Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
By Nintendo
Review by The Avardancer
Size: 4 Megabits
Save: Battery, 3 slots
Released: 1994
Works with: Any Gameboy version.


Opening Snide Remarks: It's ME... WARIO. You will read this review by ME...
WARIO. Actually, it's not. The resident bad boy of Nintendo's Super Mario
Land series gets his own game. (Why didn't Tatanga get his own game? Oh, I
forgot. I blew up him into space dust.) Well, Wario actually escaped the last
Super Mario Land game and is now determined to get his own castle. How? Well,
a long time ago; a Golden Statue of Princess Peach Toadstool was made. (Ooh,
pretty.) But the evil Brown Sugar Pirates of Syrup Island stole it. (They
sound like a sweet bunch.) So, Wario decides to steal it back and make the
Princess pay him for it. (Ka-Ching! Sounds like fun.) Wario wants to use the
money from the statue and whatever money he steals from the Brown Sugar
Pirates to build himself a castle that's way better than Mario's. (Wario
wants his castle to be BIGGER, BETTER, STRONGER, more SOLID. I wonder if
Wario's ever heard of Sigmund Freud.)

Gameplay: Hop, bop, pummel, toss, and break. (Sounds like a new dance. "Throw
your friends from side to side; C'mon and do the 'Wario'.") This is sweeeet
side scrolling action. (And the latest dance craze: "Do a little dance; break
a bunch of bones; get down tonight.") It's fun. It's got challenge in all the
right places. There's multiple endings. (Depending on much cash you get.) 15
treasures to find and puzzles to solve. Bosses require a little strategy. A
lot of care went into this game. You'll be in this game for hours. Can you
find the secret world? (Sherbert Island.) Can you find all 40 levels? How
about the secret places with the BIG coins and hearts? Gameplay like this is
what games are all about. Did I forget to mention the two mini games? I hate
the bucket one; but I love the one where you throw bombs at cute things.

Graphics: Clear. Detailed. Clever. And they do the trick too. Bosses look
good, the maps look good. Wario has great animations. There are clever cut
scenes like the "Time Up" sequence. Wario is pretty big on the screen. There
are nice graphic tricks like "Mock Mode 7". "Mock Mode 7" is the name I give
to blurring, or warping graphic effects that rotate, fluctuate, flash, or
morph. Wario Land has a few of these effects. Quite nice actually. Love the
cartoony flair; and the sour wit in some of the enemies.

Sound: Sound is okay. The sound Wario makes when he smashes into things
sounds a little scant. The sound that the enemies make when you knock them
clear off the screen sounds like it hurts.

Music: Crazy, fitting music. But, it isn't catchy; and it gets tiresome. It's
utterly forgetable. The sad part of this game is that no real effort seems to
have been applied to the music. Sniff. This is going to hurt an otherwise
excellent game. Tsk. Tsk. I expect more from Nintendo.

Play Control: Wham! This is where this game throws down the funk. The play
control is dead on; responsive, and great. Kicking butt has never been
easier. This is some good stuff. Get jiggy with it.

Final Analysis: If you love side-scrolling-beat-the-heck-out-of-cute-things
gameplay... you MUST get this game. If you hate
side-scrolling-beat-the-heck-out-of-cute-things gameplay; skip this one. If
you get it though; you won't regret it. This has excellent replay value. 

Gameplay: *****
Graphics: *****
Sound: **
Music: **
Play Control: *****
Total: 19 out of 25

Final Grade: 76%

Currently known codes:

DO NOT USE THIS CODE, UNLESS YOU WANT TO SAP ALL THE CHALLENGE OUT OF THIS
GAME!

Pause the game, press select 16 times. A little cursor will show up on the
little bar where all your "statistics" are stored. Hold down the A & B
buttons and use the the Directional Pad to alter the amount of coins, lives,
time, hearts and power-ups that you have. This code just blows the lid off of
the game. You can make the game as hard or as easy as you want. Please use
this code wisely and don't ruin the fun in the game!