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Early iterations
While the Virtual Boy was still known by its development name VR-32, it was already being hinted that Wario was to have a major game appearance on the system. A Nintendo Power volume in December 1994 revealed computer-generated screenshots showing Wario in a virtual-reality atmosphere, with a caption asking "How would you like to meet Wario in person, face-to-face, eye-to-eye?" It is based on an artwork of Wario from Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3.

In early 1995 at the Winter in Las Vegas, a single level demo of VB Mario Land was shown, demonstrating a side-scrolling game whith three-dimensional aspects such as moving from the background to the foreground and areas with a top-down view. A Wario head figure was shown within the demo. Additionally, artwork of Mario and Wario holding a Virtual Boy was also shown at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Early builds
Four builds of the game are known to exist, which are most easily identified by the different designs of the heads-up displays (HUD) at the bottom of the screen.



The earliest build seen in footage at E3 1995 show that stages originally didn't feature keys, and the elevator at the end of stages were already open. Wario's warp pipe animation was not yet functioning, and the screen instead faded to black between rooms. The animation when ground pounding enemies was different, with no explosion effect like the final game.

Screenshots of a second build seen in magazines around September 1995 first showed a space for the key in the HUD, and the coin counter was changed to four digits. A third build had a different coin design in the HUD, and uses digits more resembling the in-game text.

In the November 1995 official guidebook, screenshots of both the third and final build were published together.

Unused data
The game data contains an unused stage map showing a different arrangement to the final game.

The stage numbers originally appeared to be reversed, beginning at 4-1 and ending at 1-Boss. The higher number may have indicated how deep Wario still remained under the ground, with the aim of the game being to climb higher. This early level map is also more consistent with the game's original product description at E3 1995, which indicated that "four dazzling, 3-D levels each feature 3 tough stages leading to the final confrontation". The final game instead simply numbers the stages from 1 to 14.

The skull graphic that indicates the boss stages was updated with shading for the final level map. Additionally, an arrow graphic stored next to the stage numbers suggests that there was a level select screen which went unused. A version number reading "/:Ver:BESTIM" can also be seen in the data.

There are two unused sound files present in the game data. The first appears to be victory or stage clear music, and the other was likely used for a cutscene.