Wario Land 4 might be the best video game ever made. Wario controls so smoothly, they took the clunky shoulder bash from the other games and fused it with this amazing running mechanic. Like you'd think running wouldn't be so satisfying, but because it's mapped to the R button you can run while doing every action and blaze through these levels. Speaking of which every stage in this game is so unique and creative. Some use off the wall gimmicks which are so far beyond any other platformer that you'd think other developers would have given up trying. Like combined with the transformations and control, stages like Domino Rally are some of the most fun I've ever had playing a platformer. Another amazing aspect of this game is the treasure collecting, on my 4th playthrough I was still finding crazy clever unique treasure spots. The treasure is so much fun to collect that paired with game keeping track of your treasure high score, I've replayed each level like 100 times.

The combination of running and treasure collecting is wonderful on its own, but it heats up when these skills are tested after you hit the Frog Switch, a brilliant mechanic that asks you to get back to the start of the stage with a time limit. Putting a timer at the end of the stage is such a brilliant design choice because it gives the player ample time to get acquainted with the level and learn how to run through it. Sometimes the level completely changes, with the frantic anxious music it can be a huge adrenaline rush.

The 2D Art is beautiful and strange, Wario is so expressive and macho. His animations feel like they have so much weight, despite how brisk movement can be. This game brings to life so many unique characters and enemies, it is on par with Earthbound for amazing enemy designs. I don't think I'll ever forget that crazy artist pig or the creepy mini Wario Cars. The game's cover art is my favorite of all time, it's so slick and detailed, and everything is placed wonderfully. Wario sticks out so much and the colors pop oh so vibrantly. It's like the classic Mario World or Mario 3 box art, but with this game's crazy enemies and scenery in the background.

Speaking of the art that 2D intro to the game has to be my favorite of all time. It's so dark and moody slowly revealing this shadowy figure entering a car as the music swells with the car's engine before the garage opens up, and it quickly dashes by the road as the games amazing opening theme plays, revealing that character to be Wario. The intro is the perfect mix of a mysterious cool atmosphere and weird surreal comedy just like this game.

The game's personality is just so amazing, I audibly laughed the first time I saw the shop had an option to buy a free smile. So many small details surround this game which is easy to miss. Like in the game's official guide all of the commentaries are done by Wario, with some random thoughts and comments by him elevating it past being a mere tool.

The mysteries don't end at the intro as so many weird unexplained things are shown in the Pyramid. On a first playthrough, it gets your mind wondering, like who is this black cat, or what is the deal with that crazy scientist in the bonus levels? Without any dialogue it gets you thinking so much, and by the end, the pay off is equally fantastic.

Even when the game ends a new difficulty unlocks, which not only makes the game harder as you would expect, but also changes a bunch of the treasure locations, and Frog Switches. For some levels that were a breeze, the changes make them way more hard and different and as an option for replayability, it's very cool.

The game's music is fantastic, it explores so many styles and experiments with video game music in crazy ways for the GBA. One of the collectibles are these CDs that you'd think would be the games OST but instead are just random strange noises, and even some of those are bops.

If I was to think of a criticism the boss fights are average. While the boss enemies you fight have amazing character designs and clever solutions to defeat them, it's not always super fun to execute those solutions, especially with the timer. Trying to beat them on Hard mode without the items feels nearly impossible, let alone on Super Hard. The items you do have at your disposal are fun to watch, but ultimately tedious to get with the fun yet repetitive minigames used to earn them.

To conclude there may never be another game so suited to why I love Video Games and I think that this is simply the pinnacle of 2D platforming, at least for my strange tastes.

Reviewed on May 07, 2020


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