Why is Wario Land a less popular series than Kirby or Yoshi's Island?

I'm not sure if it's been touched upon, but it probably came from Nintendo trying to diversify their game types. Warioware was popular and different enough to give Wario his own flavor outside of platformers (where Mario was their main IP for that). On top of that Master of Disguise was iffy, and Shake It! apparently didn't sell too well. Those were the final nails in the Wario Land coffin.

I hope they give it another chance. I'd love to see another Wario Land in the style of 4. Beautiful sprite graphics. At the moment it's probably just not as marketable, and aside from diehards like us, probably wouldn't sell as well as Yoshi or Kirby.
 
TomorrowsBloodPressure said:
I'm not sure if it's been touched upon, but it probably came from Nintendo trying to diversify their game types. Warioware was popular and different enough to give Wario his own flavor outside of platformers (where Mario was their main IP for that). On top of that Master of Disguise was iffy, and Shake It! apparently didn't sell too well. Those were the final nails in the Wario Land coffin.

I hope they give it another chance. I'd love to see another Wario Land in the style of 4. Beautiful sprite graphics. At the moment it's probably just not as marketable, and aside from diehards like us, probably wouldn't sell as well as Yoshi or Kirby.
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No offence, but it would stink if they tried to mimic Wario Land 4 yet again. One of the main problems with Shake Dimension was being a WL4 wannabe instead of an original game. Wario Land never painted itself into a routine like Mario or Konami. It shed its skin and kept things fresh.
Shake Dimension failed to acknowledge what made each game unique, even with the similarities between WL2 and WL3, or WLSML3 and VBWL.
 
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Angler of Lake Asparagus said:
No offence, but it would stink if they tried to mimic Wario Land 4 yet again. One of the main problems with Shake Dimension was being a WL4 wannabe instead of an original game. Wario Land never painted itself into a routine like Mario or Konami. It shed its skin and kept things fresh.
Shake Dimension failed to acknowledge what made each game unique, even with the similarities between WL2 and WL3, or WLSML3 and VBWL.
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Well to be honest, it did create a routine...

Every two games. Wario Land 1 and VB were Mario Land styled, Wario Land 2 and 3 were puzzle adventure games and Wario Land 4 and Shake It were based on escape sequences and what not.
 
CM30 said:
Well to be honest, it did create a routine...

Every two games. Wario Land 1 and VB were Mario Land styled, Wario Land 2 and 3 were puzzle adventure games and Wario Land 4 and Shake It were based on escape sequences and what not.
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Makes me a little sad we never got a sister game for Wario World.
 
Wario Land 3 was quite different than 2 aside from the immortality and reactions, though. If they do make a new Wario Land game, I'd like another in the style of 3.
 
CM30 said:
Well to be honest, it did create a routine...

Every two games. Wario Land 1 and VB were Mario Land styled, Wario Land 2 and 3 were puzzle adventure games and Wario Land 4 and Shake It were based on escape sequences and what not.
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That thought did cross me, but while WL3 and VBWL borrow elements from their previous games (like immortality, or the power-up helmets) there's enough gameplay twists and innovations to make them stand on their own feet. Like the 3D multi-plain exploration of VBWL, or the interactive maps, mazelike gameplay and powering up of Wario in WL3, just like Metroid.
Shake Dimension had shaking, but I don't think it did much else to be its own thing. Still love the game, but it felt like a stripped down WL4 in many ways. It really overdid it with the time-bomb theme and dashing to the exit.
 
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Angler of Lake Asparagus said:
Shake Dimension <...> really overdid it with the time-bomb theme and dashing to the exit.
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Well, that design choice was meant to take the element of Wario Land 4, that worked great.
Problem is, Wario Land 4 had actual intricate design choices with it's folded level design.
Sometimes you were re-routed, sometimes you had to take the same path backwards, but there was always some sort of challange, and usualy the hardest obstacles of the level's main mechanic.

Shake It was basicly just dashing back to the entrance, trying to clear the time missions.
It wasn't as interesting.
 
wariolandgoldpiramid said:
Well, that design choice was meant to take the element of Wario Land 4, that worked great.
Problem is, Wario Land 4 had actual intricate design choices with it's folded level design.
Sometimes you were re-routed, sometimes you had to take the same path backwards, but there was always some sort of challange, and usualy the hardest obstacles of the level's main mechanic.

Shake It was basicly just dashing back to the entrance, trying to clear the time missions.
It wasn't as interesting.
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There were definitely high points, but the thing that really grilled me was the constant reliance on those Max Fastosity Dasherators (terrific name, though). So many puzzles, treasures, missions, and escape routes relied on the blasted things. It was a major chore to travel back to them again and again whenever you fouled up a sequence.

