Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (GB, 1994)
Graphics-9.5 Sound-8.5 Control-9 Challenge-7.5
Level Design-9 Frustration-7 Fun-9.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-9.5
+
Very big world for a GB platformer
Play as a selfish bad guy for a change
Great variety
Like in Shinobi you can bump into (unarmed) enemies without getting hurt/no contact damage - unlike Shinobi they get knocked over and you can carry and throw them
Great art direction
The helmets (fire breath - dragon helmet, flight+faster movement - bird/jet helmet, stomp/tackle/hang on ceilings - viking/horned helmet; sometimes used for optional ability gating with temporary abilities)
Secret levels found via alternate exits (SMW)
Hidden treasure and paths
Bonus games (gambling and bomb throwing - they're alright but kept optional)
Alternate endings (depending on your collection rate - optional collectathon)
Some alternate paths within levels
Save feature
Money making trick (have stompers kill enemies and you gain large coins worth 10 coins instead)
Some environmental changes that affect certain level layouts (tidewater in area 1 floods some levels, teapot falling down in area 2, etc.)
Decent bosses (somewhat more challenging than in the Mario games)
Traps also affect enemies and breakable blocks (systemic element)
Can quickly exit an area hub map to go to the world hub map
Mid-level checkpoints which make you sacrifice 10 coins to use them (risk/reward; later used in Lunar 2 and Shovel Knight)
+/-
Mostly linear structure (some leeway within areas and there's one optional area (ice area))
Forgiving and slow jump control (jumps also have more vertical length than horizontal which takes some getting used to - similar to Contra)
Don't gain money from killing enemies with the fire breath
Movement controls aren't slippery unlike in Mario (you still gain momentum from dashing before running however)
Stompers kill immediately here - no extra HP from being big
Can gain a maximum of 999 coins per level (99 999 in total)
Can't tackle underwater unless you're wearing the bird helmet
Can't move while crouching while underwater
-
Some trial & error (auto-scrolling levels, some bosses)
Some backtracking for treasure (have to carry a key back to the chest which occasionally gets annoying)
No difficulty options
Somewhat slow paced unless you always use the bird helmet (no standard run move) - can be fixed with a hack which makes you always move quickly+not get knocked back if viking tackling or flying into breakable blocks above water (you still move at the same speed while jumping however you can get around this by pressing up while jumping for more horizontal speed, the faster block breaking makes certain parts like the second to last level in area 1's chase segment much easier)
Somewhat slow falling speed
Can't teleport out of a beaten level (see SMW) - can exit most levels where you entered them though
Can't skip the coin countdown screen
No item inventory for extra helmets (leads to a bit of backtracking if you needed a certain helmet to open up a path but also increases the challenge a bit) - SMW
Can't throw an enemy or object while Wario is off screen
Level Design-9 Frustration-7 Fun-9.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-9.5
+
Very big world for a GB platformer
Play as a selfish bad guy for a change
Great variety
Like in Shinobi you can bump into (unarmed) enemies without getting hurt/no contact damage - unlike Shinobi they get knocked over and you can carry and throw them
Great art direction
The helmets (fire breath - dragon helmet, flight+faster movement - bird/jet helmet, stomp/tackle/hang on ceilings - viking/horned helmet; sometimes used for optional ability gating with temporary abilities)
Secret levels found via alternate exits (SMW)
Hidden treasure and paths
Bonus games (gambling and bomb throwing - they're alright but kept optional)
Alternate endings (depending on your collection rate - optional collectathon)
Some alternate paths within levels
Save feature
Money making trick (have stompers kill enemies and you gain large coins worth 10 coins instead)
Some environmental changes that affect certain level layouts (tidewater in area 1 floods some levels, teapot falling down in area 2, etc.)
Decent bosses (somewhat more challenging than in the Mario games)
Traps also affect enemies and breakable blocks (systemic element)
Can quickly exit an area hub map to go to the world hub map
Mid-level checkpoints which make you sacrifice 10 coins to use them (risk/reward; later used in Lunar 2 and Shovel Knight)
+/-
Mostly linear structure (some leeway within areas and there's one optional area (ice area))
Forgiving and slow jump control (jumps also have more vertical length than horizontal which takes some getting used to - similar to Contra)
Don't gain money from killing enemies with the fire breath
Movement controls aren't slippery unlike in Mario (you still gain momentum from dashing before running however)
Stompers kill immediately here - no extra HP from being big
Can gain a maximum of 999 coins per level (99 999 in total)
Can't tackle underwater unless you're wearing the bird helmet
Can't move while crouching while underwater
-
Some trial & error (auto-scrolling levels, some bosses)
Some backtracking for treasure (have to carry a key back to the chest which occasionally gets annoying)
No difficulty options
Somewhat slow paced unless you always use the bird helmet (no standard run move) - can be fixed with a hack which makes you always move quickly+not get knocked back if viking tackling or flying into breakable blocks above water (you still move at the same speed while jumping however you can get around this by pressing up while jumping for more horizontal speed, the faster block breaking makes certain parts like the second to last level in area 1's chase segment much easier)
Somewhat slow falling speed
Can't teleport out of a beaten level (see SMW) - can exit most levels where you entered them though
Can't skip the coin countdown screen
No item inventory for extra helmets (leads to a bit of backtracking if you needed a certain helmet to open up a path but also increases the challenge a bit) - SMW
Can't throw an enemy or object while Wario is off screen