WarioWare Gold

WarioWare Gold is a minigame compilation developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS family of video game consoles. The tenth installment in the WarioWare series, it was released in PAL regions in July 2018, and in North America and Japan the following month. The game's plot follows the greedy Wario who has organized a gaming tournament for a large cash prize, with the ultimate goal of claiming the money for himself. Meanwhile, various other WarioWare characters deal with other problems which play out in the form of short stories.

Similar to previous entries, in WarioWare Gold, the player is tasked with completing consecutive "microgames" at increasing paces. Gold features both microgames from past entries in the series and some new ones for a total of over 300 microgames, the most featured in the series to date. After completing the story mode, additional modes such as the challenge mode are unlocked. The game's creative director, Goro Abe, put careful planning in determining which 300 of the 1,100 microgames across the series would be featured. Gold also featured voice acting, a first for the series. Intelligent Systems focused less on collectible items and more on core programming after deeming them not as important.

Gold received generally positive reviews, being praised for its graphics, additional modes, and the introduction of voice acting in multiple languages. Reception of its various collectibles was split, with some finding them worthwhile while others on the contrary. The game sold poorly at first but later spiked in 2020 in the United Kingdom. A follow-up for the Nintendo Switch, WarioWare: Get It Together!, was released in 2021.

As is tradition for a WarioWare game, the player is tasked with completing "microgames"—various minigames with very short time limits—in rapid succession. When one is complete, a point is given, and the game moves on to the next. If a microgame is completed incorrectly, or the time runs out, the player loses one of four lives. If they run out of lives, the game ends and the high score is displayed, which is determined by how many microgames were passed. When a section of microgames is completed, the player will complete a boss microgame. After which, the minigames can be replayed and will begin to speed up the time allotted.

As a collection game, most microgames that appear have once existed in a previous title in the WarioWare series. These include the Game Boy Advance original, Twisted!, Touched!, Smooth Moves, D.I.Y., and Game & Wario, in addition to some new ones for a total of over 300 microgames. The microgames vary in how they are completed. They involve pressing buttons, tilting the system, touching the touch screen, and blowing on the system's microphone.

Gold features full voice acting in the story mode, a first for the series, with an additional unlockable feature allowing players to redub their own voice over the game's cutscenes. Alongside the story mode, there are missions for the player to complete that awards them with coins that can be used to purchase rewards such as additional minigames. The challenge mode is one of the multiple modes unlocked after completing the story mode. In the challenge mode, the microgames are reintroduced alongside various distractions and complications to the original format. For example, sometimes the screen will be covered in ink or other objects to obscure vision. There's also a local multiplayer mode where players compete in an endurance competition of who can complete the most minigames in succession.

Having to run out of money following a treasure hunt in the village of Luxeville, Wario decides to organize a tournament in Diamond City, convincing his friends to design some new Mash League, Twist League, Touch League, & Ultra League (that also include blowing games & short pop-up games) games based on the Sports, That's Life, Fantasy, & Nintendo Classics themes, for the event, promising them payment. For an entry fee of ten thousand coins, he offers a ten million coin prize to the tournament's winner, although he secretly plots to take all the prize money for himself. While the player competes in the tournament, a girl from Luxeville named Lulu, who has tracked Wario down, calls him out and begins training to challenge him, seeking to retrieve the town's prized treasure (a sizeable golden pot) that Wario had stolen from her village.

The rest of the game consists of self-contained vignettes for all of Wario's friends; these range from Jimmy T trying to impress two girls at Sapphire Street, Mona going to Joe's Clothes trying to find a dress to wear for her party, Dribble and Spitz fighting off UFOs with their space-faring taxi, 5-Volt doing a workout to become fit, Ashley and Red fighting a demon known as Dark Lord Hum Gree, Dr. Crygor and Mike coming across one of Crygor's old inventions, Doris-1, in the spooky Agate Forest, 18-Volt engaging in a rap battle with newcomer 13-Amp to win back a stolen game console at Emerald Street, Penny trying to cure Dr. Crygor after her elixir to help make her a mega pop star gives Dr. Crygor a stomachache, Kat and Ana mistaking Mrs. Munchly, a gourmet master, as their ninja trainer while trying to get ninja learners permits at Diamond City Castle, Fronk helping 9-Volt realize that math's fun, Young Cricket and Master Mantis training at an amusement park, Orbulon trying to acquire pigs in order to complete his order at a fast food restaurant called Gigantaburger, the hosts of the Sports and That's Life themes, along with Mike and Fronk, partying at Club Joe, and the hosts of the Fantasy and Nintendo Classics themes, also with Mike and Fronk, having a potluck at Peridot Campgrounds.