Nintendo’s newest WarioWare is a weirdo smartphone app | The VergeSkip to main contentThe homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.The VergeThe Verge logo.TechReviewsScienceEntertainmentAIPolicyNotificationsNotificationsHamburger Navigation ButtonThe homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.NotificationsNotificationsHamburger Navigation ButtonNavigation DrawerThe VergeThe Verge logo.Login / Sign UpcloseCloseSearchTechExpandAmazonAppleFacebookGoogleMicrosoftSamsungBusinessSee all techReviewsExpandSmart Home ReviewsPhone ReviewsTablet ReviewsHeadphone ReviewsSee all reviewsScienceExpandSpaceEnergyEnvironmentHealthSee all scienceEntertainmentExpandTV ShowsMoviesAudioSee all entertainmentAIExpandOpenAIAnthropicSee all AIPolicyExpandAntitrustPoliticsLawSecuritySee all policyGadgetsExpandLaptopsPhonesTVsHeadphonesSpeakersWearablesSee all gadgetsVerge ShoppingExpandBuying GuidesDealsGift GuidesSee all shoppingGamingExpandXboxPlayStationNintendoSee all gamingStreamingExpandDisneyHBONetflixYouTubeCreatorsSee all streamingTransportationExpandElectric CarsAutonomous CarsRide-sharingScootersSee all transportationFeaturesVerge VideoExpandTikTokYouTubeInstagramPodcastsExpandDecoderThe VergecastVersion HistoryNewslettersArchivesStoreVerge Product UpdatesSubscribeFacebookThreadsInstagramYoutubeRSSThe VergeThe Verge logo.Nintendo’s newest WarioWare is a weirdo smartphone appNotificationsNotificationsComments DrawerNotificationsCommentsLoading commentsGetting the conversation ready...GamingCloseGamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GamingEntertainmentCloseEntertainmentPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All EntertainmentReportCloseReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReportNintendo’s newest WarioWare is a weirdo smartphone appDespite moving away from mobile games, Nintendo just launched a new title called Pictonico.Despite moving away from mobile games, Nintendo just launched a new title called Pictonico.by Andrew WebsterCloseAndrew WebsterSenior entertainment editorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Andrew WebsterMay 28, 2026, 8:16 PM UTCLinkShareGiftIf you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.Image: NintendoAndrew WebsterCloseAndrew WebsterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Andrew Webster is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.A decade ago, Nintendo made a big splash into the world of mobile gaming with a new Super Mario platformer directed by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto. But even though the game proved popular, it wasn’t the success the company had hoped for. Over the ensuing years Nintendo has slowly retreated from smartphone gaming, with the exception of a handful of apps and some legacy games. Which is what made it so surprising this week when Nintendo launched Pictonico. It’s a bizarre and playful mobile game that channels the best of WarioWare, but I have zero idea how it fits into Nintendo’s current strategy.Much like WarioWare, Pictonico (which, I admit, I’m not entirely sure how to pronounce) is a collection of microgames that last just a few seconds each. In each round, you play 10 of these in quick succession, and usually you have just enough time to figure out what you actually need to do before moving on to the next thing. You’re given a simple command like, say, “chomp,” and then you have to do something like grab hold of a mouth and make it chew some food. The games are all very silly in often hilarious ways, so you’ll be plucking hair, licking lollipops, and peeling bananas as quickly as you can.The twist in Pictonico is that the games all use photos on your camera roll to customize the experience. The game pulls faces from photos and slips them into the microgames, so I found myself making my wife chomp down on kebab with a disturbingly large mouth, or rubbing a lamp to see a buff genie version of my 10-year-old pop out. As an example, here is me as a ballerina waiting to get their photo taken:Image: NintendoThe game lets you choose which photos you want to appear in the game so things don’t get uncomfortably weird, and it does occasionally pull things that aren’t human faces. At one point I had to match up an image that had been broken up into three parts, and it was a photo I had taken during my time reporting on the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto. Pictonico is a free download on both iOS and Android, but that only gets you access to a demo version; to play the full thing, which includes 80 different minigames, you have to buy two content packs priced at $7.69 and $5.99 each.Despite its strange name and lack of familiar characters, Pictonico is an extremely Nintendo production. Not only does it play like WarioWare, but its offbeat humor reminds me a lot of the Tomodachi Life games. (It also feels spiritually connected to the now-defunct Miitomo, Nintendo’s first ever mobile app.) Which is all to say that it’s fun, charming, and almost ideally designed for its particular platform. But it’s also one of those moments — like Labo and Alarmo before it — where I just have to throw up my hands and admit that it can be impossible to predict what this company will do. In many of the biggest and most important ways Nintendo plays it safe. But then it releases something like Pictonico and you’re reminded that it’s at its very best when it stays weird.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Andrew WebsterCloseAndrew WebsterSenior entertainment editorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Andrew WebsterAnalysisCloseAnalysisPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All AnalysisEntertainmentCloseEntertainmentPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All EntertainmentGamingCloseGamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GamingNintendoCloseNintendoPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All NintendoReportCloseReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReportMost PopularMost PopularValve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200Kia’s flagship EV has a battery problemThe golden age of handheld gaming is already overSony is offering up to 50 percent off some of our favorite PS5 gamesHere’s how Google is responding to Fitbit users who don’t like the new Health appThe Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. 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Nintendo recently launched Pictonico, a mobile game that draws heavily on the concept of WarioWare, which is noteworthy given the company's recent shift away from mobile gaming. This development raises questions about Nintendo's current strategic direction, as the game presents a bizarre and playful experience that the author finds difficult to situate within the company's established trajectory. Pictonico functions as a collection of microgames, each lasting only a few seconds, where players must execute simple commands rapidly, such as "chomp," requiring immediate action. The core mechanic of the game is injected with a unique twist: the microgames utilize photos from the user's camera roll to customize the gameplay experience. This customization is achieved by incorporating faces taken from personal photographs into the various silly interactions. For instance, players can make their own faces perform actions, such as chomp down on food or rub objects for humorous outcomes.

The integration of user-provided imagery adds an element of unexpected absurdity, as the game pulls faces from the gallery, sometimes including non-human features, and the player has the option to select which photos are used, mitigating potential discomfort. This feature demonstrates Nintendo's inclination to embrace the unconventional in its design, evidenced by including a photo taken during reporting on the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto in one instance. Despite the strange nomenclature and lack of familiar characters, Pictonico is characterized as an extremely Nintendo production that is inherently fun and charming, adhering well to the constraints of the mobile platform. The game's spirit seems to connect to previous Nintendo mobile applications, specifically Miitomo, and games like Tomodachi Life, suggesting a design philosophy rooted in platform-appropriate, offbeat humor.

Access to the game is tiered; a demo version is available for free on both iOS and Android, but accessing the full experience, which encompasses eighty different minigames, requires purchasing two content packs at separate prices. The existence of Pictonico serves as a reminder that although Nintendo often favors safety in its decisions, releasing content like this demonstrates that the company's creative potential is best realized when it embraces the strange, suggesting that the most potent output occurs when the company allows itself to deviate from its most predictable course.