Saturday, April 22, 2023

Puzzle Game Mega Review: Wario's Woods


Wario's Woods was a puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994.

Despite Wario in the title role, he is actually the game's villain. The playable character is Toad, who is also known under the much-cuter name Kinopio in Japan. The story finds Wario using a spell to turn residents of the Peaceful Woods into monsters to act as his minions, renaming the forest Wario's Woods. Toad acts as the Mushroom Kingdom's hero to restore the woods to their previously peaceful form.

Monsters of multiple colors lay at the bottom of a tree. Bombs drop down from the top while Toad runs along the bottom picking up the monsters and stacking them on top of each other. Three colors have to be lined up in order to clear them, and one of those colors must be a bomb. Because monsters can be stacked on top of each other until a bomb is on top, it is possible to line up large amounts of colors.

Toad has some tricks up his sleeves to accomplish his goal besides picking up monsters, stacks of monsters, and bombs. He can also kick monsters and bombs across the ground and climb up stacks to pick up specific bombs or monsters.

Clearing all of the monsters ends a round, leading to the next round with even more monsters. If Toad takes too long to clear a round, the ceiling starts to come down in the form of a Thwomp. If the ceiling reaches the monsters, then the round ends.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System has a gradient background for the tree, whereas the Nintendo Entertainment System version is simply a single color. The sprites are also more detailed in the SNES version, but both games play and look great. The music isn't as memorable as many other Nintendo titles, especially spin-offs of the Super Mario series, but it works well for the game.

Wario's Woods is a lesser-known SNES and NES puzzle game that is one of the few games to feature Toad as the playable character. However, it has an art style befitting a Mario series spinoff, and music that fits the game. It is also a lot of fun if you enjoy puzzle games. It was available for Wii and Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, but those services are discontinued now. The easiest way to play the game now is with the emulator available to subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service or by unlocking it in Animal Crossing for GameCube.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

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