10. W3 The Pool of Rain – Gray
This treasure focuses on a unique gimmick: stakes in the lake that rise when other stakes are ground-pounded, creating puzzles where you have to figure out how to arrange the stakes so that you can reach the next cliff, or in the middle section, to reach the gray key up in the middle.
It’s a very linear, straightforward treasure: you just go right, only going up & left a bit for the gray key, with the chest down a ladder in the last cliff. But the unique gimmick makes up for it, & having a linear path is refreshing once in a while in a game that mostly has mo’ labyrinthine layouts, & the twist for the key where you have to solve 2 different puzzles with the same stake setup is interesting ’nough.
9. E6 The East Crater – Green
1 o’ the most enjoyable jet stream treasure, seemingly seamlessly combining a variety o’ challenges with minimal padding: 1st the player must ride the 1st stream up while weaving right & left to dodge the lasers, then duck & fall into the thin hole downward so they can squeeze into the right passageway.
Then the player must turn into a vampire & fly up to the key while dodging the light beams & then turn back to normal & return to the beginning o’ the center & go right, fall down, & then go left while this time dodging the spinning bats to remain normal. The key has a distinct challenge — in fact, the opposite challenge — from the chest, but is integrated into the same room, rather than being a separate, irrelevant challenge.
I also like the implication from the palette that the jet stream is mud water rising from the dirt. This room’s general dingy brown palette works well with the vampire bats & the contrast o’ the light beams poring in.
8. W6 The West Crater – Blue
& yet there is an e’en cleverer jet stream treasure than “The East Crater”’s, tying together e’en more o’ its own very different challenges: needing to dodge the Applebies’ apples to reach the top, but later needing to intentionally eat an apply to become fat so you can fall thru the jet stream on the right & reach the blue chest; needing to grab a barrel @ the top, fall down the left side, & precisely aiming into a side hole so that you land on the cliff but avoid bonking the barrel off the ceiling so you can throw it @ the throw blocks surrounding the key, all o’ which are tied up in the puzzle o’ going up & down this room with jet streams that only go up.
I would e’en defend the use o’ the minigolf game to access the barrel in this room, as there is the extra challenge o’ having to find the minigolf game door ’hind a pile o’ cracked blocks. My only quibble is that I felt the need to go to the top right & ground pound a column o’ dirt to reach the 2nd-bottom step o’ the right side to reach the door was unnecessary: it feels redundant compared to needing to use fat Wario to reach the bottom & while heavily hinted @, it still expects the player to know to break thru solid-seeming dirt. The minigolf door is already hidden ’hind cracked blocks; if anything, it would’ve been cleverer if ’twere hidden ’hind a seemingly innocuous pile o’ blocks, like the 1 near the top o’ the right side.
This treasure also adds its own unique aesthetic spin on the jet stream, implying that it’s lava from its neon red color.
7. N2 The Peaceful Village – Gray
This is the 1st treasure to make important whether the player plays @ day or night, & they do so thru a memorable, Zelda-like way: during the day this village is bright with cheery music & swarming with Doughnuteers so eager to give you accommodations that they literally throw food @ you & fatten you up; @ night the level is cast in gloomy purple, has an equally gloomy dirge, & swarms with zombies who threaten to turn you into a zombie by throwing their heads @ you. There is a subtle gameplay difference ’tween these different effects: unlike our crueler reality, in this game obesity can be cured by just jumping & moving round a lot; zombification, howe’er, requires players to backtrack back to a lamp to return to become mortal ’gain, & they may be forcibly backtracked if they happen to jump — whether ’cause they’re hit mid-jump, are bumped, or they just stupidly jump — o’er a thin platform & fall thru. On the other hand, the zombies are so slow that you can rush thru the level without dealing with them, while the Doughnuteers are already in your way. But on the 1st hand, you can render the Doughnuteers unable to do anything to you if you duck while going thru them, as donuts will just bounce off you while ducking for some reason, with the only Doughnuteer who’s truly a challenge being the 1 who sometimes comes next to the ladder & sneaks a donut @ you while you’re climbing up, as you can’t duck while climbing, making ladders the only place where you’re truly vulnerable.
