Wario Land 4

Wario Wario Wario Wario

I replayed Super Mario Land a while back and said:

One of the weaker Mario games, with slightly wonky controls and tiny sprites, and it turns into an unfortunate shooter at the end for no apparent reason, but it’s a short game, forgiving in lives and checkpoints, and it’s worth a visit just for the general weirdness (the UFOs and Egyptian tombs were my personal favorites) and the music.

I decided to check out Super Mario Land 2 DX, the colorized hack, but soon I put it aside. I played this game a lot on cartridge and while it has it’s fans, it feels more like Super Mario World lite. Nintendo was still figuring out how to have a Mario game on a handheld screen and I dislike the floaty physics and the level proportions, and don’t find the graphics charming enough to keep me engaged. I remembered being fairly neutral on Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 at the time.

Wario Land 4 was on my list, so I gave it a try. WOW. What a cool puzzle platformer! For those unfamiliar, Wario is basically the bizzaro verison of Mario. He’s mean, he’s rude, he’s a bully, he steals stuff. His moveset includes smashing things and knocking things over. A recurring mechanic is throwing an old man around. He is VERY fun to play. By 2001 Nintendo has of course nailed how to platform on a small screen.

Wario has decided to steal things from ancient tombs, and along the way you get as much money as possible to spend on gambling games. The way this works is he steals the stuff, gets to the end of the tomb, activiates some kind of weird switch and then has to hot-foot back to the beginning to get out again. As you progress, you’re keeping an eye on how the hell you’re going to get out of this place. The enemies are creative and fun, and some afflict Wario with status effects (making him blow up like a balloon or become thin and squiggly) that are necessary to get past certain challenges.

The game is fun, the mechanics are clever, and it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Currently my favorite handheld Mario-adjacent game.