Wario Land 3 is the point @ which the Wario Land series finally reaches its fullest potential, combining the clever status effect mechanic, where getting hit by certain enemies gives Wario certain effects like floating upward or falling down thin platforms, — & including new ones that are some o’ the best in the series, like turning invisible, turning into a yarn ball, turning into a snowball, or turning into a vampire who can become a bat & fly — which can be positive or negative for the player depending on the context, with a more open, explorative level than the mostly linear levels Wario Land II offered.
Rather than going on a sequence o’ levels with goals with a few secret exits & branching paths as the 2nd game, this game goes all the way with breaking from traditional platformers with a unique goal system: each level has 4 different-colored pairs o’ chests & keys. Collecting a matching key & then chest o’ the same color acts as 1 goal that gives the player a certain treasure that unlocks access to other keys & chests, whether by unlocking new levels, changing certain levels, or giving Wario new abilities. This can lead to multiple ways o’ getting certain treasures, especially in Time Attack challenges, when you have all abilities unlocked: for example, you normally get the red key & chest in “The Peaceful Village” using a snake to hoist you up to the roof; but if you have the winged boot, you can also high jump up the right wall ( which isn’t e’en getting into the collision glitch you can use to clip up that wall near the beginning o’ the game & the other glitches you can use the heavily sequence break this game like Metroid games ).
With this mo’ elaborate gameplay mechanic comes mo’ elaborate levels, with levels that branch out into different sections for the different treasures, not unlike Super Mario 64’s levels. This does lead to some repetition like in Super Mario 64 as you have to traverse the same challenges multiple times, — with some egregious examples we will be looking @ — but this is surprisingly not much mo’ than in the 1st Wario Land or Wario Land II, which, despite being mo’ linear, repeat a lot o’ the same general challenges; & given Wario Land 3’s game design, it’s mo’ understandable here.
E’en beyond the needs o’ its general game mechanics, Wario Land 3 is mo’ adventurous with its level design than previous games, with stranger layouts & puzzles, which can be a 2-sided coin: baffling in poth an interesting & clever way, but sometimes baffling in ways that lead to just annoying gameplay. But in either case, I will have much mo’ to write ’bout than previous games’ mo’ straightforward level design. When well-implemented or not, bizarre rare mechanics like the mouse robots that chase you or the moon & sun spitting stars or fire @ you remind one o’ Super Mario Bros. 3 & its odd Goomba’s Shoe or Angry Sun. E’en mechanics that clearly do not benefit this game, like the o’er use o’ the awkward minigolf game ( or the unlockable golf game that gives you nothing on playing & the unlockable secret golf course ), can be comedic in how common & how out o’ place they are — & I would still take them o’er the mo’ normal but mo’ boring minigames you had to do on e’ery level in Wario Land II.
Where Wario Land 3 is truly @ its weakest is its theming & aesthetics. For aesthetics, this game generally has plainer, e’en gaudier color palettes, with large areas o’ boring brown or eye-searing red, tho its graphics are a bit mo’ polished, with less o’ the awkward cutoff that Wario Land II had, & mo’ detail in its backgrounds, which is to be expected in a sequel. As for theming, Wario Land 3 both has a lack o’ variety & a lack o’ cohesion: the same level themes are used so egregiously that there are arguably 4 volcano levels, & many mo’ general cave levels, 2 o’ which have very similar names. I doubt most people could distinguish on memory the difference ’tween “The West Crater” & “The East Crater” unless they just played the game recently. Most other levels are some kind o’ grassland, water, or sky, with only a few stragglers, like 1 bridge level, city level, tower level, castle level, & “The Warped Void”, whate’er that level’s s’posed to be ( & e’en those levels are mostly gray or brown, unlike the pink castles & trains in Wario Land II ).
Pictured above: 2 separate levels.
100. S4 The Steep Canyon – Blue
There’s nothing worth keeping in this treasure: it’s nothing but mechanics & setpieces both stale & ill-conceived in the blandest-looking level in the game, surrounded by nothing but brown generic rocky textures. Not only do you have the pointless minigolf game thrown in, in order to reach said minigolf game you have to ground pound a random spot on the floor to break thru to a secret room below.
The closest thing to an interesting element in this treasure is the flame puzzle before that room; but it’s the least interesting flame puzzle in this game, despite being the last use o’ it, & by this point o’ the game the player will have gotten sick o’ doing it after doing it 4 times in “Tower of Revival”. Its main challenges are ground pounding the cracked blocks out o’ the way before becoming fiery & making awkward immediate jumps as soon as you land on the bottom floor.
