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Author Topic: Summer of Mario: WARIO LAND II  (Read 3154 times)

David

  • Trusts the fungus
« on: July 01, 2020, 01:05:27 PM »
It's Wario's third adventure, confusingly named...

WARIO LAND II



Captain Syrup and her "Black Sugar Gang" have stolen Wario's treasure -- and Wario's ready to ram, stomp & hurl Gooms all over the place in his quest to get it all back! Unlike his first two outings (more on that in a moment), this time Wario doesn't use garlic to power-up.  In fact, Wario is essentially immortal in this game - he can't be killed.  Being hit by most enemies merely results in Wario getting knocked back and losing some coins.  Some enemy attacks do temporarily transform Wario into odd shapes, which grant special abilities: getting smashed flat turns Wario into a pancake-thin form than can slip through cracks, getting stung by a bee and Wario will puff up and float into the air, and those are only two of the many odd forms Wario can be mangled into.

Wario Land II is quirky for several reasons outside of its gameplay.  It's actually the third Wario Land game, following Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 and Virtual Boy Wario Land, and it discards the power-up system used by both of its predecessors.  Wario Land II was originally released as a black & white title in North America and Europe in early 1998, but not in Japan.  Instead, a Game Boy Color compatible color version was released in Japan and the rest of the world at the end of 1998.  Both the original and color versions feature Super Game Boy borders and color palettes.

An interesting trivia note: there is a penguin enemy that lobs balls at Wario -- being hit by a ball turns Wario into "Crazy Wario" form.  In that form, Wario stumbles around in a haze, randomly burping and generally being difficult to control; dunking Wario into a pool of water returns him to normal.  However, in the Japanese version, the penguin tosses bottles at Wario... which turn him into Drunk Wario.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2020, 01:10:32 PM by David »
Let's do the Mario, all together now!

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