''Wario Land 4'' is a 2001

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

and released for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

Wario is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' series, designed as an Arch rival, arch-rival to Mario. He first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'' as the main antagonist and final Bos ...

has to gather four treasures to unlock a pyramid and save Princess Shokora from the Golden Diva.

Gameplay

The gameplay of ''Wario Land 4'' (which is generally similar to that of '' Wario Land II'' and ''

Wario Land 3 ''Wario Land 3'' is a 2000 video game released for the Game Boy Color. In it, Mario's archrival Wario must free a mysterious figure who is trapped inside a music box. It was a critical and commercial success, and was followed by ''Wario Land 4' ...

'') allows for some open-endedness as well as some order of difficulty. After an Entry Passage that serves as a tutorial for the game, there are four main passages: the Emerald, Topaz, Ruby, and Sapphire Passages, in order of difficulty. The Emerald Passage is themed around nature. The Topaz Passage is themed around toys, games, and other "playtime" ideas. The Ruby Passage is themed around mechanics and technology. The Sapphire Passage is themed around horror and danger, prominently involving ghosts and the like. After these four main passages is the "Final" Golden Pyramid, which serves as a recap of these four themes and houses the Golden Passage level and the final boss. Unlike previous entries, Wario now has a health meter that depletes when he takes damage. If Wario loses all health, he is kicked out of the stage, losing any items he had collected, and must start over.

Plot

Wario is reading the newspaper when he notices an article about a mysterious pyramid found deep in the jungle. The legend related to the pyramid is that of Princess Shokora, ruler of the pyramid, who was cursed by the money-crazed Golden Diva. Without wasting time and forgetting to take his mid-morning nap, Wario jumps into his Wario Car and drives to the pyramid. As he enters it, he finds a black cat and chases it. Doing so, he falls down a precipice and is stuck inside the pyramid. After fighting his way through the entry passage and an early boss battle against Spoiled Rotten the

Eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mos ...

, Wario discovers four new passages and battles against Cractus the ill-tempered

Venus flytrap The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping ...

; Cuckoo Condor, the

condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vult ...

wearing machine, Aeorodent, the Rat riding a

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

-like balloon; and Catbat the

Cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

Bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

hybrid. After completing these passages, Wario gains access to the innermost part of the pyramid, which ends up being the stronghold of Golden Diva. Wario meets the cat again, who turns out to be Princess Shokora herself. Wario defeats Golden Diva and exits the pyramid with all his treasure. What form Shokora returns to depends on the number of treasure chests Wario had acquired from the other bosses prior as well as how quickly the Golden Diva is defeated (this can range from a brattish child, a female version of Wario, a

Peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

-like princess and ultimately, a superheroine-like princess). Shokora gives Wario a kiss on the cheek and ascends to the afterlife as Wario watches. After she leaves, Wario grabs his loot and celebrates by going to an all-you-can-eat steak buffet.

Re-releases

The game is included in the list of

games that are available for download by Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors since December 16, 2011. The game has been released on the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

in Japan on April 30, 2014, in North America on May 8, 2014, and in Europe and Australia on June 5, 2014.

Reception

In the United States, ''Wario Land 4'' sold 720,000 copies and earned $20 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 33rd highest-selling game launched for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

in that country. The game ended up selling 2.2 million copies worldwide. The game received critical acclaim. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave ''Wario Land 4'' a 9 out of 10, or "Outstanding", citing its well thought out level design and replayability. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' stated "Boasting fantastic graphics and awesome transparency effects for water and fog, ''Wario Land 4'' pushes the GBA to its visual limits". ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' commented "The gameplay is tight and varied, the graphics are detailed and bright, and the sound is second to none". ''

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

'' called the game: "An incredibly entertaining, diverse, and humorous addition to the Mario/Wario legacy. It's challenging and creative, but not as outright frustrating as ''Wario Land 3.''" ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...

'' noted "It's nothing new to the Wario Land enthusiast, but it's enjoyable nonetheless". ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...

'' stated "It's polished variety paired with a mishmash of moves, which makes ''Wario Land 4'' fun through and through". ''Wario Land 4'' was a runner-up for ''GameSpot''s annual "Best Game Boy Advance Game" and, among

console game A console game is a type of video game consisting of images and often sounds generated by a video game console, which are displayed on a television or similar audio-video system, and that can be manipulated by a player. This manipulation usually ...

s, "Best Platform Game" awards. These went respectively to ''

Advance Wars ''Advance Wars'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was released in North America on September 10, 2001. The game's release in Japan and Europe was dela ...

'' and ''

Conker's Bad Fur Day ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' is a 2001 platform game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game follows Conker, a greedy, hard-drinking red squirrel who must return home to his girlfriend. Most of the game requires the player ...

''.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
(in Japanese) {{Wario 2001 video games Cancelled Game Boy Color games Game Boy Advance games Nintendo Research & Development 1 games Single-player video games Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games with alternate endings Virtual Console games for Wii U Virtual Console games Wario Land Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS