Wario Land 4 for Gameboy Advance +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Version 1.0 Created 11th September 2001 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ By Nick/thaighai@hotmail.com Introduction It's-a him, Wah-Ri-Oh! Mario's plump evil twin is at it again, and as usual Nintendo fully delivers the goods. The puzzles are elegant, the levels are perfectly designed and the boss fights have their own sweet little learning curves, but it has flaws, most notably that it's all over very quickly indeed. Still, while it lasts this is Mario goodness in all but name and well worth a look on import because the Japanese text doesn't interrupt any of the good bits. Why only the bosses - what about the rest of the levels? -------------------------------------------------------- The individual level maps are pretty complex and don't lend themselves to descriptions in words or ASCII. They're also a total joy to explore and contain only very gentle puzzles, which it would frankly be unfair of me to spoil here. So, if you get stuck just keep on wandering round and sooner or later you'll magically stumble on the missing piece of the puzzle. Trust me on this one. What about the special items you can use in the boss fights? ------------------------------------------------------------ If you get stuck (extremely unlikely in easy mode) you can buy these to help you out, but you don't really need them. Once you get to know the bosses they're fun rather than intimidating and special power-ups just aren't needed. And the mini-games? ------------------- What? You need an FAQ to explain games that require one-button interaction? Go on - go! Leave! Achtung! ++++++++++ The Bosses ++++++++++ All these fights happen against the timer, and the longer you take, the fewer treasure chests you get to take away with you. Of course each boss also has its own unique set of attacks and variations, and each one takes a bit of learning to defeat. If you're like me you'll probably want to find out how to defeat them all before you even buy the game, so there's very little point in trying to discourage you from doing that here is there? Anyway, the bosses: ---------- Green Boss ---------- Little Shop of Horrors This thing is a kind of funny-looking carnivorous plant that starts the level asleep. Since time is a factor, it's best not to give it a lie-in. 1. Start off by quickly charging the plant's bowl (using B or R) then running away to the right as it swoops down from top right to bottom left of the screen. 2. Its next move will be to crawl slowly along the bottom of the screen, and since this is all done against the clock you're best off climbing the left hand ladder, then quickly hopping across onto the one in the middle, so you can attack sooner. 3. Once in position wait for the plant to arrive in front of you, and as you jump off the ladder press and hold down to stomp its head. 4. This stuns him, and as soon as you land on the ground, run to the far right hand side of the screen. When it reverses towards you, dash (using the R or L button) across to the left hand side. 5. As he advances he will prepare to punch you by spinning one of his freaky little cactus leaf hands. This is your cue to dash (again using a shoulder button) to the right hand side to avoid his attack. 6. As he comes back towards you he takes off into the air - it's time for Wario to run back to the left hand side. NB: at this point it's tempting to climb straight up onto the ladders to get into position, but especially in the later stages of the fight, this will tempt the plant into dive-bombing you and also allow it to target you with its punches. Instead, wait for it to jump down and start its crawl before climbing up for your next attack. 7. Now simply repeat from stage 2. As the fight progresses he will occasionally include a dive-bombing slime attack, but this hits the same spots every time, so the first time he does it remember where you can stand in safety and just return to that spot if he does it again. If at any time the plant slimes you and turns you into a zombie, a firefly will appear on the right of the screen and jumping into it returns you to regular Wario. What a relief. And remember, after a successful attack and avoidance of his punches, wait until he starts approaching before climbing back up the ladders, or he'll slap you up good. -------- Red Boss -------- Freaky Cuckoo Clock This guy really is a piece of piss once you get used to his attack patterns, which luckily are also very simple. 1. When it first appears, run underneath from left to right (you can use L or R dash for additional safety), which triggers the mechanical claw to drop. 2. You'll notice the right hand side of the claw is now flashing red - charge attack (using B, which I'm sure you've already figured out for yourself) the flashing part of the claw, and it will swing up and smack the cuckoo clock. Nice. 3. Keep running just underneath the claw and then back to the right of it to keep triggering it to drop so you can ram it. You can do this a few times before it starts its second attack: 4. Watch out for the spinning cogs held either side of the cuckoo clock. The one on the right starts spinning before it gets dropped, then once it's released slowly moves towards you along the bottom of the screen. It's easy enough to hop over it, but you need to be more cautious of the one on the left, which just fizzes briefly with electricity before dropping on you. 5. Repeat the process of avoiding the falling cogs and tempting down the claw then ramming it from the right hand side. After a while the clock will explode revealing a weird withered turkey thing inside. 