Cube Chronicles: Part 7 — Wario World

The Nintendo Gamecube – the little purple prism that could...or couldn't. While the system's middling performance was a rough patch for The Big N, many young gamers grew up cherishing its library of games. But do they hold up today? Join Anthony on his quest to find out as he reviews every classic title offered on Switch 2's Nintendo Classics service.

 “Wario World is remembered for many things” might be strange to say, considering its speck-sized footnote within GameCube’s legacy. Yet peel back the layers of said speck, and the web of intricacies within begs the question: why is that? Its short length and puddle-deep combat are easy explanations, yet how many have drawn contrasts with Sin and Punishment, Nintendo’s prior Treasure collaboration, and how it failed to live up to expectations? We can’t forget the presence of the most obnoxious pause music ever composed too, or how its flavor of absurdism is like stepping into a psychedelic program on late-night Adult Swim. And what’s with sharing the old name of Nintendo’s game developer portal?

Okay, that last one’s just a funny coincidence – warioworld.com spawned years before Wario World was even conceived. But wouldn’t you know it, that only raises further questions, not the least in why it persisted with Web 1.0 design for nearly twenty years. What a shame they’ll never be answered.

Personally, I associate Wario World with when I began approaching my favorite hobby with a more nuanced reception; in other words, recognizing the latest new video game could disappoint. “Rushed” would be the latest vernacular to my gaming lexicon, branding the likes of Star Fox Adventures and Pokemon Colosseum in feeling incomplete or lesser than their predecessors. Wario World’s numerous delays may imply a belabored development, but its maligned shortness and reskinned enemies certainly gave the impression it was rushed out the door.

An observation immediately dulled by the game arriving hot on the heels of an instant classic in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!. A subversive Game Boy Advance venture revolving around packs of five-second mini-games, WarioWare immediately stole my heart with its rapid-fire play and absurdist humor, instilling an innate addiction I’d cherish for life. With WarioWare high-scores taking over my summer, Wario headcanon gestating in my brain, and Wario’s first 3D adventure on the way, my Wario phase was, to borrow the terminology from Wario World’s tossing maneuver, in full Wild Swing-Ding.

This is all a roundabout way of saying that, despite Wario World’s obvious fumblings, I kinda like it. Again, it’s tremendously easy to punch down as if we’re Wario ourselves: grumbling over sour grapes and ready to bully hapless fauna over stolen treasure. Yet I stop short at dismissing it entirely; really, it’s an agreeable little brawler, delivering just enough punch to sustain its five-hour runtime. Perhaps it speaks to its middling reputation that I’ve scarcely touched it in the twenty-plus years since it came out, yet now that it’s been reintroduced into the public gaming subconscious, how does it fare?

From Mischief Makers to Gunstar Heroes, developer Treasure’s famed library of action games pride itself on constant action: things are exploding everywhere, there’s spectacle aplenty, and your swiss army knife of an avatar’s cutting through enemy mobs like butter. Wario World eagerly subscribes to this philosophy, combining classic Nintendo platforming with 3D brawling as Wario pummels dinosaurs, clowns, mummies, and whatever those green things are below.

On a basic level, the core loop entertains. Wario’s fists are packed with oomph, the squeak-toy chirps from rocketing enemies appealing to our most malicious tendencies. Wario World’s sadism succeeds best in its sense of scale: Wario’s throwing and piledriving applies to enemies big and small, be it sledgehammering hapless foes into enemy mobs or thrilling coup-de-graces against bosses many times Wario’s squat frame.

See those fireworks going off up there? You can hardly tell that's Wario unleashing his piledriver, but you can note Wario World is quite fond of unleashing Looney Tunes squash-and-stretch. It's all spectacular fun to watch, right down to the pulsating mass that is Wario’s face: twitching and squirming like Nonna’s stew surprise given the sentience of rubberhose animation.

Every level subscribes to unique theming from towering beanstalks to daunting pyramids, all ending with their own bizarre boss. Wario’s lost treasures are scattered all over the levels, sending completionists back and forth to punch every button, climb every ladder, and clear every bonus room. Said rooms scale appropriately in challenge, escalating from trivial exercises to mind-benders and platforming gauntlets.

All to the tune of a fantastic soundscape. Wario World is host to a lively soundtrack, not the least in the game’s main motif from the opening Greenhorn Forest level: a tune pulsing with every ounce of meanness in Wario’s muscle-bound body. Accompanied by some of Charles Martinet’s best work as Wario himself, it’s all too easy to revel in his cruelty. Careful you don’t have “Have a rotten day!” enter your everyday pleasantries.

Yet it’s the presentational qualities where Wario World first draws the hard line of personal taste. For your listening pleasure, I’ve embedded above a special fifty-minute edition of the game’s pause music: a carousel of Wario echoing the “Na-na-na-na-na!” playground taunt, burrowing into your brain as all earworms do with its infernal bars. It’s squarely “love it or hate it” in the same vein as the infamous DK Rap, although I confess it’s never irritated me; if anything, I appreciate the boldness to meticulously design a song annoying everyone within earshot. (Woe be upon the parents who undoubtedly scrambled for the remote.)

