Wario Land 4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wario Land 4 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Nintendo Research & Development 1 |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |  21 August 2001 18 November 2001 16 November 2001 June 8, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Media | 64-megabit cartridge |
Wario Land 4 (known as Wario Land Advance in Japan) is a video game released for the Game Boy Advance system in 2001. In this game, Wario has to gather four treasures to unlock a pyramid and save Princess Shokora from The Golden Diva.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay of Wario Land 4 allows for some open-endedness as well as some order of difficulty. There are four main passages in addition to the Entry Passage and "Final" Golden Pyramid: the Emerald, Ruby, Topaz, and Sapphire Passages, in order of difficulty. The Emerald Passage is themed around nature. The Ruby Passage is themed around mechanics and technology. The Topaz Passage is themed around toys, games, and other "playtime" ideas. The Sapphire Passage is themed around horror and danger, prominently involving ghosts and the like.
There are four levels in a passage. To progress to the next level in a passage, a player has to find the Keyzer in the previous level (a Keyzer is a floating key-nosed creature that promptly disappears after the player uses it). After the four levels comes a Mini-game Shop (not run by Mr. Game & Watch as some people seem to think - the true identity of the shopkeeper is revealed at the end of the game) and the Boss Room. To enter the Boss Room, the player must find the four pieces of the passage's namesake gem in each level (a total of four gems and 16 pieces). Also, a player can find a CD in each level, which unlocks a song in the CD Room.
Upon entering a level, one has all the time in the world they want to find treasure, beat up enemies, and such. Enemies, when defeated, give coins and health orbs. After collecting a full bar of health orbs, the player receives one extra heart (out of 8). However, the player can't return to the pyramid (and thus have all of their treasure saved) until they open the portal again via a Frog Switch. Upon hitting the switch, a time limit (which varies depending on the game's difficulty setting and level itself) is placed, and many blocks in the level appear or disappear. For some levels, this results in a rush back to the portal the same way the player came. In others, totally new areas are exposed. If a player fails to reach the portal within the time limit, he begins to lose coins. Once all of his coins are gone, he is kicked out of the level (as if he had lost all of his health) and is left with no treasure.
[edit] Boss rooms
At the end of each passage, Wario encounters a boss room. He must destroy a boss within a set time limit to win the treasure within the boss rooms (if Wario takes too long but manages to win before the limit is up, some treasure may be withheld).
The bosses can be made easier by the purchase of items from a shop near the boss's door. The shop does not accept normal cash from levels. Instead, one must play games in the Mini-game Shop to win medals to use.
Each of the items on the bottom row of the shop's listing are "super effective" against a certain boss. For instance, the Black Dragon's flames will burn Cractus better than any other attack.
[edit] Difficulty levels
There are three difficulty levels.
- Normal: The original difficulty. Players start each boss level with 8 hearts, and there are a lot less enemies.
- Hard: The other original option for difficulty. Players start each boss stage with four hearts, but time limits are lowered, along with boss health increasing and different locations for treasure.
- Super Hard: Only available after completing the game on hard mode, Super Hard mode starts each stage with only one heart in the player's health bar. The time limits, enemy placement, and treasure locations become increasingly difficult, along with two minigames becoming harder and the prices for items being higher.
[edit] Passages
Entry Passage: Levels- Hall of Hieroglyphs. Boss: Spoiled Rotten.
Emerald Passage: Levels- Palm Tree Paradise; Wildflower Fields; Mystic Lake; Monsoon Jungle. Boss- Cractus.
Ruby Passage: Levels- The Curious Factory; The Toxic Landfill; 40 Below Fridge; Pinball Zone. Boss- Cuckoo Condor.
Topaz Passage: Levels- Toy Block Tower; The Big Board; Doodle Woods; Domino Row. Boss- Aerodent.
Sapphire Passage: Levels- Crescent Moon Village; Arabian Night; Fiery Cavern; Hotel Horror. Boss- Catbat.
Golden Pyramid (obtainable by beating all other passages): Levels- Golden Passage. Boss (also end-of-game boss)- Golden Diva.
[edit] Story
The manual describes how Wario is reading the newspaper when he notices an article about a mysterious pyramid found deep in the jungle. The legend related to the pyramid is that of Princess Shokora, ruler of the pyramid, who was cursed by the money-crazed Golden Diva. Without wasting time, Wario jumps on his Wario Car (as shown in the opening animation) and speeds toward the pyramid. As he enters it, he finds a black cat and chases it. Doing so, he falls down a precipice and is stuck inside the pyramid.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Bosses
- Spoiled Rotten
The first boss, Spoiled Rotten, is a large eggplant walking back and forth with a doll in her hand. At first she does not attack, but, after accumalating enough damage she will show sharp teeth, forcing you to attack her from behind. Unlike the other bosses, she isn't airborne.
