Wario Land II

Wario Land II is the popular sequel to the popular Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, in which Wario collects treasure while being squashed, set on fire, zombified, and all sorts of other fun stuff. It received a Game Boy Color port surprisingly quickly, with the Japanese release coming out just seven months after the Game Boy version's American release (note that the Game Boy version never came out in Japan), though the transition to color was... varying in quality.

Interestingly, despite its name, Wario Land II is actually the third game in the series; the second being Virtual Boy Wario Land.

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Prerelease Info Notes

Unused Graphics#

Mini-Game#

These are larger versions of the coin and button graphics used in the Matching Game.

Go to the cellar!!#

These two graphics are similar to the graphics used in the levels from the chapter "Go to the cellar!!". The difference is that these graphics have less detail than the ones used. It is possible that these were intended for areas in the levels that had dimmer lighting.

Extra Tileset#

This tileset appears to be completed, but it is never used in-game. Unlike any other tileset used in the game, the numbers 1-4 corresponding to the animated subtiles do not appear in the top-left corner. It also appears to contain the coin sprite from the original Game Boy version, but larger.

Giant Snake#

These graphics look like they were intended to be used with the giant snake boss.

Fire#

These graphics were probably meant to be used as another way of catching Wario on fire.

Ending#

This copyright graphic is part of the font set used in the game's endings. This was created before the game was delayed to 1998.

Unused Enemies#

Worm#

In the object set that contains the bee enemy, there is an unused graphic of a worm. The tile set that uses the bee enemy also contains an unused tile of a hole. The worm and the hole may be possibly linked.

Unused Objects#

Jugs#

One of the unused objects in the object set as the room with the floating jug is a jug without the ability to spin. Another object in that set is a jug spawner. It is similar to the cabinet spawner found in "Turn off the giant faucet".

Like the cabinets, the jugs react to water current, although this is never seen in-game.

Sticky Block#

Levels that use the same tileset as "Go down to the cellar" contain an unused tile. This tile causes Wario to slow down when standing on it, limiting his speed and jumping height. He also cannot dash or duck when on this block. Similar to the conveyor belt in the factory levels, holding an enemy while on it causes it to act like a normal block. This object can be seen on the floor of a pre-release screenshot.

Inaccessible Areas#

Coins#

In the level "Hold on to the owl", there are four 10 Gold Coins that cannot be reached. Most likely, the developers forgot to change the wall from solid to breakable.

Connection with Game Boy Gallery#

To do: See whether or not the paletted borders were carried over and still exist. Palettes are set by the PCT_TRN command.

Wario Land II	Game Boy Gallery

The unlockable minigame Flagman D-D, as the name implies, is a remake of the Game & Watch game Flagman. Interestingly, this version wasn't created from scratch, but is instead based on the version of Flagman included in the extremely obscure Game Boy Gallery, specifically its Game B mode. The flagman himself and the pig and frog accompanying him were replaced with Dangerous Duck and the enemies Pu and Gugi respectively, but nearly all other graphics are identical to those from Game Boy Gallery, albeit with different palettes, the "Game A/B" indicator missing (since only Game B is present) and D.D.'s platform missing its shadow for some reason (though the latter was fixed in the Game Boy Color version, which also gave the clouds and water a bit more detail). It even retains Game Boy Gallery's pause menu and Super Game Boy border!

There is one difference between the two gameplay-wise, however. In Flagman D-D, the B and A buttons come into play at 10 and 15 points respectively, whereas Flagman Game B in Game Boy Gallery introduces them 5 points earlier at 5 and 10 points.

Connection with Game Boy Color Promotional Demo#

Fonts, music, and all sound effects from Wario Land II are present in the Game Boy Color Promotional Demo. Nintendo likely built the tech demo using Wario Land II, probably because they wanted to save some time and quickly borrow the graphics and sound effects necessary for recreating the cutscenes.

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

The later Japanese version, which first added Game Boy Color support to coincide with its release, has additional differences.

International (SGB)	Japan (SGB)

International (GBC)	Japan (GBC)

The International version differs slightly from the original release (seen above) in that the copyright, island and number are moved slightly upwards, and a border surrounds the logo. The Japanese release retains these details, but the roman numeral II was shifted down and changed to the standard arabic numeral 2 with a different texture, Wario's eye was also added to the O rather than it being merely filled in, and the "Wario Land" logo has its katakana equivalent (ワリオランド) and a "W" emblem underneath it (all of which can also be seen in a pre-release screenshot that predates the international release).

Compared to the original release, the image was touched up slightly when played on a Super Game Boy, although a few pixels in the water are mistakenly given the wrong color. On the Game Boy Color, among other general changes, the International version also corrected the numeral's color to red to reflect the box art (even though the palette change also affects the castle). In addition, the ™ symbol in the International release was changed to a ® symbol in the Japanese release.

Story Screen#

International	Japan

The intro scroll was shortened in the Japanese release, likely due to the smaller amount of text required.

Penguin#

International	Japan

In the Japanese version, the penguin enemies carry and toss full beer mugs. In other versions, they are bowling balls, though the effects are still the same (which explains why Crazy Wario acts intoxicated until reaching water).

Revisional Differences#

Save Data#

A significant change with the Game Boy Color-enhanced releases is that a save file created when playing the game on the Game Boy Color cannot be resumed if the game is later played on a Game Boy/Super Game Boy, and vice-versa - the player must navigate a menu and delete all progress to play the game on the other system.

It is unclear why this restriction even exists in the first place -- hacking the game to remove the check for which system the game is running on (to allow the save to be run on any system) doesn't seem to cause any issues. A more detailed explanation can be found on the notes page.

Graphical Changes#

Game Boy	Game Boy Color

Even if the game is played on a Game Boy or Super Game Boy, the Game Boy Color version loses a few graphical details. This is presumably due to palette issues--the window graphic in the above screenshot uses four colors, so if the arch at the top were kept, it would result in part of the surrounding wall turning blue.

Fish Enemy#

In the original release, a unique fish enemy can be found in the "Turn off the giant faucet!" and "Escape from the Tea Cup!" levels. The fish is able to move both horizontally and vertically. When it sees Wario, it will try to catch him. Once the fish has caught Wario, it will pull him towards a wall and hold on to him until he escapes the fish's grip. It also seems to be connected to the boss of the "Escape from the ruins!" level, which has a similar attack and design and is named "Big Kamukamu" in Japanese sources, implying there should be a small version of it.

For whatever reason, this enemy was removed from the Game Boy Color version and replaced with the standard Drill (sawfish) enemy. However, its graphics remain in the same object set as the room with the floating jug, and it even has a colorized version.

Rock Physics#

In the level "Avoid the rocks!", the titular rocks exhibit slightly different behavior. In the original version, if Wario is holding a small rock while a large rock falls on top on him, the large rock will be destroyed while the small rock bounces away. In the Game Boy Color version, the small rock will not deflect the large rock, causing it to flatten Wario.

References#