Wario Land 4

Wario Land 4, known in Japan as Wario Land Advance: Yōki no Otakara (ワリオランドアドバンス ヨーキのお宝, meaning Wario Land Advance: The Treasure of the Golden Diva), is a platform game released for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It was later re-released for the Nintendo 3DS system on December 16, 2011 via the Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors program, just after its ten year anniversary. It is the fifth game overall in the Wario Land series, which is a spin-off of the Super Mario Land series. In the game, Wario travels to the Golden Pyramid after reading a newspaper article about a rumor of a Legendary Treasure hidden inside. His intention is to rob the Pyramid, but he accidentally goes on a quest to save the legendary Princess Shokora from the money-crazed Golden Diva, evil ruler of the Golden Pyramid. The game features 2-D graphics with linear transformations (similar to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). Wario Land 4 has received very positive reviews from websites and game critics alike, enjoying praise for its soundtrack, collectibles throughout the game, and level design.

Story
The story begins in the ancient Golden Pyramid, where the legendary Princess Shokora and her loyal subjects rule the Pyramid. After her thousand year reign, the evil, power-hungry, money-crazed Golden Diva became jealous of Shokora's power and beauty. So she defeated her in a magical duel and ascended to the throne. With her ancient powers, she transformed Princess Shokora into a being that lacked great beauty not power; an ordinary Black Cat, and banished her from the Pyramid forever. With nowhere to go, the Black Cat walked until she came across a city inhabited by modern humans. There she lived on the streets with a group of stray animals and soon forgot about her exile. Many months later, the Pyramid was discovered by a group of archaeologists. But with many strange occurrences, and even the disappearance of a group member, caused all future investigations of the Pyramid to be cancelled, and a newspaper article was published regarding the recent events.

On a dark and quiet night when everybody else was asleep, Wario starts the engine of his Car and speeds through the city. The Black Cat is crossing the road, but Wario makes no attempt to slow down and he gains speed. Frightened, she covers her eyes with her paws, and the Car's wheels narrowly miss the her. A newspaper flies into the Cat's face. It reads; "Pyramid discovered deep in jungle. Legendary Treasure nearly found, but accidents hindered findings." The Princess in her feline form remembers the once beautiful Pyramid that she once ruled now in the hands of evil, and decides to try to steal it back. Meanwhile, Wario speeds out of the city and enters the desert. With his mind on the ancient treasure, he speeds full throttle toward the Golden Pyramid mentioned in the newspaper article. After some time, he comes across a jungle and Wario is forced to abandon his vehicle when it runs out of gas. After much trekking through the jungle, he finally reaches the Pyramid. Unable to contain his excitement, he climbs it without hesitation and finds an entrance. Inside the pyramid, he descends a set of stairs and comes across the Black Cat, which runs into the next room after catching sight of Wario. Curious, he follows. Wario and the Cat come across a precipice in the ground. The Cat jumps in and Wario, worried that he will be beaten to the treasure, jumps in after her.

He lands in a strange room somewhere near the center of the Pyramid. Here, Wario must clear the Pyramid's five Passages. A boss challenges Wario to a battle at the end of each Passage. When Wario clears all five Passages, the Inner Pyramid is revealed. Inside lurks the Golden Diva, final Boss and ruler of the Pyramid.

At the beginning of the battle, the Black Cat attacks the Golden Diva by scratching her face. The Golden Diva appears unscathed, and she casually swallows the cat. Wario then battles the Golden Diva himself. When defeated and the Black Cat is set free, the treasure will be recovered and Wario flexes his muscles in a not-at-all-modest way. At that moment, the Diva unleashes her final fury and the Pyramid begins to shake and crumble. Scared, Wario gathers as much treasure as he can and escapes the Pyramid with the Black Cat leading the way out.

On the edge of the forest, Wario and the Black Cat watch the Pyramid crumble to the ground. They both laugh. The Golden Diva's Jewelry suddenly flies out of the treasure sack, and the Black Cat takes possession of them. Suddenly, she undergoes a transformation and turns into the legendary Princess Shokora, true ruler of the Pyramid. The Princess gives Wario a kiss and says, "Thank you, Wario...♥" Wario cannot believe his eyes, and he doesn't say a word as she is surrounded by four angels and flies up into heaven. Wario sits there for a while trying to making sense of it all. He dismisses it, grabs the remaining treasure and gets back into his Car. With the treasure in the boot, he drives through the desert back the way he came, and the staff credits roll.

A few days later... the ending cut scene shows Wario speeding through the city once again. Like the beginning, Wario narrowly misses another cat, a white one this time. After Wario drives off, a newspaper flies into the White Cat's face. It comically reads; "STEAKS! EAT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!" The game ends with gold bars forming the words THE END.

