Wario World is great!! It nails the transition of Wario Land’s gameplay style into 3D with an expanded beat ‘em up moveset that feels crunchy and powerful. Using enemies as tools to bang and throw against the environment feels so “Wario” and never gets old. While the game is very short, its only true downside, each level and theme is so varied that they all set themselves apart with their own gimmicks so well. This is legit a great game, I would highly recommend to anyone who likes 3D platformers with a focus on finding secrets.

For a personal anecdote, I first played this game in high school when a close friend challenged me to beat this 100% without a guide. Her and I swapped games to borrow over the winter break. She loaned me Luigi’s Mansion, this game, and Viewtiful Joe. That was the last time I did a full play through of this game but I would love to return to this one some day. (I did successfully complete 100% all three games without any guides as challenged btw, I was so proud.)

One of my personal highlights of the GameCube and a real Underrated gem in my book. Treasures always been an underdog developer from Gunstar Heroes, to Mischief Makers, and more. It's a very easy pick up and play 3D Platformer with Beat Em Up style elements to it that just really clicks regardless of skill level. Not to mention that the soundtrack in this game is probably my favorite soundtrack period in any Wario game. Every track in this game is a bop AND YES THAT INCLUDES THE PAUSE MENU MUSIC. Even more impressive is that the games 13 levels all include a boss in which every single one of them is incredibly unique and has a fun gimmick to their fight. I feel it's hard enough to make a handful of boss battles for any game, let alone just absolutely nailing it for every single level of one. The few things that keep this game from being perfect for me is the fact that the game is surprisingly short with only 4 worlds of 3 levels each, and because of that the game does have somewhat of a sudden difficulty spike halfway through the game, that I feel does even out a bit afterwards, but can be a bit frustrating. Also the final boss for all the build up is kind of a wet fart. Far too easy with only one specific attack pattern that you have to hit 8 times, and with really no change up or phases it gets really dull. Still, this is one of my all time favorite Wario and GameCube games and I couldn't recommend playing it more. You could easily get through this in one sitting. It's Warios World and we're just living in it.

It's mostly constructed like a collectathon. You're going from stage to stage collecting things, but unlike Banjo the game makes you work for it. You'll have to look around for buttons to get the chests to spawn, and they become better hidden and out of reach as the game progresses.

The platforming gets fairly devious by the end as well.

If the first half of the game was more like the second, I'd be really positive about the game as a whole. Unfortunately, the game is mainly just a repetitive series of basic beat-'em-up encounters that basically introduces every enemy-type in the first area. The side areas are where the meat's at, and some of them are legitimately good from a platforming and puzzle standpoint. They just don't make up a large chunk of a game that's already pretty short.

If you can hang in there, the game will eventually be a 3/5.

After Exhuminator played this a little while back and didn't really like it, I was prompted to replay to reconfirm how I felt about it. My prior opinion still stands: It is a solid, fun game that I really like. This is labeled as a repeat, although the last times I've played this game were in like 2004 when I rented it when it came out, then again in 2011 which is probably when I bought it, so it's been a while and I didn't really remember the bosses or maps well.

Wario World is primarily a mix between an action game and a platforming game. In terms of the platforming, it's a little of a mixed bag. There are only 8 levels, but each one is very long and can take a half an hour or more, especially if you want to find all of the goodies in it. The stages themselves don't often contain any seriously difficult platforming, at least until the later stages, but the main difficulty in the platforms comes from the challenge doors in each stage, as well as finding and collecting the cash and collectibles in each stage.

These doors contain crystals which you'll need to open the door to the final boss, so you'll need to do at least a few in every stage. These challenge areas also often contain hint sprites (which give info about enemies and bosses, as well as affecting which ending you get) and statue pieces (collect all 8 in a stage for another half of a heart), so they're basically all worth at least attempting. The camera control is much more precise in these levels than in the main stages, with the challenge rooms having 360 degrees of viewing while the main stages have the camera at a more fixed angle. The camera is pretty good though generally though. There was only one time or two that I wished it could zoom out a bit more, but never anything egregious. In addition to the crystals, statue pieces and hint sprites, there are also treasure chests to collect in each stage which are mostly just for show. They unlock some Wario Ware mini games you can play on your GBA, but other than that, it's mostly just a 100%-ing thing. The last two times i went through this game, I 100%'d it, but this time I couldn't as there was one challenge room that totally stumped me in the final stage.

In terms of action, there are 5 or so basic enemy types which are in every world, and then each stage usually has at least one kind of enemy and/or gate enemy specific to it (charging elephants in the circuis, flying shovels at the pyramids, Pea-hat wannabes in the garden, etc.). Wario is a big fat, bulky guy, and his moves reflect that. He smashes real quick with his fists, he can grapple to do pile-drivers or bowser-tail-spins, and he can groundpound, and he even has his charging dash from the Wario Land games. The charge dashing is especially fun, because occasionally you can use it to get around certain annoying enemies or skip certain platforming sections. Some of the later challenge rooms absolutely require the dash though, so it's good to try and get used to it at least a little.

I feel it worth mentioning that Exhuminator expressed a lot of frustration at how pressing the B button punches, while holding it dashes (leading to falling off cliffs), but I never really experienced that as a problem. Chalk it up to play style I suppose, but it's not a problem I ever remember having, perhaps because I so mash the B button to punch dudes. I'd akin it to something like in Sonic Adventure 2, where light-dash as well as roll are on the B button: It's something that's annoying for some, and totally ignorable for others. Not nearly as bad as say how in Donkey Kong Country Returns, ducking while waggling blows a puff of air, while just waggling while walking rolls forward, which leads to a lot of deaths when trying to do that quickly for goodies. Though in Wario World, falling down pits isn't actually lethal, at least not in the traditional sense. It just puts you down into a realm where you can lose a bit of money if you get hit, but you try to get out as soon a possible.

