5.8 KiB
| title | date | score | howlongtobeat_id | howlongtobeat_hrs | series | game_name | game_genre | game_release_year | game_developer | tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wario Land II | 2024-01-01T09:00:00+01:00 | 4 | 11065 | 5.2 | Mario Land | Wario Land 2 | 2D Platformer | 1998 | Nintendo |
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Four years after Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Nintendo treats us with another Wario Land Game Boy game, this time flashed onto a neat black color-enhanced cartridge. As soon as you boot up the game and play the first stage, you realize why they dropped the Mario Land subtitle: Wario has finally gone independent. Wario Land II misleads players into thinking it's just another sequel, while in fact the gameplay is radically different---for the better. Let's-a go, wahahahah! (Imagine the garlic smell coming with this laugh)
For those who never played any of the Wario Land games: the first is a continuation of traditional Mario games, but with another protagonist: you've got lives and power-ups, you stomp on enemies, you collect coins, you jump over bottomless pits, and you find the exit. In Wario Land II, none of that is true: you can't die, you can temporarily transform instead of picking up traditional power-ups, you rush into enemies, you collect heaps of coins, there are no pits, and there are almost always multiple exits. How does that work?
Extremely well, it seems. If you're hit by an enemy, you lose coins instead of lives, just like Sonic does, except that if you don't have any left, you just get thrown around a bit and that's it. Wario is effectively invincible, meaning bottomless pits wouldn't make sense. Instead of dying, the game still messes with the player by bestowing transformations upon Wario: a bee sting will inflate your head up to the point that you float upwards, touching a zombie boo will get Wario infected with a zombie status where he can't jump and falls through stairs, and being hit by a giant Wile E. Coyote-like weight will literally squish Wario.
These transformations are temporarily tough: either they're time-based, or, if you're on fire for instance, you can simply throw yourself into the water to 'cure' the status effect. The game uses these statuses in two ways: to annoy you during boss battles and block your progress, or as hints to pass through narrow spaces or break special blocks. I really liked all the possible effects and the animation work that comes with it is superb. Some of them are barely used, however. For example, Zombie Wario appears in just a few levels near the end---they could have done so much more with these effects. And they did, but you'll have to wait another two years for Wario Land 3.
Speaking of levels, the classic world map is gone: instead, the game is cut up in chapters that can be revisited by selecting certain branches of the story line after unlocking the chapter tree by finishing the game. Wario Land II is, at least for a Game Boy game, surprisingly open: different exits and pathways reveal multiple ways to deal with the invading Captain Syrup who's after your money (yup, it's her again). The first level starts with a cut-scene in which we see the invader thrashing Wario's castle, flooding it and throwing a giant alarm clock near Wario's bed. I used to think I know this game very well, until I saw someone else "finishing" the first stage by... simply not waking up, which unlocks a semi-secret separate path to quickly finish the game!
Since you start the game in your castle, I presume the story line directly follows its predecessor where the genie granted Wario's ultimate wish---in exchange for cold hard cash, of course. Depending on the path you take, you'll end your chase again at Syrup's boney hideout, which made me wonder whether or not Wario Land II takes place in the same land as Wario Land 1? You'll certainly encounter familiar environments and enemies. A bit too familiar, after a while, as repetition is one of the few things that bogs down Wario II.
My main gripes with the first Wario Land are gone as well: Wario's run animation is much more smooth, the gameplay is more fast-paced, and overall, it's a more satisfying game to play compared to its predecessor. Each level of course still hides a treasure to look out for, this time hidden behind a door and a hide-and-seek mini-game. These doors are easy to find, and I preferred the approach of the original game where finding a key and properly hidden door felt more engaging than playing the same mini-game that eats up coins again and again.
This time, collected coins are not invested in the building of a giant castle: you're already filthy rich. Instead, they're mostly used for the mini-games. It's still more satisfying to collect 300+ coins in Wario Land II than in New Super Mario Bros. 2, where the coin collecting felt like an unneeded slapped-on mechanic as an attempt to invigorate a tired formula. Let's be honest: Wario's greedy gloves are much better-suited to grab everything that shines.
I'm glad that Wario Land gradually got better, and we're still not yet at the pinnacle of the series: that's reserved for the last Game Boy Color entry, where more emphasis on the status effects are mixed in with light metroidvania-mechanics. Until then, enjoy exploring all the alternate endings and reclaiming your lost treasure. This will hopefully be the last time we see Captain Syrup and her crew harassing Wario.