The third game in the Wario Land series makes some big design changes to the formula, but thankfully retains the quirky style and addictive gameplay that makes Wario king of the Game Boy. Continuing in the trend from Wario Land II, our portly protagonist is completely immortal in this game, and enemy attacks will transform him into various forms, including a few new ones. He can be squished flat, turned invisible, transformed into a zombie or vampire, the list goes on – each form has its own unique abilities and its own unique set of “weaknesses” that revert Wario to his regular self, that you must either use or avoid creatively to solve the puzzles in each level. Even with a reused Wario sprite from the last game, the animation has had a significant upgrade and Wario has plenty of quirky little poses and humorous reactions.

Gone is the greed-fueled coin bonanza of previous titles – you can only carry a maximum of 999 coins which only serve as the entry fee into a minigame in some levels. Enemies won't drop coins at all and getting hit by normal attacks won't knock any from your stash. There’s no overall money tally to add coins into, which seems out of place for a Wario game. Boss fights are frequent throughout the game, and getting hit even once will send you hurtling out of their chamber. Some of the battles can be exceedingly frustrating in design, but the Restore Point system thankfully alleviates most of the frustration.

Instead of fighting your way through a linear stage to get to the end, each level in Wario Land 3 must be completed four separate times, first by finding one of four colored keys, then locating its corresponding treasure chest. Most of these chests contain items that alter the game's world in some way, unlocking new levels and opening paths in previous ones. All but the most basic of Wario's moves are unlocked in this way as well, and you'll eagerly dash back and forth on the map screen in anticipation of earning that next power up. Each of the branching level paths is so unique that replaying levels rarely feels stale. Whether this game stacks up to the standard set by Wario Land II is a matter of personal opinion (I certainly miss the familiar enemies and theme music from the last two games) but the fact remains that Wario Land 3 is still one of the best games on the Game Boy Color. You really should play this.