I have probably beat this game like 5+ times as a kid and I still find myself coming back to it every once and a while as a adult. In my opinion this is the best 3d platforms on the GameCube.

From making different models of the enemy types, to the music; each level feels completely different than the one before. Combined with the wacky looking enemies/bosses and the gimmicks of the stages and challenge areas, you can see how much focus the devs put into making a fun game while playing around with interesting ideas.

Some of the boss fights can really show how the game shines in it's wackiness and creativeness. You can fight a large dinosaur in a bikini, a guy who looks like a carny who hides in a cup and plays a shell game to avoid you, and a army spider.

The challenge zones are also another highlight, showcasing both what you and the game engine can do.

My only complaint is snow world being a pain to 100% due to the slides.

Part of me wishes this game was longer, but I feel like it's one of those quality over quantity kind of situations.

Treasure never misses. This game is a 2D action beat-em-up with a lot of exploratory elements to make ya run around and check every nook and cranny of the levels. In order to get to the end of the level there are these red crystal things that need to be collected, and they can be found in these single-room mystery challenge areas, which can be either pure platforming challenges or puzzles that need to be solved. So the game is a mixture of puzzle platformer, action platformer, and beat em up. Wario's moveset is certainly not expansive but still diverse enough to make defeating enemies fun. The level themes are unique and the music is very wario-sounding, for better or for worse. One thing that caught me off guard is the graphical fidelity of this game. The lighting engine used is very impressive for the gamecube, with characters chasting dynamic real-time shadows, and light properly illuminating each part of the character it should shine on. In a lot of ways, it looks like an original Xbox game, which is cool. The enemy designs are very strange, and certainly go against the mario series norm, so if ya like a more different style of mario game, this game is def for you.

Nintendo used to hate kids more—-and in typical fashion, this game is easy to beat and massively frustrating to hundred percent. Some of the puzzle rooms near the end are insanely difficult, with small mistakes sending you tumbling to doom. Otherwise conceptually fairly simple, though a little frustrating with the endless respawning of annoying baddies, especially when they get in the way of some continued backtracking. An irritating game when taking in an extended play, but I do not think poorly of it when reflecting.

Japanese version is 3.5 stars because the final boss has a new phase that is hella fun. It's otherwise a fun if stale platform brawler.

Unless you're trying to do a self imposed challenge of collecting as many coins as possible, they aren't as important as the game makes them out to be. Their only uses are to get garlic from that italian dispenser to restore health, as well as respawning at the point of death.

However, the amount you'll pay for both of those situations is almost negligible with the amount you'll find in the levels. Apart from those two things, the coins have absolutely no significance to the game's progression, ironic considering the significance of them to Wario.

The game is like a very cool road trip where you're enjoying yourself, seeing strange sights, having a grand ol' time but then out of nowhere someone starts ripping some Wario tier farts while the windows are closed. The fart subsides quickly and you go back to enjoying yourself but you swear you can occasionally still catch whiffs of it even after the fact.
What I mean to say with this fart and trip analogy is to say games good but occasionally you start smelling the stinkiness of something (whether it's a specific puzzle(s), some platforming shenanigans or something else) and depending on your tolerance will write the game off as "janky Game Cube era nonsense" or a hidden gem on the system. Truthfully the game is probably somewhere in the middle of both. I just enjoyed it despite the perhaps thematically appropriate stinkiness.