Virtual Boy Wario Land:

No doubt the Mario/Wario Land platform series is the greatest of this genre of games to ever come from Nintendo, but even as the series keeps progressing after the Virtual Boy's 1995 release, I still don't care Wario Land 3 on GBC offered more colors or that Wario Land 4 on GBA offers color graphical effects, on the VB Wario is in 3D and platforming 2D/3D and it's one BIG party all the way!

When you turn on Wario Land and start a new game you will get an absolutely awesome intro movie! It really sets the mood for the game right from the start as the intro crosses over into direct gameplay. With the controller in your hand you can't help wanting to collect coins, diamonds and more treasures, and along the way Wario's lust for more $$$$ becomes your own, in a quest to get back at the enemies that threw you deep into the Earth.

Although it's clear why VB's Wario Land got a Kids-Adults rating, you can't help but feel joyfully evil when you bash and kill the enemies on badguy Wario's path who are in fact only defending treasures that were theirs to start with (yep I figured out a plot, someone pet me on the shoulder please). But take this not to think Wario's enemies aren't evil, soon you'll be facing skulls with the fire of hell in their eyes, chain-saw-fish that wear serial killer masks, giant mosquito's that will try to suck you dry, and plain scary smiley faces that come swirling at you with their eerie smile... those still give me nightmares! Wario Land with it's many layers in both level and creature design primarily represents a classic sidescroller a la 2,5-D and yet the 3D in the game comes from these very same layers as you see Wario and all these enemy creatures moving from front to back. Wario must jump back and forth to progress and while he's at it creatures literally come storming at him from just about any corner you could imagine, some by means of a surprise attack others in smooth 3D animations from the background. Wario will really have to flex his muscles to get out of this adventure!

Wario's controls are like a dream come true, if you ever played the GameBoy conversion, you'll swear by the new controls and call them supreme as you run, swim, stomp, dash, bash, jump, leap, toss and fire without looking at the controller longer than a few seconds when you first start out, their that easy, the controller almost looks to be designed for this game. When you press start you'll get a nice overview of where you are and how many treasures you found besides all the hearts & coins you collected. As for the treasures, you'll be in a world of trouble before finding them all, some are extremely easy to find, but others you'll spend oh so much time finding in the maze like levels.
While all of this is going on, where would the game be without some nice sound effects? Nowhere, so you'll be listening to really catchy typical Mario/Wario adventure songs, these are all-around nice tunes, but you'll be so busy playing that when you reach sections of the game where no background tune is played you'll feel an eerie sensation, just like the casual host of blips, bleeps and boinks they grow on you if they hadn't already.

 Ofcourse this wouldn't be a decent platformer if it didn't give Wario a ton of powerups to stop all the attacks those armies of creatures throw at him: Be Small Wario, Regular Wario, Bull Wario, Eagle Wario, Sea Dragon Wario, or King Dragon Wario by combining the previous two powerups. I myself like King Dragon Wario best for it's ability to fly and attack with dragonfire at the same time. Each power has it's own advantages at certain spots, I'll leave it to you to find out which ones those are and where to use them. One thing is for sure, you will be using them a lot to discover new and secret areas hidden within the levels, fret not about finding the million and one secrets, because each time you suspect a tucked away passage or block, or just nothing at all, you might be surprised by finding the coolest items at the weirdest spots when doing life-threatening tricks to get there. It's all in the fun and excitement of the game. Be sure to lengthen your life insurance by playing the heart mini-game at the end of the level and if you want to try and double your collected money go for the coins game at your own risk.

Eventhough the game is over before you know it (no more than a few to ten hours), finding the keys that enable you to open the elevator door that leads to the next higher level will slow you down for sure, this is mostly done in combination with a lot of fore/back-ground leaping, control Wario precisely or it's down a deep dark hole or bubbly lava pit for you, a nice feature to keep track of your progress in between levels are the three savegames (autosave at the end of each level). As per the bosses, they offer gameplay to another perspective when you are forced to use the game's 3D non-stop by hitting them or dodging their attacks in mid-air in between planes. Do it right and after a bit of practice you'll finally reach the endboss and a baddy he is, it'll take you ages to figure out all his attacks let alone survive them, but if you eventually do and beat him and thus the game, you'll be surprised by not only multiple game endings possibilities, but also a new harder mode which offers more frantic and faster action and believe me by this time you'll be so addicted at the game, wanting to do it all over again (and collecting all the treasures & more money for whole new endings) isn't just an option... it'll be a must.

In short: One of the Virtual Boy's most carefully crafted games, nothing short than a blast to play, sheer genius from the directing hands of Gunpei Yokoi, the eye for detail is amazing. If you like platform adventures, heck, if you like videogames you will have nothing but fun and more fun from this title.

My opinion: This is the game you take with you if you're stranded on a deserted island with a VB and the choice of 1 game! I keep playing this over and over, even as the years pass by I keep going back to VB Wario Land, it's THAT good! Your game collection just isn't complete without a copy of this awesome game, this isn't just my opinion, it's a fact! A+ + + + + + + + + +