The Wario Land games have a pretty consistent level of quality. VB Wario Land, Wario Land 4, and Shake It in particular are all fantastic platformers that could be easy candidates for best in the series. However, they do have a tendency to be pretty on the short side, which is part of why I think Wario Land 3 stands out as my absolute favorite. It's one of the grandest and most ambitious adventures the Game Boy Color has to offer, and a perfect example of why I have so much admiration for that console.
Wario Land 3 involves the titular character being sucked into a music box and being tasked to save the world hidden away inside it by finding the scattered Music Boxes. From there on out, you're let loose into the world to try and find all of them, and I really mean it when I say "let loose".
One of the best things about Wario Land 3 is its progression. Despite being broken up into individual levels, WL3 is structured like the best metroidvanias out there. The first hour or so of Wario Land 3 is strictly linear, as you'll mostly be hopping between an intended set of levels with little room to deviate from the path. There are a few moments where the path briefly splits and you can pick between two levels, but the path quickly converges soon after. However, before long, you'll start finding abilities and items that open up multiple levels, and those levels will in turn open up even more levels, and Wario Land 3 will ultimately sprawl into an entirely open game that you can go through in any order you want. And even more, over half of the treasures are completely optional, so it really feels like you're given total freedom by the second half of the game. That being said, there's no reason why you wouldn't want to collect everything because Wario Land 3 just clicks together so well. Every treasure serves a purpose, from modifying the world, to opening up gates, and it feels really satisfying to see how all the puzzle pieces fit together.
As far as controls go, Wario Land 3 is the best Wario has felt up to this point. Of course, Wario Land 4 would introduce an entirely new level of fluidity, but the fact that this game is a GBC exclusive means Wario gets a lot of redone animations and movement tweaks that allow you to dash pretty fast without breaking the momentum. Being a metroidvania, you also have that great progression where Wario starts out fairly weak, but he grows more powerful as he collects certain items across the world, which no other game in the series does. Wario Land 3, like its predecessor, also has a unique system where Wario can't take damage or die. Lives are not a thing in this game, instead they're replaced by annoyances. There are no pits, but falling off a trickly platforming section while probably send you all the way to the bottom and force you to climb it up all over again. Getting hit by an enemy will either make you lose coins with some serious knockback, or forcedly transform Wario in a manner that often forces him to the back of the level. It's a unique approach to an invincible protagonist as it still lends the game a degree of difficulty. But also, these transformations aren't just used for evil, many of them are also necessary to get some of the items, and they can be quite fun to use.
What really makes Wario Land 3 my favorite game, though, is the sheer scope of it all. This is a massive game, especially considering it's on the Game Boy Color. There's 25 levels to explore, each with four treasures to find (totaling 100 treasures), but there's also a day-night cycle meaning each stage has day/night variants with a unique color palette and modified level design. I mentioned before that I always found it funny how obsessed the GBC seems to be with day/night cycles, but Wario Land 3 is particularly noteworthy for how much it influences the way you play the game since certain treasures can only be gotten at certain times of day. There's also an impressive amount of side content like how each level has eight Musical Coins to find, all of which feel quite rewarding to scout, there's a hidden Golf minigame with unlockable courses, and you can even unlock a Time Attack Mode in case there still isn't enough in the way of replay value. As I mentioned, Wario Land games have a reputation for being somewhat short and often unsatisfying, but Wario Land 3 feels genuinely beefy and substantial in a way that none of the other games do. It even ends on what many consider the best final boss in the series, a tense encounter with a giant clown named Rudy who's the only one in the game with the ability to actually kill Wario.
As far as presentation goes, you know what you're getting with a Wario Land. Wonderfully weird imagery, imaginative level theming, and a hefty amount of wacky enemies and strange bosses. I already mentioned Wario's improved animations, but I really think the entire game ranks as one of the best-looking Game Boy Color games, boasting some impressive shading in the environments, a very detailed map screen, and that aforementioned day/night cycle allowing for a wide range of colors across the game. The soundtrack is also one of the better ones out of the Wario Land games in my opinion. Kozue Ishikawa is back after doing the music for the first two Wario Land games, but she really stepped it up with this one, embuing the score with a strong sense of adventure. Out Of The Woods may not be Ratl Ruins or Greenhorn Forest, but it definitely deserves a spot as one of Wario's best leitmotifs, and it's used to great effect in tracks like Peaceful Village, Vast Plain, Desert Ruins, Pool Of Rain, The Big Bridge, and Tidal Coast. And that's not even mentioning how nearly every stage has a calming night version, or the series' absolute best final boss theme.
Look, I love Wario Land 4 and its gameplay with all my heart, and I couldn't be more excited about all the indie games coming out inspired by it, but Wario Land 3 is something else. It's the only Wario Land game to really feel like a grand treasure-hunting adventure, exploring a big world where you can unravel all of its secrets. The Wario Land series always had a bit of a Indiana Jones energy to it, but no game leans on it harder than Wario Land 3. It's also just a perfect showcase of how big, ambitious, and fully-featured the Game Boy Color's library can be, I truly adore this game.
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