My Top 25 Game Boy games

 

I've been getting very much back into my games over the last year or so (hooray, hyperfixation!). Not just playing, but reading about, learning about, and, of course, reminiscing about. I've recently been ensconced in Shaun Musgrave's Patreon, and particularly enjoyed his lists of favourite games for various consoles. So I thought to myself, why not have a crack at that myself?

I'm going to kick this off with my favourite system of all time, the Game Boy, Nintendo's classic handheld. The Game Boy was the first proper console we owned as a family, and my brother, sister and I spent way to much time staring at that tiny screen. It was heavy; it was simple; it only displayed four colours and all of them were green. Yet it was an addictive machine, thanks to some absolutely top notch games, as well as the capacity to take it anywhere and play it for hours thanks to its remarkable battery life.

I'm planning to make a list of my top 25 games for each console that I choose to cover, although if I stray onto those I've spent less time with then I may drop in the occasional top ten. Remember, the following lists merely my own personal favourites, which is not the same thing as a list of the best games on the console. Nostalgia has a big part to play in this ranking, but I've replayed all these games recently and they all stand up today. Indeed, some of these I only first played very recently, thanks to emulators. Note that the year given is the original release date, in whichever territory it first came out (so usually Japan). Also, I'm only covering plain old Game Boy releases here, not Game Boy Color games. That's for another day (although some games were released on both.)

I'll also note the current official availability of these games on modern platforms. Of course, if you want to play them unofficially, there are plenty of not-quite-legal means to do so.

Oh, and if you enjoy game reviews and rankings, do check out Shaun's Patreon.

(I originally posted this piece and its follow-ups on Vocal, but now Vocal are being dickheads so I'm going to migrate these over here, in case I have to drop that site altogether.)

Virtual Boy Wario Land: The forgotten Wario game

 

1995 saw Nintendo release some of its best platformer titles. Yoshi's Island, Donkey Country 2, Donkey Kong Land, Kirby's Dream Land 2 – all were released this year for the SNES (the former) and Game Boy (the latter). There's one, however, that's been almost forgotten, along with the console it was released for, at least until Nintendo's surprising recent new for its Switch Online/Nintendo Classics service.

Virtual Boy Wario Land is the follow-up to 1994's excellent Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. Like that game, it was created by Gunpei Yokoi and Hiroji Kiyotake, leading Nintendo R&D1. Indeed, it was Yokoi and his team who had created the Virtual Boy itself. Nintendo's entry into the 32-bit console market (hence the development code VR32), the Virtual Boy was intended to maintain Nintendo's market share while the Nintendo 64 was in development, to follow the handheld success of the Game Boy and make the jump to true 3D gaming for the company. It was a bold experiment: a portable 3D gaming system. There were, however, some problems: it wasn't portable and was barely 3D.

The Virtual Boy used mirrors to create a basic stereoscopic 3D effect, housed within an all-encompassing headset that caused neck strain and motion sickness if used freely; instead, it sat on a tabletop tripod. The display used red LEDs (the lowest-energy colour to generate and therefore the cheapest) to create harsh, red-and-black graphics. Test users complained of nausea and headaches, so the system was released with mandated rest breaks built in which automatically paused games mid-play. The Virtual Boy, released unfinished and misconceived from the start, was a hopeless failure.

Some have blamed the quality of the games for its failure, but it was really the hardware that was at fault. Only twenty-two games were ever released for the system due to its short market life; a selection of twenty-two games plucked from the range for the NES, SNES or Game Boy would be unlikely to contain many classics. The planned Mario platformer title (known variously as VB Mario Land and Mario Adventure) never made it past the demo stage, with its included 3D version of Mario Bros. released separately as Mario Clash. There was no Zelda title, no Metroid, and a port of Donkey Kong Country 2 was written off early in development. Given time, though, it's probable that Nintendo's flagship series would have been represented, improving the sparse game library.

Virtual Boy Wario Land is the one Virtual Boy game that achieved consistently good reviews. Also known early on by its working titles, Wario Cruise and Wario's Treasure Hunt, and bearing the full title Virtual Boy Wario Land: Secret Treasure of the Awazon in Japan, the game is a direct sequel to the original Wario Land. Having loaded up with loot in the earlier game, Wario's enjoying a holiday at the Awazon river basin when he sees a troop of strange masked creatures disappear behind a waterfall. In the cave system hidden there, he spies vast treasures that he decides to add to his collection, before falling through into the depths of the cave network.