Gameplay
The game begins in the Entry Passage which includes one level and a boss, Spoiled Rotten. On completion, the next four areas of the game are revealed. This consists of four more Passages, each with a four levels relating to a different theme and boss at the end. The four Passages are the Emerald Passage, Ruby Passage, Topaz Passage and Sapphire Passage. These can be completed in any order. When each boss of the five Passages have been cleared, an inner pyramid, (the Golden Pyramid) is revealed on the main map. This includes one last level, (the Golden Passage) and the final boss; the Golden Diva.

Unlike previous installments in the series, Wario is given a health meter, which contains a total of eight hearts. Wario can gain a heart by collecting health, which are scattered throughout a level in heart form. Wario can lose a heart by touching a threatening part of an enemy, spikes, etc. He can also fully replenish health by opening a Heart Box.

Each of the eighteen levels has four Jewel Pieces that need to be collected. When four Jewel Pieces are joined, they form a Pyramid Jewel. The color of the Jewels varies on the Passage they are collected in. The player must collect all Jewel Pieces in a Passage to gain access to the boss. A Keyzer must be collected to unlock the next level. Without the Keyzer, the four Jewel Pieces in that level can still be collected but the next level will remain locked. When Wario enters a level, he enters through a Vortex, a kind of portal which will close behind him. The only way to open it again is to find the Frog Switch somewhere in the level. This will re-open the Vortex and will allow Wario to return to the map screen. A time limit is given to return to the Vortex. The player should focus on finding the four Jewel Pieces and the Keyzer before hitting the Frog Switch. However, there are some areas that can only be accessed by hitting the switch. This is achieved through the Frog Switch Blocks. The Frog Switch Blocks can be found either solid or transparent. When the Frog Switch is hit, all transparent blocks will become solid, while all solid blocks will become transparent. This opens up new areas that can only be accessed when the Frog Switch is hit, so there may be some other Jewel Pieces or maybe even the Keyzer to find in that new area. But the player is limited by time, which will decrease the player's score once it has ran out. When the score reaches zero, Wario is sent back to the main map and must start the level again. Each level has a different set amount of time to get back to the Frog Switch. In some levels like Golden Passage, the Frog Switch is placed at the beginning of the level directly under the Vortex, so Wario lands on it upon entering a level. This can make the level more difficult because he must recover all four Jewel Pieces and the Keyzer within a smaller time limit.

There are two Puzzle Rooms in each level (excluding the Entry Passage and Golden Passage). Each one is found in a Purple Pipe, and will contain either a Giant Diamond worth 1000pts., or an amount of coins that are worth 1000 points when combined. Wario must solve some sort of puzzle to obtain these points, usually using Dr. Arewo Stein as an object to throw. Completing these rooms is optional and is not necessary to complete the game, but rather if the player wants to earn a few extra points. Likewise, the player will never see a Jewel Piece or a Keyzer is a Puzzle Room, but a Heart Box can be seen from time to time. There is also an additional bonus challenge to complete. In every level except for the Entry Passage and the Golden Pyramid, there is a hidden CD that can be collected and played in the Sound Room, each containing a different soundtrack. There is a total of sixteen CDs to collect. A Karaoke can also be unlocked, a full song with Japanese vocals. It can be unlocked by getting 10,000 or more points in each of the eighteen levels.

There are a total of twelve Treasure Chests in Wario Land 4. Three of them found in each of the four main boss rooms, embedded into the wall in the background. They cannot be touched by Wario at this point. During the boss battle when the time starts to run low (usually under a minute), the Treasure Chests in the background will begin to disappear, one by one. Once Wario defeats the boss, the Treasure Chests that are left over are collected and stored in the Golden Pyramid for the final boss against the Golden Diva. The amount of Treasure Chests collected does not affect the main game, but the ending. The more Treasure Chests Wario has on the game's completion, the more beautiful Princess Shokora will appear in the game's ending cut-scene.

Mini-Game Shop
Prior to the boss, there is a Mini-Game Shop where Wario can play one of three mini-games. If Wario receives a certain amount of points in each of the mini-games, he can earn Frog Medals which can be spent at the Item Shop for items to assist him to defeat the boss of that Passage. The three Game Bots run the shop, each hosting a different mini-game. Each mini-game costs 5000 points to play (not including the Entry Passage, which is discounted to 2000.) Points can be earned during normal gameplay.

There are three three mini-games, and they are;
 * The Wario Hop
 * Wario's Homerun Derby
 * Wario's Roulette

There are three different colored Game Bots, each hosting a different mini-game.



