Wario Land II retrospective: Colour my WAAAAAHrld | Game Boy Works Color
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- For Nintendo's third portable system (allowing for a very loose definition of "portable" where Virtual Boy is concerned), we once again have another platformer in the Super Mario Land family to help kick things off. But while Wario Land II may technically be a sequel to Super Mario Land, it has almost nothing to do with that game besides being a platform game inspired by Super Mario Bros. It drops the "Mario" title altogether, focusing entirely on antagonistic protagonist Wario, who finally distinguishes himself from his do-gooding rival by being completely immortal. There are no health pick-ups here, no 1UPs, none of that frail nonsense. Wario is indestructible, like all cartoon bad guys, and Wario Land II builds on that premise to create an exploratory puzzle-platform experience like nothing before it. It's a masterpiece, and a great launch title for Game Boy Color... even if it technically wasn't, originally.
This is my favorite Gameboy game so I'm happy to see it getting some praise. Even my Mom was obsessed with this game, although she got my help to beat the bosses.
I also remember when she was starting it again for the hundredth time and was making dinner, and called me to tell me that if you don't wake Wario up that the game changes. She was so excited.
This game will always have a place in my heart.
It's a shame Captain Syrup is for all intents and purposes forgotten nowadays. At the risk of angering internet memers, she should have been Wario's partner in crime instead of Waluigi. There was a neat "frenemy" dynamic as Wario occasionally came to Syrup's aid rather than fight her all the time, and he even appeared to harbor some nascent romantic feelings for her. I could easily envision a "Bickersons" type of team-up between the two, where they trade threats and insults one moment and make up the next.
That would be cool. Or Wart. They should bring him back. Maybe Wario gets trapped in that world and makes an alliance with him.
I totally agree, I feel like being at loggerheads with on-and-off allies is just a further development of the whole idea of wario land. You’re not playing as THE bad guy but he’s definitely not a good guy, and it’d be fun to watch him squabble with other second-stringers who are just mean and greedy as they work against someone truly scary, like your usual wario game final bosses. I still think there’s room for waluigi but Syrup is a more clearly-defined character than he’s ever been. They’re just needing to do a bit more with both of them.
I gotta say, the design sensibilities of this game would fit in perfectly today still. You could convince me, if it weren't for the incredibly small screen space, that a game like this was a really good indie puzzle platformer released this year. And that's speaking more about the sensibilities in mechanics and level design.
That's why it bugs me so much that we haven't gotten a new one in 13 years. This is still a goldmine on potential ideas.
Actually, the first game's best ending is Wario getting a *_whole planet_* with his face on it.
It was truly a sight to behold back in those days.
Floating Sunfish I always thought it was the moon.
@@pokepress I don't think Wario would want to live on a desolate space rock for his best ending though. 😅
@@pokepress If you look close at it, it has oceans, and clouds.
I remember, though apparently that ending isn't canon, unless WL2 takes place on the Wario World. (Though, Kitchen Island from the first WL is shown on WL2's title screen.)
I only got the bird house.
Finally someone who appreciates the greatness that is wario land
Yeah, I felt it was very original back then.
What who doesn't appreciate it? It's pretty good
The syrup fight with the fire was used by the same team as the inspiration for one of the Metroid fusion bosses
You mean the Spider boss, right?
It's always fun to notice little shared elements between Wario and Metroid. The most obvious one for me is the physics of pancake Wario and that enemy in Metroid that moves the same way.
God, that secret route in the first level drove me nuts.. It was the last one I found and I combed over that level about 20 times with no luck. I started the level again, disheartened, and just stared at Wario asleep and after a few seconds the level just cleared.
The alternate route thing was so cool, though. I cleared the game the normal way, then the map appeared with a whole other game's worth of levels on it. I think the route in the first level is the only one you can't do the first time you play the stage. I wonder how many people got one of the endings that appears after like 10 levels and didn't know it was 20% of the game.
The secret in the first level?
It was talked about everywhere, any code book, or any place online talked about it back in the day.
And you can actually get the secret of the first level on your first playthrough.
It's just slower. When you revisit the level, it only takes a few seconds, as opposed to a minute or so.