But the worst part o’ this treasure is the placement o’ the key right before the chest. It’s literally right above the chest & there’s nothing you do after grabbing it but maybe crawling out o’ the hole that leads to a music coin & dropping down to the chest. This is the only treasure in the game that doesn’t e’en attempt to create some kind o’ separation ’tween the key & chest in any way; it’s the only treasure that completely ignores the core mechanic o’ this game’s treasures.
99. W2 The Volcano’s Base – Green
This level has 2 treasures where you have to climb up a long ladder, stopping ’tween beams when they pop out, & then ride the slowest trolley in the universe. The twist with the green treasure is that halfway thru the top track you need to stop @ the snake pot & ride the snake so you can win yet ’nother minigolf game to reach the green chest, which is just in a large, spacious area with nothing else.
O, & there’s a doorway to the green key right by the snake’s pot, which requires you to… jump into water & swim round. There’s bats, but they’re only useful for getting the music coin above. It’s baffling that they “added” to the red treasure by adding just a pond — 1 weirdly up in the sky, to boot — & the minigolf game. I should add that none o’ this has to do with this level’s volcano theme or the moving trolley.
98. S3 Tower of Revival – Red
Like “Tower of Revival” as a whole, its red treasure is the worst example o’ the stereotype that people hold for this game in general as being repetitive & full o’ padding & filler: after the fire puzzle @ the start & slowly shoving the stove out o’ the way, which you have to do in e’ery treasure in this level, you have a door that leads to a series o’ rooms that have nothing to do with the rest o’ the level that are just a series o’ obstacles you have to go thru multiple times: 1st you have to get to the top so you can become fat & break thru the donut blocks below, then do yet ’nother fire puzzle wherein you have to reach the top o’ the 1st room to break the fire blocks, & then reach the top o’ the 2nd room ’gain to become a zombie so you can fall thru the thin platforms to reach a switch, climb all the way back up to the top room to grab the red key, & then fall back down to the 2nd room so you can become a zombie ’gain & fall down the thin platforms ’gain to reach the red chest ’gain. Yes, that’s 3 times you have to go thru the zombie room.
These sections by themselves are fine, — & the fire puzzles are creative & interesting by themselves, tho having to do both in the same treasure is a problem — but not interesting ’nough to do multiple times; if they switched the donut blocks & fire blocks round & removed the flat platforms, switch, & switch blocks, it would’ve been much better without losing anything. Having the fire blocks @ top allows players to just do the fire section 1st & ne’er go thru this area ’gain & would reward players who explore the 1st area & notice the fire blocks ’stead o’ just rushing forward, while allowing players a way to not have to do anything mo’ than once: just do the fire puzzle, climb to the top, grab the key, & then grab a donut & break your way down to the red chest. Also, I would move the 1st fire puzzle so that you only had to do it for the gray treasure, but that’s mo’ a recommendation for the entire level.
The strangest part o’ this treasure is that despite how uninspired it is, they chose to make this treasure o’ all o’ them to deliver you the garlic treasure, the 1st power-up upgrade, — & an upgrade to the most important ability, Wario’s charge attacks — which also unlocks “Sea Turtle Rock”. Most o’ the other weak treasures are a’least bonus you’re not expected to get till after beating the game.
97. S1 The Grasslands – Red
A laughably pointless treasure. On the face o’ it, you just dodge beams while climbing up a vine & jump across some platforms, avoiding getting knocked off by the Spearheads & having to redo e’erything, all to reach the o’erused minigolf game to open the chest @ the beginning o’ the room. Howe’er, to be extra rude, if you haven’t gotten the garlic & gotten super charge, breaking 1 o’ the walls in your way will bounce you back & force you to fall off. It only makes you restart 1 second o’ work, but still… Also, ¿what does this teal cave have to do with grasslands?
The only halfway interesting thing ’bout this treasure is that the red key is out in the open, easier to find than the gray key when 1st visiting this level. It’s not much, but it’s all this treasure has.
96. E4 The Colossal Hole – Red
While this treasure focuses on the general focal point o’ the level, the problem is that that focal point is not very fun or interesting: exploring the crevices o’ the level by being flattened & slowly gliding down, hoping that you fell or jumped from the right place so that you happen to slide into the crevice & don’t just bump gainst the wall. This treasure is, ’course, far from the 1st or last time this is a problem, but in most other treasures you’re in a small area where making multiple tries isn’t that much o’ a problem; this treasure has multiple places to fall or jump from & failing to guess where you should do so forces you to slowly glide all the way down the level. This treasure, ’bove all others ( ’least in this game — Wario Land 4 has an e’en worse use o’ this ability ) reveals the inadequacies o’ Flat Wario & how it would’ve been much better if the player had mo’ control o’er how quickly or slowly it falls.
