Wario Land II

Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: 1998
Platform: Game Boy, Game Boy Color (played)
Genre: Platform

It was rare to see games giving the possibility of letting some useless archaic score system out some thought in 1998 (for certain genres it’s still true today), let alone ditching death altogether; but Wario Land II did exactly that when digging deeper towards the identity of a recently-born series—and helped the whole genre to expand while at it.

Of course, it was a bit early for targeting some “casual player” demographics, so removing death didn’t end up making the task of completing the game any easier. Setbacks take some of the only thing that really appeals to Wario—namely, money—and that can get to frustrate the player too since collectibles are locked behind paid minigames, and reaching a well-hidden treasure room deep into a mazy level without the resources to tackle it can make the softhearted more empathetic.

Anyways, annoying as they can be, paywalls here testify in favor of the developers when it comes to a rare case of making a character’s background really spring to life through gameplay itself, not only being used for generic contextualization—that’s true on Wario’s greediness overflowing into the player, and even more about his badassery keeping him from dying (and making Mario pale in comparison as a bonus).

Found a treasure? Pay for it!

Another bold decision was to evolve tested and proven power-ups (usually sported in the form of “outfits” in the Land series) into a new “state” system. Wario itself is modified by certain conditions—like being burnt, turned into a zombie, or simply getting fatter after having a piece of cake thrown at him—that can offer him new ways to reach otherwise-forbidden areas within the levels. Beyond their original simply humorous take, such mechanics made room for even more experimentation on the gameplay side.

Unfortunately the crammed tiny screen generated some innate overly-punishing hit detection—and those moments coupled with some small bad design here and there keep Wario II from being a better rounded game than its predecessor. But when it comes to innovation it’s a terrific blueprint for entries to come—or platformers all around for that matter.