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Honestly, I always thought Shake It had its own idea about how the escape sequences should work.

In 4, they were used to expand the level and add more areas to explore afterwards, with a time limit to keep you moving. They weren't all about rushing at all.

Shake It on the other hand feels like it was designed to be a speedrun game, with the escape sequences often being about half the level and some areas (Lowdown Depths, Launchpad Labyrinth) being 100% escape sequence based.

Did it screw up? Quite a bit, especially how (as said above) you could be screwed over and forced to retry the sequence if you made even the smallest mistake. Did it purely copy 4? Honestly, I'd say no. It's gimmick was that it was trying to turn the escape sequence into a speedrun setup, and its issues came from the sloppy way it implemented that.
 
Shake Dimension did do one thing better than the rest of the series - it had infinite replay value. Even bigger than WL3 and WL4, which is saying a lot!
Loads of well-hidden treasure, countless missions, and after you've achieved everything there's the money and time records for each individual stage/boss stage.

Basically, it did what I wanted Wario World to do so badly. It turned a short and easy game into a huge challenge for completionists, with infinite replay/mastery factors.

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Unfortunately I was never compelled to complete those missions or get all the treasures. They just weren't that exciting to do. But I love the concept, just not the execution.
 
Shake it is awesome. The only problem was Wario's movement being so stiff. You can't bounce an enemy from the side like older games and no dash slide, and no slopes control either (ok, that last one was actually cleverly used but still). Other than that I thought the missions added more replay value to the game.
 
The mission system was certainly a neat inclusion in Shake It. Then again, I've always liked those in Nintendo's games. Much more interesting than the ones forced on other games by console manufacturers.
 
BlueJackG said:
Shake it is awesome. The only problem was Wario's movement being so stiff. You can't bounce an enemy from the side like older games and no dash slide, and no slopes control either (ok, that last one was actually cleverly used but still). Other than that I thought the missions added more replay value to the game.
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You also can't ground pound when you're moving sideways in the air. You have to let go of left or right, which was never a problem in Wario Land.
 
Angler of Lake Asparagus said:
No offence, but it would stink if they tried to mimic Wario Land 4 yet again. One of the main problems with Shake Dimension was being a WL4 wannabe instead of an original game. Wario Land never painted itself into a routine like Mario or Konami. It shed its skin and kept things fresh.
Shake Dimension failed to acknowledge what made each game unique, even with the similarities between WL2 and WL3, or WLSML3 and VBWL.
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No offense taken! :p I actually do agree with most of what you've said, although I still think Shake It is fairly different from 4. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking things that worked well in old games and re-using them, although you're definitely right in that changing up the formula is definitely what makes the Wario Land series so compelling.

Besides, if you try something new for the sake of having something new, you end up with stuff like Master of Disguise. I personally don't really like that game (mostly because of the controls, if I'm remembering correctly), but I know of a few who do. Regardless, I believe that it's seen as a bit of a black sheep in the series.
 
TomorrowsBloodPressure said:
Besides, if you try something new for the sake of having something new, you end up with stuff like Master of Disguise. I personally don't really like that game (mostly because of the controls, if I'm remembering correctly), but I know of a few who do. Regardless, I believe that it's seen as a bit of a black sheep in the series.
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The controls, the unending touchscreen minigames, the incessant use of gross-out humor, some of the level design, some of the sprites,... and it was just trying too hard to be weird and funny sometimes.

The best thing about it was the soundtrack.
 
For Master of Disguise, it was pretty clear Suzak had no experience making a platformer before it, or much experience in game design at all for that matter. Many aspects felt like they were learning as they went along, hence the strangeness.

Then again, Shake It was GoodFeel's first 'real' game from what I can remember, and they did a much better job there. So eh, I don't know.
 
ShyGuyXXL said:
The controls, the unending touchscreen minigames, the incessant use of gross-out humor, some of the level design, some of the sprites,... and it was just trying too hard to be weird and funny sometimes.

The best thing about it was the soundtrack.
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Yeah. I hated all the toilet humor in Master of Disguise. The old Wario Land games didn't have that, and it's one of the aspects of WarioWare and Smash Bros. Wario me and a lot of Wario Land fans hate.
 
LesTheTimeSweeper said:
Yeah. I hated all the toilet humor in Master of Disguise. The old Wario Land games didn't have that, and it's one of the aspects of WarioWare and Smash Bros. Wario me and a lot of Wario Land fans hate.
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Which would fit really well with its developers not really knowing much about Wario before taking on the project. Very little in Master of Disguise feels like it's inspired by the older games, or shows awareness of them.
 
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