You know all those levels with lighting effects and stuff?
Well because the GBA couldn't actually handle the types of HDMA needed to draw them technically, the Wario Land 4 staff actually drew the shadows on every single tile individually, and then positioned them just right to look good.
It's especially nuts in the Curious Factory, the level has about 100 or so different tiles in the tileset just to give the light 'effects' in different areas and to animate various things.
Similarly, it's insane how many animation frames there are here. Those smashers in the Curious Factory for example... they seem to have about 20-30 frames for something that's basically a Thwomp. Similarly, those Robo Bird enemies in Hard and Super Hard (which I've been trying to get a good rip of forever), seem to have about 12 frames for literally doing nothing. For just hovering in place.
It's just mad how much detail this game has in its sprites and animations and tiles. All for stuff any other platformer would spend maybe one tenth of that time on. But it certainly shows they enjoyed making the game and put everything into it.
Well because the GBA couldn't actually handle the types of HDMA needed to draw them technically, the Wario Land 4 staff actually drew the shadows on every single tile individually, and then positioned them just right to look good.
It's especially nuts in the Curious Factory, the level has about 100 or so different tiles in the tileset just to give the light 'effects' in different areas and to animate various things.
Similarly, it's insane how many animation frames there are here. Those smashers in the Curious Factory for example... they seem to have about 20-30 frames for something that's basically a Thwomp. Similarly, those Robo Bird enemies in Hard and Super Hard (which I've been trying to get a good rip of forever), seem to have about 12 frames for literally doing nothing. For just hovering in place.
It's just mad how much detail this game has in its sprites and animations and tiles. All for stuff any other platformer would spend maybe one tenth of that time on. But it certainly shows they enjoyed making the game and put everything into it.