Wario Land II (Game Boy Color) Review

Wario wakes up one morning to the deafening sound of a weird alarm clock mysteriously placed at the other end of his castle only to find it mostly flooded with water and his treasures missing. Further investigation reveals that it was stolen by Captain Syrup's Spearmen of the Black Sugar Gang, Wario's nemesis from the first game. To be fair, Wario stole them from her after all, but no matter, greedy Wario sets out to retrieve them... and collect heaps of gold coins and new treasures along the way if he can; so much for a great hero!

His journey takes him through a lot of locations in a side-scrolling platform adventure. It's split into chapters, each with a certain theme, divided into stages that further derive from that theme, bringing a lot of variations along the way. The presentation may be classic for a game in that genre, since players will spend most of their time hopping on platforms, collecting coins and aiming for the goal of each level.

The coins collected may be spent on mini games. Each stage holds a treasure to find, much like the hidden treasures of the previous Game Boy outing, which adds to the exploration factor, considering how these treasure rooms are sometimes well hidden. However, gaining the treasure can only be done by playing a mini-game that costs coins. The same goes at the end of every level where a mini-game can yield a piece of a large treasure map (the amount of pieces indicating that the game holds 50 stages). To ensure that you get them all, collecting as many coins as possible is then a priority while exploring.

The basic gameplay of the first episode is back as well. Wario is still unable to kill enemies by simply stomping them like Mario can. Here they are knocked them over, allowing him to grab them and throw them at other enemies. He can also ram into them from the side or crush them under is weight by holding down on the D-pad while dropping on them from above.

However, that latter action no longer requires the use of any kind of helmet. That system, used in the game and the Virtual Boy version of Wario Land, is completely gone now. His throwing ability is also improved in that he can charge up his strength before sending the enemies flying much faster and crushing them against any obstacle. Wario no longer takes any kind of damage this time, though. Instead he is pushed back when hit by an enemy or environmental hazards, losing some precious coins in the process.

The meat of this new system lies in the various transformations that Wario can undergo. Indeed, some specific enemies can turn Wario into all sorts of things when they touch him, giving him new abilities that wear off after a few seconds. Zombie Wario can pass through thin floors when he drops on them, Tiny Wario can fit through tight spaces while retaining all of the speed and jumping capacity that he would otherwise lose while crouching, Wario-on-Fire will catch fire and run all over the place before turning into a human torch, allowing to burn away certain blocks that can't be destroyed otherwise, and so on... And there are many more to discover. Clearly the gameplay is exceptionally original and varied and everything controls great.

The stages can also involve quite a bit of basic puzzle solving, involving making use of the different abilities and carrying enemies around to be able to break open the way to the exit of the stage flipping switches to lower and rise water levels, inverting the direction of conveyor belts, and so on. Variety is certainly not an issue here!

The whole game may appear pretty linear at first, but as the gamer will find out eventually, some stages have a hidden exit that can be found, and the game might not be completely over when expected. The challenge isn't exactly very high and any player with decent skills shouldn't meet any major opposition during the adventure. That being said it should last a decent amount of time for the price it sells for on the 3DS Virtual Console service, especially if this is the first time playing it.

Speaking of which, this Virtual Console re-release doesn't bring any major enhancements, considering the original already allowed for progress to be saved at any moment or place, except during mini-games and boss fights. The save state functionality is simply faster to permanently save progress at any moment and reload. It helps with cheating during mini-games and boss fights too, though, alleviating some of the little challenge that was to be found. Finally, given how the backlight on the 3DS is much better than it was on the Game Boy Color-compatible Game Boy Advance SP, the game looks better than ever and the colours look much more vibrant this time around, which is a nice treat.