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WARIO: MASTER OF DISGUISE (DS)
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Publisher: Nintendo.
Developer: Suzak. Released: June 2007 (Europe). Genre: 2D Adventure. Posted 21st June 2025. By Shane Battams © 2025 |
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Throughout the lifespan of the Nintendo DS, a great majority of its games attempted to utilise the touchscreen to novel effect. Many were successful, buoying unique ideas and creating new experiences, or complementing traditional gameplay. Others, however, would prove awkward and ill-fitting. Generally speaking, Nintendo had a good grasp on what worked with this new hardware, so you’d have thought Wario: Master of Disguise would follow suit. However, in the hands of Suzak, something clearly went amiss, as the greedy schemer’s puzzle/platformer hybrid struggles with several noticeable issues.
Master of Disguise returns to the platforming roots of Wario Land as opposed to his microgame lineage, albeit with a slight twist. The action is slower-paced with a focus on puzzles, and the titular character’s plodding speed and lack of deadly jumps encourage scouring the environment. Wario acquires a wand that can transform him into several disguises, the key gimmick here. Initially starting with the Thief outfit, which allows a dash punch and jump, he eventually gains the likes of Cosmic and Arty outfits. The former lets you fire a laser pistol while the latter allows you to draw objects into the world. As such, puzzling focuses on utilising these unique abilities to open paths and collect items to further progress. The game sees you travelling between a cruise ship, a historical museum and even a volcano.
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Master of Disguise proves a typically creative effort, but clumsy controls render many sections frustrating
It's not a bad setup, but like many misfiring DS titles, the touchscreen controls are where things begin to deteriorate. Changing Wario’s outfit requires a drawn pattern such as a circle for his Cosmic guise, which is fine on paper but the responsiveness is mixed at best. Sometimes they won’t register, or you’ll end up with the wrong disguise entirely, as a few require similar patterns that result in some overlapping. During general exploration, slow responses can be overcome as there’s little pressure. But some segments require a quick change of outfits, which simply cannot be granted to players given the response times, leading to frustration as you repeatedly fail timed puzzles. The bosses prove the nadir, as they almost all require quick actions and changes that the controls aren’t up to aiding.
It doesn’t help that stages are hefty in size. The designs are pretty labyrinthine: there’s certainly plenty of exploration and hidden goodies to find, but it also means most stages take close to an hour to beat and sometimes more. Just as you think levels are ending, a blockade will prevent passage and potentially require backtracking, unless you’ve been lucky and acquired a necessary item along the way. That being said, there’s a slight metroidvania vibe to its structuring, as you can return to earlier levels and collect previously blocked goodies with newly acquired powers, which in turn encourages return runs. That being said, it feels overly long, and has grown wearisome by the time you reach the 10th and final stage.
It doesn’t help that stages are hefty in size. The designs are pretty labyrinthine: there’s certainly plenty of exploration and hidden goodies to find, but it also means most stages take close to an hour to beat and sometimes more. Just as you think levels are ending, a blockade will prevent passage and potentially require backtracking, unless you’ve been lucky and acquired a necessary item along the way. That being said, there’s a slight metroidvania vibe to its structuring, as you can return to earlier levels and collect previously blocked goodies with newly acquired powers, which in turn encourages return runs. That being said, it feels overly long, and has grown wearisome by the time you reach the 10th and final stage.
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The treasure chests are worth a mention, or rather how you open them. Perhaps trying to instil the best of both worlds, chests require you to complete a mini-game to open them. These include squashing cockroaches, colouring in pictures after briefly being shown them, and connecting the dots in a sequence. They are inoffensive, but the issue is there are hundreds of treasure chests to open between required key items and the litany of collectable treasures, and there are not enough mini-game types here to avoid them becoming trite before the end of the game. Worse still, failing them deploys bombs that can damage Wario. Bearing in mind save points are relatively infrequent and dying restores you to said point (albeit, with your current items and progress intact), it can be frustrating.
Master of Disguise's presentation isn’t stellar, either. The story, concerning Wario entering the TV and stealing a thief’s wand to search for treasure, suffers from irritating writing and bloated scenes that drag. The recurring joke that Wario’s thief identity is “the purple wind – silent but deadly” tells you all you need to know. The visuals are odd, almost resembling a British-developed Amiga game with 3D rendering. It looks solid enough, the stages are colourful at least, and some of the enemies and bosses inhabiting them are quite the sight: such as the surreal, muscle-heavy walking dolphins. The sound is patchy, too. The music ranges in quality, as a few solid tracks, such as the creepy Sneezemore Cave, are offset by irritation caused by tracks like the Smithsonian theme. Sound effects can appear crunched, and the bleeps for dialogue grow grating.
Master of Disguise's presentation isn’t stellar, either. The story, concerning Wario entering the TV and stealing a thief’s wand to search for treasure, suffers from irritating writing and bloated scenes that drag. The recurring joke that Wario’s thief identity is “the purple wind – silent but deadly” tells you all you need to know. The visuals are odd, almost resembling a British-developed Amiga game with 3D rendering. It looks solid enough, the stages are colourful at least, and some of the enemies and bosses inhabiting them are quite the sight: such as the surreal, muscle-heavy walking dolphins. The sound is patchy, too. The music ranges in quality, as a few solid tracks, such as the creepy Sneezemore Cave, are offset by irritation caused by tracks like the Smithsonian theme. Sound effects can appear crunched, and the bleeps for dialogue grow grating.
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Like its gameplay, Master of Disguise's visual presentation is a bit hit and miss
Wario: Master of Disguise proves a disappointing outing for the scheming trickster and something you’d expect from a third-party publisher rather than Nintendo. The idea of puzzling while swapping between outfits is novel, and the game sometimes hits on these to conjure fun moments, such as guessing riddles in the museum using background clues. However, these highlights are too often tempered by unresponsive controls that cause frustration during faster-paced segments. Add an irritating narrative, inconsistent presentation and bloated level design, and Master of Disguise is hard to recommend. Unless you’re desperate to play every Wario game, you’ll likely want to avoid this like a pickpocket.
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VERDICT"While Wario: Master of Disguise delivers some fun moments, these are tempered by unresponsive controls, frustrating faster-paced segments and bloated level design." OVERALL: 5/10 |
OTHER CREATIVE 2D VIDEO GAMES REVIEWED
Lone Survivor: Director's Cut (2013, PlayStation Vita)
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Carrion (2020, Xbox One)
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