Edge Time Extend: Made In Wario

Edge: If you ever want to convince yourself that the entertainment industry is doomed, why not grab a sheet of paper and spend the afternoon trying to define exactly what ‘fun’ is. This, after all, is what game companies in particular are meant to make their money selling to us.

But what is it? What are its characteristics and components? Why do some find it in manipulating every heavily researched lever and dial of a submarine simulator, while others seek it in the pure abstraction of Rez or Tetris? Just as it seems that ‘fun’ must be hopelessly subjective, another difficult word to add to the list next to big hitters like ‘art’ and ‘love’, along comes a game with almost universal appeal, a game so disarming and ridiculous, so seemingly slight, that you’d be forgiven for assuming it didn’t contain any insights into anything at all.

But Made In Wario is a rare beast: fun that practically everybody agrees about.