Yes, I do wonder if anyone got the earliest ending on their first playthrough of the game, _without_ knowing about it! Even if someone got bored watching the cutscene and had gone to do something else, they would still have to press the 'A' button to start the chapter. And why would you not attempt to press any buttons for 40+ seconds?
@@607 I know somebody who found it by accident with no knowledge of it, but that's because he was livestreaming the game, and had stuff to talk about before starting gameplay.
ruclips.net/video/X1XI78Ehbag/видео.html
I remember flipping my shit as a kid when I beat this game, only to find that Ive only played half the game.
I really appreciate your retrospective on the original Wario Land given how you yourself aren't confident that you'll ever make it that far in Gameboy Works. :)
I sincerely hope this project continues to cover every title in the library, even if it means a successor taking over at some point. It's just that interesting to watch!
I've always considered Wario the Venom to Mario's Spider-Man, both guys starting as twisted evil twins to their respective do-gooder counterparts yet becoming very popular characters and even getting their own series.
Personally I tend to lump in Wario with Odlaw, due to them both being a play on their original’s name and having a warped version of their original’s clothes.
Wario Land 2 is still my favorite WL game. It's very deep & huge 8-meg Gameboy game.
The fact that the Wario Land series integrated a no deaths system in 2 proves that it's the more wacky and weirdly ambitious counterpart to Mario Land
Remember that the main series Mario platformers didn't get rid of the lives system until 2017
They were for different reasons, sure, but this shows how interesting Wario Land is by comparison
This game was a classic of childhood car rides for me, and one of the first games I played on my own rather than on the family SNES. I loved how wonky the universe was, and since that time the series has been one of Nintendo's funniest.
To this day I lament the fact that so few series have had a one-on-one basketball boss fight set in a high-rise.
I remember getting a GBC and this game for my birthday when I was in 1st grade. It was the first video game I ever owned and beat in my life. Good memories.
Two things... First, being dual-compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color does not restrict a game's ability to use GBC exclusive features, such as double speed mode. If the developers wanted to, they could have used double speed mode to eliminate any possible slowdown. It's just that you would be shipping a different experience for the non-GBC users.
Second: The Game Boy Color promotional demo turned out to be an extensive hack of Wario Land 2. Yes, really.
Right. There are plenty of places the game slows down on an original Gameboy. I haven't run into one place where it slows down on a Gameboy Color. This is the case in Zelda DX and Pokemon Gold, too. In fact, the slowdown in this game is SO prevalent on an original Gameboy, I'm surprised he didn't notice whilst making this video...
Now, the SUPER Gameboy DOES only add color to compatible games. It's CPU and RAM are identical to the original Gameboy's. Maybe he confused the two? I don't know, but the increased CPU speed is definitely there when playing any "black cartridge" game on a Gameboy Color...
Pretty sure the black Game Boy Colour cartridges contained two ROMS, one was for GBC, the other was for the classic Game Boy. Which is why the save data didn't carry over. I think this was common for all the black cartridge GBC games with save data.
Most GBC black carts don't require you to delete save data when switching platforms. I've recently juggled save files in GB Gallery 2 and Zelda DX seamlessly. Wario II is an anomaly.
Wario Land II is easily one of my top two most played GameBoy games (the other being Super Mario Bros Deluxe). It was brought home by mistake when I had asked my dad to look for a different game, and it ended up being one of my favorites. Completed it 100% several times, both in GBC and regular GB modes, just because I was torn between playing on the Color and the ability to play on the TV with the Super GameBoy. Many good times with that one.
I also just realized a couple weeks ago that it was on the 3DS Virtual Console (not sure how I missed that one), so I've been playing it again there. Still just as entertaining as I remember.
Huh. Wario's trick with the stages makes me think of Mario Galaxy.
Even though it's something of a trick in the case of Galaxy - the first one makes you replay the entire game as Luigi, and the second one introduces a second set of stars in the same stages...
But it's still weird when a game does that, regardless of how 'cheap' the extra content actually is - you think it's over, but then it isn't...
my favorite childhood game. I know every corner and sound of it.
I only ever owned the original non-color release of the this game. But man, it was an amazing game.
"Mario villians don't die"
*Except the RPG ones. Fawful basically tries to kamikaze the mario bros and bowser at the end of Bowsers Inside Story.
This game doesn't get enough attention and is a very overlooked GB gem.
