Wario Land (Super Mario Land 3) is the third Super Mario Land game released for the Gameboy in 1994. This game doesn't include Mario in it at all until the end, and he only makes a cameo appearance. The main protagonist of this game is Wario. He is out to steal a statue of Princess Toadstool from the Brown Sugar Pirates. This statue could be worth a lot of money, and he intends to use this money to build his own castle. So, the storyline for this game ties into the previous one. I consider both Super Mario Land 2 and Wario Land to both be great games for the Gameboy. I had both of them when I was a kid.

I got Wario Land for my 11th birthday in mid June of 1994 not long after it was released. It didn't take me that long to finish it, but I still hadn't got all the treasures needed for the good ending. I learned this was a game based more on collecting coins and treasures and went beyond your typical platformer. Elements from SML2 were incorporated into the game as well such as: limited lives, hearts, Wario taking damage from enemies, etc. Wario Land was one of the last games I played as a kid, and this was around the time I was starting to lose interest in video games. However, it still is a good game, but is it as good as Super Mario Land 2?

Graphics 9/10: The graphics of Super Mario Land 3 are of almost the same quality as those in Super Mario Land 2. Like with that game, all the objects and backgrounds are well detailed and look very nice. The only problem is that Wario Land also lacks color. You can tell that the two were specifically designed for the Gameboy. There really isn't much difference in the graphical quality of these two Gameboy games.

Music 7/10: The soundtrack for Wario Land has a lot of variety to it just like with the previous one. However, that variety hurts it more than it helps it. You get so many songs in this game that sound decent but very few that stick with you. The music has a pirate theme to it, so I guess that's good. The boss music is pretty catchy, and so are some of the tracks for the stages themselves. I hated the music for Sherbet Land, Stove Canyon, and quite a lot of other overworld tracks. I feel like overall, Super Mario Land 3 is a game with good music, one or two great songs, but a lot of dull and boring tracks also. It's hard to say how I feel about this game's soundtrack. It's passable, but barely when you consider the boring music they use for many of the overworlds.  

Gameplay 10/10: The gameplay of Wario Land is somewhat different from that of Super Mario Land 2. Wario can touch enemies without taking damage unless they are equipped with any spears or spikes. When Wario is in his normal form, he can knock enemies out of the way by charging into them. He can also charge into blocks. One of the great things about Super Mario Land 3, is all the transformations Wario can undergo. However, if Wario takes damage from any enemies, spikes, fire, etc. he will be reduced to small Wario, and in this form he is the most vulnerable because he can die if he takes any further damage. Unlike Mario in SML2, Wario can only take one hit. Wario starts out the game in normal form, but he can get Power-Up Pots that allow him to change into several forms. 

These transformations are: Bull Wario (my favorite one because of the ground-pound maneuver), Dragon Wario, and Jet Wario. Unlike in future Wario Land games, there aren't all that many transformations. The first game in the series was designed to be similar to the Mario games. Wario can take damage in this game, and he can even die. However, he still gets unlimited continues, but I think he has to forfeit one of his treasures. Wario Land is more about collecting things more than it is about just getting through the levels under a certain amount of time. For me, this gameplay style is a big part of what made it so addictive to play. These games have become more addictive to me now that I have played some of the later Wario games.  

Super Mario Land 3 contains two overworld maps similar to that in the previous game. There is the big map of Kitchen Island, and then there are individual maps of the 7 worlds that make up Kitchen Island. Sherbet Land is a secret world that is accessed by finding a hidden exit in the second world of the game called Mt. Teapot. This world is totally optional and isn't necessary for completing the game, but there are quite a few treasures hidden here, and it is worth exploring if you want a better ending to Wario Land. Each world of the game has a boss that must be defeated in order to progress to the next area.

Coins are used in this game to advance to the next level and to hit checkpoints. Extra lives are earned in this game by finding hearts or killing enemies. The goal of Wario Land is to collect all the treasures, so Wario can get a castle at the end of the game instead of a birdhouse. Coins can also help get you a castle, and you must collect at least 10 of them in order to unlock the door that leads to the next level of the game. You can lose lives in Wario Land, and if you lose too many you'll get a Game Over. However, you can still continue from the level you're already on, but you'll lose some of your coins and possibly the treasures you have collected along the way. That is not good at all because the whole object of this game is to collect all the treasures and as many coins as you can.

Another thing to be mindful of is the time limit on the levels, running out of time can also cause Wario to lose a life. Super Mario Land 3 is a fun game to play because it is based more on collecting treasures and coins than it is just getting through the levels without losing any lives. The more treasures you collect, the better ending you'll have. This is a way of rewarding the player, and it makes you want to go for 100% even though it isn't necessary for finishing the game. At the time, I wasn't too interested in this game for very long. After I beat it and got 100%, I didn't play it much anymore. However, I have come to enjoy it more than I did back then.

