Wario Land 3

"Never say "die""

Since his introduction into the Mario universe, Wario has always been the perfect adversary to his goody two-shoes counterpart, the lovable Mario. He is everything that Mario is not: overweight, grotesque, brutish, and greedy. Wario looks out for Wario, and gets his grubby hands on as much treasure as he possibly can. Nothing will get in his way for success, and his powerful moves can bring even the greatest foes down.

That's part of why his games are such a blast to play.

Beside the obligatory entry into the Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Mario sports titles, Wario as a standalone character has been featured in a slew of unique adventures. There have been a few infamous games, such as the Wario game on Virtual Boy, but most of these games have been successful critically and sales-wise.

While his first solo game, Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land, did not stray too far from the original platforming ideas established. Wario Land 2 introduced the idea of immortality and character transformations. Wario Land 3 takes these ideas, and a handful of new ones, and combines them to make an excellent platforming adventure.

The game starts with a cutscene involving the big lug taking a leisurely trip in his plane. The plane crashes down into a solitary forest, and Wario takes shelter in a nearby cave. In the cave, Wario discovers a mysterious music box. Once he grabs it, he is magically transported into it, and is welcomed by a mysterious figure. This strange force asks Wario to recover the five music boxes in the land to restore power and tranquility, and permits Wario to keep any miscellaneous treasure and coins he can find. Wario can't turn down a treasure hunt, of course, and gives a thumbs-up.

Wario starts off powerless in this outing. At the start, Wario can only dash and jump. Eventually, he picks up the other abilities that had become staples in the original games, such as a powerful ground pound, the ability to pick up and throw small and large enemies, and swim through normal water and fast currents. The abilities are acquired very gradually through the levels.

The game itself is much less linear than Wario Land 2. Wario runs around a convenient world map, and new locations open as new treasures are collected. This can lead to a very clear sense of independence, but can also lead players to find the game very ambiguous and confusing.

A stage is complete when Wario obtains a treasure. Wario must first collect a key, then find the treasure box that the key corresponds to. Four treasures of silver, red, green, and blue are scattered in each level. Not all treasures are accessible at once: usually, when a stage is first opened, only the grey treasure is reachable. Eventually, treasures can not only grant new abilities, but can also singularly or jointly alter a stage's environment.

For example, Wario finds an axe early on, which is used to chop down a tree blocking the entrance to a new stage. The axe is only used that one time, but one treasure can affect several stages at once. Some treasures in pairs or in a trio can collectively affect a stage, multiple stages, or even form a new one.

When a treasure, such as a power-up, grants Wario the ability to gain a new treasure, special flashes will show on the screen, representing levels which are affected by this new treasure. For example, when Wario gains the ability to throw small enemies, all levels that use this ability to gain a treasure will have small flashes over them.

Each level is designed with a very open atmosphere. Wario can roam virtually anywhere he wants, provided he has the right abilities to get him through. What is intriguing is that a key or a treasure chest may be just out of reach for our fat friend, but he does not have the means to get it just yet. This can encourage players to find the mystery treasure which grants Wario the ability to snag that exclusive prize.

Another new feature is the change between night and day. Whether Wario enters the level at dawn or dusk can affect the level's environment. Not only do the music and graphics change, but certain enemies and elements may only appear at night. Eventually, the player gains the ability to control the flow of time at will, but there is a certain challenge in determining when to enter a stage.

If the player is ever confused or can not figure out how to get a treasure, there are usually other places to go. Conversely, the mysterious figure can be talked to at any time, and can help with special hints regarding where Wario can go to get a treasure.

The means of obtaining these treasure can vary greatly. Some may be rather simple and require some skillful platforming, some may involve rolling Wario into a ball and navigating some small maze, a few are obtained by fighting a small boss, and still others may just be found by flipping switches to get to where Wario wants to go.

One means of finding treasure is completing a mini-game called "Wario Golf". Taking a token from his previous outings of hitting the links, Wario decides to go on his own and hit golf balls ( well, punt some of the little enemies by body-checking them ) into holes. A power meter is shown at the bottom, and by pinpointing the end and the start of the hit ( like "Mario Golf" ), Wario can send the little guy flying as long as Wario would like. There are bunkers, weeds, and water hazards in the way, but if Wario makes par, a special barrier will open up, leading to lost treasure.

Additionally, the character transformations are vital to solving the game's several puzzles. While some transformations come back from the previous game, new transformations make the game wilder. Despite Wario's invincibility, he leaves himself vulnerable to enemy attacks nonetheless. While some can just stun Wario and send him flying, others transform his body greatly.

An encounter with a vampire bat will turn Wario himself into a vampire. He can fly around and fit into small crevices, but water will send him back to his normal form.

If Wario eats a donut or an apple, he becomes incredibly fat. This lets him crush opponents, break blocks with a donut on them, or send bigger enemies flying. Walking it off will transform him back.

The wildest and most fun of these transformations is lighting Wario on fire. Encounter a flame from a lamp or from a pool of fire, and Wario's behind goes ablaze. He runs around like a crazed maniac for about fifteen seconds, and then the fire engulfs him, turning him into a walking fireball. Navigating him while he is on a constant running streak can be incredibly difficult, but when he is a fireball, he can walk into blocks with fire on them, and can break these barriers. Walking it off or letting him fall into water will cure him in an instant.

There are other transformations that can either help or hinder Wario, and whether or not they are helpful is up for the player to discover and decide.

The graphics in this game are a vast step up from Wario Land 2. Wario Land 3 supports a rather good color palette. Though I can't reason why Wario isn't wearing his traditional yellow and purple garb, the Wario sprite looks quite good. The transformations are also quite impressive, and rather hilarious, as well. It's difficult not to laugh as a gluttonous Wario waddles around the screen helplessly, with a dissatisfied look on his fat face. The backgrounds and enemies also look quite good.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to discern exactly what Wario may have obtained when having gotten a treasure. Usually, there is a close-up of an item once it's collected, but even close-up, some objects may be hard to determine, or exactly how they affected the environment the way they did.

Wario Land 3 sounds good, within reason of the limitations of the system's capabilities. The music can certainly be awfully catchy, and there are some good tunes that accompany the actions quite well. There are sounds to accompany Wario's movements and reactions, but the "bleeps" and "bloops" are simply those.

Though there is unfortunately no multiplayer mode, Wario Land 3 sports a great deal of replay value. The game takes a while to complete, but beyond this, there is quite a bit to do after Wario has bagged all the treasure. Each level has eight special coins which Wario can collect, and when all coins are collected, new features open up. Most of these coins are not easy to get, and it may take players a while to even find the last coin in a given stage.

Give Wario a hand in his quest to become the richest man in all the land. He'll face many dangers along the way, and he is completely willing to be bitten, electrocuted, caught on fire, squashed, smashed flat, drowned, zombified, flattened, snowballed, picked on, stung, inflated, poked, pulled, split in two, frozen, zapped, devoured by silkworms, blinded, made invisible, and crushed just to get his piece of the pie. Despite this full-fledged comic mutilation, there is a fun adventure waiting for other excited treasure treasure hunters looking for a new style of platforming and exploring.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/05, Updated 12/01/05