Anyone else like how odd most Wario Land level themes are?

[CM30]

You know, how they pretty much never just use the standard level cliches and themes?

I mean, what other platformer has a level set in a rubbish dump? Or a pinball machine? Or a colouring book? Or whatever that final level in Wario Land 2 was?

Similarly, I love how a lot of Wario Land 3 levels take ideas you'd expect to be kind of limited/boring and actually make something interesting out of them. I mean, look at these level names:

Bank of the Wild River
The Pool of Rain
The West Crater
The Big Bridge
The Colossal Hole

Most games would struggle to make half a level out of these 'limiting' themes. Heck, how many other games can make a whole level simply set around a big hole in the ground?

Yet Wario Land does it really well, and manages to make even the most 'non typical' themes into interesting places and levels. Anyone else like that aspect of the series?

 

[warelander]

Yeah, I definentaly do!
It's just more refreshing than the typical grass,dessert,ice,etc tropes and even the levels that do play them straight, manage to be unique in their own way.
Desert ruins from Wario Land 3 for example doesn't feel like any other deser level, that I have ever played.

 

[ShyGuyXXL]

I love how you get to the undersea ruins chapter in WL 2. You just sink the whole goddamn ship while you and the Syrup gang are still inside it. xD
And then you have to escape the ship by playing through a flooded version of the previous level, except backwards. It's really clever and I like how they managed to keep roughly the same layout while still making it feel fresh.

 

[CM30]

I love how you get to the undersea ruins chapter in WL 2. You just sink the whole goddamn ship while you and the Syrup gang are still inside it. xD
And then you have to escape the ship by playing through a flooded version of the previous level, except backwards. It's really clever and I like how they managed to keep roughly the same layout while still making it feel fresh.

That part too. That kind of 'world building' is just great, the fact the game isn't scared to show that your actions in one level affect others makes the game feel more 'real'. It's why Wario Land 3's level system is still really awesome, cause that's like the situation in this Wario Land II level, except applied to the whole game.

 

[wariolandgoldpiramid]

Oh yeah. I have a lot to say here
Let's start with Wario Land 2.
The very first world (aka chapter) i set entierly in Wario's (the protagonist's) castle. I really dont know any other games where a world takes place in the hero's home. If anyone knows, let me know
The second chapter mixes manages to mix 4 different themes: garden, forest, seaside with flooded caves, and a ship. It's a very well done chapter. The music in the third level (get in the tea cup) fits the seaside theme perfectly, and those Seagles flying in the sky. I think it's an amazing atmosphere.
And of course, when you are on the ship, you can stop the pirates from sailing away eather by droping the anchor, or flooding the ship.
And like ShyGuyXXL and CM30 already sayd, shen you flood the ship, you get to play the same level again. But it's filled with water. Some of the walls are destroyed by water, some walls stay destoryed after Wario himself destroyed them. But the level layout is very simillar. Even the treasure room is in the same exact location!
And then it goes to Ruins At The Bottom Of The Sea. Flooded ruins, right? No. Just ruins, that have very little water in them. Ok. But what's this?

Ok, I'm getting a little of topic. But just listen: these are ruins at the bottom of the see. You would think they would be flooded. However, there's really little water in them. There is water outside of the ruins thought. On level 3*-4, Escape From The Ruins. Look at this. This water is used for decorations, to show the outside of the ruins. You can't even get there. But Nintendo even put fish there. That's attention to detail.

But getting back on topic. Normal Chapter 3 is Maze Woods. Well, these woods are kind of generic... and Chapter 5 is the Villan's castle. No suprices there.
It's Cahpter 4 that's really interesting. Every level of it is different. Story 1 is set on the train level, one of only 2 in the game. Story 2 is the outside of Nintendo HQ skysqraper, we climb the building. Story 3 is indoors. Story 4 is in a factory. And story 5 in the overall town explorarion, with an awesome boss.

The remaining 2 secret chapters are a haunted mansion (which is overdone in games, and yet they still did something unique. They mentioned to give you a "This Was All A Dream Ending", and turn it into a "Dream Of Things Yet To Come". Creative). And then there is anothe rchapter, with 5 more factory levels. Factory levels are really underused in videogames, so this is a great enviorment.

Oh yeah, and there's chapter set in Wario's castle too, but this time we storm the castle. Explore entierly different rooms. And it becomes harder. A castle that was friendly before seems kind of dangerous. That's 2 chapters set in the hero's home, yet each of them feels different!

