This caught my eye. Apparently rather like Pizza Tower, which I haven't played yet but really want to, here is another attempt at updating one of Nintendo's many excellent but neglected franchises: the Warioland games. I've only got/played Warioland 4 on the GBA and this game follows the same format: a rough and tumble platformer that involves getting to the end of the stage, then hightailing it back to the beginning on a countdown timer.
As a 'plot'
And that's the plot. Genius. So off you go, as angrily as possible. It's basically Warioland for childish adults with a penchant for toilet humour: themes of drinking, smoking and gambling feature heavily, and even a few swears thrown in.
Anton can run, 'clutch' (a combination of dash and/or bash with a hammer, depending on context), jump, and shout (there is a dedicated button - L2 on Switch - that serves the sole purpose of letting Anton scream uselessly in rage).
Stages are complex, twisty, devious and varied. Interesting, for sure, but nothing I'd describe as really classic so far (I'm about a third way through). Each of them features at least one ability-changing gimmick (as per Wario), usually a pain to control (as per Wario). Graphics are classic late '90s/early 2000s hyperactive cartoon style, elastic and over-expressive like Ren and Stimpy. Everything moves at ridiculous speed with explosions everywhere and screen-shake galore (luckily you can dial this back, which I did when playing through the TV as it was just too chaotic and almost painful on the eyes). Stages contain secrets (tapes of music and random bizarre monologues from characters in the game world, palette swaps, some other junk) and they are quite hard to find and collect, particularly because you are usually going at speed and almost every platform explodes once you touch it so if you don't get it first try you'll need to reset the stage (if you care). Thankfully the secrets are forgettable and I've decided I can't be bothered with them.
Controls are...kind of OK. There is a bit of annoyance in the clutch control, and I've found myself bashing when I want to dash and dashing when I want to bash. This can be frustrating in the countdown escape sections. Also, the in-air manoeuvrability after jumping is not quite enough for me, and I seem to lose momentum in the air in ways I can't anticipate. That said, there are people doing some really amazing things online with time trials and 'cracked' runs (which are perfect runs incl. all stage collectables, zero damage and an unbroken combo). So there's a game of real skill in there if you've got the chops (I haven't). I'm playing it to make as much mess, destruction and noise as possible, which recalls to mind something JazzFunk once wrote about some other game: "It's a dirty game and it deserves to be played dirty". This is that kind of game, for me, and it dishes dirt aplenty.
In-stage enemies are there only to be one-hit humiliated, run-down, squashed and smashed to pieces, and to make Anton look totally crazed and vengeful. There are other in-stage characters who comment on Anton as he charges through, mostly to remark on what an asshole he is. The boss battles are spectacular and put up an enjoyable challenge. They are brilliantly designed, engaging through every phase, stupendously animated and funny as hell. They're the best thing about the game, I think, and easily trump Warioland 4 on that front.
Sound: some forgettable ditties, frantic sound effects and voices, some of these so close to Wario I could believe they had been sampled (e.g., the echoey outbursts and exclamations - "No, no!", "Not good!" - so typical of Wario, or the way the music reverbs in a weird way when things go wrong).
Anyway, that's enough of that for now. I don't think it's an all-time classic, but it's a stupid dirty game and I'm enjoying it quite a lot.
EDIT: forgot to say, I'm playing on Switch which had performance/framerate issues at launch. It's been patched now though and is fine and playable - not perfectly stable 60fps but not far off according to the tests.
As a 'plot'
And that's the plot. Genius. So off you go, as angrily as possible. It's basically Warioland for childish adults with a penchant for toilet humour: themes of drinking, smoking and gambling feature heavily, and even a few swears thrown in.
Anton can run, 'clutch' (a combination of dash and/or bash with a hammer, depending on context), jump, and shout (there is a dedicated button - L2 on Switch - that serves the sole purpose of letting Anton scream uselessly in rage).
Stages are complex, twisty, devious and varied. Interesting, for sure, but nothing I'd describe as really classic so far (I'm about a third way through). Each of them features at least one ability-changing gimmick (as per Wario), usually a pain to control (as per Wario). Graphics are classic late '90s/early 2000s hyperactive cartoon style, elastic and over-expressive like Ren and Stimpy. Everything moves at ridiculous speed with explosions everywhere and screen-shake galore (luckily you can dial this back, which I did when playing through the TV as it was just too chaotic and almost painful on the eyes). Stages contain secrets (tapes of music and random bizarre monologues from characters in the game world, palette swaps, some other junk) and they are quite hard to find and collect, particularly because you are usually going at speed and almost every platform explodes once you touch it so if you don't get it first try you'll need to reset the stage (if you care). Thankfully the secrets are forgettable and I've decided I can't be bothered with them.
Controls are...kind of OK. There is a bit of annoyance in the clutch control, and I've found myself bashing when I want to dash and dashing when I want to bash. This can be frustrating in the countdown escape sections. Also, the in-air manoeuvrability after jumping is not quite enough for me, and I seem to lose momentum in the air in ways I can't anticipate. That said, there are people doing some really amazing things online with time trials and 'cracked' runs (which are perfect runs incl. all stage collectables, zero damage and an unbroken combo). So there's a game of real skill in there if you've got the chops (I haven't). I'm playing it to make as much mess, destruction and noise as possible, which recalls to mind something JazzFunk once wrote about some other game: "It's a dirty game and it deserves to be played dirty". This is that kind of game, for me, and it dishes dirt aplenty.
In-stage enemies are there only to be one-hit humiliated, run-down, squashed and smashed to pieces, and to make Anton look totally crazed and vengeful. There are other in-stage characters who comment on Anton as he charges through, mostly to remark on what an asshole he is. The boss battles are spectacular and put up an enjoyable challenge. They are brilliantly designed, engaging through every phase, stupendously animated and funny as hell. They're the best thing about the game, I think, and easily trump Warioland 4 on that front.
Sound: some forgettable ditties, frantic sound effects and voices, some of these so close to Wario I could believe they had been sampled (e.g., the echoey outbursts and exclamations - "No, no!", "Not good!" - so typical of Wario, or the way the music reverbs in a weird way when things go wrong).
Anyway, that's enough of that for now. I don't think it's an all-time classic, but it's a stupid dirty game and I'm enjoying it quite a lot.
EDIT: forgot to say, I'm playing on Switch which had performance/framerate issues at launch. It's been patched now though and is fine and playable - not perfectly stable 60fps but not far off according to the tests.
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