Wario Land II is like the New Super Mario Bros. 2 of its day, but better. The focus is also on collecting as many coins as possible, but here the coins have tangential value to completing to 100%. You need to hold onto as much gold to unlock all the treasure and map pieces, which is harder to do than you’d think. In New Mario 2, conversely, collecting coins is more about watching a number go up. The coins worth a damn are the Star Coins needed to unlock every pathway and level.
When NSMB2 came out, there was a lot of "Just make a new Wario Land, god dammit." (Like with Mario Kart 8 just being an F-Zero game while the F-Zero series continues to rot in a grave somewhere.)
Donkey Kong Land 3 did something similar. Released as a monochrome game in the west, delayed in Japan and released there as a Color game. Actually, the monochrome versions of both Wario Land II _and_ DKL3 were shown off at Space World '97. (At least, they were shown running on Super Game Boy.) Both seem to have been slated for a Feb 1998 release.
Game Boy Gallery 2, which is up in a couple of episodes, is another case of this.
I loved this game's quirky, absurd sense of humor.
This the first game that felt all mine. One that wasn't a hand-me-down from my older brothers, but one that I got with my gameboy color and no one I knew ever played. Endless hours spent getting every puzzle piece, every treasure, everything, the patience and time to figure it all out without guides, time and smarts I wouldn't dream of having anymore. Great to see you covering it Jeremy, it truly did shape my brain to be weird and wonderful I think. The transformations are weird and hilarious to this day.
Man I remember watching Retronauts Lunch Break waaaaaaay back when, learning about all sorts of older games I hadn't heard of yet, and almost single handedly kick starting my interest in retro games as a result. Had no idea you continued elsewhere, let alone were doing full on scripted content.
You're a legend Jeremy, and I'm very happy RUclips dumped this into my recommended tab :)
Thanks for following up Retronauts' Mario Maker Monday podcast episode with a Wario Waker Wednesday video!
The pale limited coloring is probably because this was a black cart GBC game, hence it was backwards compatible with the original model Game Boys. Those always tended to have a very limited use of color, with clear use of color cells on backgrounds and a 3 color limit on sprites.
Absolutely LEGENDARY game and series. There's not a single bad game anywhere in the Wario Land saga, and I really don't know what other series you can say that about.
Spoken like someone who never played Master of Disguise
@@JeremyParish That's not a Wario Land game. If it doesn't have Wario Land in the title, I'm not taking about it. :)
This game is so overlooked on RUclips. Excellent video as always
One of my childhood favorites, this game really got me into exploration in platformers. So many secrets that made you feel super smart to discover them! Excellent video.
It is worth nothing that the GBC screen has a limited saturation, which makes the colors appear different when playing on an actual GBC. When playing GBC games on either the GBA or most emulators, you get the "correct" colors, but both the hue and saturation will be shifted a bit compared to how the games are intended to look like. Golds and yellows tend to get more green, for example.
Otherwise, Warioland II and 3 are some of my favorite games on the platform.
Way back in the day me and my mom played this game and just kinda shared the single save file. We had gotten all of the treasures except for the hidden route from the first level. I still remember her eventually just giving up and calling that Nintendo hotline that existed back then to get the solution and telling me about it after the call was over. I could scarcely believe it until I saw it myself.
So ultimately you’d recommend the colorized version, right?
Honestly, they're almost exactly the same thing. The color version is easier to find, so I'd just go with that.
@@JeremyParish I had the grey cartridge version for most of my life and had no idea there was a colored version until the 3DS Virtual Console rerelease.
Both have only tiny benefits over the other.
Depends on what you want. If you're playing the games on an original Game Boy, then it makes no difference. However, if you're playing the games on a Game Boy Color, then it depends what you want. If you want to customize the colors, but without the true color palette, then get the grey cartridge, but if you want the true color palette, then get the black cartridge.
While WL3 is my favourite, WL2 is up there with the best platformers I've ever played.
18:42 That screen! That friggin screen!
When I was a kid I had no idea what it said, since english wasn't my first language, so I unknowingly erased all my save data, just because I wanted to show a friend of mine the game, who only had the old gameboy.
To this day I still don't understand why it has to delete your save...
