Collection essentials #163: Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (Game Boy)

Wario was the main antagonist of yesterday’s game. Nintendo quickly decided to give him a shot at being PROtagonist. This would be the first time of many.

Just because you’re playing as Wario doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a good guy. Wario is entirely motivated by greed. At the end of the last game, Wario got booted out of his castle by Mario, and so his objective in this game is to get his hands on a whole bunch of money to build an even better castle. As he goes out looking for treasure, standing in his way are a bunch of pirates, so I guess there’s no real good guy in this game on either side.

Wario plays a lot differently than Mario, too. Sometimes he can stomp on enemies like Mario, but Wario also relies on a charge attack where he puts his arm in front of him and runs forward to forcefully collide with an unfortunate enemy in his path. Wario is also fond of picking up items which he can then throw, and this includes enemies, who often get toppled when hit rather than dying instantly. With a certain power-up, Wario can butt-stomp the ground as he descends in mid-air for a powerful tremor-like effect.

The game keeps a running total of how many coins Wario has, and what ending you get depends on how many you’ve collected. You’re given opportunities to gamble at the end of stages to earn more. With this type of system, the game very much incentivizes revisiting levels to try and find treasure you may have missed.

When I was a kid, my cousins owned this game and I always thought it was really cool. I knew I had to have it when I started collecting, and at some point in my teen years I bought the copy shown in the photo. It’s a creative and fun game that’s one of the best Game Boy platformers and significant for a character who is now a longtime Nintendo staple. A real essential.