You can never accuse Wario of being bad at escalation.
After the events of Mario Land 3, Wario has settled into life in his castle. With no pesky plumbers looking to take back their properties, it seems he can live his days in peace and greed. Except, it seems the Black Sugar Pirates aren’t too happy about being raided, and now they’ve come to recollect what they feel they’re owed. What else is Wario to do but chase after the thieves and steal his treasure back?
Welcome to Wario Land II! While Mario Land 3 felt like a slightly-altered Mario affair, WL2 really strikes it out on its own and gives the Wario series its own feel. ML3 was focused on treasure collection, and this game turns that up to 11. On top of that, Wario is immortal. At worst, all he can do is lose coins (a fate worse than death for him, perhaps,) but mostly taking hits from particular enemies gives him unique abilities to solve puzzles throughout levels. Or they’ll just waste your time. It can go either way, really.
The thieves have escaped with Wario’s treasure, but Wario isn’t about to take that lying down! He gives quick chase after the pirates, but their quick thinking means that Wario will have to detour to keep an eye on his hen. But just how much time will that buy them, really?
Wario has taken down the SS Teacup, but Syrup and her gang have hopped ship and escaped into Maze Woods. Wario continues his pursuit, but he’ll need to brave the dangers of the forest if he wants to succeed. He may be immortal, but that doesn’t mean he won’t suffer from allergies on the way.
Syrup and her gang have gained enough time to flee with Wario wandering the woods. Now they’ve made it to town, so it looks like Wario’s going to be pilfering some houses as he continues on his hunt for the pirates.
Syrup has successfully reached her castle. Wario won’t be discouraged from getting his treasure back, though, so of course he’s going to be taking on the Black Sugar Gang’s home base once again! It’s time for what is, most assuredly, the final battle.
Last time, we beat the game! But that’s not enough for Wario, now, is it? No, there are treasures that have gone uncollected, so Wario returns to town before the final showdown even happened, and attempts to catch up with the Black Sugar Pirates before they can reach Syrup’s castle. So if they can’t reach their home base, where will the pirates go to escape Wario?
It turns out there was more than one shortcut that Wario could have taken in town, and this time around he’s cornered the Black Sugar Pirates in the factory. But surely Wario’s foes couldn’t mount a good defense here, right?
Wario has figured out how to take out the SS Teacup. It turns out they’re plugging a significant hole in the hull, and removing that should take out the pirates’ ship. Unfortunately, Syrup has yet another escape plan, and retreats to some submerged ruins. Well, at least this’ll be another opportunity for collateral treasure collecting, in addition to what Wario will be taking back from Syrup.
We’ve reached a point before Wario fought the giant snake in his basement. Taking a shortcut in his cellar, Wario has come pretty close to catching the Black Sugar pirated. But they’ve fled into the caverns below Wario’s castle, so catching them won’t, (as if it ever is,) be easy.
What would happen if Wario had been very sleepy that fateful morning, and slept through the most obnoxious alarm in the world? Well, Invade Wario Castle would happen. In what is probably the most direct method of vengeance after the first game, Wario has been evicted by the Black Sugar Pirates, who have decided to set up shop in Wario’s own castle. Now he’s gotta storm his own house and kick them out!
All the treasure has been found, and all the maps collected. There is little left for Wario in this world, save for the last bit of treasure Syrup had locked away. Which, naturally, he will pursue as he does all other treasure. This one’s locked behind quite the challenging passage, though, and it will take the use of a lot of weird, obscure tricks to get Wario through successfully.
And with that, we’re done with Wario Land II! @moderators , this thread can be put in Completed LPs.
