Review by Leetdude

"One of the Game Boy's finest achievements"

This game is the sequel to a series of Game Boy Mario games. The problem with the series is that none of the games in it were really good. Super Mario Land was monotonous and forgotten, except a few people who decided that they must let the rest of the world know the evils of the game. Super Mario Land 2 was decent, but still not very good. It was too short, and didn't have much Replay Value. Enter Super Mario Land 3. It's a fairly long game that has plenty of Replay Value, and one of the key factors that the originals were missing-interesting levels! And this good stuff on a Game Boy, heaven forbid? It can be played wherever you want? Amazing! To top it all off, it came out seven years ago. That's a long time ago, and it still has some of the best Graphics a Game Boy game has! Let's go in depth, here...

Is this a Game Boy game? It's actually possible to see clearly without squinting!
Wario Land has amazing Graphics for the Game Boy, and they seem even better when you realize that this game is seven years old. The characters, such as Wario, are fairly large, compared to past Game Boy games. Some are even comparable to the Super Nintendo's Graphics at that time, such as the final boss, as well as Spike Koopa and some other characters. The level looks, also, are fairly nice looking. The water looks like water, the hats look like hats, and the blocks you can hit look like blocks you can hit. There isn't really anything amazing, but it's certainly nice, considering when the game was made.
However, all of this isn't important when you think about how clear the game actually is. You can see everything, perfectly, even when there is little light, or too much light. This is important for a handheld game, which are meant to play in a car or another vehicle, where there are extremes of darkness or light often. Everything is perfectly clear, especially when it's played on a Game Boy Color, which almost anybody who plays Game Boy has nowadays. This is extremely nice.

How can you give a Game Boy game a high score? When it's crystal clear, of course.
Similarly to the Graphics, the sound is amazingly clear for a Game Boy game. There's very little fuzz to the music. Most of the songs in the game are actually very nice to listen to, especially if there's nothing on the radio. Though there's not much to the Sound Effects in the game, the Sound Effects the game has are pretty good. For example, Wario running and smashing into a block sounds like you would expect it to sound like on the Game Boy, or most old video games in general. Though there's nothing exciting, it's fairly good.

Hmmm... controls fairly nice. SLOW, but nice.
The Play Control in Wario Land is a nice control set. The thing that makes it innovative is that each hat nearly completely changes the Control around. When you are small Wario, you can't Body Slam-you can only jump by pressing A. When you grow into normal Wario, you can Body Slam, by pressing B and holding down the Control Pad. This is another way to hurt enemies, and can break blocks easily. As Bull Wario, you can stomp the ground by pressing down when in the air, and you can cling to ceilings by holding up when you touch a ceiling, and you have a stronger Body Slam. As Dragon Wario, you can burn stuff by pressing B, but you lose the Body Slam. When you are Flying Wario, you can jump a little higher, and you can fly in the air, which works the same as a Body Slam. The only problem with the Control in this game is that Wario moves like a slug. VERY slow. Oh well.

A story on a Game Boy game? Blasphemy!
Well, there's a story, but there's not much to it. Looking at the stories the Game Boy has right now, though, that's not much of a problem. After losing his captured castle to Mario in the last Super Mario Land game, Wario goes out on a search for pirate's treasure. His ship crashes, and he crashes onto an island with... a pirate ship on it. Goodie! Wario goes out to search for treasure... and that's about it. It fits in with the last game in the series, but that's about it. Looking at the stories on the Game Boy, though, that's plenty.

This game plays fun.
Wario Land is a fun game to play, especially in a car, but also if you're bored and just want a game to play. You can pick it up for just a little bit and go, because the game automatically saves whenever you do anything. It's simply a fun game to play, as well. Collecting all of the treasure in the worlds is an interesting thing to attempt, and getting more coins is always a worthy goal. Levels complete fairly fast, too, so you can pick it up and stop within no more than five minutes, normally. Heck, even the levels are fun to play. You can play them again with different hats in order to find more secret levels and treasure, which is fun to do.

Yummy. Long, and difficult.
Wario Land is a long game. It's a fun game to play through. It's actually fairly tough in some areas. Though none of the areas are extremely tough unless you are going for the treasure, they are hard enough to keep you going through them. Getting secret levels and treasure, though, is a completely different story. Some of the keys and keyholes to get treasure are hidden in places that nobody in the right mind would think of unless they actually meant to find it. The hidden exits that lead to new levels are sometimes hidden nicely, and take obscene amounts of backtracking, which is nice. Though the game itself isn't very tough, the difficulty in getting everything is worth it, easily.

You will play many times, indeed!
The first time through, you will almost definitely get a bad ending. You will not have enough secret levels. You will not have enough coins. You will not have enough treasure. You will get a weak ending where Wario doesn't get anything good. You will play through the game again, or at least go back through most levels, to get more coins, more treasure, and more levels. After doing this and getting a satisfying ending, you will let it collect dust... that is, until the next road trip, when you'll probably remember it, and will dig it out to play through again. This happened plenty to me when I first got the game, and sometimes still does.


Wario Land has a nice ending to it. When Wario beats the final boss, the Genie, the Genie leaves Captain Syrup, the queen of the pirates. Wario gets one wish from him. Wario wishes for a new, good house, like the castle he had when he took over Mario's castle. However, the (fairly greedy-this IS the 21st century, after all) Genie wants money from him, and the money he gets determines what house Wario gets. All of the coins you have collected over the course of the game, as well as all of the treasure, is taken. The best you can get is the castle that Wario wanted (strikingly similar to Mario's castle, by the way). The worst is a simple birdhouse, which will disappoint you. I think that it's a good way to end the game-after all, Wario's goal since he lost the castle to Mario was for a new cool castle.

Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Play Control: 18/20
Story: 16/20
Game Play: 27/30
Challenge: 14/15
Replay Value: 14/15
Extra Credit for Ending: 1/0
Overall: 108/120-0.9-9/10

Wario Land is a wonderful Game Boy game with features that most Game Boy games don't have, such as clear sound, clear graphics, and a nice story and ending. It also is fun to play through, with most of the areas that make a game fun in place, nicely. I would recommend this game to anybody who wants to play a good game during their next road trip, or wants some five minute fun every now and then.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 05/15/01, Updated 05/15/01


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