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''Wario's Woods'' is a
puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed and published by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
. It was released in Japan and North America in 1994 and Europe in 1995 for both the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
and the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
. A spin-off of the ''
Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...
'' series, players control
Toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...
in his mission to defeat
Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...
, who has taken control of the Peaceful Woods. Gameplay revolves around clearing each level by using bombs to destroy groups of enemies. The game also features a multiplayer mode that allows two players to compete against each other. The NES version is noteworthy for being the last officially-licensed game as well as the final first-party game for the system in North America, due to its release at the end of the console's lifespan. It is also the only NES game to receive a rating from the
Entertainment Software Rating Board The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Soft ...
(ESRB), which was inducted several months before the game's release. In Japan, the game was released alongside a re-release of ''
The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...
'' to coincide with the release of the AV Famicom. ''Wario's Woods'' has been re-released several times for other platforms, such as the
Satellaview The is a satellite modem peripheral produced by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom in 1995. Containing 1 megabyte of ROM space and an additional 512 kB of RAM, Satellaview allowed players to download games, maga ...
and the
Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...
. The game received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, design, and multiplayer mode, though some believed it was not as refined as Nintendo's previous puzzle games like '' Dr. Mario'', and lacked depth and enough content to keep players engaged.


Plot and gameplay

The "Peaceful Woods" was once a peaceful area for sprites and gentle creatures. After the invasion of
Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...
and his group of monsters, the forest community was "turned upside-down" where peaceful creatures are no longer welcome. To stop Wario,
Toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...
arrives to stop him and return the Woods back over to the sprites by going after Wario himself. The objective of ''Wario's Woods'' is to clear the playing field of monsters of varying colors by using bombs of matching color, which are dropped into the field from the top of the screen by a sprite. In order to do so, the monsters and bombs must be rearranged by the player such that three or more objects of the same color are placed adjacent to one another in horizontal, vertical, or diagonal rows, with at least one object being a bomb (such rows are called a "match"). For example, a match may consist of two red monsters and one red bomb, but may also consist of two red bombs and one red monster. However, a match cannot consist of three monsters of the same type. A Thwomp may also come down a number of rows (being disguised as the ceiling), making less room for the player to match enemies and bombs. When the play field is cleared of all the monsters, the player progresses to the next
round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypt ...
, where the initial number of monsters increases. There are different monster types that can only be destroyed in specific ways, such as requiring two matches in quick succession or being placed into a diagonal match. Unlike other action puzzle games such as ''
Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...
'' or '' Puzzle League'' where the player directly manipulates the game pieces, either as they fall or via a cursor, the player directly controls the character Toad, who moves around inside the playing field atop the fallen objects. Toad can pick up individual objects or lift entire stacks and place them elsewhere in the playing field, but is unable to manipulate objects he cannot immediately reach. However, Toad can perform a variety of additional tricks, such as kicking objects across the play field and scurrying up the sides of stacks to retrieve specific objects. If the player cannot clear the playing field of its objects quickly enough, the play field will eventually fill to the brim and trap Toad, resulting in a
Game Over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...
. The game has a multiplayer mode, called 'VS' or 'VS 2P', where the player can play against another player. In the multiplayer mode, players can make two or more matches after another to make a stack of enemies on their opponents field.


Re-releases

Two modified versions of the SNES version of ''Wario's Woods'' were released in Japan for the
Satellaview The is a satellite modem peripheral produced by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom in 1995. Containing 1 megabyte of ROM space and an additional 512 kB of RAM, Satellaview allowed players to download games, maga ...
, a satellite modem add-on for the
Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
. The first version was copyrighted in 1994 and released under the name . The Bakushou Version featured
personalities Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that examines personality and its variation among individuals. It aims to show how people are individually different due to psychological forces. Its areas of focus include: * Describing what per ...
from the Japanese radio comedy show, Bakushō Mondai.
ワリオの森 爆笑バージョン&イベントバージョン1
'' Satellaview Memorial. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
The second version of ''Wario's Woods'' broadcast for Satellaview was released under the name . It was broadcast from April 23, 1995, to June 30, 2000, throughout the lifespan of the Satellaview. The game was quite popular and it was rebroadcast at least seven times throughout the tenure of St.GIGA's Satellaview-broadcasting period. The game was also broadcast at least once as one of the Satellaview's special event versions. The NES version of ''Wario's Woods'' is available as a collectible item in the 2001 game ''
Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. It was created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. The player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals and can ...
'' for the
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
, obtained through use of the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable. This version was one of the first titles available for the Wii Virtual Console, released alongside the service's launch in North America, Australia, and Europe, and on December 12, 2006, in Japan. It was available for purchase at the Wii Shop Channel for 500 Nintendo Points. It was released for the eShop in Japan on May 29, 2013, for the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
and on January 29, 2014, for 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 ...
, in Europe for the 3DS on October 24, 2013, and for the 3DS and the Wii U eShop in North America on November 7, 2013. The game was added to the
Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...
service on December 13, 2018.


Reception

''Wario's Woods'' has received mixed reviews. Reviewing the SNES version, ''
GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'' called it "a ho-hum puzzler", commenting that though it has some interesting gameplay mechanics, it ultimately fails to be more than a standard ''
Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...
'' clone. They also regarded the controls as difficult. ''
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 Ninte ...
'' reviewed the game noting that it had a fun two-player mode and was challenging and fast-paced while saying that it's not as easy to control as '' Tetris 2''. For the individual scores, the game ranked scores evenly for graphic and sound for both systems, but gave slightly higher scores for the Super NES in the Play Control, Challenge, and Theme and Fun categories. A reviewer for '' Next Generation'' argued that the gameplay mechanics are too complicated for an action puzzle game and that the learning curve in the game is "too steep". In retrospective reviews,
Allgame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...
rated ''Wario's Woods'' 4 stars out of 5 for the NES version, and 3.5 stars out of 5 for the SNES version. Christian Huey, who reviewed the NES version, wrote that the controls were "both surprisingly complex and completely intuitive" while the gameplay has a "surprising level of depth", and labeled the two-player versus mode as welcome addition to the game. Scott Alan Marriott, who reviewed the SNES version, felt that the game "doesn't quite measure up to the addictiveness of either ''Tetris'' or '' Dr. Mario''", citing the game's "extremely awkward" controls and complicated gameplay. While Marriott appreciated "that the developers were trying something new", he also argued that sometimes when adding things to an already proven formula for action puzzle games can work, it can also "dilute" the ingredients that made the game a success. The reviews for the Virtual Console release were mixed, applauding the gameplay and depth, but criticizing the choice to release the primitive NES version over the more comprehensive SNES version. Lucas Thomas of
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming 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 district and is headed by its former e ...
awarded the game an 8.0 out of 10, praising the game's unique approach to the puzzle genre and graphics that "took full advantage of the
8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...
hardware nd werefull of character", but recommended saving Nintendo Points for the SNES version. Aaron Thomas of
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 ...
gave ''Wario's Woods'' a score of 7.0 out of 10, admiring the "fun, addictive game play" and "surprising amount of depth", but criticizing the game's repetitive
music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
and poor
sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...
s, adding that he also prefers the "ideal" SNES version. Nintendo Life scored the game 6 out of 10, stating that while the game is fun, he noted the game's length to be short. IGN ranked the game 29th on their "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time".


See also


Notes


References


External links

*
''Wario's Woods''
a
NinDB


on the
Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
40th Anniversary page {{Wario series 1994 video games Falling block puzzle games Mario puzzle games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Classics games Satellaview games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Soyo Oka Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console games for Wii Virtual Console games for Wii U Wario video games