Wario Land 4

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Wario Land 4
Wario Land 4 NA Box Art.png
North American box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D1
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Hirofumi Matsuoka
Producer(s)Takehiro Izushi
Designer(s)Hiroji Kiyotake
Tomoyoshi Yamane
Takehiko Hosokawa
Masani Ueda
Isao Hirano
Shinya Sano
Ryuichi Nakada
Ko Takeuchi
Takayasu Morisawa
Programmer(s)Katsuya Yamano
Yoshinori Katsuki
Nobuhiro Ozaki
Kota Fukui
Goro Abe
Artist(s)Yasuo Inoue
Sachiko Nakamichi
Composer(s)Ryoji Yoshitomi
SeriesWario
Platform(s)Game Boy Advance
ReleaseGame Boy Advance[1]
  • JP: August 21, 2001
  • PAL: November 17, 2001
  • AU: November 9, 2001
  • NA: November 19, 2001[2]
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Wario Land 4[a] is a 2001 platform game developed by Nintendo and released for the Game Boy Advance. Wario has to gather four treasures to unlock a pyramid and save Princess Shokora from the Golden Diva.

Gameplay[]

Wario jumps between platforms on the Monsoon Jungle level of the Emerald Passage. Ahead of him lie four blue crystals; behind him, an enemy crocodile has jumped out of the water in an attempt to bite him.

The gameplay of Wario Land 4 (which is generally similar to that of Wario Land II and Wario Land 3) 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, Wario discovers four new passages and battle against Cractus the ill-tempered Venus flytrap, Cuckoo Condor the Condor wearing machine, Aeorodent the Rat riding Teddy bear-like balloon and Catbat the Cat/Bat 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-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 Game Boy Advance games that are available for download by Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors since December 16, 2011.[3]

The game has been released on the Wii U Virtual Console 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 Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country.[12]

The game received critical acclaim. IGN gave Wario Land 4 a 9 out of 10, or "Outstanding", citing its well thought out level design and replayability.[9] GamePro stated "Boasting fantastic graphics and awesome transparency effects for water and fog, Wario Land 4 pushes the GBA to its visual limits". GameSpot commented "The gameplay is tight and varied, the graphics are detailed and bright, and the sound is second to none".[13] GameSpy 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.'"[14] Game Informer noted "It's nothing new to the Wario Land enthusiast, but it's enjoyable nonetheless". Nintendo Power 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 games, "Best Platform Game" awards. These went respectively to Advance Wars and Conker's Bad Fur Day.[15]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Known in Japan as Wario Land Advance (Japanese: ワリオランドアドバンス, Hepburn: Wario Rando Adobansu); Supporting material further titles the game Wario Land Advance: Treasures of Yoki (Japanese: ワリオランドアドバンス ヨーキのお宝, Hepburn: Wario Rando Adobansu: Yōki no Otakara)

References[]

  1. ^ "Wario Land 4 (3DS Virtual Console / Game Boy Advance)". NintendoLife. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  2. ^ "GBA Top 10 Games – 2001". GameShark. No. Holiday. December 2001. p. 70.
  3. ^ Anoop Gantayat (14 December 2011). "Game Boy Advance 3DS Ambassador Program Begins on Friday". Andriasang.
  4. ^ "Wario Land 4 reviews". GameRankings.
  5. ^ "Wario Land 4 for Game Boy Advance reviews". Metacritic.
  6. ^ "Wario Land 4 Review". 6 January 2002.
  7. ^ ゲームボーイアドバンス – ワリオランドアドバンス ~ヨーキのお宝~. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.115. 30 June 2006.
  8. ^ "Wario Land 4 Review". Archived from the original on 2008-06-07.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Harris, Craig (November 20, 2004). "Wario Land 4 Review". ign.com. Retrieved 2006-06-05.
  10. ^ Laurie Blake (December 28, 2011). "A treasure". NintendoLife.
  11. ^ "Wario Land 4 review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved December 4, 2001.
  12. ^ Keiser, Joe (August 2, 2006). "The Century's Top 50 Handheld Games". Next Generation. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007.
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2003-02-05. Retrieved 2012-01-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2003-12-06. Retrieved 2012-01-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ GameSpot VG Staff (February 23, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst Video Games of 2001". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 3, 2002.

External links[]


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