Interesting; I'd had no idea that the black-and-white game was such an anomaly. I remember buying it when it came out 'cause I'd loved the original, and when I saw the color version some time later, thinking of it as a cheap cash-in. Anyway, I never quite got into it; the no-death mechanic somehow didn't click with me. But I think I'll try again after watching this. I mean, it's a Nintendo platformer, fercryinoutloud, and if I DO get into it, the sequels will provide even more goodness.
Excellent retrospective. I never knew of the tidbits of its release intentionally vs Japan and how different each region was.
I remember this game being a special purchase for me. It left a lasting impression to this day due to how unique it was. The invincibility gimmick was so fresh and well-designed. I recall some magazines fearing that it would make the game too easy in previews, which wasn't the case in the final release. The branching paths system also blew my mind back in the day, particularly when I discovered not to wake up in the first level.
ahh wario land 2 and its sequel are proof of one thing:
just because you're an invincible hunk, does not mean the game is a cakewalk nor does it mean it can't be challenging.
what's the difference between dying and being sent to a checkpoint, or humiliatingly transformed and sent back several rooms to that same checkpoint?
there is none.
My first game. Still love this one
My lord and saviour Wario deserves another game. It is the perfect time for a triple A Wario game, with the switch selling like opioids. If Fire Emblem can now be an important title for Nintendo, Wario should be too.
I never got into this game because the controls felt a bit too wonky for me.
Wario Land 3 perfected the controls, story, *_and_* game mechanics.
Can't wait for you to get to it someday!
I prefer WL2 personally, WL3 felt pretty much the same to me, except you have fewer abilities, that you don't get to have until later limiting you, and your path. So while WL3 was good too, it felt more wonky to me personally.
Floating Sunfish Yes! I thought I was the only one who felt that the controls in WLII are awful. The first game feels so much better, followed by WLIII.
I found your channel a few days ago. Ive watched all your Gameboy videos. The Space Invaders video was very interesting. I live your Gameboy videos! Thanks for Wario 2. I don't see this game as much as the other 3.
nice to see some appreciation for my favourite gameboy game :)
If Nintendo isn't working on a Wario Land revival right now, they're a bunch of fools
So the Game Boy Color's initial release was one year after Gunpei Yokoi died.
nice! the GBC has to be one of my top favorite systems of all time!
This game really impressed me at the time, but I find it and WL3 kinda tough to go back to for some reason.
I guess what I'm saying is, it's no Wario Land 4. But what is, really?
Sadly, nothing. It's one of the all-time greats.
Wario Land 3 is kind of a drag. There are other issues, but the main one for me is how it nerfs Wario at the beginning so it can gradually build him up to the state he was in at the start of Wario Land 2. That's not fun. It's like if Super Mario Bros. 2 was like Super Mario Bros. 1 except Mario couldn't run and could only jump a height of two tiles until half way through the game.
@@rowtow13 You should've played them the other way around, I suppose. Wario Land 3 was the first game I played (well, the first Wario Land game), so I didn't mind at all. I still don't mind it, however. It's cool to feel empowered after getting a new piece of equipment, and even while the cutscene is still playing, consider which levels you should now revisit.
incredible episode!
My body is SO READY to be underwhelmed!
I don't believe the comment at 18:00 about the game not making use of the Gameboy Color's higher CPU clock speed is true. You can confirm this by comparing gameplay of any black cartridge Color game on both an original and a color Gameboy. There is slowdown all over the place when played on an original Gameboy, but not on a Gameboy Color. The same holds true for Zelda DX, Pokemon Gold, etc.
As far as I know, any game that boots into Gameboy Color mode automatically has the extra CPU speed available-- it isn't an "option" that needs to be enabled.
Do you have a source for this information? I could be wrong, but I don't see how that can be the case simply from observations made playing the game.
I made a video demonstrating what I'm talking about:
ruclips.net/video/sKouZRskp9o/видео.html
Why is there no lag on a Gameboy Color if not for the increased CPU speed? (A gray cartridge original Gameboy game WILL indeed lag identically whether on a DMG or Color or Advance)
EDIT: Upon researching this, it seems that the backwards compatible "black cartridge" games do at least make use of the faster CPU.
Source: assemblergames.com/threads/game-boy-color-cartridges-3-types.22681/
Another great work by Jeremy Parish.
