Wario Land 4

"Smack, smack, go smack your friends"

Who would have expected Mario to get off to such a shaky start on the Game Boy Advance. Instead of showcasing the capabilities of Nintendo’s newest system with the original, innovative and genre-busting titles that he is known for, he floundered onto the GBA with not one, not two, but four rehashed games from bygone eras. Never has the taunt “been there, done that” been so appropriate. What’s even more pathetic is that some of the titles are rehashes of rehashes: Super Mario Brothers 2, for example, not the greatest Mario game to begin with, was originally released on the NES, and then ported over to the SNES as part of Super Mario All-Stars before being given mouth-to-mouth so that it could totter forth once more onto the GBA not-so-cleverly disguised as Super Mario Advance.

It's therefore up to Nintendo’s resident bad-boy Wario to kick it to his lame rival by starring in his own totally original handheld title and bring the Game Boy Advance some sorely needed originality.

Wario is in every way the antithesis of the squeaky-clean Mario brothers. He’s greedy, chauvinistic, selfish and outrageously vain. We first meet him rolling onto the title screen in a big ostentatious car that is no doubt busy pumping litres of carbon monoxide straight into the ozone layer. The game then chronicles Wario’s adventure as he attempts to loot an ancient pyramid of its treasure. Gotta love the guy.

Although Wario would hate to admit it, his game actually plays a lot like the Mario Brothers’ side-scrollers, and anyone familiar with Super Mario Brothers 3 or Super Mario World will instantly feel a certain comfort level with the relatively linear platform-intensive levels and their division into four similarly themed sections within the pyramid.

The four branches of levels eventually gel together to a single corridor and final boss, but not before several goals have to be accomplished in each. First of all, Wario must search out four crystal pieces and a door key that serve as the means of unlocking new levels. Wario is dumped into each level through a sort of warp gate that disappears as soon as the level is begun. From there, Wario is literally locked inside the level until he can find the switch to reactivate the warp gate. There is one little problem, however. The switch to reactivate the warp (always conveniently located at the “end” of the level) also happens to trigger a countdown timer so that Wario must leg it in the opposite direction all the way back to the beginning of the level before the timer runs down and the warp disappears again. The allotted countdown time never seems unfairly short, yet it’s short enough to create a sense of urgency especially when coupled with the frantic sped-up music that accompanies the dash to the exit.
Having four avenues to pursue in any order not only keeps the game fresh, but eliminates the frustration of getting stuck at one particularly difficult spot. If a certain level is causing grief, there are three other possibilities to go off explore in the meantime before going back to tackle the problem area again.

Wario has his own original set of moves to negotiate each level that include jumps, dashes, body-checks, and various combinations thereof (i.e. the dashing body-check, the dashing body-check-while-jumping, and so forth). In other words, the Game Boy Advance’s admittedly limited control options of A, B, and shoulder buttons are used to their full capacity through very ingenious means.

Not stopping there, Wario can also undergo several transformations within the levels. These transformations, which include a vampire bat, fly, zombie and firey human torch, are what pass as the game's puzzle component, since they are inevitably used to reach inaccessible locations and trigger switches. The tactic is gimmicky and seems more than a forced, especially since the transformations never occur often enough to feel like an integral and expected part of the game; certainly never to the extent of Mario’s raccoon tail or fireflower.

The experience is over relatively quickly, but there’s no question the game is fun while it lasts. It has immaculate production value, and control, level design, pacing and boss battles are all superbly balanced and never frustrating for the wrong reasons. Beyond that, the game is gorgeous to look at with certain moments where a special, even higher level of beauty is achieved. The first time Wario plunges into the shimmery emerald depths of the Mystic Lake, for example.

And of course there are the three mini-games. Homerun Derby (hit a baseball with a free-floating player-less bat) and Wario Hop (jump over stuff while moving forward) would see the light again in WarioWare Microgame$. The third game, Wario Roulette, is a sort of match the face to the body slot machine game that (thankfully and not surprisingly) was left behind. This is Wario’s game so it logically follows that you actually have to pay to play the mini-games with hard-earned coins that can be collected during the levels.

Wario Land 4’s one fault, if it can even fairly be called that, is its “efficient” length. It’s a short and sweet ride that will seem over too quickly, and once over will stay over. The only unlockable is a ridiculous “CD room” of sound tests that are activated one by one by finding the hidden CD located in each level. The sound tests aren’t even music from the game, but actual sound effects like Wario snoring. Big deal.

Instead of complaining that there's no Big Head mode or other silly extras to bump up the suddenly so important ''replay value'' (am I the only one who rarely ever revisits old games?), we should be thankful for such a gem of a platformer on a platform that needs more of these and less rehashes.

After playing Wario's game, I'm more than ready to switch my allegiances to the yellow side. Wario is not just a fatter, uglier, mouthier version of Mario. Whatever his origins may have been as a sort of parody “Dark World” incarnation of the red-hatted Italian plumber, Wario Land 4 is as good a proof as any that he's more than capable of spearheading a great game all by himself like the full-fledged videogame anti-hero that he is. Now go poke your friend in the eye, kick him when he's down and steal his copy of Wario Land 4 for yourself so that you can play it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/03, Updated 07/07/03