6. Naturally this dude has his own unusual attack method: prepare for a barrage of miniature exploding rubber ducks. Your response to this is very simple, but might take a bit of rehearsal to get right. 7. Your job is to catch an egg as it's dropped, before it hits the ground and hatches. To do this stand just behind turkey man, following his movements across the screen. You'll soon get the hang of where's best to stand, but that will involve plenty of misses. 8. If an egg escapes and hatches into a duck you have a few seconds to ram it (using B) before it starts flashing and becomes an exploding duck. At this point ramming it will lose you a heart and is therefore inadvisable, so destroying them before they reach that stage is the order of the day. 9. When you've successfully caught an egg, you need to position yourself in front of the boss and as he come towards you hold down the B and the UP button. Release B so the egg smacks boss man in the head, and as soon as it hits dash to the other side to start ramming the newly hatched rubber ducklings before they blow up. As you repeat this process he'll speed up and then explode in a satisfying cloud of feathers and presumably the smell of cooking poultry. ----------- Yellow Boss ----------- The Inflatable Teddy Bear-Riding Rat Just when you thought the bosses couldn't get any weirder, the game unleashes a rat riding a pink inflatable teddy to nix Wario's quest. 1. As the teddy floats about at the top of the screen, it will drop little spiked characters on parachutes from above. The trick is to jump on their heads before they even manage to touch the ground, and especially before they land on your head. 2. Once they've been neutralized, you can pick up the now upturned spike, and just like in the shriveled turkey round, press and hold B and UP. Release B when the teddy's over your head and the spike will puncture the bear, causing it to drop down to your level. 3. Before it comes down, run out from underneath it, so that you're to either the left or the right of it depending on where abouts it is on the screen. This is important because you have to ram it from the outside moving towards it. 4. As it lowers, its feet start to flash, presenting you with a nice obvious target area. The trick is to hit the B button to charge, and then immediately press and hold A to jump, so that Wario charges along and then up. When you make contact with the teddy bear's foot you should be travelling horizontally, otherwise you risk just knocking the balloon back up again. Practise makes perfect, and like the other boss fights it's easy once you get the hang of it. 5. Hitting it just right will cause the bear to flip over, exposing the rat, who is your real target. At this point it's worth taking the time to get your aim right, because as above, if you head butt the rat too vertically, it knocks him away rather than showing him the true meaning of pain. It's better to approach slightly from the side and B-dash just before you A-jump, so you hit him side on. If you time it properly you can administer repeated slappings before he manages to right the balloon. 6. Pretty soon rat guy will start dropping bits of fire to liven things up a bit. You can see him dropping it, and it's worth giving priority to fire avoidance because it wastes a lot of time as you run around in flames and sit through the burning-to-a-crisp sequence. 7. Repeat from stage 1. until the balloon pops and you once again strut away from the battlefield an unchallenged victor. Nice one son! --------- Blue Boss --------- Oh it's meant to be a pair of bats, but it looks like a sort of Chihuahua riding a sort of messed-up cat with kind of bat wings. Look, you'll know how tricky it is to describe when you see the thing. Man, it's a freak. 1. As soon as it appears, parts of the platform Wario's standing on disappear, dropping him into the water. Jump out and hop onto the nearest platform and wait for freaky cat-bat-Chihuahua guy to make his move. 2. This move comes in the form of a wave that rolls from him towards you. What you need to do is jump on top of the wave, then press B to charge, immediate followed by A to jump, so you charge off the top of the wave and target the little rider at the top of the boss weirdo. 3. When you hit him (and unfortunately even if you don't) he releases floating mines that you have to jump over. If you've had any previous platform game experience, this will be a complete doddle. If not then I guess this is where you get to work on your hand-eye co-ordination. 