I had the bnw Wario cart :)
wah
I’m so glad I watched this! I have the black cartridge but the Japanese version and I replaced the battery and I thought I messed up the board because it was making me restart a new game all the time but I was playing it on a gameboy sp and original gameboy and of course I don’t know Japanese so I didn’t understand what it was saying when it made me restart a new game, now i know I’ll only play it on the original gameboy, can I play it on my super gameboy without me having to restart a new game?
Source credit Hugh Jackman...
WAT
Great review. Wario Land 2 is one of my favorite games of all time
18:50
The hell? I had no idea this was a thing.
How bizarre.
It is weird.
The original GB rom has "gameboy" and "super gameboy" compatible save titles.
But in the GBC rom, the 3 modes can not transfer their save files.
@@wariolandgoldpiramid So the GBC rom can't transfer between GB and SGB?
Weird.
@@Skawo forces you to delete your save file if you play on a different console. It is weird.
Obvious project arises: what happens if you hack a GBC savefile so it appears like it was made on a GB
They used the light yellow because his eyes and gloves would be the same color.
You're gameBoy/GameBoy color videos are the reason i downloaded (most of) the Mario games and all Wario Land games on my 2DS XL!!
Wario Land II is my favorite Wario Land. The bosses were a pain, but I had lots fun exploring levels and making use of (or avoiding) the different manglements.
Compared to Wario Land 3, in which I just found myself lost a lot, and Wario Land 4, in which you have HP despite needing to take damage.
Wario Land 4 will always be my favorite, but I agree about 3.
Did you ever finish Wario Land 3?
Me? I almost finished it. Had the final boss unlocked. But I decided to ignore him and try to finish everything else 100%. Never quite made it.
The only other GBC game compatible with ye olde Game Boy that can't transfer save data is Conker's Pocket Tales, and that's for good reason: Technically being two different games on one cart. However, you have a whole different can of worms to open there involving everyone's favorite raunchy squirrel.
...though I guess the only reason why THIS game doesn't support transferring save files may be because they haven't gotten used to the GBC hardware yet. Not exactly a good reason on the consumer's end.
The game that was initially disappointment because it was not pokemon with my new gameboy color on christmas - turned out to be still best thing ever as I could not let this game go before 100%:ing it. Without internet.
Finding out about the level 1 secret exit accidentally was a dear.
yeaaaaah! I remember skipping the first level by just letting Wario sleep and then a whole different path in the game appears! I found every bit of this game without a guide and it was so cool as a kid!
#CaptainSyrupForSmash
Still brilliant all these years later. The Warioland Series kept me interested in platforming puzzle games long after my friends had moved on the the PSX.
I gotta be honest -- I never liked Wario Land 2. I wanted Wario Land, but bigger, and better. I got that only on Virtual Boy of all places. The GameBoy Color sequel was profoundly disappointing not only in game design, but also level design and music. Even back in '98 I felt that Wario Land 1 was a simply superior game.
Interesting!
I never felt as ripped off in my life as with this game. Months after I got my black and white copy they released this coloured version. I just couldn't justify paying again full price just for the colour. So i only got to play it in colour on 3DS on Virtual Console.
At 10:30 you're supposed to walk UNDER the blades when they're up. Not jump over them.
The best ending in Wario Land 1 isn't the castle, it's you getting a planet, but that requires grinding an absurd amount of cash and getting all the treasures.
It doesn't take that long if you use the secret level in Rice Beach. ;)
"Santa Claus is not real, and Jesus did not happen!"
~Wario, 2018
I liked and hated this game. The puzzles were a chore at times. Lots of nostalgia though.
I loved that when you didn’t wake up the game changed. Something you would try in other games to see if something happened but never would, but in this one actually did. One of my favourite games ever. Well designed and fun.
This episode I can tell seems like quite the undertaking. Nice work! I've owned the game on VC for a while now but haven't dived in yet.
I don’t mean to be mean but the castle ending isn’t the best ending of the first game it’s the second best. The best was when wario had his own planet
U should do some reviews about how much resident evil gaiden are one of the bast games on game boy color
I keep on thinking that the same development team that made this game also made Wario Land 3.
Great video!! Now have a rotten day.
Did you film those CGB-bordered sequences with an N64 Wideboy?
I did.
Your vids are really refreshing. You address these games like a scholar. Keep it up, m8.
