All Stars? Nah, Wario All-Stars. One character, one microgame, and even the 2-player only chars are on the line. Gotta be honest; I didn't enjoy this one, and is the main reason why I didn't manage to get this posted on time.

Week 18 is better. Another Test-o-rama. This time, in Wario's IQ Test-o-rama, you pick one crew member and survive an endless number of microgames. Pretty simple, but effective. Since you've got to last the distance I'd probably pick an easier crew member, but not so easy that you don't hit the target score by the time speed gets unplayably fast.

I got 7,298 for Wario's All Stars and 8,660 for Wario's IQ Test-o-rama.
 
For Week 19, they're really scraping the barrel.

More Pyoro? Come on, this is just a duplicate of Pyoro, Pyoro! Okay, fine. I guess it's a timed challenge this time round, whereas the original was score attack. I guess revisiting is somewhat cool... just Pyoro doesn't do it for me.

I got a score of 0:53.50.
 
New features and an awesome theme? You've outdone yourselves.

Week 20's The Most Dangerous Games is pretty much what the title says. A gauntlet of fifteen microgames which all have a way to KO the poor crew member in charge of them. Gotta admit, I actually love this idea. Theming Challenges after such an interesting idea? I'm well on board. It's also the first Challenge to be able to roll back speed after a level up, which I never even knew possible. You learn something new every week.

I got a score of 2,585 on my first try, enough to win a Gold first try.
 
Even with a perfect run with my three biggest earners (Kat, 9-Volt and Pyoro) I don't have enough point to reach A. FML
 
Week 21 is another exclusive character challenge.

Let the Music Move You is your standard 18-Volt exclusive Challenge. I guess we've yet to see one require him solo, which is nice? Other than that, though, it is endless with no other specifics with theming. Fairly passable.

I got a score of 6,973 points through 41 rounds. For reference, at the time this was taken, 18-Volt's base score was 115.
 
Alright. Week 22 and 23 doublepack it is.

Best Day Ever presumably revolves around what Wario would think is his best day of his life. Well, with the microgames he picked, he certainly made it a tough act to follow to rush through as fast as possible. Meanwhile, Better with Age goes with about as unusual a theme as expected from WarioWare canon; all microgames that involves old characters. Well, why not make it weird? This marks the return of a crew-pickable, fixed length Score Attack. Not sure why I said that when it hasn't been so long, but anyway.

I got a score of 0:33.36 (Silver) for Best Day Ever (sorry, don't remember crew) and 2,993 (Gold) with Wario, 5-Volt and Young Cricket for Better With Age.
 
Week 24 now breaks all reality and goes beyond microgames.

Pyoro Time! is another one of a tired cliche of Pyoro-related microgames... or so I thought. As it turns out, it completely breaks reality and brings Wario Cup beyond microgames... to Showdown. I know, someone must've enjoyed it, but personally I disliked Showdown, so had never revisited it after completing the main story. It took me quite a few more tries to get even a Bronze. Oh well, I hope to see more pushing of the limits soon, perhaps in a Completionist Variety Pack minigame.

I got a score of 1:22.15.
 
Week 25 is another one of those which faked me out by the name.

Look Both Ways shares its name with a microgame, yet has nothing to do with it; the microgame doesn't even appear in the set. Instead, it's another one of those challenges that pairs 9-Volt with Kat and Ana. This time, in Double Play mode. To be honest, though, this isn't so bad. At least Double Play is a nice take on things, and I no longer struggle as much as I used to with Kat/Ana or 9-Volt.

I got a score of 8,031 over 30 rounds, enough for a Gold.
 
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Time for a very belated doublepack.

I don't think Wario's lying when he says Week 26 is "My Worst Nightmare". They are all cleaning-related in some way, as you may expect, but at least it isn't Mona-dominated. Of course, being a timed challenge, you're supposed to get these rooms(/oceans/computers) into spick and span state ASAP. So why would he make a challenge based on it...? Meanwhile, Cute to Boot has no real theme, other than that they look somewhat cute. Probably one of the more vague challenges there is. Oh well.

I got exactly 28 seconds for My Worst Nightmare using 18-Volt, Ashley and Mona (well, why not since it's her thingamajig?) and 10,106 for Cute to Boot. using Wario, Ashley and Cricket.
 
It's another Double Play challenge featuring characters just unexpectedly made for each other.

Up and Down features the two crew members who fire, well, up and down; Red, and Mike. For these ones you have to think quite carefully about who's the best one for the job; it's probably worth putting Red into position, even if he starts on the wrong side of the screen, if he's just that good at the microgame you're on. By far the one I dreaded the most in this Challenge was Ice Climbers. It's all too easy to evacuate one of them only to get the other pierced by icicles. Perhaps it's best if you worked on one before the other, for how much time you waste. That's cold comfort if you're chasing a high score, though, which I'm not.

I got a time of 00.51.45, enough for a Silver.
 
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