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How WarioWare's most infamous microgame came to be

by rawmeatcowboy
11 October 2018
GN Version 5.0

via GIPHY

When you think of WarioWare, there's one microgame that sticks out above all others. There's been plenty of weird, wonderful, and wacky microgames over the years, but Gold Digger is definitely towards the top. It's simple, it's fun, and it's a bit gross. The perfect combination of ideas to make for a memorable microgame. Just how did it come to be? In an interview with Kotaku, Nintendo developer Goro Abe explains the origins.

“The basis for Gold Digger was a note that was written by our director at the time. All that was on the note was a picture of a finger and a nose, and the word ‘Pick!’ I was a programmer at the time, and when I saw that note, a design came to mind for a game where you pressed the A Button at the right time to stick a horizontally-moving finger into a nose.

I figured the player’s eyes would focus on the moving finger, and the act of pressing the A Button to make the finger thrust forward would read naturally as syntax for a game. I took the note to my desk and proceeded to draw some 2D sprites. I made the thickness of the finger the same size as the nostril, thinking how satisfying it would be to have the finger go into the nostril when you succeed, and I made the nose deform a little bit when you fail. Using these, I programmed and completed the basic game.”

[Link]