Wario Land 3

This is a really ambitious and unique game, especially as a spinoff of the Mario series. It's bigger and better than the previous game in almost every conceivable way, but I actually rated this one a bit lower, because there's a larger emphasis on annoying traps requiring you to replay sections of the level if you make one mistake. This is of course to compensate for the lack of a health meter, but still, it caused me a fair bit of frustration in certain courses, like the maddening Castle of Illusion with zombies constantly placed in your way to make you fall through platforms unless you react fast enough, or the boss battles which will often kick you out of the arena before you even have a chance to figure out how to fight them. When this happens, you have to walk all the way back to the boss, which usually doesn't take that long, but sometimes it can be a little trek.

Still, if you liked Wario Land 2, be sure to pick this one up, it expands upon the gameplay a great deal and is a good bit longer. Just keep in mind that it demands more attention and time.

This is often looked at as a high point in the Wario Land series, some considering it the best game in the series, and its when Wario started finding its identity. The first game was essentially a Mario game except with you playing as Wario. Wario Land II was just too linear and frustrating with odd design choices and bland boss fights. Wario Land 3 fixes issues with the 2nd game, now you aren't forced on a linear path, levels are more open ended, you have an over World map again, and the game is way more focused on puzzle than combat. It does keep things though like the inability to die, the boss fights that knock you out of the arena when they hit you, the game revolves around finding coins and treasures. There isn't much story, the game is sort of an open World adventure, there are roughly 25 or so levels and each level has 4 chests you need to unlock which you use hidden keys in the levels to open, and as you unlock more chests, you get more abilities and items that unlock paths and allow you to discover new areas in the levels you've already been to. Once you've gotten all the treasures unlocked, you can face against the final boss.

For a Gameboy game Wario Land 3 is pretty long and took me over 10 hours to complete. The problem I had with 3 is its a bit too repetitive and some of the hidden keys and treasures are a bit cryptic. Maybe not as cryptic as some of the hidden things in the early Zelda games, but they come pretty damn close and its lame having to look up a guide to find something. On top of that, it got kind of boring having to go back to each level 3 times after you unlocked the first treasure, sure it was kind of cool unlocking new paths and undiscovered areas and bosses in the levels, but some of the levels in this game just were so annoying and drawn out. Its still annoying being hit by an enemy and they knock you super far back, and I only really found 5 or so of the 25 in this to really stand out. Plus the final boss in this wasn't really that great and for all the troubles of getting all the treasures, the game really doesn't reward you. I mean I guess back in 2000 playing this on Gameboy would have been alright since it feels like a game you'd play on and off for a few weeks or a month until you finally beat, but its definitely not a fun game to play and try to complete in a short time span.

One of the best platformers ever, and easily the most unique one. This game is hard, the puzzles to unlock all the chests are very tricky and you will spend alot of time just analyzing the environment to figure out what you need to do to advance. Wario is the reverse image of Mario, and thats exactly how this game is. Wario Land is totally unlike any Mario game.