Finally beating this was like finding the child that was switched at birth and realizing that it was better this way. The switched child being Metroid in the family of exploration platformers.
The whole driving point of the game being about clearing a level in one route to unlock new levels, power ups, or change old levels in a cycle gets old real fast. I got lost last time I played and had to use a guide to actually beat it this time. The levels eventually lose their luster from having to go through so many of the same annoyances and gimmicks again and again, and when it's not even for anything that will move you forward, it doesn't feel all that rewarding. In comparing it to Metroid, in even Super Metroid, there's a clear sectioning of the areas with clear indicators of where you can and might be able to go. In Wario Land you can kinda just get lost not know that a long chain of level rewards was what blocked one path.
I entirely get why Wario Land 4 & Shake it went with the idea of escaping the level under a time limit.
Wish there were more Wario games than just Ware coming out, though.