Wario has always seemed like the mascot for the original Game Boy to me. He was introduced in Super Mario Land 2 as the villain, and from there our anti-hero went off to star in his own series. He was obviously pretty popular, and it’s easy to see why. Wario is the anti-Mario, and has a ton of personality in every illustration and rendering of the character. It’s disappointing that Nintendo focused on him instead of on new traditional Mario titles at this point. Personally I’ve never been a big fan of the Wario Land series. The gameplay and mechanics never sat right with me at the time of release. Today I’ve decided to give Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land another chance. It’s better than I remember, but not by much.
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 picks up just after the ending of Six Golden Coins. After his defeat, and ejection from Mario’s castle, Wario sets out on an adventure to get a castle of his own. One that’s even bigger than Mario’s. He travels to a place called Kitchen Island which is a land full of treasures. There’s even a golden statue of Princess Peach hidden away on it, and that’s his end game. Surely that would sell for enough to purchase a sprawling estate with. Standing in his way however are the Syrup Pirates, and they’re not going to part with their treasures without a fight.
The story is quite different from your typical Mario game, but hey, that’s Wario for you. I actually think this one has a ton of personality, and a better sense of humor than just about every other game Nintendo had developed up to this point. With that out of the way let’s move on to the gameplay. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (or just Wario Land as I’ll call it from now on) is a side scrolling platform title. You guide Wario through a variety of different stages with your end goal being a door at the finale of each of them. The thing is you’ll need to pay coins to open these. Thankfully these are scattered around every section of every stage, and the only way you won’t have enough is if you’re actively avoiding them.
Coins are handled much differently than they are in any Mario title. They’re not used to increase your lives. Instead at the end of each stage they’re thrown into your cumulative treasure trove. You even have bonus games where you can bet to double what you earned in the previous level, or risk losing half. You even have treasure items which are well hidden in various stages. These require you to collect a key with which to unlock a special door. So what are the coins and treasure used for, you might ask? The amount of riches you have directly influences the ending that Wario gets. If you’re maxed out then Wario doesn’t get just a castle, but rather, an entire planet complete with his face on it. It’s a cheesy joke, but I found it to be hilarious.
In terms of mechanics Wario has some cool ideas under it’s belt. Functionally he’s similar to Mario, but with some key differences. Both characters can run and jump on foes, and when hit they transform into small version of themselves. By default Wario can perform a charge attack used to defeat some foes (the ones that don’t have spikes or pincers). He even has his own unique set of power-ups in this game. These come in the form of hats, and offer a variety of different abilities. The bull hat increases the power of Wario’s charge attack, allows him to stomp the ground, and he can even dangle from the roof with it. There’s also a jet pack hat that lets him fly for a short period of time, and a dragon cap that lets him shoot short range flames at foes and obstacles. These are pretty decent.
So where does Wario Land come up short? I just have never been a fan of the level designs to be honest. The game does present some entertaining gameplay scenarios, but something is off. Nintendo’s design fundamentals are a little weak here to be honest. In some stages it feels like there’s too much empty space. Wario moves more slowly than Mario which makes gaps between obstacles all the more noticeable. To account for his lack of agility Nintendo toned down a lot of the platforming elements. There aren’t enough moving platforms in my opinion, and what’s there is almost too easy to land. This is because the developers had to account for small Wario’s lack of the dash attack. When you have any of the power-ups the platforming becomes a cakewalk because of this.
I’m also not a big fan of some of the level mechanics. These were obviously put into place to try and keep things fresh, but they miss their mark in my opinion. Sometimes you have to race against an incoming enemy or environmental hazard that approaches from off-screen. Other times you have to deal with gimmicks like platforms that roll on wheels, or multiple paths that loop back to the main area. The thing is none of it is particularly interesting. I feel that most of these ideas were already done by earlier games, and better at that. Very little of these feel distinct to Wario, and in my opinion this first installment in this spin-off series somewhat lacks identity. The secrets aren’t hidden particularly well. I feel they don’t reward your work enough to be honest. I was left a little disappointed by them.
In terms of graphics Wario Land is one of the best looking 2D platformers on the 8-bit handheld. It’s a clear step up from Super Mario Land 2 and that was already a beautiful title. Wario’s character model is quite large here. This presents some advantages and disadvantages. It allows for a very expressive Wario. He has different facial expressions which make the visuals super charming. I always felt bad when he looked sad when I let him down in the bonus games. On the other side of the coin the bigger character models make the platforming feel a bit more clunky. You can’t see as far ahead as you can in other games of this kind. It can be detrimental especially in the sequences when you’re trying to outrun foes or lava coming from off-screen. I also don’t like the new enemy designs.
The soundtrack is pretty good but pales in comparison to that of your average Mario title. There’s a slow and less melodic approach used here, and in my opinion it perfectly encapsulates the laid back style of the character Wario. Unfortunately the music mostly sounds pretty similar. Deep and scratchy slow paced notes over almost no bass. I feel like the composers could have done better had they not focused so much on giving the game so much personality. The sound effects are also pretty different from what you would expect, but they’re serviceable I suppose.
