kwaspek104
Gamer
The Metroid and Wario series are tied for my second favorite Nintendo franchise (with Donkey Kong being number 1, of course). It took me a while to realize that both were developed by the same Nintendo team, R&D1. And then I noticed that there a couple of similarities between the two series.
*A blend of arcade-style platforming and exploration* - This was the hook of the original Metroid. That, and the fact that the game was one giant maze. As for the Wario series, you see this most prevalently in Super Mario Land 3, where you can die 2 hits and there are lots of treasures to find.
*Acquisition of Power-ups Leads to Backtracking* This was most prevalent in Wario Land 3 of course. While you don't acquire power-ups in the other Wario games, you do get transformations. The transformations actually work much like the items in Metroid, because they usually facilitate puzzles where you need the transformation to get somewhere or unlock something.
*Puzzles. And a lot of damn wall-bashing/bombing* For some reason, the guys at R&D1 really like masked walls. In Wario Land 2 and 3, there are a lot of puzzles where you have to bash walls to find secret areas. In Metroid games, you have to morphball and bomb a lot of walls to find secret areas. Oh well.
To conclude, I will say that the level design of both series can be very similar at times. Especially if you play Wario Land 4 and Metroid Fusion back to back. The two games use the same engine, Dash Attack and Speed Booster are very reminiscent of each other, and some areas look almost identical to each other (40 Below Fridge and Sector 5, respectively). At times, Metroid Fusion feels like a spiritual successor to WL4.
*A blend of arcade-style platforming and exploration* - This was the hook of the original Metroid. That, and the fact that the game was one giant maze. As for the Wario series, you see this most prevalently in Super Mario Land 3, where you can die 2 hits and there are lots of treasures to find.
*Acquisition of Power-ups Leads to Backtracking* This was most prevalent in Wario Land 3 of course. While you don't acquire power-ups in the other Wario games, you do get transformations. The transformations actually work much like the items in Metroid, because they usually facilitate puzzles where you need the transformation to get somewhere or unlock something.
*Puzzles. And a lot of damn wall-bashing/bombing* For some reason, the guys at R&D1 really like masked walls. In Wario Land 2 and 3, there are a lot of puzzles where you have to bash walls to find secret areas. In Metroid games, you have to morphball and bomb a lot of walls to find secret areas. Oh well.
To conclude, I will say that the level design of both series can be very similar at times. Especially if you play Wario Land 4 and Metroid Fusion back to back. The two games use the same engine, Dash Attack and Speed Booster are very reminiscent of each other, and some areas look almost identical to each other (40 Below Fridge and Sector 5, respectively). At times, Metroid Fusion feels like a spiritual successor to WL4.
