Interesting game, but not really my personal jam for 2D platformin. Whereas Wario Land 1 was more of a straightforward level based platformer akin to the Mario Land games that it piggybacked on, with the extra gimmick of being graded based off of how many coins you were able to collect, this game abstracts itself even further from its parent(?) series.
Most notably is that in this game Wario must have eaten some crazy kind of garlic or something because he is invincible now. There aren't any bottomless pits, and no matter how many times Wario gets smacked, slapped, roasted, frozen, squashed, or stretched, he cannot die. While there are certainly benefits to immortality, Wario Land 2 taught me that such a blessing can really be a curse. The level and game design has been fundamentally changed as a result, and now things are much more slow and explorative. Finding secrets is the real aim of the game here, as trying to straight-shot through the levels will only let you access 25 out of the whopping 51 levels that this game contains. As there's no threat of failure or death, the game really wants you to take your time combing the levels to find secret treasures and exits by leaving no door unvisited, no coin ungrabbed, and no wall/floor tile unchecked.
That isn't to say that there's zero punishment or challenge in this game, as while getting hit won't diminish any of Wario's health or make him any less capable than he normally is, it will put him in a cardiac arrest state for a few seconds while launching him with knockback force that makes the Belmont clan look like they have iron boots. Some enemies will instead change Wario's state like flame guys that will turn him into a fireball that can break blocks, hammer guys that will smash him into a bouncy spring form which can jump higher, hydraulic presses that flatten the lad into a pancake that can flutter, penguin lookin mfers that can make Wario drunk, and so on and so forth. You really don't know which enemies will knock you on your ass and which ones are actually powerups until you get hit.
All of this comes together to just kinda make a game that felt really annoying to play tbh. Since there's no mechanical punishment for getting hit the game usually punishes mishaps by resetting your progress whether that be by putting Wario in a state where you'd have to go back and revert or just by knocking you back down to the ground where you gotta get back to where you were before. Obviously, even in platformers with health systems mistakes commonly get punished by resetting progress by way of like checkpoints if you die or whatnot, but that's usually an automated process whereas here in Wario Land there are points where if you fuck up, you gotta drag your ass back to the starting line before you can try again. This is most egregious in the bosses, as there are a lot of bosses that punish any hit by forcing you out of the boss chamber, resetting the fight from square one no matter how far you initially got. For a game with an invincible protagonist, there's a surprisingly low margin for error in some of these levels. It makes an already slowly designed game feel even more sluggish, and my goopy gamer brain already isn't the biggest fan of slower, more explorative 2D platformers.
It still has that goofy wario charm that's all in good fun, and Captain Syrup is a fun antagonist. Instead of your typical victory animation or whatever, Wario just front-faces to look directly at you upon clearing any level to let you know what you've done. While I did get most of the endings on this playthrough, if I had this as a kid I guarantee you I would only have seen the default 25-level ending and nothing else. Definitely not my favorite game out there, but I still respect its experimentation with the platformer genre and its quirky charm.
Most notably is that in this game Wario must have eaten some crazy kind of garlic or something because he is invincible now. There aren't any bottomless pits, and no matter how many times Wario gets smacked, slapped, roasted, frozen, squashed, or stretched, he cannot die. While there are certainly benefits to immortality, Wario Land 2 taught me that such a blessing can really be a curse. The level and game design has been fundamentally changed as a result, and now things are much more slow and explorative. Finding secrets is the real aim of the game here, as trying to straight-shot through the levels will only let you access 25 out of the whopping 51 levels that this game contains. As there's no threat of failure or death, the game really wants you to take your time combing the levels to find secret treasures and exits by leaving no door unvisited, no coin ungrabbed, and no wall/floor tile unchecked.
