Itsa me, Wario (?)
Wow, two What I'm Playing in two days?!?!?! In truth, I finished the Shantae game on Friday, and started up Wario Land on Saturday, so it wasn't really two days. But it was definitely the quickest turnaround yet!
Were it not for the incredible Pokemon Red and Blue, Super Mario Land 2 would likely be my favorite Game Boy game ever. A true masterpiece of handheld platforming excellence, SML 2 is beautiful, fun, long, and an excellent counterpart to Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES.
I've played the first Super Mario Land, and found it to be quite boring and terrible, particularly in comparison to the brilliant SML 2. But I'd never really played Wario Land, with its curious subtitle of Super Mario Land 3 before, and I was in the mood for a bit more platforming after the very fun Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. So how does Wario Land stack up against its brilliant predecessor?
Wario Land picks up the story of SML 2, which concluded with (spoilers!) Mario defeating his new enemy Wario, destroying his castle, and sending him packing. Wario then has to go on a new adventure to gather enough treasure to build himself a new castle, and that's about as deep as the story goes.
The game has an excellent visual appeal to it, with well designed and very large sprites, including the hideous and hilarious looking Wario. The tiny version of Wario when he gets hit is particularly funny.
The music is surprisingly minimalist for a Mario game, but is pleasing nonetheless. At times, you'll hear distorted echoes of songs from SML 2, which is a nice touch back to its ancestor.
Wario Land is seemingly built on the engine of SML 2, but takes a different approach in its platforming, as well as game aims to differentiate it. Wario's primary attack is a shoulder charge, which he can use to break blocks and destroy enemies. He also can't run, which encourages you to slow down, plan your path across the levels, and explore! There are far more branching paths in this game, some of which lead to priceless treasures that will aid you in getting a more lavish castle. You can also get new hats which give Wario new powers, including a Bull hat that lets you stick to the ceiling, charge longer and more powerfully, and do a butt slam on the ground, a dragon hat that breathes fire, and a winged hat that lets you charge in mid-air and run faster. Each of these power-ups is necessary to find new and different treasures, so getting them can make a huge difference.
The most fun differentiation in this game from SML 2 is the use of coins and treasure, based on Wario's character. Wario is, at his heart, a greedy villain, meaning that coins and treasure will have fare different meaning to him than the more virtuous Mario.
In Mario games, getting 100 coins simply means an extra life. Greedy Wario wouldn't necessarily want that, though, so his coins have far more varied uses, and choosing wisely among the uses can change your outcome significantly. One use is to play a bonus game at the end of the level, which lets you gamble your coins for the chance to double them, or half them. Another use is another bonus game that lets you trade them in for a chance to throw bombs at innocent enemies, with more lives being given to you based on your aim. Lastly, you can simply choose to save up your coins, trading them for a castle at the end.
The treasures are seemingly ordinary, yet shiny objects (including a baseball glove) hidden in chests around the world. Trading them in nets you tens of thousands of coins, so hunting them all down is vitally important to your success. Or you could just finish the game and be rewarded with a little hovel.
Hunting for the treasures and trying to improve your castle is the best part of the game, both playing to the character of Wario in a believable way, but also giving the game replay value as you play levels again and again looking for these rare treasures, and trying to get a playthrough in which you are rewarded with a massive castle at the end.
The controls are very good, and levels are designed in such a way to make your adventure fun and rewarding. There are coins and secrets everywhere, which makes each level fun and entertaining.
On the downside, Wario Land is very short, and very easy. At 40 levels, about 5 of which I found challenging, you can easily beat Wario Land in an afternoon. But the replay value from the treasures means that I found it well worth the $3.99 I paid for it on the 3DS e-shop (I used to have the cart, but my son lost it on an airplane...I'll have to get it again). It did feel shorter than SML 2, though, which is kind of indefensible seeing as Wario Land was a later release on the same system.
I found Wario Land a fun, if too short, experience, and will definitely check out Wario Land 2 when I have a chance to pick it up. I'll give it a 8.5/10.
Here's a quick teaser for my next handheld What I'm Playing. This one should take longer than a week to beat, although we'll see. I'd anticipate that the console What I'm Playing should be out before the next handheld iteration.
-TRO
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