Anyone feel the Wario Land Successors Miss the Point of the Series?

[CM30]

Or at least, feel like they kinda go in a direction they're not super fond of?

Because to be honest, as neat as Pizza Tower and AntonBlast are, they seem very much focused on the modern DKC/Rayman style of 'flashy yet somewhat difficult platformer with a high speed focus', which wasn't really a huge part of the Wario Land series in general.

Yes you escaped the level in Wario Land 4, but the time limit was so high that you'd basically never run out of time unless you either A: sucked beyond belief, or B: got distracted looking for money and collectibles.

The focus was always on exploration and puzzles and combat, not speed and precision platforming. And even then, it was generally not a hard series of games. You were basically at no real risk of dying, since the enemies and environment were not dangerous enough to kill Wario quickly. The exploration and puzzle solving was where the challenge laid there.

However, it feels like most modern Wario Land equivalents are focused on the escape sequences, spectacle, more challenging platforming, etc. Like their inspiration is more 'modern Rayman' than Wario Land.

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[The 3rd Wario Brother]

Alot of attention I see for Wario if it's LAND not WARE outside of here is almost always "I grew up with GBA and WarioLand4" so I've gotta I wonder how many people have a skewed idea of the series

 

[CM30]

Alot of attention I see for Wario if it's LAND not WARE outside of here is almost always "I grew up with GBA and WarioLand4" so I've gotta I wonder how many people have a skewed idea of the series

That's an interesting point in its own right. Wario Land 4 is a great game, but it's only one of three types of Wario Land game:

Wario Land 1/VB Wario Land: Mario style platformer with extra combat and exploration
Wario Land 2/3: Exploration based puzzle platformer/Metroidvania hybrid
Wario Land 4/Shake It: More standard platformer with an escape sequence

If your experience comes from the last two, you'll probably think the escape sequence is the big draw of the franchise. If you've played the other 4, you'll probably think of the series as more than that.