I took a trip down memory lane to DS classic Yoshi Touch and Go in the last Throwback Thursday and whilst re-playing that title one thing struck me more than anything else – This game would be perfect on mobile and I ‘d love to be able to play it on the go. It had me wondering what other titles would suit being on mobile and with Nintendo recently making the jump into the world of smartphone gaming, my heart got racing at the possibilities...

WarioWare Touched!
Wario first captured our hearts in the early 90’s as an evil yet lovable hero but in 2003 we saw him in a totally new light thanks to his motorcycle racing and mini-game obsessive ways.

The WarioWare series tasks you with reacting quickly and completing short mini-games in quick succession, with the more games cleared resulting in them coming at a faster pace and a harder difficulty. The true love for the series comes from the truly bizarre and hilarious situations these mini-games put you in though, such as putting out a fire with a urinating statue, patting an egg to hatch or shaking ants off a banana for a hungry bear.

Why Touched?
Whilst the GBA/GameCube games are loved dearly for introducing us to the concept, WarioWare Touched seems like the perfect fit for mobile as it takes the concept of the first title and transforms the gameplay into touch-screen based controls effortlessly without losing any of the charm, appeal or fast-paced nature of the series. Instead of hurriedly tapping the A button to help a girl sniff up dangling snot, you swipe it away with your stylus, and instead of tapping a dogs head in rhythm via button presses, you stroke it until it dozes off. The lack of physical buttons on mobile is one of the biggest problems when taking titles from traditional consoles and handhelds onto a smartphone but WarioWare Touched overcomes that huge hurdle straight away.

Would it need changing?
The gameplay is still as fun and imaginative as it was in 2005, which is surprising given how early it appeared in the world of touch screen gaming. As far as the concept and the games within are concerned, it could all remain exactly the same bar one or two things.

The ‘Mike’ set of mini-games which had you completing a set of games with, you guessed it, the DS mic was a chore and sometimes dizzying affair even back then and it’s something that wouldn’t translate well to mobile. Whilst all mobiles would be capable, it wouldn’t be practical for most smartphone gamers, as gaming apps are mostly played on the go in loud and busy places, such as on a train, so as well as looking kind of silly you’d also risk the loud table of lads accidentally setting off your set of balloons in a particular game and ruining your winning streak.
Graphically the game looks as charming as it ever did with it’s simple yet stylistic flair, with each mini-game having its own art-style and individuality so the graphics would only need minimal updates too.

Could it be a success?
I think WarioWare could fair quite well on mobile as the original DS game would translate very easily with minimal changes and it’s a tried and tested concept in the App Store as seen with the success of Dumb Ways to Die. Staying at the lofty heights of the App Store for months, Dumb Ways to Die boasts pretty much the exact same concept as you take on a bunch of bizarre and crazy mini-games in quick succession whilst trying to get the highest score possible.

How could it be sold?
One of the biggest problems faced when taking a traditional handheld or console game to mobile is the extreme difference in both markets and the way things are sold. You can’t really produce an entire game and sell it for £30 on the App Store in the same way you can for the DS or Wii as so many titles are free to play and people just aren’t as willing to pay big money for games on the go.

There’s a variety of options on mobile but I think for WarioWare, an episodic-type approach might work best. Being free-to-play initially for the first two sets of mini-games, Wario and 9-Volt probably being the best examples, the rest of the mini-games could be sold in 99p sets. It’s a good way to get people hooked on the gameplay and wanting more before reeling in the cash in a non-obtrusive and fair way.

Alternatives
Whilst the main set of mini-games would work well on mobile, there’s a bunch of extra content on WarioWare Touched that could easily stand on its own two feet. A perfect example is Pyoro-T – A game featuring a little bird on a spherical world. Flys come from every direction and by pulling back with the stylus and letting go, almost like an elastic band, little Pyoro will shoot his tongue in that direction and eat whatever is in his path. It’s an incredibly simple but highly addictive game that could easily be sold on its own merits outside of the WarioWare package.

Likeliness
WarioWare would be the perfect fit but at the moment Nintendo are adamant that their smartphone apps will be entirely new creations and not existing ones, such as Miitomo, or that they will accompany other titles such as a companion app for Animal Crossing. If they ever do change their stance though, which they may if the popularity of their apps really take off, then this title will surely be one of the first on the list.