EDIT:
Oh, and I competly forgot to mention the place where the Really Final Chapter takes place. Where is this supose to be aniway? A bizzare place, rather than a castle for the final level. Creative? I would say so!

......

Right, time to move on. What do we have in Wario Land 3? We have 2 forest levels, a friendly forest (more like the edge of the forest) where all 4 treasures are required to unlock the final boss, and a dangeorus dark forest, which is a completly optional level. We have a village and a town. Nice. We have water levels that are rivers, lakes, pools, and not oceans. That's different. We have a bridge, a castle and tower with puzzles but no boss fights. And the Warped Void, which is... A completly different enviorment.

......

And in Wario Land 4, nearly every level theme is unique, or underrated in videogames. Another factory, a dump. The ice level is inside a giant fridge? And a pinball machine? A board game and domio land? And Arabian theme level? A cave there hell freezes over?

.......

yeah, there's deffinetly a lot of creativaty there...

 

[607]

Yeah, I love it. Thank you wariolandgoldpiramid, for that great post. By the way, I remember trying so hard to get to that place in escape from the ruins, because the sawfish made me think you were actually supposed to go there
That's one of the things I really like from Wario Land 4. It only has 18 levels, but the 18 are so diverse, that it stays interesting. The only game I played that doesn't have that interesting level design, is Super Mario Land 3. There are certainly some cool ones in it, but most are a bit of the same.

 

[wariolandgoldpiramid]

Yeah, I love it. Thank you wariolandgoldpiramid, for that great post. By the way, I remember trying so hard to get to that place in escape from the ruins, because the sawfish made me think you were actually supposed to go there
That's one of the things I really like from Wario Land 4. It only has 18 levels, but the 18 are so diverse, that it stays interesting. The only game I played that doesn't have that interesting level design, is Super Mario Land 3. There are certainly some cool ones in it, but most are a bit of the same.

Thanks, 607!
Didn't expect that post to become so detailed and analytical. DIdn't expect it to take so long to write it as well. I think it took around an hour? Maby 45 minutes? I already forgot

 

[CM30]

Oh yeah. I have a lot to say here
Let's start with Wario Land 2.
The very first world (aka chapter) i set entierly in Wario's (the protagonist's) castle. I really dont know any other games where a world takes place in the hero's home. If anyone knows, let me know
The second chapter mixes manages to mix 4 different themes: garden, forest, seaside with flooded caves, and a ship. It's a very well done chapter. The music in the third level (get in the tea cup) fits the seaside theme perfectly, and those Seagles flying in the sky. I think it's an amazing atmosphere.
And of course, when you are on the ship, you can stop the pirates from sailing away eather by droping the anchor, or flooding the ship.
And like ShyGuyXXL and CM30 already sayd, shen you flood the ship, you get to play the same level again. But it's filled with water. Some of the walls are destroyed by water, some walls stay destoryed after Wario himself destroyed them. But the level layout is very simillar. Even the treasure room is in the same exact location!
And then it goes to Ruins At The Bottom Of The Sea. Flooded ruins, right? No. Just ruins, that have very little water in them. Ok. But what's this?

Ok, I'm getting a little of topic. But just listen: these are ruins at the bottom of the see. You would think they would be flooded. However, there's really little water in them. There is water outside of the ruins thought. On level 3*-4, Escape From The Ruins. Look at this. This water is used for decorations, to show the outside of the ruins. You can't even get there. But Nintendo even put fish there. That's attention to detail.

But getting back on topic. Normal Chapter 3 is Maze Woods. Well, these woods are kind of generic... and Chapter 5 is the Villan's castle. No suprices there.
It's Cahpter 4 that's really interesting. Every level of it is different. Story 1 is set on the train level, one of only 2 in the game. Story 2 is the outside of Nintendo HQ skysqraper, we climb the building. Story 3 is indoors. Story 4 is in a factory. And story 5 in the overall town explorarion, with an awesome boss.

The remaining 2 secret chapters are a haunted mansion (which is overdone in games, and yet they still did something unique. They mentioned to give you a "This Was All A Dream Ending", and turn it into a "Dream Of Things Yet To Come". Creative). And then there is anothe rchapter, with 5 more factory levels. Factory levels are really underused in videogames, so this is a great enviorment.