To accommodate these different effects, the developers put the gray key under both solid pink blocks & thin platforms, allowing both fat people & zombies access, as per OSHA compliance. Note, tho, that the thin platforms are right ’bove the gray key, while the pink blocks are to the side, showing that the developers expected most players to play @ night. Also note that this treasure uses pink blocks ’stead o’ donut blocks, giving a hint, e’en if players play @ night & use the zombie method, that Fat Wario can break regular solid pink blocks.
The developers positioned this level in the perfect place to take advantage o’ this treasure’s focus on day & night: it’s the 2nd treasure in the preferred path, in the 2nd level, so the player is likely to play @ night, but it’s unlocked ’long with the 3rd level & treasure, which the player can get before this 1 if they want, making it just as easy for players to play this @ day ( not to mention the ability to just enter a level & leave ).
While much o’ the foreshadowing o’ this treasure is similar to N1’s gray treasure, which did it to a greater effect, I do appreciate the way this treasure teases the inaccessible rooftop area, not just in the main room, but also in 1 o’ the subrooms, which is useless for now, but which taunts the player with an inaccessible upper room, ’long with the sounds o’ donuts being throw offscreen, letting attentive players know exactly how they will get past those solid blocks blocking the lower path later on. There’s also a memorable Prince Froggie blocking a passage downward, which you can’t do anything ’bout yet but torture it & watch the poor thing cry. Unlike the level preceding this, which just had 1 door you can go into that is obvious very soon you can’t do anything there, this level has 2 doorways with rooms that you can do some things in, but nothing substantial beyond getting a music coin, making this level feel a bit mo’ complex & free — tho it still doesn’t go too far with too many detours.
The weakest part o’ this treasure is the gray chest room, which is just the rightmost door you can access & is just a Fire Robota & a ladder up to the chest, neither o’ which has much to do with the general treasure & doesn’t e’en change in any way from day to night.
6. E1 The Stagnant Swamp – Red
As mentioned in the green treasure review, this is a stronger version o’ the green treasure. While the boss, Muddee, is a li’l less clever or interesting, it’s far from the worst boss in this game, & that’s o’erridden by the fact that the Robo-Mouse section isn’t neutered & actually gives you the full thrilling chase, &, mo’ importantly, you don’t have to do the tedious jumping off o’ enemies that the green treasure has.
In fact, it says something that the best parts o’ the green treasure are not in that treasure itself, but the way this treasure foreshadows that treasure. Not only do you have the platforms to the green key room out o’ reach this early in the game, but they cleverly positioned the red key precisely so that your head can reach it so you can collect it, but your feet can’t reach the platform it’s o’er & the pipe o’er them that leads to the green boss.
This treasure also offers mo’ variety: unlike the green treasure, which takes place entirely in that green cave, the boss room takes place in different pipe rooms with a current lake with a turtle you can ride to reach the red chest, only for the boss to pop up & scare ’way the turtle, forcing you to fight the boss to continue with the turtle. This is much mo’ clever than the story ’hind the green treasure’s boss, where you just need to defeat Jamano so you can ride his pirate hat up to a higher platform.
Finally, I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but I always found it amusing that the turtle you ride o’er the currents to & past the boss explodes — as all sprites do — when you open the red chest.
5. N1 Out of the Woods – Gray
Wario Land 3’s 1st treasure is perhaps the ultimate example o’ a great technique for Metroidvanias: littering the path with tantalizing alternate paths that are mockingly out o’ your reach. On the short, straight path thru a few rooms, you encounter a high platform blocked by blocks that can only be broken by a thrown object, a platform monster blocking a downward path you can only get out o’ your way by ground-pounding, a doorway to a large lake with high cliffs way out o’ reach, a scowling face on a background tree ( which, granted, many players may not realize isn’t just for decoration, but is guarding a new area ), & finally, the best example out o’ all o’ them: just before the doorway to the room with the gray chest there’s not only a high cliff you can’t reach till you get the ability to jump off enemies, on that cliff you can see in plain view a green key, spinning & sparkling.
These are all great for 2 reasons. 1, they gave me an insatiable curiosity to explore all these places, which means I had to keep playing till I unlocked everything I needed to get everything ( & as it turns out, the developers arranged treasures so that you wouldn’t be able to get the final treasure in this level till right before the final boss ). These are essentially several cliffhangers that keep me wanting mo’.