Even though this game is pretty bland compared to other games in the series, there is still a lot to do. Players can collect coins and treasures and also look for secret exits. Levels with more than one exit are marked on the overworld maps with a circle around them. The game gives you clues to where the hidden exits and treasures are located which is also cool. This is a game that is big on exploration, and I guess it isn't all that bland, it's just that the later games did more with this concept. Wario Land is still a well designed game that is mostly about collecting treasures and exploring the stages.

The layout of this game is very similar to the way the last Mario Land game was designed. There is probably even more variety to the 7 areas of Kitchen Island than what there was to the 6 zones of Mario Land. I guess it isn't all that much different, but Nintendo used about the same formula. At the end of each world, you have to fight a boss, just like before. I feel like Wario Land is a game where you: play different themed worlds, fight the bosses of these worlds with their own attack pattern, and collect coins/treasures. As far as the gameplay and level design of Super Mario Land 3 goes, there is more to do, and I appreciate the game more now than I did when I was a kid.  

Story 10/10: After being defeated and kicked out of Mario's castle in Super Mario Land 2, Wario plans on building his own castle. He hears of a giant statue of Princess Toadstool that is hidden on Kitchen Island, but it is located somewhere in Syrup Castle. Syrup Castle is the home of the dangerous Captain Syrup and the Brown Sugar Pirates. When Wario reaches the castle, it turns out Captain Syrup is really a very attractive female pirate. She summons a Genie to destroy Wario when he makes his way to her chamber. After defeating the Genie, Captain Syrup blows up the rest of her castle, but Wario manages to escape.

The statue of Princess Toadstool is revealed after Syrup Castle is destroyed, but Mario flies in on a helicopter and takes the statue back to Mario Land. Wario finds the magic bottle the Genie came out of, and the Genie appears and grants Wario one wish. He wishes for a castle, but the Genie requests he bring him 5 bags of money. If you collect all the treasures in the game, you'll be able to pay the Genie what he wants, but without all the treasures the Genie can't grant Wario his wish. Wario won't get a castle, and if you only have 1 bag of coins (the minimum amount) he'll only get a birdhouse. This is a long and complex storyline to say the least with the surprise ending of Captain Syrup really being a woman!

I don't understand why this game wasn't as big of a part of my childhood like the other two Mario Land games were. Why did I suddenly start to lose interest in video games around this time? Super Mario Land 3 is where Wario got his own game and became Nintendo's anti-hero. The game also introduces a new cast of characters like Captain Syrup and her gang of Brown Sugar Pirates. I like how there are a lot of new characters and concepts introduced here. Unfortunately, they would only reappear again in Wario Land 2. Still, this first game had a plot and characters with a lot of depth.     

Content 10/10: Wario Land (the third Mario Land game), takes place on Kitchen Island which is made up of 7 areas: Rice Beach, Mt. Teapot, Sherbet Land (optional), Stove Canyon, S.S. Teacup, Parsley Woods, and Syrup Castle. At the start of the game you have the map of Kitchen Island, and Wario starts the game on Rice Beach. After completing the first level on Rice Beach, a path is made leading to the next level of the beach. This is how Wario Land works. Some levels contain hidden exits that lead to other parts of the game where the treasures are.

As mentioned earlier, Sherbet Land and many other areas are optional, but are necessary in order to find the treasures and win Wario his castle. In total, it has 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours of content. Wario Land has more than the previous Gameboy game, and it is worth exploring every level in Kitchen Island to get Wario his castle.   

Difficulty 2/10: The levels in this game are very easy to complete, and you have infinite chances to do so. You can Game Over in the game, but after doing so can continue playing from the level you are already on. The only thing is, you forfeit some of your coins and treasures. Unlike in a lot of games, the treasures are not hard to find. The game gives you clues to where each one is located. You have to find the key needed to unlock the spiked skull and open a door where the treasure chest is located. After completing the game, the levels containing the treasures will be flashing on the world maps giving you even more of a clue of where they are at.

It took me a while to finish this game, but it didn't take much of my summer vacation. I only spent several weeks playing it until I was able to get 100% completion. Some of the bosses gave me trouble, but the stages weren't very difficult. For the most part, I found this game to be pretty easy, but it did have some challenge to it. That challenge came from playing all the optional content, and I liked how all of this was optional. More emphasis was put on finding treasures and getting the best ending. The game was easy to finish, but then you had to go back and get all the treasures.

Overall 9.2/10: I don't feel like Wario Land is as good of a game as Super Mario Land 2 was. That game was a little bit better because of its better soundtrack. Although, Wario Land is more fun to play because of how it is an easy game to beat, but then you had to go back and 100% it which took a little more time. Both games have their strong points and weak points, but I feel like the previous game was more memorable for me. In some ways, this series never took off the way the Mario Land series did. I think both games are pretty similar, and Wario Land is still a pretty cool game.