Nintendo has had a lot of great games over the years, but some of them are simply unavailable due to the realities of game preservation. While some titles will inevitably get remakes and relaunches, others — even those that include some notable characters from the company — might end up lost to time as a result. What’s especially heartbreaking about that is that in the process, games with genuinely unique elements might be forgotten.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Take Wario Land II, for example. Released on the Game Boy and only ever getting a single digital release (that has been rendered moot with the closure of the Virtual Console and Nintendo eShop), Wario Land II remains one of the most creative platformers that Nintendo has ever released. It has unique features and gameplay tweaks that helped it stand out from the competition, and these are still unique tweaks in the genre years later. Even beyond my desire to revisit a personal favorite game from when I was a kid, I worry that a failure to preserve titles like that will have a negative impact on the overall progression of the medium.
Wario Land II Is One Of Nintendo’s Weirdest Platformers Ever
Wario Land II is one of my absolute favorite Nintendo games ever, but I haven’t played it in years due to how tricky it can be to acquire a legal copy of the game. Developed by Nintendo R&D1 and released in 1998 before getting a Game Boy Color re-release, Wario Land II follows the titular character as he realizes that Captain Syrup and her pirate crew have stolen his treasure. Wario quickly gives chase, seeking to reclaim his riches. The game is a unique take on the classic platforming style of Mario games, with a lot of clever and unique tweaks and twists.
Wario’s primary attack sees him rush forward with his shoulder down, tackling foes or breaking down walls to reveal secret areas. The entire focus of the game is to explore and restore Wario’s riches, with an emphasis on exploration as a result. The most interesting mechanic of the game is Wario’s invulnerability. While being damaged will cause Wario to lose some of his hard-earned gold, he can never actually be killed. In fact, some levels require Wario to be damaged, as specific types of blows can transform Wario physically (such as by squishing him so he can slip under specific barriers or lighting him on fire and giving him the ability to burn through specific walls).
This focus on experimentation amid all the exploration gives the game a certain amount of non-stop adventure, with many of the typical game conventions surrounding fail states or extra lives ignored in favor of a more unique experience. This oddball sensibility is core to the game’s many bosses as well, with typical challenges like Bobo the giant bird complemented by Dunk, a rabbit that the player has to beat by transforming him into a basketball that he then sinks through a hoop. There’s a level of creativity in Wario Land II and an emphasis on exploration — best exemplified by the removal of any time limit or number of lives — that made it a joy to play.
I Just Want To Replay Wario Land II On My Switch, Is That So Wrong?
I can’t stress enough how much I loved Wario Land II as a kid. I was a die-hard Nintendo fan already, with plenty of love for all of Mario’s previous adventures. However, Wario Land II — like Yoshi’s Island before it — caught my attention because of how it tweaked the standard platforming formula. Wario Land II was a chance for Nintendo to experiment with the standard approach to platforming, putting a greater emphasis on level design and hidden treasure that only added to the experience and made replays exciting. With multiple endings afforded to the player based on how much gold they collected, Wario Land II highlighted how a classic genre from a traditional publisher could push the envelope and do something truly unique.
Wario Land II‘s immortality mechanic remains one of my favorite tweaks on the standard approach to platforming, as it removes one level of risk but uses it as a means of forcing the player to approach tricky situations from a new perspective. I’ve been dying to replay the game for years, but the problem is that Wario Land II is largely unavailable in the modern market. The game has only really gotten one re-release as a Virtual Console game for the Nintendo 3DS.
It’s currently not available as part of the Nintendo Classics, and there’s no other way to get the game legally digitally since the Nintendo eShop was shut down in 2023. The only other way to get the game is to buy an old used copy, but even that requires having a working Game Boy and finding a good, working copy of the game. I wish I had the chance to just play Wario Land II on the Switch, a console that could bring the bright visuals to life in stark contrast with the older Game Boy release. Wario Land II is the exact type of inventive game that is at risk of being lost to time without a full commitment to game preservation, and I really hope Nintendo eventually fixes that.
