Pandora's Box: The Ultimate GameCube Tier List

#62: Wario World

Rating: E

Players: 1

Price Range: ~$98 USD

A 3D action-platformer starring Wario.

Now, this is what many would consider the first true hidden gem of the list.

In this game, you play are Wario, beating up baddies with his fists, throwing them around, or pile-driving them into the ground to take them out, all while stocking up on coins up a cursed dark gemstone taking away his gold and castle.

A rather simple game and premise, but it is quite enjoyable and engaging. Just the act of wiping the floor with these weird enemies is just satisfying, with quite a bit of creativity to boot. However, other than the gameplay, perhaps the biggest compliment I can give it would be its aesthetics, which are quite amazing and underrated. The graphics, music, load times, and frame rate are excellent, aging very well with tunes like Greenhorn Forest, Pecan Sands, the pause theme, and the hub area just simply being iconic.

The platforming puzzles are also excellent. You see, in the game, there are trap doors, which each contain a red crystal, with a set amount required to fight the level's boss. These rooms can actually be quite challenging mind-benders, even for me, with one of them infamously having a movable block that can only be knocked by punching or ground pounding it, and to get to the top of the room with just that, which is insanely difficult, but a nice risk nevertheless. However, the platforming challenges within the steel trapdoors that require you to piledrive an enemy into it are truly amazing and a highlight of the game's creativity.

However, the bosses steal the show, with some being so outlandish and bizarre that they are insanely memorable.

Dinomighty, a giant anthropomorphic lizard woman with hair, lipstick, a bra, and underwear, Brawl Doll, a very creepy ventriloquist puppet resembling a baby angel, Mean Emcee, a zombie magician who plays memory cups with you and even hides in it even when you pick the correct one, and has attacks that are so busted that it's scary to even think of getting hit by it, and Dual Dragon, two sea dragons whose designs are so off-putting, that it makes the difficult boss fight all the more special. All are just examples of some of the bosses from this game

Ironically, this makes the Black Jewel not only underwhelming, but also possibly the weakest boss in the whole game unfortunately.

Speaking of which, there are some fundamental issues that make this game difficult to recommend.

You see, the game is quite expensive, and yet, the biggest criticism I could give it is that it is incredibly short.

There are only eight levels, and the game could be completed within only a few hours, and besides collectables regarding the hardest trapdoor challenges, most of the things you can find are not super hard to pick up, although some in the ice level are kind of terrible to get due to some 'point of no return' sections.

Easily the most baffling decision, however, is for the ending to not be dependent on the amount of coins you've collected, but the amount of Spritelings you saved, as they serve as a class of collectables. Coins are only really used to revive you if you lose all your hearts, which is useful, but is a huge missed opportunity.

This ultimately makes Wario World a very short and sweet experience, which isn't bad. However, its steep price makes it difficult to consider purchasing.

So, do I think this is a hidden gem? Well, it fulfills the basic criteria of being of at least good quality, relatively uncommon, expensive, and forgotten, while having some serious fans.

However, the issue is that it is very short, with even other games of similar length at least having a lower cost to content ratio. I think the game is alright, but not so amazing that you should go out of your way to purchase it.

Still, the game is good.

With that, the issues that the game has are inescapable, but what it does do right makes it the definition of a B Tier game.

Not something necessary if you ever chose to play the system's catalogue, but a good game to add to your collection if given the opportunity and price of course.