What gives the first two games that certain charm?

ShyGuyXXL

ShyGuyXXL

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Not sure if any of you noticed something similar but to me Wario Ware inc. and Wario Ware Twisted have a certain charm that I haven't really seen in the others.

But what exactly is it?
Those two games have great personality but that's not all...
There's just something about the sprites, the music, the animations, the soundeffects, the mood, the art styles, the microgame ideas and everything that feels very special and appealing to me but I just can't put it into words...

When Wario Ware Touched came out that whole feeling just seemed gone. Like it wasn't made by the same people or something.
Wario Ware Smooth Moves had a little bit of that but it didn't quite reach the level of Inc. and Twisted...


Does anyone of you have an idea of what I'm talking about?
 
Maybe because, when the first WarioWare Inc from GBA and/or Gamecube was released and Wario being the main character of it (other new characters), we're like "Wow, it's a new Wario game but it's diferents from the WarioLand series and other Wario spin-offs."

It's was something new back then in 2003, it's was amazing & creative at the same time, and everyone loves playing it.
And the firsts games from any franchise are like precious jewels from us when we were child.

(But that's just my opinion, maybe yours is diferent from mine, I don't know, depends on the person...)

About WarioWare Twisted, I've never play it (so I'm not gonna talk about it), but I found the game interesting, I kinda spoiled himself by watching the introduction on Youtube.
Maybe I'll buy a NTSC GameBoy and WWT on Ebay or something for 40€ or less.
 
Maybe something to do with the art style? It seemed a bit different in the GBA games, probably cause it wasn't at all like Rhythm Heaven.

Like how Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga looked more... charming than Partners in Time and Bowser's Inside Story, cause it had a very different, almost wacky cartoon art style.
 
I've noticed that it's the first one that more people have played. Back in 2003-2006, the series did have a brief run of popularity. After that, it seemed to give out after a while.

That may be because it has this limited appeal that doesn't quite catch on for a long time. Now it's just become a nobody.
 
I don't think it's nostalgia for me because I didn't play Twisted until WAY after I had played Touched and maybe even Smooth Moves.
It's also not just the visuals. Some of the sound effects (especially some of the random voice clips in certain minigames) are really...
...what should I call it?
Funny? No... more like just fun I guess...
It's pretty much a blend of different aspects that feels better but I don't know how exactly...
 
I know it! I know it!

The first two games are made with pixels. The other ones are more drawn like.

Edit: Oh wait now I see touched is also made with pixels.
 
CM30 said:
Maybe something to do with the art style? It seemed a bit different in the GBA games, probably cause it wasn't at all like Rhythm Heaven.

Like how Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga looked more... charming than Partners in Time and Bowser's Inside Story, cause it had a very different, almost wacky cartoon art style.
Click to expand...

I think a thing with series (not just games, but also animation) that maintain a consistent long-running artstyle is that the artstyle will become more "clean" and "systematic" as the series goes on, losing a lot of the raw artistic expression it had at first.
 
Waluigi said:
I think a thing with series (not just games, but also animation) that maintain a consistent long-running artstyle is that the artstyle will become more "clean" and "systematic" as the series goes on, losing a lot of the raw artistic expression it had at first.
Click to expand...
In the case of the Mario games I call that "generification". Making things look generic.
One good example:
In Yoshi's Island the bullet bills look like this:
Biting_Bullet_Bill_SMW2.png
BulletBill-SMW2.png

Very stylized and unique but still obviously bullet bills.
But in Yoshi's New Island they made them look like their generic New Super Mario Bros. design.
Yniguide903.png

Super Mario Sunshine had unique looking boos and other enemies but every game after that made them look the same.
I hate that. It's so boring.
In the old mario games you could tell which game a goomba or koopa came from but today they are all carbon copies. -.-
 
Yeah I couldn't agree more. In Sunshine and earlier, every Mario game had its own look to it that kept things from becoming sterile. Now they've basically put a block on any new art styles from coming out. Notice how even the RPGs are using styles introduced over a decade ago. Back then a new Mario RPG with a brand new style wasn't all that surprising (we got three different Mario RPGs with three unique styles between 1996 and 2003), nowadays it would be a huge shock (because it's probably never going to happen until Nintendo reinvents itself again).
 
To be fair, Mario & Luigi Dream Team had a fairly unique style. Not as much as Superstar Saga, but there were definitely noticeable character design differences in that game, and the sprites in general looked really, really nice.
 
The series and its formula was still new, so the first two games had a big impact on players, with their very fun microgames, cool characters and hilarious wacky situations. I continued to enjoy the same things afterwards, but many got bored.
 
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