A more prominent test lies in its aesthetics: while it's undeniable that Wario World is bursting with character, it's also bizarre with a capital B. Recall this was when Wario was embracing full-blown absurdism coming off Wario Land 4 and WarioWare – the latter already basing its identity on said weirdness – yet there’s an off-putting weirdness to Wario World’s enemy design, ranging from incongruent theming (manta rays in a grass level?) to just downright weird. (no, really, what's with the gators in baby clothing?) to. Whereas Wario Land 4 is timeless with its fleshy sprites, Wario World channels more of the off-putting CGI from the early 00’s. (Think Jimmy Neutron)

Because I mean, really.

Treasure.

What were you on?

The point is, if you’re not on board with Wario World’s lack of creative restraint, then its lesser qualities will really bum you out. For all of Wario’s punch, it’s one that quickly wears thin: the combat never evolves, content with Wario’s limited arsenal of techniques. Further compounding upon the tedium is the constant enemy recycling: the game may add unique one-and-dones to the rogues’ gallery now and then, but the small enemy pool means you’re always whipping out the same tricks. 

Meanwhile, the game tallies up your score in the form of, uh, fists, but it’s never quite clear what that all means. I think it’s based on enemy type, or how much you've used any one technique, but it’s useless to speculate since there’s no reward-based incentive in the first place. Wario World might feel good to play, but it’s ultimately empty calories.

Other missed opportunities mean the game doesn’t take advantage of its various features. Take the game’s surplus of coins: Wario World practically showers our greedy hero in gold as he punches, piledrives, and plows through enemies, going as far as including this weird suction technique to swallow coins whole. Yet their abundance renders them trivial, for Wario will always have enough gold in his pockets to pay for continues and garlic dispensers. A shop system selling new moves and other appealing trinkets might’ve introduced some much-needed friction (and depth) to balance his wallet, but with no such economy in place, coins amount to little more than confetti.

Also, did I mention it’s short? Like, “only eight levels and some additional bosses” short. Like, “you’ll beat this the day you rent it” short. Like, Yoshi’s Story short, except without the replayability, and that game was already maligned for said length. Following a series of GameCub games facing the same critique (Luigi’s Mansion, Pikmin, Zelda: The Wind Waker), it was another disappointment to add to the pile. It was one thing for Nintendo to face struggles with GameCube development, but for contracted third-party developers to do the same? “Rental titles”, as they were once called, came across as Nintendo’s unintentional prerogative. Hardly an ideal perception for a struggling console.

Could a longer length have turned Wario World’s reputation around? Only if it had the depth to match. Ironically, the game’s just long enough for its shallow combat to sustain itself, and more levels would simply add to the tedium. The bones for a classic are here, yet its inability to build upon any of them merely renders Wario World a one-and-done venture.

At least you’ll have nothing to worry about regarding emulation: the game’s as snappy as it was back on GameCube, and there’s nothing requiring precise input in the vein of F-Zero GX. The only feature you’ll miss out on is the unlockable WarioWare microgames that you could transfer to a linked Game Boy Advance, but let’s face it: you’re not missing out on five-second demos, especially considering you can already play WarioWare on Nintendo Classics’ GBA selection. (Which you should, if you have not already.)

Still, ‘tis a shame this remains Wario’s only 3D adventure. Might the middling reception have spooked Nintendo on the idea, or has a decent pitch yet to reach their ears? Surely another stab at the beat ‘em up concept would produce a more fleshed out product, but unlike Kirby Air Ride, there’s no dedicated niche in its corner. (On that note, where’s Wario Land? WarioWare may be my preferred blend of Wario, yet that series’s rock-solid track record leaves it too good to linger in limbo.)

Is Wario World a bad game? No, but much as how the similarly brief Luigi’s Mansion wasn’t emblematic of Nintendo’s best, we're left to contend with how this little oddball's hardly representative of Treasure’s typical quality. Instead, we’re simply treated to yet another half-baked title in GameCube’s smorgasbord of undercooked meals. A decent snack, sure, but certainly not a filling one.

(One last observation: there’s a certain mystery regarding the music that’s driven me crazy for years, and I suppose now’s as good a time as any to enlist the help of the gaming public. See, Smash Bros. fans have pegged Wario’s victory theme there as hailing from Wario Land: Shake It!’s very first level, yet upon interviewing that game’s composer in Tomoya Tomita, not only did he confirm that wasn’t the case, but told me later that it was one of the tunes he’d arranged from Wario World; specifically, “Wario World’s main theme.” Yet no matter how hard I cricked my ears, or how I swear I heard a one-second flourish, it was nowhere to be found. Surely, players would’ve picked up otherwise, too. Someone tell me where this little ditty came from!)