Money has a bit of a weird function in this game, as it usually does in Wario action games. Money is essentially extra health and extra lives in this game. You can occasionally find garlic (heals one heart) in boxes in the earlier stages, but sooner or later you'll more or less only be able to buy it consistently from the vendors located in each stage. Other than buying garlic, when you totally run out of health, you can pay an amount of gold to instantly respawn where you were, as opposed to completely restarting the stage. I finished the game with like 13k in gold, so money wasn't really a problem, but knowing early on that you can magnetize money to you with L helps in racking it up quickly and easily.

One of the best features in the game, though, are the boss battles. There is a boss at the end of every stage, as well as a world boss after every 2nd stage, as well as a final boss, making 13 in total. They have a very good difficulty curve, it's not immediately always given to you on a platter how to defeat them, but it's always intuitive and never contrived. The bosses are definitely one of the most fun parts of the game.

Verdict: Recommended. It isn't exactly Mario Sunshine 2 in terms of the dynamism of its platforming, but it isn't trying to be. Wario World is trying to be an actiony, platforming hunt for wealth, and it succeeds at that well. Treasure, the devloper, usually tries to make something a bit different, and that's what this is: Different, wacky, and fun.

esse é o jogo mais Pós Wario possível e acho incrível como ele consegue traduzir todos os signos da franquia pra terceira dimensão e como isso reflete na caracterização de Wario – afinal, esse jogo se passa depois da série já ter definido sua própria identidade com duas iterações no plano 2D; Wario já tá rico o suficiente, seu status quo é uma mina de ouro, e ele não precisa mais ir atrás de tesouros e apesar dele estar Tão Feliz quanto no 4, a problemática de sua aventura agora é outra:

assim como no 2, o jogo começa com o Wario descansando em seu castelo até que alguma merda acontece mas diferente do 2 (em que ele é roubado), no World ele tá literalmente pagando pelos seus pecados: uma jóia causava corrupção e destruição, tendo que ser selada por spritelings…até que muitos anos depois, ela foi roubada por Wario – despertada, ela transforma o castelo de Wario em ruínas divididas em mundos estranhos, com o objetivo de tomar para si e criar seu próprio castelo (literal o objetivo do Wario em Super Mario Land 2)

e aí, toda a aventura do Wario consiste nele explorando os restos abstraídos de seu lar enquanto salva os spritelings e conserta a merda que ele mesmo causou, pra no final ser tratado como um herói (dependendo do final, que considera quantos spritelings você salvou)

não existe nada mais Wario que isso e esse jogo ser essa anomalia que abusa da profundidade do eixo Z enquanto progride por telas lateralmente me encanta muito – inimigos que respawnam infinitamente, moedas sendo redundantes porque TUDO te dá MUITO dinheiro explodindo a economia do Mundo De Wario, fases com padrões super óbvios mas que ainda sim cativam porque todas as mecânicas, gimmicks e desafios do jogo são iradas – e até mesmo os chefes são divertidos nesse jogo.

mesmo que em circunstâncias ruins, o Wario transforma sua própria jornada numa acid trip e ter que reaprender a controlá-lo por estar transicionando pra terceira dimensão do GameCube foi uma experiência muito mágica pra mim – mesmo que eu sinta falta da cabeçada e da corrida do WL4, esse é o único jogo em que o Wario consegue dar Izuna Drop nos inimigos.

When I was little, I remember loving this game and wanted to come back to it again, but we lost it.
Cut to a few years later, while I was playing on the gamecube, my dad approaches me and tells me to go downstairs, drink a lot of tea, use the bathroom and come back.
When I booted it up, that spinning coin in the loading screen looked oddly familiar, then was blown away when it zoomed in to the man himself, in his glorious castle, and hearing the triumphant music and those great words:
"WELCOME, TO WARIO WORLD!!!"
Then, the entire day blew by like that.

this was legitimately my least favorite gaming experience of all time.

awful level design. terrible, unfun enemies. the stupidest level clear requirements ever. 300 different collectibles, with only one of them actually being necessary. bosses with terribly easy move patterns that take ages to actually learn. an awful AWFUL final world & final boss. i legit spent over an hour on 4-2, and another 30 minutes on the final boss for 3 attempts. a nonsensical story that feels even less fleshed out than a normal mario story.

the only way i finished this game was in a VC with a friend of mine because playing this on my own would make me want to smash my TV with a hammer. thank you crynn

i hate this game. do not play.

I've reviewed this game on the site before, but I learned that the Japanese version of this game has a little more content in it, so I spent the 8 bucks and picked up this game I like to play through again through the course of the afternoon-evening a week ago~. The Japanese version of Wario World is nearly exactly the same (save being in Japanese instead of English :b), but the final boss has a second form! It's nothing super special to write home about and certainly not a big reason to import the game to replay through it if you've already played it and aren't a big fan, but it's cool that it's there~.

I still really like this game. As far as Treasure's entire catalog goes, it's pretty far from a Gunstar Heroes or a Dynamite Headdy, but then not much is in my book. I think it's a good game and a fun 3D action/platformer, even if it is a little short.

Trivia Time!

The real reason we greenlit this game was that we just thought it was funny to have Treasure develop a game all about treasure

Stay tuned for more Trivia Time segments in the near future!