Nintendo’s E3 2021 conference has come and gone. Multiple old franchises suddenly sprang back to life, and there was an impressive number of updates to Nintendo’s year-ending slate. The sudden resurgences of Metroid and Advance Wars were particularly well-received by fans, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 and Shin Megami Tensei 5 getting more information satisfied fans who had been looking forward to them. Among those many games and franchises was one that was one that may have been particularly surprising: WarioWare: Get It Together.
The latest game in Wario’s long-running side-series, Get It Together has united the WarioWare gang once more to participate in Wario’s latest short-sighted money making scheme. Plot details are light, but that’s nothing to worry about. The microgames look as wacky as ever, and this time have the added bonus of different gameplay styles. Every one of Wario’s “friends” comes with their own slightly different style of interacting with most microgames. With a team of three given to players in many modes, they need to constantly be on their toes adapting to new playstyles. It looks to be a wild ride, and with much of the past WarioWare roster returning, it seems like players are going to have a lot of microgame fun on their hands.
WarioWare: Get It Together’s Confirmed Playable Characters
The list of playable characters is already almost finished, thanks to a combination of the reveal trailer and the gameplay shown off at the Nintendo Treehouse. The Treehouse included a character select screen with thirteen character slots, only six of which were hidden. Furthermore, several characters not visible in the character select were featured in the trailer. As such, the current known playable characters are as follows:
- Wario
- Jimmy T.
- Mona
- Dribble
- Spitz
- 9-Volt
- 18-Volt
- Dr. Crygor
- Orbulon
- Kat
- Ana
- Ashley
- Mike
- Young Cricket
It’s the typical WarioWare cast, with regulars dating back to the original Game Boy Advance WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! title. Each one of these colorful cast members has their own way of moving around the screen and interacting with objects. However, something that may stand out about this cast is that there are fourteen characters while only 13 slots. This is because a handful of them actually share slots, even though both are playable. The classic duos of Dribble & Spitz and Kat & Ana will probably be presented as they always are, which consequently lowers the number of filled character slots to twelve. Fortunately, there are still a few candidates for the open spot.
WarioWare: Get It Together’s Other Confirmed Characters
A number of characters have been featured in the reveal trailer, Nintendo Treehouse footage, and even the game’s poster. There’s a good chance that one or more of them are playable, as well. It’s not entirely clear how some of these characters will play, but then again, most wouldn’t figure that Mona had boomerang skills and a hoverbike that looks like her moped. These characters include:
- 5-Volt
- Master Mantis
- Red
- Lulu
- 13-Amp
While some of these are minor characters who come as package deals with other major ones, there are a couple of likely suspects when it comes to the final playable character. Master Mantis is Cricket’s teacher, and Red is Ashley’s servant, so they’re relegated to story roles. 5-Volt is 9-Volt’s mother, and got to host her own set of microgames in WarioWare Gold. Judging by a splash screen featuring Get It Together’s playable cast (sans Wario) in the middle of the trailer, she is probably the thirteenth playable character. Lulu, the heroic antagonist of Gold, may be a secret fourteenth character, but that remains to be seen. Finally, 13-Amp is 18-Volt’s rival, and according to the Treehouse livestream, has some form of involvement in 9-Volt’s story mode. It remains to be seen who else from WarioWare’s past will show up.
Characters Missing From WarioWare: Get It Together
On that front, there are a few likely candidates. There have been a lot of microgame hosts in games past, as well as a number of recurring minor characters in the story. It’s not entirely clear what that story is this time around, or what individual hosts’ stories are, and knowing that will certainly inform the rest of the cast. There’s really no telling who could show up this time, but a few old faces have a better shot than others. Some characters are more obscure than others, but they’ve generally been regulars in the series ever since their initial introductions. These missing characters include:
- Penny Crygor
- Fronk
- Joe
- Sal Out
- Jimmy T.'s Family
Penny Crygor is Dr. Crygor’s granddaughter, and wishes to become both a great scientist and a famous singer. She was just a background character for a while, but really started to come into her own as a major character in WarioWare D.I.Y. Fronk has been around since the beginning of the series as 9-Volt’s pet, but finally became the host of his own minigames in Gold. Even if he’s not a plot-relevant character, there’s still a good chance he and his brethren will show up in some microgames. Finally, there’s Joe and Sal Out. Joe is a minor recurring character who tends to own whatever business Mona is working at in a given game, while Sal Out was an idol who debuted in Twisted!, and was quickly phased into the background for subsequent games. Finally, Jimmy T.'s family, the Thang household, were in Twisted! and Touched!, and then never appeared again. They could show up at any time, but probably won't.
All in all, there’s a lot of characters returning, and a few who still could. If there are any more playable characters beyond the thirteen slots presented, there are plenty of great options to choose from. It’s still not entirely clear how every character plays, so even with almost every one of them shown in gameplay, there’s still plenty to be revealed. Besides, the WarioWare series is all about partying with microgames, and reacting to random ones showing up every few seconds with unclear controls. There’s plenty of room for Wario and friends (insomuch as they can be called that) to entertain players once Get It Together comes out.
WarioWare: Get it Together will release on September 10th, 2021, for Nintendo Switch.