WarioWare Gold title logo with Wario and the full character cast on a golden starburst background

WarioWare Gold

2018video game / viral cutscenesclassic

Published October 5, 2026

WarioWare Gold is a Nintendo 3DS microgame compilation released in July 2018 that drew online attention less for its gameplay and more for its fully voice-acted cutscenes starring Wario and friends. Tumblr and YouTube clips of the goofy animated scenes spread far beyond the 3DS fanbase, giving the game a second life as a reaction and GIF goldmine.

nintendo memes gaming tumblr memes reaction memes gif memes

Overview

WarioWare Gold is the eighth entry in Nintendo's WarioWare series, packing more than 300 microgames into a single Nintendo 3DS cartridge1. The microgames come in rapid five-second bursts that speed up until the player either clears a set or runs out of lives, pulling from past games alongside brand-new entries1. Critics gave it a 78 on Metacritic, with reviewers calling it a strong jumping-on point even if the heavy use of recycled microgames split opinion2.

The part that actually traveled online was not the gameplay but the full voice-acted cutscenes. Wario, Mona, 9-Volt, Jimmy T. and the rest of the cast finally talk, and the animated interludes between stages lean into slapstick timing and loud line reads5. Fans clipped individual lines, reaction shots and whole cutscene reels and reposted them as GIFs and short videos, which is where most of the meme traffic lives5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Nintendo 3DS / Tumblr & YouTube (viral spread)
Creator
Nintendo; viral cutscene clips by fans
Date
2018

WarioWare Gold was announced during the March 8, 2018 Nintendo Direct and released on the Nintendo 3DS in Europe on July 27, 2018, Australia on July 28, Japan on August 2 and North America on August 31. The game was directed by Goro Abe and produced by Naoki Nakano, Toshio Sengoku and Kensuke Tanabe at Nintendo and Intelligent Systems1.

Nintendo developed the game; the meme angle came from fans who clipped the voice-acted cutscenes rather than any single original edit. The earliest widely shared cutscene compilation on YouTube was uploaded by ProSofiaGama and gathered more than 203,000 views as fans dug into the full voice work for the first time in the series6.

How It Spread

Reaction on the 3DS Reddit community picked up quickly after launch. A thread on r/3DS calling WarioWare Gold one of the best games on the handheld pulled in more than 300 upvotes, and the subreddit's release discussion thread cleared 80 upvotes34. GameXplain's video review on YouTube racked up tens of thousands of likes as players compared the compilation to earlier entries like WarioWare: Twisted! and WarioWare: Smooth Moves2.

The voice-acted cutscenes drove most of the meme spread. A Tumblr post by user theweegeemeister celebrating the cutscenes passed 600 notes, and the ProSofiaGama compilation on YouTube became the default link for anyone wanting to hear Wario yell for the first time56. Short clips of Mona, Dribble & Spitz and Ashley's segments kept circulating as reaction GIFs well after launch, helped by the fact that this was the first mainline WarioWare with full English voice acting5.

Timeline

2018-03-08

WarioWare Gold is announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation[1].

2018-07-27

The game launches in Europe on Nintendo 3DS[1].

2018-08-03

North American release; Reddit's r/3DS release discussion thread clears 80 upvotes[4].

2018-08-07

An r/3DS thread calling WarioWare Gold one of the best 3DS games climbs past 300 upvotes[3].

2018-08

ProSofiaGama uploads a full cutscene compilation on YouTube that passes 203,000 views[6].

2018

Tumblr user theweegeemeister's cutscene appreciation post crosses 600 notes[5].

Frequently Asked Questions