I'm curious about what people think about this at large. Bear in mind I don't mean best level design; I mean which had the best narrative or presentation-based advantages, be it in the HUB/map, or just the overall flow and sense of accomplishment and discovery as you play.
Wario platformers pride themselves on effectively presenting story elements through gameplay and having a true sense of wonder to the adventures that unfold, my question is what the better examples are in the eyes of you guys. For this reason I'm allowing multiple responses, since it's not really a matter of what THE best is, but what some of the fonder choices are.
While 4 is my favorite aesthetically, 3 was the most immersive due to the day and night cycle as well as the events on the map that would trigger changes within the levels themselves.
Wario Land 3 had the most immersive world. There's a Day/Night cycle that can effect the atmosphere of the levels. And every level, while not all of them are very memorable, serve a purpose. There's no "Grassy Fields 2", every level is a distinct location, and has multiple treasures. And the whole metroidvania, backtracking to levels, and most treasures serving a purpose, changing the world, is what madr the world feel more real.
Wario land 4 has a great HUB system, I loved how they handled the keys and gems. I loved how you can actually complete the level, but if you don't collect Keyser, you can't go to the next level. And if you don't get all the gem pieces, you don't have to immedietly go back for them, you can come back to them after you complete all 4 levels in the passage.
I loved these passages, for the reason that these portals can take Wario to different worlds, making the hub system that doesn't have to matxh visuals with the levels content, and loved how you can do levels in any order you want
Wario Land 3, for the reasons wariolandgoldpiramid mentioned.
And Wario Land II, as I really liked the sense of story through the cutscenes and the ability to discover different "paths" for the story line to take after first beating a final boss.
I said it before in the Wario Land 1 Appreciation thread that I love Kitchen Island, especially because of how changes on the map screen will effect certain levels, such as how Mt Teapot being "closed" leads to Rice Beach getting flooded, it really adds to the feeling of the Island being an actual living place and not just a steril set of levels.
