Game & Wario hits June 23, five more minigames revealed

Nintendo revealed five new Game & Wario minigames today, which include both multiplayer and single-player games like Disco, Sketch, Pirate, Taxi and Gamer.

According to a Nintendo representative, each game will have multiple levels that scale in difficulty. The first of the mini-games is Disco, a multiplayer beat-matcher played on the Wii U's GamePad. The GamePad is turned so that each player controls an opposing side. One player fires notes at the other to the beat of the music, and the second player needs to deflect the notes to the beat of the music. The game goes back and forth, with successful hits earning the players points. At the end of the round, the player with the most points wins.

Sketch is a Pictionary-like game where up to five players can join in. As one player draws a representation of the word on the GamePad, others watch the TV screen and guess what it is. Points are awarded to the person who guesses correctly. A Nintendo spokesperson told Polygon that when the game launches, it will support Miiverse functionality and, through Miiverse, players will be able to suggest words that Nintendo will add to the game.

Grid View

Pirate is a single-player experience that will look familiar to those who saw Nintendo's early tech demos for the Wii U. When the console was announced at E3 in 2011, one of the tech demos was of a pirate ship that fired arrows at the player. Using the GamePad as a shield, the player had to bop to the rhythm of the game's music and move the GamePad to catch the arrows. This same tech demo has been given a coat of Wario paint and features as one of the 16 minigames in Game & Wario.

Taxi and Gamer are the last two mini games recently announced, both of which are single-player and both are more complex than Disco, Sketch and Pirate. In Taxi, players have to rescue farm animals from flying saucers by driving around a map, shooting at alien ships, rescuing the farm animals and bringing them back to the barn. The TV screen displays an aerial map while the GamePad displays a first-person view. There is also a boss battle with one of the alien ships that requires players to attack and dodge laser beams at the same time.

Gamer is a meta experience, where the player plays as a player playing Wario-like games. Players have to successfully complete a string of mini-games while listening for audio cues like footsteps and sound effects. The audio cues will tell them if their in-game mom is approaching their bedroom, at which point they have to dive under their sheets and feign sleep. If the player's mom catches them playing games, then it's game over. However, if a player feigns sleep for too long, they will get sleepy and actually fall asleep, at which point it's also game over. And while the player is playing the Wario-like games, if they fail any of the minigames, the game ends.

More minigames are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Game & Wario hits June 23 in North America. It launched in Japan in March.