Should Wario be invincible?

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In Wario Land 2 and 3, the main gimmick is that Wario is (for the most part) completely invincible. He gets knocked back if hit by enemies and loses coins on occasion, but he can never actually die in a level or boss fight. He's just pushed around a bit, and that's it.

Meanwhile in the rest of the series he's certainly a lot tougher than typical platformer protagonists, but health is actually a factor here.

So, what do you prefer? Do you think the completely invincible setup is better, or is having health better?
 
I prefer him to be invincible. It's one of the things that makes the games more uniquely 'Wario'. Not being invincible also makes it harder to take advantage of the transformations (which is one of my favourite aspects of Wario Land) since on a first play through you can't know which enemies will hurt you and which ones will transform you
 
Warioland 2 was the first I played so I figured all of them would have Wario be invincible. I really liked the decision. Like the other poster said, it helped the game feel unique and added a little special something to it. And to take advantage of the invincibility to use transformations is such a great idea. My instinct is always to avoid the flame thrower, or the giant weights so that I don't get flattened. So to need to embrace them is very fun, imo.
 
Gonna be honest, I would rather him not be Invincible. Reason is that when Wario doesn't have a health system, the game punishes you in very annoying, usually making redo section. Pizza Tower doesn't have that problem which shows this doesn't have to be this way but WL2 and 3 do.
 
Cirta said:
Gonna be honest, I would rather him not be Invincible. Reason is that when Wario doesn't have a health system, the game punishes you in very annoying, usually making redo section. Pizza Tower doesn't have that problem which shows this doesn't have to be this way but WL2 and 3 do.
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Totally fair point. Especially when it's so easy for Wario to be sent out of the boss battles and having to start them from scratch. I guess what I'd say is that I like it as a character trait and a way to give a "power up" to traverse certain parts of the maps.
 
Might be interesting to make him invincible outside of boss battles, and have a health bar inside them. Isn't that kinda what Pizza Tower does with Peppino?
 
Invincibility give a lot of unique charm to the game, even if it resulting in punishing by making you redo certain sections sometimes, it gives a pretty cool seamless feeling. And also encourages for you to experiment with everything without fear of dying.

But I could go either way, depends on what kind of game is being made. I like the original Wario Land after all.
 
What if there was a game where you could toggle Wario's immortality state? He could have an item with him that makes him immortal but you have to disperse of that item temporarily in order to use it to solve puzzles. Or as a risk and reward thing.

No idea how to make a full game out of this concept, but I just had the thought and found it interesting, so I'm sharing it!
 
Nah, i dont think that wario should be invincible. Part of what makes a character strong is how they handle the downcomings or rather, the difficulties that comes to mind, and when a player is joining a character like Wario on his misadventures, I think it adds to it the fact of him not being invincible. The stakes and everything he does to accomplish his goalsNah, i dont think that wario should be invincible. Part of what makes a character strong is how they handle the downcomings or rather, the difficulties that comes to mind, and when a player is joining a character like Wario on his misadventures, I think it adds to it the fact of him not being invincible. The stakes and everything he does to accomplish his goals
 
I prefer him being invincible, it made Wario Land 2 and 3 feel pretty easygoing most of the time, which I really appreciated. I didn't mind having to redo sections as much, since you can save almost anywhere I would just take a break from playing the game and try again later (although I totally understand why this would be frustrating for some people)
 
Wario being invulnerable is a fun gimmick and complimented his transformations well, but I'm not sure if I would like it if they returned it. Mostly because their only way to make bosses a thing is to make them super fucking annoying, sending you out of their area and forcing you to take time getting back to them all over one mistake.
 
Care said:
Wario being invulnerable is a fun gimmick and complimented his transformations well, but I'm not sure if I would like it if they returned it. Mostly because their only way to make bosses a thing is to make them super fucking annoying, sending you out of their area and forcing you to take time getting back to them all over one mistake.
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Yeah the way bosses work in Wario Land II and 3, you may as well have only one hit point to begin with. Every important attack is practically a one-hit kill anyway, since getting kicked out of the arena resets the fight.
 
I think this mechanic moreso depends on the type of game the developers want to design. 1 and VB have their systems mostly due to not having a different direction than "slightly different Mario" yet, but in II and 3 the invincibility feels very deliberate to further emphasize the puzzle solving and experimentation with Wario's malleability. 4, MoD and ShakeIt go for more action-oriented score platformers with elements of puzzle solving, so it made sense to reintroduce proper punishment states. World... is super easy since it gives you an abundance of health, but it's kind of necessary to add stakes to something more combat-focused. So yeah. It deepens!
To answer the question originally asked, if I haven't said it once I've said it twenty times here: I think invincibility is a much more interesting direction for Wario to take that leads to more unique interactions different from Mario, and for a new game I'd prefer they look to expand II and 3's approach, 2D or 3D.
 
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