- Cractus
The first true boss, Cractus, is a Venus' flytrap with eyes. After you destroy his vase, he slowly hovers. As Cractus accumulates more damage, he hovers higher and flies faster. His drool can turn Wario into a zombie.
- Cuckoo Condor
In her first form Cuckoo Condor is a floating cuckoo clock with various mechanical attachments. After accumulating more damage her "arms" drop gears and balls of electricity on the ground. After being halfway defeated, Cuckoo Condor's internal form is exposed, which is a condor-like being that flies back and forth, dropping exploding eggs.
- Aerodent
Aerodent is, strangely, a mouse that flies in an inflatable teddy bear balloon. Aerodent immediately inflates his teddy bear and floats up to the ceiling, dropping jumping beings shaped like thumbtacks. After accumulating a lot of damage he drops fire, which if touched sets Wario aflame, wasting valuable time.
- Catbat
Catbat is a floating, purple cat with a ghostly tail in place of its hindquarters, and with a vampire bat attached to its head. Unlike the other bosses you must fight him in and over water which is guarded by a robotic yellow fish. He coughs up purple spikey creatures, which when touched will make Wario's face inflate temporarily, causing him to float up to the ceiling, wasting time. When the bat on his head is finally destroyed, Catbat coughs up orange spikey creatures that damage you when you touch them.
- The Golden Diva
The Golden Diva is the final boss in Wario Land 4. She is a ghost who wears a fur coat, white makeup, a mask that changes faces each time you damage her as well as all the jewelry from all the previous bosses. Initially she covers her mask with a folding fan and makes four masks appear that are identical to hers. One of these masks bounces slowly around the room. After all of these ghostly masks, her folding fan, and her 'real' mask are destroyed her true face is revealed, which looks like that of a deformed clown. She then starts destroying parts of the floor, revealing sharp metal spikes. After four attacks her body is destroyed, leaving only her lips scurrying across the floor.
[edit] Boss Halls
Before each battle, Wario will enter a hall way consisting of two doors. One is a shop which uses mini-game coins as currency. In the shop you can buy various power-ups which deal little to massive damage to the Boss right before the fight, thus saving time during the battle.
[edit] The Sound Room
After completing The Hall of Hieroglyphics, a room called the sound rooms opens. This is where people can listen to CDs of 16 different songs, which are unlocked throughout the game. They may well have been a way to flesh out the system's sound chip, producing high quality sound for the game. A special feature called "Wario Karaoke" is unlocked by earning a gold crown ranking in every level or by entering the sound room and pressing the start, select, up, L and R buttons simultaneously. This allows people to see the lyrics to the song Medamayaki, a song found in the level "Palm Tree Paradise."
CDs
- Level: Palm Tree Paradise; CD: About That Shepard
- Level: Wildflower Fields; CD: Things That Never Change
- Level: Mystic Lake; CD: Tomorrow's Blood Pressure
- Level: Monsoon Jungle; CD: Beyond the Headrush
- Level: The Curious Factory; CD: Driftwood & the Island Dog
- Level: The Toxic Landfill; CD: The Judge's Feet
- Level: 40 Below Fridge; CD: The Moon's Lamppost
- Level: Pinball Zone; CD: Soft Shell
- Level: Toy Block Tower; CD: So Sleepy
- Level: The Big Board; CD: The Short Futon
- Level: Doodle Woods; CD: Avocado Song
- Level: Domino Row; CD: Mr. Fly
- Level: Crescent Moon Village; CD: Yesterday's Words
- Level: Arabian Night; CD: The Errand
- Level: Fiery Cavern; CD: You and Your Shoes
- Level: Hotel Horror; CD: Mr. Ether and Planaria
[edit] Development
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
[edit] Reception
IGN gave Wario Land a 9 out of 10, or "Outstanding", citing its well thought out level design and replayability, though the game does not significantly push the performance power of the Game Boy Advance.[1]
[edit] Novel
A "choose your own adventure" novel based on the game was written by Craig Wessel and published by Scholastic Inc.
[edit] Trivia
- Many sounds from the game were used in the Wario Ware series. Pieces of music were also used; for example, the Crescent Moon Village theme was used in the ending sequence of WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$.
- Several pieces of music in the game feature voice samples and lyrics. Most notably, the Japanese lyrics in the Palm Tree Paradise theme, Medamayaki, and the English, funk-based lyrics in the game's title theme (the clearest line being "those piles of gold are pilin' up.").
[edit] References
- ^ Harris, Craig (November 20th, 2004). Wario Land 4 Review. ign.com. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
[edit] External links
- Wario Land 4 at MobyGames
- gameboyadvance.com
- Warioland 4 at Gamespot
- Warioland 4 at Gamestats
- Warioland 4 at IGN
