Welcome to the world of Wario Party, or, as I like to call it, the Anti-Mario Party Game! Wario, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ is a collection of small games you can play by yourself, or with up to four other people. However, these aren't mini-games. No, mini just isn't small enough a word to describe these games - instead they're called micro-games.

Warioware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ is a port of a GBA game with a similar name in which you play a collection of short games within another game. The Gamecube port is set up pretty much the same and the games end up looking a little poor, due to being direct GBA translations - sometimes you'll even see a GBA around your game window while playing.

The basic idea is that each character has their own game for you and your friends to play. To win their game, you have to win the micro games that are thrown at you. For instance, one game puts you against the other players in a dancing competition and when the light shines on you it's your turn to play the micro games. If you win the game, you dance well and your crowd grows but if you lose the game your crowd moves to another player's stage. There are about seven different games in all and about 200 micro games.

The micro games themselves are thrown at you incredibly fast; first you'll see a word like "jump", "pick", or some other verb telling you what you'll be doing. Next, and I mean before even a second goes by, the game appears and you have to complete it. Most micro games last about two or three seconds if you're lucky but as you progress they get even faster. What kind of nonsense could last only a few seconds? Well, here is a short list, or a micro list if you will, of the kind of games you'll run into...

Picking a poorly drawn face's nose with either one or two fingers Catching a ball

Hitting a ball

Raising a flag

Dressing up a Wario face

Keeping Wario's shirt from showing his belly

Dropping some eye drops into a poorly drawn eye

Shaking a dog's hand

The list goes on, and on, and on and gets even more bizarre. However, they're an absolute blast to play and really test your reflexes. Some of the more memorable micro games are based upon classic Nintendo games, too. For instance, one game puts you in Samus' shoes (of Metroid fame), challenging you to fire a certain amount of rockets at a very quick speed. Other games put you in Link's shoes and want you to go into a cave while avoiding a chicken, or simply playing as Mario in the original Super Mario Bros. game and telling you to squash one goomba. Many of the games are a lot of fun, especially at such a rapid pace, and if you think one of them isn't very good... well, they only last two seconds anyway, so you can't really complain!

The single player mode throws you into an elevator that goes up a floor for each micro game you complete but as you progress it becomes faster and faster. There are more than ten elevators to complete with 25 floors each and one boss stage, with each elevator being a different category of micro games such as sports, sci-fi and classic Nintendo. Other single player modes are available but aren't really worth bothering with, except for the high score mode where you can challenge your times for just about all of the micro games.

The multiplayer modes are where this game really shines, especially a certain mode that is an actual mini-game itself. You have a game board in outer space with a group of spheres going horizontal and vertical. The spheres have numbers on them that represent the amount of micro games needed to beat if you want to take that sphere. The player with the most spheres at the end of the game wins. It's that simple, but extremely fun and addictive.

If you're with a group of friends who aren't shy, another game challenges you to physically do something while playing a micro game, such as screaming out the name of your favourite food, or wiggling your body around while completing the game. Once you finish, the other players push the A button rapidly to make their characters clap if you performed the task well and if you didn't then they just won't clap. The player with the most claps at the end of the game is the winner.

Warioware, Inc.: Mega Party Games is certainly a game like no other and one of the best party games you can find, rivalled only by its GBA counterpart. If you're sick of the slow and sometimes boring pace of Mario Party then you'll absolutely love this, as it makes a great multiplayer game for you and your buddies, just as long as you're quick enough for it. Whether you and your pals prefer Gamecube multiplayer gaming or link-cable GBA multiplayer gaming, there's a Warioware for you with all the same fantastically bizarre and lovable games.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).