Oh yeah, and there's chapter set in Wario's castle too, but this time we storm the castle. Explore entierly different rooms. And it becomes harder. A castle that was friendly before seems kind of dangerous. That's 2 chapters set in the hero's home, yet each of them feels different!

EDIT:
Oh, and I competly forgot to mention the place where the Really Final Chapter takes place. Where is this supose to be aniway? A bizzare place, rather than a castle for the final level. Creative? I would say so!

Great points here. Although I will say one thing; did anyone else think we were going to explore the outside of the ruins under the sea?

Cause when I saw those fish, I thought there was going to be a secret exit leading outside or something. The fact it's just a background decoration just kind of blows my mind.

......

Right, time to move on. What do we have in Wario Land 3? We have 2 forest levels, a friendly forest (more like the edge of the forest) where all 4 treasures are required to unlock the final boss, and a dangeorus dark forest, which is a completly optional level. We have a village and a town. Nice. We have water levels that are rivers, lakes, pools, and not oceans. That's different. We have a bridge, a castle and tower with puzzles but no boss fights. And the Warped Void, which is... A completly different enviorment.

......

Yeah, good points here.

And in Wario Land 4, nearly every level theme is unique, or underrated in videogames. Another factory, a dump. The ice level is inside a giant fridge? And a pinball machine? A board game and domio land? And Arabian theme level? A cave there hell freezes over?

.......

yeah, there's deffinetly a lot of creativaty there...

The ice level is probably the most interesting thing in the game theme wise. Yes the others are also fantastic, original ideas, but come on; it's an ice level which has a mechanical/industrial theme rather than a happy go lucky Christmas one.

You almost never see that in a video game. Heck, you rarely ever see bleak, miserable ice levels in general, they're almost always happy and upbeat or calming and quiet (the only exceptions I remember are the ice levels from the Mario & Luigi series, which funny enough, are ALL depressing and miserable).

Yeah, I love it. Thank you wariolandgoldpiramid, for that great post. By the way, I remember trying so hard to get to that place in escape from the ruins, because the sawfish made me think you were actually supposed to go there
That's one of the things I really like from Wario Land 4. It only has 18 levels, but the 18 are so diverse, that it stays interesting. The only game I played that doesn't have that interesting level design, is Super Mario Land 3. There are certainly some cool ones in it, but most are a bit of the same.

Agree here too. Honestly, the fact they decided to put 18 entirely unique levels (where the graphics, music and gimmicks are almost never reused at all) instead of a few hundred drawn out, boring ones is something to admire the staff for. Quality over quantity, ah I wish more video games would take note.

Better to make a few good levels than a ton of boring ones.

 

[Bubba]

That's the thing about Wario. Everything has personality in it. The Peaceful Village (at night), the Toxic Landfill, a train level, weird space-ish levels with warps or that one last level in WL2. And like CM30 said the 40-below Fridge is pretty unique as far as level design goes.

Honestly, the fact they decided to put 18 entirely unique levels (where the graphics, music and gimmicks are almost never reused at all) instead of a few hundred drawn out, boring ones is something to admire the staff for. Quality over quantity, ah I wish more video games would take note.

Better to make a few good levels than a ton of boring ones.

Yes, quality over quantity in any product is a good thing. And they way the game has players explore amazes me sometimes from the thought of getting hit by an enemy gets you out of the boundaries normal Wario had (or upgrades sometimes rather than powers) rather than limiting you by taking your health even if some do that anyway. The enemies even fit with their environment so they don't feel like they were put there at will. That is truly creativity.

 

[Vampfox]

One thing that's really cool about the Wario Land games levels is how they can change.

Take for example Rice Beach in the first Wario Land game. After you beat the first boss the tide comes in and makes a few changes to courses 1 and 3.
Also Mt. Teapot changes after you hit the switch in course 12 which causes the lid of the teapot to crash down on the top of the mountain and turns course 10 into course 13.

 

[607]

One thing that's really cool about the Wario Land games levels is how they can change.

Take for example Rice Beach in the first Wario Land game. After you beat the first boss the tide comes in and makes a few changes to courses 1 and 3.
Also Mt. Teapot changes after you hit the switch in course 12 which causes the lid of the teapot to crash down on the top of the mountain and turns course 10 into course 13.

Yeah. Both Wario Land and Wario Land 3 did that really well. Wario Land II too, in some places (like that level that sunk to the bottom of the ocean, that was so cool :o).