As you know, Wario can technically die(!) in Wario Land 3 by being squashed by Rudy's hands, resulting in a Game Over!
This is the only way you can actually lose the game.
I think that the game over mechanic was presented so well in the game, it feels like a shame that it went so underused...
I think there should be more ways that can result in a game over, such as being caught by the Mecha-mole in The Peaceful Village & The Stagnant Swamp, and being caught by the squid/pirate ghost bosses in Sea Turtle Rocks/The Stagnant Swamp (Which eject you from the room). It would work perfectly!
Maybe if I gain better knowledge of how enemy behavior works, I could replace the eject with the game over so anytime you get caught by an enemy, rather than being ejected, the same thing happens as if you were squashed by Rudy... It would be very simple to do, (Just copy bytes in a hex editor) but no ROM map exists for Wario Land 3, so finding the offset of the two mechanics would be almost impossible...
Oh well, I rambled on too long, so what do you think should cause Wario to die and get a game over in a level?
The fact that it only ever happens one time in the game and at the very end at that, is what makes it so powerful.
In a game where you don't ever need to worry about losing anything besides time, you get SO used to being able to just blindly waltz into any situation and then continue from there, that the thought of a game over couldn't be further away from your mind.
That's what makes the sudden Game Over screen and seemingly permanent loss so disheartening, and what makes Rudy seem so threatening.
It's like a slap in the face out of nowhere, that's the whole point.
Apart from what ShyGuy said I also just think that keeping the no death mechanic from Land 2 was a good thing, especially since Land 3 is all about exploration and puzzles that's where the challenge is, so being able to die, while trying to figure out the solution to a puzzle, forcing you to backtrack and possibly lose your previous train of thought would just add a layer of tedium that wouldn't do anything good for the game.
They technically could've added another final level to the game, a level where all your skills are put to the test, similar to the really final chapter in WL2, and could've made the boss function the same as the others. Not sure if that would've made it better. Maybe if the level was really good.
But the way it is now is definitely more unique.
I agree with the others here. The fact Wario Land 3 had no death/game over mechanic, only to suddenly introduce one as a final boss ability is what makes it so scary. It's like 'oh my god, this guy can actually change the game's rules because he's so powerful'.
And hey, it's not as much of a pain there as anywhere else. Remember, Rudy is the only thing in said level. As a result, dying only puts you back a cutscene and part of the boss fight, not a whole lengthy level.
So yeah, keep it as a one off for effect. It'd be annoying otherwise.
I feel it would make the game more difficult... heh heh heh...
One thing I seem to do while I modify video games is that I make levels notoriously difficult, even for me! (Not that I actually released them to the public, so I don't know how others would think!)
I wouldn't mind a difficult Wario Land rom hack, as long as it still has a difficulty curve and doesn't start out balls-to-the-walls hard like a Kaizo hack.
I thought the whole point of WL3's game over was to make Wario losing to Rudy a what-if scenario since Wario's shown sleeping and suddenly waking up from the nightmare of losing to Rudy on the game over screen.
I think it works well the way it is.
The game over screen is really just a way to kick the player out of the level for screwing up. All other boss levels just send you back a few rooms if you screw up. Since the Temple has no other rooms to get sent back to so the game over screen was a nice touch on the developer's part.
Wario doesn't die! He gets caught and falls asleep! hahaha
If we think about it, the Game Over screen was completely unecessary, but like @Vampfox said, it was used to kick Wario out for failure, otherwise the final boss wouldn't have much of a challenge. I still think they should've approached the final boss a bit better, making it's own level. I said that because Wario's challenge is in the levels, as the bosses just guard the end of it. They did it right in Wario Land 2, so why the change?
However, if they were to bring the Game Over to other places in the game, it would be bottomless pits and the other bosses in the game, maybe.