2, they add detail to the 1st mission without making it too complex or difficult. See, the twist is that if you ignore these inaccessible side paths, this mission is very simple: it’s just a straight path rightward — with the exception o’ 1 sidepath up a series o’ platforms leading up to the gray key, a twist on this pattern — ending @ a door to a short room up to the gray chest.
Most o’ this straight path isn’t challenging, either: it’s mostly just Spearheads & Webbers who just knock you back a bit if they hit you, which is just a slight delay. The level only gradually increases the threat with the fire-spurting pole & the Silkies @ the end, who can delay you for far longer.
There are other ways this treasure lets you subtly test out the differences ’tween what you can & can’t do yet. For instance, the opening staircases o’ pink blocks are a mix o’ cracked & solid blocks. If players let the cracked blocks lure them into charging @ them, they will find that tho the cracked blocks break, the solid ones won’t.
It’s also interesting how they use visual themes to block out the different missions o’ this level: the main path only accessible from the start is all the same forest tileset, while the main path o’ all other treasures have their own tilesets. This delivers a subtle message in the subroom — the only 1 accessible @ the start — that leads to the giant lake, which has a different, darker background: this is the wrong way right now. Later subrooms, which you can’t e’en access, they stray so far off the path, will also stray e’en farther graphically.
4. E7 Forest of Fear – Green
1 o’ the best — tho, as we’ll see, not the best — uses o’ Vampire Wario in this game, specially thanks to 1 unique, very characteristic mechanic in this level: strings o’ garlic hanging from the ceilings, which, in contrast to normal Wario’s insatiably lust for them, repel Vampire Wario like any other vampires, turning him back to normal & sapping him o’ his flying abilities.
But that isn’t the only reason this treasure is so high up, but also the way it combines with its twin theme, throwing Spearheads @ throw blocks. The player needs to follow the Spearhead walking on the weird floor that only enemies can walk on — tho a common mechanic in Wario Land II, is unique to this room in this game — while dodging the birds threatening you to knock you off & force you to climb back up, & then throw the enemy @ a wall o’ throw blocks to reach the only vampire bats reachable from the ground so you can weave thru the strings o’ garlic to reach the next Spearhead up in the right corner, walled off by a convenient string o’ garlic, forcing you to turn normal right when you need to, as Vampire Wario can’t hold Spearheads, but, in fact, destroys them on touch. From this point you need to pick it up & cross to the left while avoiding the swirling vampire bats so you can throw it @ the throw blocks surrounding the key. & as a final li’l challenge, the you need to turn back to normal, fall back down to the middle area, & pass the very 1st vampire bats that 1st helps you reach the top level to reach the green chest.
This treasure finds a perfect balance o’ staying coherent to its twin theme o’ Vampire Wario & throwing the enemy, seamlessly shifting the duality o’ the vampire bats being good & bad for you as you shift ’tween these 2 modes, without any elements being repetitive, beyond perhaps the opening climb into this room in the 1st place, which I’ve already defended in the gray treasure’s write-up — & e’en then, the birds there tie into the few birds here. If anything, the 1 slight change I would make to this treasure is maybe adding 1 mo’ group o’ swirling vampire bats on the stairs up to the green chest.
Like with the blue treasure, the aesthetics o’ this level help this treasure, blending the vampire bats into the lurid green visuals o’ mossy swamp ground & rotting wood & gloomy music as well as with the zombies.
3. N4 Bank of the Wild River – Blue
As weird as it is, the best use o’ Vampire Wario is not in the spooky castle level or the haunted town, or e’en the dark forest, but in some leaky green cave in a riverside level. But in a way, it makes sense, since this treasure focuses on the danger o’ water to both Vampire Wario & Fire Wario.
It’s impressive how packed full o’ interesting & unique challenges this treasure is. Not a single part is bad: you have to become a vampire bat & fly thru a twisting path o’er waterfalls, weaving ’tween the many falling drops, so you can collect the blue key & dispatch the Prince Froggie in your way; then you have to go thru a series o’ ladders & platforms while weaving thru the circling bats to avoid being turned back into Vampire Wario so you can reach the next room as normal Wario & can break thru the cracked block blocking the rest o’ the way; then you need to climb down to the bottom level while avoiding the fire spurting poles, grab the crystal, & climb back up, also avoiding the fires, so you can throw it @ the wall blocking the topmost torch; then you need to get set on fire with the final torch & run out to the bottom o’ the level as Fire Wario to break open the fire wall blocking the blue chest — with the final twist being that water drop that was formerly helpful by curing you o’ Vampire Wario when you no longer needed to be Vampire Wario now being a danger, as it can remove Fire Wario when you need it now.