Item Shop
The Item Shop in Wario Land 4 is a place where Wario can spend his Frog Medals in exchange for items. These items assist him in defeating a boss by dealing pre-damage at the battle's start. The shopkeeper is Princess Game & Watch, a form of the Black Cat. This character is very similar to the later-occuring Mr. Game & Watch. However, a major difference between the two characters is Princess Game & Watch has eyes in Wario land 4. It is of common belief that this character's design was taken from Super Smash Bros. Melee (released a few months after Wario Land 4), where Mr. Game & Watch makes his first official appearance. A table of the nine items and their descriptions is shown below;

The more effective the item has on damaging a boss, the more Frog Medals it is likely to cost. The price of the items also varies on the game mode, e.g. an item in hard mode would be more expensive than the same item in normal mode. All items and prices are as follows:

Each item deals a fixed amount of damage to each boss. All damage totals are shown below. The last four items are not available for purchase against the first boss of the game, Spoiled Rotten.

Sound Room
The Sound Room is a place where the player can listen to collected CDs obtained in levels. Each of the sixteen CDs have a unique track recorded on it. A bonus Karaoke can be unlocked by getting 10,000 or more points in each of the eighteen levels.

Game Modes
Upon creating a file, the game will ask which game mode the player prefers to play as. The game modes are as follows:
 * [[File:WL4-Normal Mode Sprite.PNG]]
 * [[File:WL4-Hard Mode Sprite.PNG]]
 * [[File:WL4-S-Hard Mode Sprite.PNG]] (unlockable, by completing Hard mode)

The game mode affects the location of the Jewel Pieces, how many enemies are seen in the levels, the health the player begins with upon entering the level and the time given to get back to the Vortex after the player hits the Frog Switch (see table in section below). In a few levels on some difficulties, the Frog Switch even changes its location. Purchasing items from the Item Shop will cost more Frog Medals. The difficulty of Mini-Games are generally unchanged across difficulty levels. However, on S-Hard, the baseball mini-game has pitches thrown by a cheerleader who throws more hard pitches and has a different style from than normal.

List of Frog Switch Times
This table is a list of Frog Switch times given to complete levels in different game modes. It also includes the times to defeat the in-game bosses.

Wario's Transformations
A notable aspect of Wario Land 4 is the many transformations that Wario can use to his advantage. He has a total of ten different transformations in the game, which all have a different purpose to assist Wario in progressing through the level. This can include turning into a Bat to reach a high place, or catching fire to break certain blocks. All of the transformations have been re-used from previous games in the series, but they are put to more use in Wario Land 4. In all forms Wario is invincible. But touching an enemy will not destroy it, it will merely knock it aside.

The following is a table showing each form and explains its effect in detail.

Controls

 * Opens pause menu/confirm
 * Jump/swim/confirm
 * Ram (attack), throw (hold to build power)
 * Left/right to move. Up to look up.
 * + : Throw upwards
 * Ground pound (break blocks below or defeat enemies, ends when player releases the d-pad), roll on 45 degree slope, S-ground pound (break stronger blocks, hold d-pad down for more than a second while falling. Does not end if the player releases the d-pad.)
 * + : Slide down ladder
 * + : Crawl
 * /: S-ram (ram with more power)

Wario's Moves
Wario has several different moves in Wario Land 4. Mastering each one of them is essential for progressing in the game.

Passages
The Passages, levels and bosses in the game are as follows:

Entry Passage
This passage only has one level; the Hall of Hieroglyphs, which true to its name, uses hieroglyphics on the walls to teach Wario his basic moves. The boss of this passage is Spoiled Rotten.

Emerald Passage
A nature-themed passage of low difficulty. The boss is a possessed pot-plant called Cractus.

Ruby Passage
This passage is mechanical-themed. The boss is a giant cuckoo clock called Cuckoo Condor.

Topaz Passage
A toy-themed passage, the boss being a giant inflatable teddy-bear called Aerodent.

Sapphire Passage
This passage is horror-themed, with many ghosts and zombies appearing in the levels. The boss is Catbat, a giant Cat with a Bat as an alliance.

Golden Pyramid
The final area in the game. It only has one level, the Golden Passage. Its boss is the Golden Diva, the final boss of the game.

Allies
Within the Golden Pyramid, there are a few characters who are willing to help Wario. They all have different purposes and their personalities and traits may differ, but they all have the same goal; to rid the Pyramid of the money crazed Golden Diva and to restore it to it's former glory.

Bosses
Each of the six bosses guards a different Passage in the Pyramid. Items can be purchased with Frog Medals to weaken bosses at the battle's beginning. Defeating Spoiled Rotten will unlock the four main Passages, and clearing a main Passage boss will store it's Legendary Treasure and collected Treasure Chests into the Golden Pyramid.

Enemies
During his adventure, Wario encounters more than three dozen kinds of enemies. While a few of them can be found in more than one Passage, most enemies are only unique to a certain Passage. The enemy's characteristics usually go by the Passage theme.