The rest o’ the treasure is just padding. The red key is just in a room @ the bottom o’ the level, which requires the player to throw an enemy @ some floor without any indication, other than that the only other thing you can try is ground pounding. The 1 good thing ’bout this room is that there are solid blocks blocking it off, telling the player early that they can’t accomplish this treasure without garlic, as the red chest is also blocked by solid blocks. Then ’gain, the solid blocks don’t accomplish anything in the latter, so it probably would’ve been better if they just didn’t have the solid blocks @ all. This is indisputably the least inspired requirement for a new ability, especially compared to the unique way this very same powerup unlocks a whole level.
The 1 saving grace one would expect from having the red key just be @ the bottom o’ the level is that this would require the player to only deal with Flat Wario for the chest, but they would be wrong, for they added that all-too-common 2nd key, the minigolf game, which requires Flat Wario to access it as well as the red chest. The only positive I can give is that they offer a cracked block to the side o’ the minigolf niche, in case the player finds it & only realizes after the fact they don’t have ’nough money, & that the minigolf block is in plain sight, so it’s unlikely the player will go into that niche only to find the block in the way. Also, if the player is clever, they can just duck jump toward the right edge from the middle platform to land in the red chest niche without being Flat Wario.
95. E3 Castle of Illusions – Green
Another throw’way treasure, especially since it takes the same main route as the red treasure. There’s an awkward thoughtlessness to some o’ the constructions, like the series o’ platforms going upward, leading to just spikes on the ceiling & nothing else. There’s a side path up the platforms, where you’re s’posed to take a Hammer-bot to make you bouncy, but it only leads to a music coin. Considering this game oft suffices with just putting music coins in plain sight, I’m not sure why they felt the need to make this elaborate setup for 1.
Other parts just feel halfhearted: the entrance requires you to make a blind jump down the right side o’ the main room based on memory that you can see something up there from below, which is somewhat clever, but having to pick up the Brrr Bear — an o’erused enemy that doesn’t fit this level’s castle theme much — to throw down @ the throw blocks is a forced gate requiring you to get the powered-up glove & nothing else. As if that weren’t ’nough, this treasure later demands you do the same to break a wall with a Hammer-bot, e’en tho there’s no challenge.
The main challenge getting the green key, — since, like all the chests in this level, the green chest is just to the right in a room in the main area — requires bouncing up a long series o’ platforms, which is arguably the ultimate Bouncy Wario challenge in this game, but not by much, just adding many mo’ platforms & a wider area for the player to stray from the main path & waste their limited power-up.
They do add 1 twist wherein the topmost platform isn’t solid till you hit a switch in a room with “challenge” that involves trying to squeeze thru a narrow section with a Spearhead in the way, which just requires you to keep moving right & accept getting stabbed back a few times before you can make it thru. None o’ this is challenging, it’s just annoying, specially for 1st-time players who have no idea that switch platform is there till they try to bounce up there & can’t bounce on it, wasting their time. They do somewhat hint @ this by having a Hammer-bot blocked off by solid blocks till you hit the switch, but since you have to throw a Hammer-bot to open up this area, you’re just as likely to use that Hammer-bot to try & bounce upward & ignore that blocked-off Hammer-bot.
The only interesting part o’ this treasure is the sky bridge ’tween those other 2 rooms, where you go outside the castle for a bit & where there are pillars covering platforms & enemies; & while interesting to look @, gameplaywise it’s kinda cheap, & not e’en unique in doing so, as “The Grasslands” & “The Pool of Rain” do something similar, not to mention the red treasure in this very level. I s’pose the red key being hidden on the path to the green key is the possible puzzle — for the red key treasure, tho; which is to say that this treasure’s best aspect is its contribution to the red treasure’s puzzle; but that doesn’t mean that the green treasure needed to be as weak as it is.
94. W5 Beneath the Waves – Blue
Probably the most throw’way treasure that doesn’t e’en try to mesh with this level’s theme: you enter a cave &… just dodge enemies to make it to the key. They don’t e’en have a variety o’ enemies, filling the room with the same setpieces with Brrr Bears, as well as room slimes, both o’ which are very common enemies in this game. For what it’s worth, the throw block that helps prevent you from losing too much progress if you get hit by a Brrr Bear on the top level becoming a hindrance that needs to be removed to reach the music coin ’hind the spikes past it using the Brrr Bears’ ice is clever, tho technically irrelevant to this treasure, & it’s not a great sign when a music coin is better designed than a key. Otherwise, there are no clever setpieces around the Brrr Bears like e’en “The Big Bridge”’s green treasure has.
