Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is Nintendo’s 1994 Game Boy platform game about collecting pirate treasure. After failing to take Mario’s castle in Super Mario Land 2, Wario heads to Kitchen Island to finance a grander home of his own. Nintendo’s original manual makes that greed the premise: he wants the pirates’ stolen golden statue for its value, rather than to rescue anyone.¹²

Charging through the island

Wario still jumps between platforms, but his forward body slam lets him knock enemies aside and break blocks. He can also stun an enemy, pick it up and throw it. The change is in how he deals with obstacles, rather than an abandonment of jumping.²

Three hats alter those abilities. Bull Wario breaks bricks with one charge instead of two, pounds the ground to upset enemies, and can hang from a ceiling by his horns. Jet Wario makes short flights, while Dragon Wario breathes fire in place of the charge. The ground pound belongs to the Bull form; it is not a move every version of Wario has. Nintendo Power’s contemporary guide shows each form and explains where its extra reach or strength helps.³

Money changes the route

Coins have uses during a level. Wario can produce and throw a ten-coin piece, which opens certain exits and activates checkpoints. Keys open treasure rooms in the same course. Reaching a stage exit saves progress, while running out of lives costs some accumulated wealth.²

The island also rewards returning to places already visited. Nintendo Power’s guide describes Rice Beach flooding, opening a cave in the first course and a second exit in the third. A previously completed level can therefore contain a route that was inaccessible on the first visit. Breaking walls and checking altered scenery serve Wario’s treasure hunt as well as the immediate task of reaching an exit.³

Later release

Nintendo rereleased the Game Boy game through the European Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on 16 February 2012. Its listing preserves the same Kitchen Island premise and three transformations. That date belongs to the download edition, not the original cartridge.⁴

See also

• Super Mario Land 2
• Nintendo R&D1
• Game Boy

Sources

Footnotes

1. Nintendo, Japanese Virtual Console listing, identifies the original Game Boy release year as 1994. The copyright line beginning in 1993 is not its release date. ↩

2. Nintendo, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 instruction booklet, pp. 3–6, 8–10 and 15; transcription at World of Nintendo. The host’s added “Released: 1993” heading conflicts with Nintendo’s release listing and is not used here. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Nintendo Power 58, March 1994, “Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3”, pp. 74–80; contemporary illustrated guide to hats, Rice Beach and its changing routes. ↩ ↩²

4. Nintendo, European Virtual Console listing, release date 16 February 2012. ↩