Golden Pyramid Enemies
The last part of the game doesn't introduce new enemies, aside from the creatures created by the Golden Diva.vHowever, some enemies that are otherwise exclusive to the Sapphire Passage reappear in the Golden Passage, the last level before the final boss. This includes Skeleton Birds, Men'ono and Miniculas.

Reception
The game received generally positive reviews. The "portable masterpiece" received praise and excellent review scores on it's soundtrack, collectibles throughout the game and its general thrill of satisfaction. One gaming website commented about even on it's ten year anniversary, it "still remains the best portable Mario game to date". IGN gave Wario Land a nine out of ten, or "Outstanding", citing its well thought out level design and replayability, and how the game "puts a lot more emphasis on action" compared to it's predecessors. Praise was also given to how much attention the developers paid to the sounds and music. It was not given a full ten because the game does not necessarily push the performance power of the Game Boy Advance in regards to animation design. The website quoted that "it's a little disappointing to see that Wario isn't much of a step beyond his GBC adventure in terms of art and animation...other than the sprite effects, it could have been done on the 8-bit handheld". Global sales exceeded two million copies.

References in Other Games

 * Wario makes a cameo appearance in Densetsu no Stafy 3, where Wario helps Starfy throughout the Undersea Ruins by using some of his transformations from Wario Land 4. Wario and Starfy arrive at a Vortex, where they must enter to locate the Frog Switch and four Jewel Pieces in order to unlock the boss door. Wario can transform into Bubble Wario, Flaming Wario and Puffy Wario respectively.
 * The theme of Princess Game & Watch's Item Shop is used as Mona's theme melody in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!. The music can also be heard in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! in a less modified form when the Gelateria is seen from the inside during Mona's story.
 * The Golden Diva has almost the same laugh as Princess Lipid, and she covers her real, grotesque face with magic masks, just like Tiaramisu from Wario: Master of Disguise does. Interestingly, both are also the final bosses of their respective games.

Beta Elements


Wario Land 4 was first announced at E3 2001. The first released screenshots were very different from the final game. Wario had a darker, more orange skin tone. A lot of the enemies were also shown to have a different color scheme. A notable difference from the final game is how Wario originally had a Garlic meter, which would have replaced the heart gauge below the heart meter. The Mini-Game Shop was going to be called the Game Corner, and Wario originally needed a Key to unlock a Jewel Piece Box.

Staff


Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development developed Wario Land 4, with the executive producer being Hiroshi Yamauchi. Wario is voiced by Charles Martinet, and the music composition is credited to Ryoji Yoshitomi.

Glitches
There is not a surprisingly large amount of know glitches in Wario Land 4, as with most Game Boy Advance games. A lot of the glitches are accessible via a hacking device, where the player is able to find an unused Golden Passage soundtrack and an unexplained occurrence within the Fiery Cavern. Other glitches, such as walking through walls, insane vertical zipping and an invisible object can be encountered during normal gameplay.

Quotes
In Wario Land 4, there is not a large amount of quotes within the game itself. But there are many notable quotes within the game's instruction manual, where Wario describes to the reader many aspects of gameplay and a few enemy descriptions. A few of the most memorable are shown below.

Quotes found in the game;
 * "Legendary Pyramid discovered deep in Jungle!! Legendary Treasure nearly found, but accidents hindered findings." – Newspaper article seen in the game's opening cut-scene.
 * "Welcome to the Item Shop." – Princess Game & Watch welcoming Wario to the Item Shop.
 * "Oh no, no! Hurry up!" – Wario, when he hits the Frog Switch in a level.

Quotes found in the game's manual;
 * "I ain’t normal! And I don’t mean that I’m stupid! I can do aaalllll kinds o’ stuff that normal humans can’t, you know what I mean? How ‘bout that? Amazing, huh?" – Wario informs the reader of his skills.
 * "Rumour has it that no one who’s entered the Golden Passage have ever come out alive! Scary!"– Wario warning the player of the dangers found in the Golden Passage.
 * "Yeahhhhh, that’s ME!!! More gorgeous than any Hollywood star! Get a good look at me while you can!!" – Wario describing himself.
 * "I don’t always speak so crudely, you know. I’m just worried about you because you play so badly!! Why do I care? Because I’m the one that feels it when you screw up, that’s why!!! So just try to get better at this game, OK?! I’m begging you!" – Wario, worried that the player will lead Wario into some danger.
 * "Haven’t you kids ever done something that made you look stupid? Oh, is that right? Well, FINE then! But even the powerful Wario gets into some embarrassing situations in this game! I eat too much and get all chubby, a bee stings my face and makes it swell like a balloon, my body catches fire, and all kinds of other bad things happen to me!! But I’m a tough guy, so I keep coming back for more! You wimps could learn something from me!" – Wario gives examples of his tough times.