A groundbreaking game returns to the consumer spotlight (Oh, and the Wii U has photo sharing!):

Now, you're wondering, since this could technically be considered a "flashback" post, why I'm not choosing a classic game like "Super Mario Bros", (and don't get me wrong, that's a great example for this post, except that it does not fit the genre I will be referring to). This genre is a little hard to sum up without proper nouns, so I will just use the prime example that the screen shot will refer to, and that is "Wario Ware".

This game made its debut on the Wii U about 3 days ago, and yesterday, I decided that the urge to replay it just didn't warrant an emulator (plus the Wii U controller is just like a GameBoy Advance). As you can see, I've already completed 7 out of 10 mandatory stages and unlocked 6 bonuses as of this writing, and I've only been playing it for 1-2 days! Talk about addictive!

Anyway, the way this franchise works, is you pick a character/category, and the screen goes through a small cut-scene, and suddenly you are thrown into a challenge with only one command (both shown above). Your controls are the A button, directional pad, and the start button if you want to pause/quit the game like a wimp--oh, and you only have three seconds to complete each "Micro Game" in order to progress to the next game, and eventually, level. All of the levels that are represented by a folder are mandatory, and some of them will earn you bonus games with no time limit, as shown in the above screen shot.

There's also another feature called the "Game Grid", (featured above) in which all of the micro games from the main levels are featured individually with their own high score. To earn the final bonus game, you have to earn all of the "Clear" scores on the game grid for each level. The third button is "options", which honestly isn't that interesting, so I will not include a screen shot for it. The game can be played without the TV running, which is nice, especially if you are used to playing it on a hand-held device, so it feels just like the original GameBoy Advance, except that the smooth edges of the Wii U GamePad are contoured to fit a person's hands.

Now, if you're wondering where the side thought in the post title came from, the Wii U allows you to pause your game in mid-play and do other things, like search for games and browse the internet, which, apparently includes posting photos to facebook (or another photo sharing site), which, I consider to be a plus, especially if you are stuck in the middle of a game and need to look up cheat codes.

Bottom line is, at a cost of only $7.00 (before tax) this game is worth every penny spent, and you will definitely get hours of enjoyment out of it (unless a 3-second adrenaline rush isn't your thing).