Wario Land II

"Wario Land II, a great addition to the series"

Wario's back again and this time on Gameboy Color!

Personally, I was a huge fan of the GB Super Mario Land 2: 7 Gold Coins. To me , it was basically the quintessential GB Platformer. So obviously I set out playing Wario Land and Wario Land II with high expectations. Luckily, Nintendo did not fail to deliver a fun, playable game.

Gameplay: 8/10
Even if you're bored of the platform game style like most of the Mario and Wario games in the series, this will be a breath of fresh air. Wario cannot be killed in the game. Instead, when enemies hit him, he either loses coins or his body transforms somehow. The transformations can sometimes be beneficial to your quest, but more often than not they will prevent you from getting somewhere. This feature makes the game much more puzzle-oriented and less jump-around-and-kill-stuff like its predecessors. The only thing that prevents Wario Land II from getting a 9 or 10/10 in my mind is that it can be at times excessively difficult. You are not given a guide to Wario's moves in the beginning like in the more recent Wario Land for Gameboy Advance, so it's tricky to learn how to get past certain obstacles.

Audio/Visual: 9/10
Can't get much better for the GBC. The sprites are large, vivid and extremely well drawn. The backgrounds are simple but effective enough to convey where the different levels take place. The music is decent but can get annoying at times because of the repetition. Sound effects are all extremely well done, and often lend a humorous touch to the situation (even the music changes when you get a status effect). Basically, it's pretty damn good.

Replayability: 6/10
I'm the kind of gamer who HAS to complete everything with 100% the first time around, but I suppose that if someone wanted to just rush through it the first time and then come back later to get all the treasures, coins and secret levels it would have pretty good playability. In fact, there's some stuff you CAN'T get unless you replay some of the levels.

I would definitely recommend purchasing this game if you see a good price for it somewhere. It's dated, but still a very fun play.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/05