That isn't to say that there's zero punishment or challenge in this game, as while getting hit won't diminish any of Wario's health or make him any less capable than he normally is, it will put him in a cardiac arrest state for a few seconds while launching him with knockback force that makes the Belmont clan look like they have iron boots. Some enemies will instead change Wario's state like flame guys that will turn him into a fireball that can break blocks, hammer guys that will smash him into a bouncy spring form which can jump higher, hydraulic presses that flatten the lad into a pancake that can flutter, penguin lookin mfers that can make Wario drunk, and so on and so forth. You really don't know which enemies will knock you on your ass and which ones are actually powerups until you get hit.
All of this comes together to just kinda make a game that felt really annoying to play tbh. Since there's no mechanical punishment for getting hit the game usually punishes mishaps by resetting your progress whether that be by putting Wario in a state where you'd have to go back and revert or just by knocking you back down to the ground where you gotta get back to where you were before. Obviously, even in platformers with health systems mistakes commonly get punished by resetting progress by way of like checkpoints if you die or whatnot, but that's usually an automated process whereas here in Wario Land there are points where if you fuck up, you gotta drag your ass back to the starting line before you can try again. This is most egregious in the bosses, as there are a lot of bosses that punish any hit by forcing you out of the boss chamber, resetting the fight from square one no matter how far you initially got. For a game with an invincible protagonist, there's a surprisingly low margin for error in some of these levels. It makes an already slowly designed game feel even more sluggish, and my goopy gamer brain already isn't the biggest fan of slower, more explorative 2D platformers.
It still has that goofy wario charm that's all in good fun, and Captain Syrup is a fun antagonist. Instead of your typical victory animation or whatever, Wario just front-faces to look directly at you upon clearing any level to let you know what you've done. While I did get most of the endings on this playthrough, if I had this as a kid I guarantee you I would only have seen the default 25-level ending and nothing else. Definitely not my favorite game out there, but I still respect its experimentation with the platformer genre and its quirky charm.
Can't help but love this game. It's definitely nostalgia doing some of the talking, but I also love how different it is from WL1. There's more puzzles, more secrets, more exploration, multiple endings ---- WL2 helps Wario Land as a whole establish itself as its own thing out of the shadow of Mario Land. I can return to this game any time & enjoy it.
Wario Land II trades the linear platforming of its predecessor for a quirky, puzzle-driven adventure. As the invincible Wario, you must navigate branching levels, collecting treasure and using enemy attacks to transform and open new paths. The game's charm lies in its silly humor, creative transformations, and surprisingly intricate level design that encourages exploration with multiple endings. However, the lack of a traditional death mechanic can make some encounters feel less engaging.
Segunda parte de zerando todos os jogos de Game Boy Color, eu sei que falei que não ia fazer mais, mas mudei de ideia e vou fazer aos bem poucos.
Wario Land 2 é um plataforma bem divertidinho, a mecânica de empurrar com o Wario é boba, mas dá um gás diferente dos jogos do Mario e é bem legal, a maioria das fases não tem nada demais, são passíveis mas nada muito memoráveis, mas tem muitas fases com mecânicas adicionais que são muito chatas e irritantes. Os chefes são simples mas tem mecânicas melhores que a maioria dos jogos 2d do Mario pelo menos, mas a maioria é bem fácil e nenhum é muito memorável também.
As animações e indentidade do jogo são muito boas, os cenários são muito bem feitos e carismáticos, mas o principal são as animações do Wario, que são cheia de personalidade e diversão.
Jogo legal, mas nada demais.
Wario Land 2 é um plataforma bem divertidinho, a mecânica de empurrar com o Wario é boba, mas dá um gás diferente dos jogos do Mario e é bem legal, a maioria das fases não tem nada demais, são passíveis mas nada muito memoráveis, mas tem muitas fases com mecânicas adicionais que são muito chatas e irritantes. Os chefes são simples mas tem mecânicas melhores que a maioria dos jogos 2d do Mario pelo menos, mas a maioria é bem fácil e nenhum é muito memorável também.
As animações e indentidade do jogo são muito boas, os cenários são muito bem feitos e carismáticos, mas o principal são as animações do Wario, que são cheia de personalidade e diversão.
Jogo legal, mas nada demais.
good game i like it