Wario Land, also known as Super Mario Land 3 (even though Mario never shows up), is a side scrolling plat-former for the original Nintendo Game Boy. Released in 1994, Wario Land was a slight diversion from other Nintendo games of the day. Namely the fact that there was no princess to save, no kingdom in peril, no family in danger, nothing but pure greed was the motivation for Wario. Wario’s goal is to amass as much money as he can in order to build a bigger castle than Mario. That’s it, that’s the only reason he is on this adventure, money. It makes for a fun game as Wario is running around attacking pirates and stealing their hard earned gold. At the end, for some reason, Wario has to drive a lady and her genie from a castle and make it his own. How grand Wario’s castle will be is based on how much money you collect through the game. Much like Super Mario Land 2 you can retrace your steps and complete levels multiple times, and there are benefits for doing so. There are many secret levels and some levels even have giant chests with a piece of treasure inside that greatly contribute to Wario’s coin total in the end.
Wario Land is a fun game, much like Mario games from the past. Nothing ground breaking occurs but it is all different enough to be entertaining. Wario, like Mario can get different suit power ups, a helmet, bull horns, a dragon head, and a rocket hat, all serving a different purpose. Wario, unlike Mario can crouch and walk while crouched to get to hard to reach places. But being quite porcine Wario isn’t as graceful as Mario when he jumps, but it is fun to see a fat guy fly through the air. All said and done it is a fun game and worth having and playing if you own an old Game Boy.
Worth: Buying if you own an old Game Boy.
Did well: Fun, secrets keep you going back for more.
Did poorly: Not much, a lot like other Mario games, nothing new or innovative.
Would my wife sit and watch: Probably not, again, not her thing.