& the blue chest room is just a basic fat Wario challenge where you need to throw a Doughnuteer thru an annoyingly small throw block to land on the level below & let it make you fat to break open the blocks guarding the chest. Weirdly, this room is less hidden than the green chest room, so it couldn’t e’en have that to its credit.
93. N5 The Tidal Coast – Red
A bizarrely similar treasure to “The Volcano’s Base”’s blue treasure — all the mo’ bizarre that that other treasure comes right after this 1 in the expected treasure sequence. Like that treasure, the bulk o’ this treasure is swimming thru an underwater section dodging bubbles, breaking thru cracked blocks ’bove a certain area & getting intentionally caught by a bubble to get past a current to reach the red key. Not only do both these treasures have this challenge, but as you’ll read farther on in this list, this game is already full o’ these “dodge the bubbles” underwater challenges. This might be 1 o’ the most forgettable o’ them.
The other room is just a short series o’ throw blocks to test out your newly-acquired throw abilities @ this point. To be fair, it does work pretty well @ this, starting with a part where you can just chuck the Spearhead, & then 2 areas where you have to hold & do a charged throw to break thru a full line o’ throw blocks. It’s just that, as a tutorial, it’s not all that interesting, & has li’l to do with the level proper.
In fact, other than that these rooms involve water, this treasure doesn’t have much to do with this level, being located just in a pipe accessible by breaking thru throw blocks, which could be in any level.
92. S3 Tower of Revival – Gray
It’s hard to judge this treasure when nearly half o’ it is stuff you have to do for e’ery treasure in this level, specially when that portion is the better portion. The fire & stove puzzles @ the beginning are interesting in isolation, but having to do them 4 times, e’en if broken up by other levels thruout the game, is less so.
As it turns out, the gray-treasure-specific part is also something you do many times thruout this game, tho not ’gain in this level: dodging Pneumos while going down a section & then leading a Pneumo o’er so it can poke you & allow you to float up to the gray key. This is 1 o’ the least interesting uses o’ this puzzle, too, specially since trying to find which side o’ the upper area has the key & which side just has a music coin that’s useless this early in this level is pure guesswork, with no time to correct your guess once you’ve committed to it.
To cap it off, you have to go all the way back to the start o’ the level to get to the gray chest. While using the Doughnuteer to break a shortcut back thru the ceiling o’ the beginning o’ this area is both a clever twist on this enemy who was previously a threat to your floating abilities & a clever use o’ this room’s arrangement o’ elements wrapping back round o’er its side, getting to the bottom o’ the level from the snake door is just awkwardly squeezing thru thin holes in the ground with no other impediments. Having the gray chest just under where you can break thru the ceiling as Fat Wario, near the beginning o’ the room, would’ve been better, both for tightening this treasure that already has plenty ’nough elements, but also by adding variety by adding a twist to the “gray chest @ the start o’ the level” trick that’s already used in plenty of other levels.
91. N1 Out of the Woods – Red
This game has 2 red treasures for 2 early-game levels unlocked with the o’eralls & the ability to ground pound that are, unfortunately, both very similar to each other, have few interesting new elements, & barely use your new ground-pounding abilities for anything beyond unlocking the new area in the 1st place. The “Out of the Woods” version is the worst o’ the 2, since it just has you dodge random enemies to reach the key & the 1st o’ the many repetitive minigolf games, which is required to open access to the chest.
The cleverest puzzle in this area isn’t e’en for main progress: there’s a Count Richtertoffen who can squish you, which you need to reach an alcove with a music coin. ¿Why isn’t the red key here ’stead o’ some area in the upper right that just requires you to climb ladders & dodge ’nother Silky? ¿Wouldn’t this be a great place to introduce Flat Wario? — specially since it adds an ironic twist to this treasure being introduced by giving you the ability to ground pound, by forcing you to get ground-pounded yourself.
This treasure’s environment is also the least relevant to this level, being a cave with red walls that flash as if you’re in a molten volcano. This game already has 3 whole volcano levels, so adding a volcano to the forest level wasn’t necessary, specially when this level has the rarely-used tree tileset used only in this level for the blue treasure & “The Grasslands” for its green treasure.