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 it's ten year anniversary. It is the fifth game 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. It features 2-D graphics with linear transformations (similar to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). The game received very positive reviews from websites and game critics alike. The "portable masterpiece", as described by a website, enjoyed well-deserved praise and excellent review scores on it's soundtrack, collectibles throughout the game, and its general thrill of satisfaction.

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 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.

On a dark and quiet night when everybody else was asleep, Wario starts the engine of his Wario 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 reaches a jungle, and Wario is forced to abandon his vehicle once it gets too thick. 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 remains unharmed, and she casually swallows the Cat. Wario then battles the Golden Diva. When defeated, the Cat is set free, the treasure is 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 flies out of the treasure sack, and the Black Cat takes possession 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 still making sense of it all. He dismisses it, grabs the remaining treasure and gets back into his Wario 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 Cat this time. After Wario drives off, a newspaper flies into the White Cat's face. It 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 part of the game is revealed. This consists of four more Passages, each with a different theme and boss. They are the Emerald Passage, Ruby Passage, Topaz Passage and Sapphire Passage. These four Passages can be completed in any order. Each has four levels and a boss. 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 that are scattered throughout a level. Wario can lose a heart by touching a threatening part of an enemy (eg. horns, teeth), or by touching spikes. 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 (or Key Bird) 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, which closes behind him. The only way to open it again is to find the Frog Switchsomewhere in the level to open it once again 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 by the Frog Switch Blocks. The Frog Switch Block can be found either solid or transparent. When the Frog Switch is hit, all transparent blocks will become solid, while all the 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. Once 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 get to these points, usually using Dr. Arewo Stein as an object to throw. Completing these rooms is optional, and is not needed to complete the game, but rather if the player wants 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 optional 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 sound. There is a total of sixteen CDs to collect. A Karaoke can also be unlocked, a full song with Japenese 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. During the boss battle, when 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 do 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.

Minigame Shop
Prior to the boss, there is a Minigame Shop where Wario can play one of three minigames. If Wario recieves a certain amount of points in each of the mini-games, then he can earn Frog Medals, which he can then spend at the Item Shop for items to assist him to defeat the boss of that passage. Each minigame costs 5000 points to play (excluding the Entry Passage, which is discounted to 2000.) Points are earned during normal gameplay.

The three minigames include:
 * The Wario Hop
 * Wario's Homerun Derby
 * Wario's Roulette

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 the boss by doing pre-damage at the battle's start. The shopkeeper is Princess Game & Watch, a transformation 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, 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:
 * Normal
 * Hard
 * S-Hard (unlockable, by completing Hard mode)

The game mode affects the location of the Jewel Pieces, the amount of enemies 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 will cost more Frog Medals. The difficulty of Minigames are generally unchanged across difficulty levels. However, on S-Hard, the baseball minigame has pitches thrown by a cheerleader who throws more hard pitches and has a different style from the normal pitcher.

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. He has a total of ten different transformations in the game, which all have some sort of purpose to assist Wario in progressing through the level, such as 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 the developers made more use of them in Wario Land 4. In all forms, Wario is invincible. But touching an enemy will not destroy it; merely knocking 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. It's boss is the Golden Diva, the last 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 is found in more than one Passage, most enemies can be found in a certain Passage. The enemy's characteristics usually go by the Passage's themes.

Golden Pyramid Enemies
The last part of the game doesn't introduce new enemies, aside from the final boss, the Golden Diva, and the creatures created by her (see table). However, some enemies that are otherwise exclusive to the Sapphire Passage reappear in the last level before the boss, the Golden Passage. 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 an it's general thrill of satisfaction. One gaming website commented how 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". Praise was also given to how much attention the developers paid to the sounds and music (see Wario Land 4/Media). 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 graphics. 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 images can be seen here.
 * 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. Coincidentally, both are also the final bosses of their respective games.