3. When you get knocked off (hey, it happens to us all sooner or later) watch out for the floating drill in the water that cruises backwards and forwards. 4. Repeat the above process, riding waves and ramming into the top of the boss's head. The waves will start to oscillate up and down, and things will speed up until the head bat dies, leaving the larger, even more minging beast to its death throes. 5. Instead of ramming this one from the side, you need to jump up from the top of your wave and press DOWN when you're directly over his head to stomp it. At this point his mines are more dangerous also, and worth taking time out to avoid properly. 6. A few well-timed stomps later and it'll be kablooie for bat man. ---------------------- Ultimate overlord boss ---------------------- The pyramid rises and a mysterious door opens up... The question is: what misshapen hilarity will they bowl your way for the big finale? Oh boy. It starts off looking like a sort of Hindu god with 5 floating porcelain heads. And the heads gradually get angrier and angrier. Yes, well, let's just get on with how to kill it shall we? 1. First off as the floating heads drift down and from side to side on the screen, jump up and land on top of them as they pass underneath you. 2. Once the head is inert, walk into it to pick it up and press and hold UP and B, targeting the base of the fan-shaped thing the boss is carrying. If you manage to hit it that's one down, three to go. 3. Once all the heads have been dispatched the boss releases a floating green spiky thing. Try not to let it sideswipe you, and instead hop on top of it to knock it out, then run into it and pick it up. From here it's the usual drill: press and hold B and UP, then wait for old porcelain-head to get directly above you and release B to open fire with the green thing. A direct hit will move you onto the next phase of attack. 4. This one is, well, a teddy bear in a glowing beach ball. As with the ducks, if you leave this alone for too long it will flash and swiftly explode - it's not good to be too close-by when this happens. Instead ram it using B to bounce it up off the walls and into the top of the room. When it hits the boss man it causes harm and moves you onto part 5. 5. Ooh, now he's mad. This time the eggs are black, and even if you succeed in catching one it will explode very quickly, so haste is the name of the game. If you miss a catch quickly charge the resulting duck with B and head off for the next one. When you get an egg, as quickly as you can hold UP and B, releasing B as soon as is feasible. Because of the exploding nature of the eggs it's worth being careful not to hold on for too long - just ask a one-armed grenadier about that one. When you manage to hit it in the head with one of its own exploding eggs, it's time to move on. 6. And what's this? You may recognise this magic hammer as the one used by the little fellas in the game who turn you into a human spring. The object of this is to do the same to yourself, and here's how: When the mallet falls from above get out of its way until it stops glowing. As soon as it does, run over and pick it up. Holding the UP button, briefly hold then release B to toss the hammer in the air. Quickly walk underneath it and duck down - if you've aimed it right the falling hammer will hit Wario on his head (still in ducking position) and turn you into springy Wario. Wait until freak monster is right overhead and release the spring. If you miss, just go through that again, and if not then let's head off to number 7. 7. The attacks re-occur in the same order from 3. to 7. 8. After one full cycle they start to come in rapid succession. At this point it's best to leave the hammers alone, because it gets too fiddly doing the hammer toss and ducking manoeuvre when you're being hit with everything else at the same time. At this point the teddy bear beach balls (4.) are probably your easiest bet for doing hassle-free damage if you can get the aim right. 9. After a bit more battering the boss will transform into a kind of evil Prince Charles face, and at this point begins targeting Wario very specifically, and knocking out bits of land as it goes. Because of this it's best to finish it ASAP. Wait until it's about to strike then run out of the way, turn around and do a B-charge followed by A to jump up and hit its head. Remember: wherever you stand will be destroyed, so plan ahead so you have somewhere safe to go back to. Repeat, and very soon it will explode into a shower of goodies. Now Butt-bash the pair of lips hopping about and sit back and enjoy the show. About this FAQ My name's Nick and I wrote this. I suppose if you really want to rip it off there's very little I can do about it. Otherwise if you need to use it you can credit me with it if you can be arsed - personally I think that would be better, but then I would say that. If you enjoyed, or perhaps really hated this FAQ, why not write and tell me about it? If you have anything to add to the above I imagine I could include that too, although it all looks pretty complete from where I'm sitting. mailto: thaighai@hotmail.com