This game is still so utterly fantastic
Verrry niice. This video deserves to make lots of gold, waahh-haa-haa!! I'm seeerious.
The fact that Wario is dressed in white in WL3 didn't make you think that maybe the wanted color was white and not yellow, for the game?
Yeah, I considered that too. :P But I guess that in both cases the designers would have liked him in yellow and purple. But with only 3 colours, that wouldn't be possible.
Virtual boy wario in black and white not red and white?!?!
Oh! I didn't know that the Game Boy only version was not released in Japan! I've always found it strange that the GBC version also works on the original Game Boy, if there was a version for the original Game Boy already... this explains it!
In my opinion, the Game Boy version actually looks better. It has shading on the Ghost boss, which the GBC version does not. I also don't like Wario's transformations changing his skin colour, except for a few that do make sense. What I _do_ love about the Game Boy Color version though, is that the giant spear man changes colour as you hit him. That is a lot of fun!
Wario Land II follows on from Super Mario Land 3's _second_ best ending. ;)
I forgot about the egg animation! That's so funny, haha. It's been years since I got eaten by that snake. :P
Note that the alternative story where Captain Syrup takes Wario's castle is only so easily accessed once you have beaten the game! This is good, as otherwise it would be quite hard to find. However, when first playing the stage, the player might not yet realise he should press a button to start playing. So to reduce the chance of someone finding the alternative (and very short) story on their first playthrough, it actually takes over 40 seconds (if I recall correctly) of lying in bed to get it as the first story.
I'm surprised that this doesn't have 200k views, and a thousand comments! It's a good video.
So sad the virtual boy was rushed to market or maybe even released at all.
Imagine that Wario game as a late gen snes game.
Or maybe with the virtual boy as a N64 peripheral
I ended up getting really fed up with Wario Land 2 the last time I played it. I would've much rather had a traditional health system because the alternative is making it so damage unreasonably stuns Wario. I remember getting stuck in the city area because even a single tiny mistake would knock you off your platform and drop you down to the very start of the platforming sequence. I thought it was way more aggravating than simply losing a pip of health.
Wow, I never knew the black and white version was Western only. Back then I felt ripped off when the colour version came out, but I guess we were privileged to be playing the game BEFORE the Japanese...
Warioland II is my favourite in the series, although they are all good. But I really liked the branching path system, with the 'sleep through the morning' path as the obvious highlight. I also liked how you were constantly chasing Syrup around and getting into these strange situations and fights. She's a really cool villain and woefully underused.
while i was watching this my sister came into my room and farted on my hand then she laughed at me and left my room :(
Congratulation on having Wario for a sister
Isn't Pokemon yellow technically the last first party release on the original gameboy?
You folks have convinced me it should count as GBC.
WAAAAAAHnderful review!
It's amazing to me this series has Evangelion music as it's Next Time Preview! I was previously not aware of any Eva GBC based game, but apparently they exist! It's also weird that the next episode is Shogi, which Fuyutsuki uses as a pretense to talk to Shinji in 3.0 aka Q.
Has anyone ever accidentally started on the level path where they have to reclaim Wario's palace?
You can’t open that path your first time through-it only triggers after you’ve completed the true path
Say what you will about the colorization of Wario Land II, I’m still miffed the original missed out on Super Game Boy support.
The B&W release of Wario Land II has Super Game Boy support.
I’ve always seen Wario as how Nintendo saw ‘The American Mario’
Fat hairy pushy guy- more like the Mario bros movie. Concerned entirely about money, and getting a bigger castle 🏰
It’s been said Mario was named from the New York landlord. I wonder how much of his personality came with.
Honestly prefer Wario Land 3. But hey that's just me.
It's not, actually! A lot of people do. Many people also prefer Wario Land 4. I've seen few people prefer the original SML3, or The Shake Dimension. Virtual Boy Wario Land is simply largely unplayed, as the Virtual Boy is quite uncommon and probably only useful for Wario Land.
Best Wario game.
Woah! You know that it's possible to dash in VB Wario Land! Most RUclipsrs who talk about that game don't realize you can do that.
I had the black and white version of this game and oddly enough, it was the last regular Gameboy game I bought at retail.
I don't even know what the final black and white Gameboy game was.
Warioland 2 remains one of my favorite Gameboy games of all time. 🙂