The aforementioned cracked block blocking the way down to the bottom o’ the torch room is a subtly good touch as it saves the player from potentially wasting time allowing themself to go down to the bottom o’ that room as Vampire Wario, only to see that they can’t do anything here.
My only nitpick ’bout this treasure is that the Prince Froggie blocking off the rest o’ the blue chest room is redundant, as you need to take Vampire Wario round the other way to get the blue key, anyway. It doesn’t really change gameplay in any way, but making this round trip necessary only for the key would make the key feel mo’ like its own challenge & not just a freebie on the way to the chest. Alternately, they could have swapped the music coin in this room with the blue key, & also add a wall o’ cracked blocks before it, so you have to charge attack up there as normal Wario while avoiding the vampire bats.
2. N3 The Vast Plain – Blue
No other treasure employs a theme as well as this, & with such clever challenges built into its layout. The level that started out its 1st treasure with the theme o’ vision & the lack thereof, including the introduction o’ the new invisible Wario status effect, concludes with its ultimate implementation near the end o’ the game now that the player can finally go past that mysterious “5t” block they’ve been staring @ since near the beginning o’ the game: once again the player needs to get the key by making it to the end while invisible, but this time while traversing small 1-block platforms & dodging the faster, less predictable zombies.
But the real twist comes with getting to the chest: in order to enter its door, the player needs to go to the center o’ the room while not invisible, but can’t reach it from the left, which means the player can’t just fall to the bottom to recover. The player has 2 solutions: lure the zombie on the right ’bove the door to zombify them ’bove the flame below so they recover in the middle section, under the top floor but ’bove the bottom floor, or get zombified o’er the solid eye block on the left & drag themself o’er to the flame & jump ’bove it to fall into it.
This final room furthers this level’s theme o’ invisibility with a unique room where the floors are invisible, with only some indicated by a few moving enemies. Normally this would be unfair, but the designers thankfully showed restraint & made this section very easy with just a few jumps to make & a rather intuitive path. The real purpose o’ this room isn’t to be challenging but to further this treasure’s theme.
1. E5 The Warped Void – Green
This treasure combines 2 rare, interesting mechanics: ’nother warp room with the green treasure @ the bottom, & the mo’ interesting mechanic, trying to transport barrels without dropping them by avoiding the constantly jumping Count Richtertoffens who create stunning quakes as they land by jumping yourself when they land, as well as 1 extra section where you have to try climbing up a weird DNA-shaped ladder before the Count Richtertoffen pounds the ground & makes to slide off it.
While the former isn’t done in a particularly interesting way, the latter is, specially combined with the weird scattered positioning similar to what the blue treasure did, but with much mo’ interesting challenges here. ’Pon entering the player is presented with an impenetrable wall o’ throw blocks with nothing to throw @ it to the left & a climb up to a small basket o’ weird warp stuff & a door ’bove. The door ’bove kicks you out o’ the area, — & its surrounding area also gives a sneak peak @ the green key — which is why it’s good that it’s later, as while being able to leave this area is vital for time attack mode, it’s not what you want if you want to complete this challenge; no, it’s the weird warp stuff, which is surely to catch the player’s curiosity mo’, which leads to the 1st barrel challenge to break open the wall.
Howe’er, to twist things further, you don’t want to follow this up by climbing up the wall, as then you’ll just run into yet ’nother wall. You need to climb up to where the door out o’ here is, which holds ’nother barrel challenge to break the 2nd wall. ( ’Course, since you can enter this area from the start, you can break this wall before the other. In fact, it’s probably a li’l quicker to do so ). This arrangement leaves this big area with an interesting checkered symmetry with the barrel challenges in the lower left & upper right corner & the path they open up going in an upward diagonal zigzag.
While the green chest warp room isn’t as good as the red treasure’s & doesn’t fit in with the rest o’ the treasure, it does thematically tie the red & green treasures, which are opened by the same treasure — 1 that, ironically, removes other warp tiles that blocked off access to these treasures. Plus, this treasure does try to add to it by adding spikes.
