The idea behind WarioWare: Touched is that you have five seconds to figure out and beat a mini-game before it ends and you get another. That's it. There are nine characters that host a specific style of mini-game. Some require a tapping motion, others a dragging across the touch screen. Others need a circular drawing motion. One particular group puts the microphone to the test with many different blowing mini-games. But what seems to be the favourite with old school gamers are the retro themed levels. Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros, Zelda II and some Game and Watch titles all get revived.

With Wario available from the start you work through his small story, once you play through a certain number of his games you come across a "boss stage" - boss stages don't usually have such a strict rule on time but are normally much harder - once that's completed you see an epilogue to his story and another character is unlocked. Once all characters are unlocked, it's a matter of unlocking each of their mini-games and in turn all of the extra "toys" that are kept in the two Toy Rooms. Most unlockable items in WarioWare: Touched are made available by getting high scores. Which is the one thing that will always have you coming back.

It seems that the development team had a very loose leash when it came to the mini-games, but its this that makes the game so fresh and inviting. With graphics that, for the most part, look as if they could easily be done in flash or by a five-year-old, they do what they set out to do: confuse, and entertain. The game was never about visuals as you never have a lot of time to sit back and enjoy; it's manic gaming from start to end. The only times the graphics shine are in the intros and epilogues for each character, there is the occasional 3D mini-game, and they do look good, but don't expect a graphical masterpiece and you will not be disappointed. Sounds-wise the game stands proud. It's very upbeat and won't get annoying even after hours and hours of solid play time. The game even manages a couple of lyrical tunes that you might find stuck in your head once you've put the machine down. The music really helps with getting into the games. You will find that even with some of the more monotonous games, the speeding up of the music helps increase the urgency of beating it before time is up.

It's a little strange to find that WarioWare has no multi-DS games available, as this style of game really is screaming for a wireless mini-game or two. The company seemed to take advantage of every other aspect of the DS as most mini-games utilise both screens, and there is even a toy you will unlock that allows two players to have a game of table tennis; players sit facing each other and each screen represents a side of the table. Infact more fun will be had playing this with a mate than playing many of the other games alone.

WarioWare really only has one downfall to it: length. You can finish all the stories within an hour and have everything unlocked by the time the sun sets. While that does mean you won't find anything new, it doesn't mean you'll stop having fun. You will pick it up if you have a spare few minutes just to beat your high score. You will pass it around your mates to show them how fun and addictive a DS can be and you will recommend the game to others. Every DS owner should have this in his library even if it is just to give your DS a good workout.