The game plays very much like its predecessor, with Wario smashing, barging and crashing his way through the levels. His primary moves remain the shoulder barge and the ground pound (now as a belly-flop bodyslam), and he is again reduced to a goblin-like stature when hit by an enemy, with another hit costing him a life. The power-ups are similar to those in the first game, albeit tweaked. A garlic pot again turns little Wario back to his full size. Three helmets give Wario powerful abilities: the bull helmet makes him super strong, the eagle helmet grants him flight, and the sea dragon helmet breathes fire. In a new twist, combining the sea dragon and eagle creates the King Dragon with both abilities.

The game employs the Virtual Boy's limited 3D to good effect. Wario can jump to areas in the background using special launch boards, allowing to access bonuses and sneak behind obstacles. While there's little practical difference between the 3D layers and moving up and down between areas by pipes and ladders, it's a fun gimmick that makes the levels stand out against other platformers of the time. Certain enemies also move back and forth, hiding in the depths and lunging at Wario. Aside from that, there's a small amount of 3D rendering to spice things up, but it's a minor cosmetic touch. There are coins to collect and monsters to beat aplenty; a great platform adventure in the classic Mario/Wario mould.

The big flaw with the game is its length. There are only fourteen levels, each of them a literal level in the cave system that Wario ascends using an elevator. This is less of a problem if, like me, you're not actually very good at gaming, since the levels are fairly challenging. A skilled player, though, wouldn't take very long to ascend the whole complex and complete the playthrough. Having all levels set within the caves makes good use of the black-and-red graphics, allowing for a suitably gloomy atmosphere, but it does make the levels a bit samey. Fourteen levels really isn't a lot, and four of them are boss-only levels. The bosses are fairly inventive, however, again utilising the depth effect in their attacks, although the first three are susceptible to the old-fashioned bounce-on-the-head-three-times method. The final boss, a floating demon with a nasty grin, is a little more complex, and again uses the depth process to great effect.

What the levels are, though, is fun. Like in the first game, there are special treasures to collect; one for each of the non-boss levels, hidden throughout the caves. Again, like the original Wario Land, the ending depends on how rich you are when you beat the final boss. The exact ending depends on your coin count, whether you collect all the treasures, and how quickly you reached the end, with a timer continually running as you play. Upon completion, a hard mode is unlocked, which needs to be beaten to see the final ending. The tricky, entertaining levels and the additional challenge of getting the best possible result add a lot of replay value.

It's a real shame that so few people got to play this game back in the day. Virtual Boy Wario Land was the highlight for the system, but with such a limited run for the console, not even being released in PAL regions, it never got the exposure it deserved. Nintendo's surprise announcement that Virtual Boy games will be made downloadable on the Switch and Switch 2 from February 2026 will hopefully grant this game a new audience. However, Nintendo's baffling insistence to make the games playable only with a new headset attachment (which essentially requires strapping the Switch to your head) will surely limit the appeal. While 3D imagery was always intended to be the Virtual Boy's selling point, most of the games – Wario Land included – can be played perfectly well without it, the depth feature still working from a gameplay point of view. With the hardware always being the Virtual Boy's biggest issue, it's a bizarre decision.

Still, it's refreshing to see Nintendo actually embracing the Virtual Boy for once. After Virtual Boy Wario Land vanished along with its console, Nintendo developed Wario Land II for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, implicitly dismissing the Virtual Boy game from the series. Wario Land II went down a different route, more of a puzzle-platform hybrid with drastically rethought gameplay. In some ways, the real successors to Virtual Boy Wario Land are other game entirely. Donkey Kong Country Returns, Mutant Mudds, and especially the recent AntonBlast are all influenced by the game, most obviously through the use of depth levels. The developer of Mutant Mudds, Renegade Kid, even pitched a full colour remake of Virtual Boy Wario Land for the 3DS – Nintendo's eventual successful attempt at a 3D handheld. Bafflingly, Nintendo passed on this, what was surely the ideal way to bring this game back.

If you're a fan of the original Game Boy Wario Land and would love to play a handful of challenging extra levels, you're a Mario universe completist, or you just love great platformers, Virtual Boy Wario Land is worth seeking out. If the costs and discomfort of a new headset puts you off, there are plenty of Virtual Boy emulators out there which can run the game, many of which allow you to play with either the old black-and-red graphics or in a more retina-friendly greyscale. Give it a go if you get the chance. It's smashing.