Wario Land II Playthrough (Game Boy Player Capture) - Part 1

This is part 1 of my 100% playthrough of Wario Land II for the Game Boy Color. This is not an emulator. This footage was recorded directly from my GameCube using my Game Boy Player with progressive scan mode enabled (you'll need the GameCube's component cables to do this and your model of GameCube must support component out as well).

I have been a huge fan of the first Game Boy Wario Land title ever since I received it for Christmas of 1994. I played the game all the time and it is still one of my favorite Game Boy titles. However, when Nintendo released Wario Land II roughly four years later, I lost interest in the series (for a while). The Game Boy games changed from action platformers to puzzle platformers where you couldn’t even die, which I didn’t care for, and I even thought Wario’s new sprite was a downgrade.

However, around 2009 I changed my mind as I begin filling out my collection and I picked up a complete copy of Wario Land II for the Game Boy Color off eBay. I managed to beat the game 100%, but I didn’t touch it again until I finally got around to recording this playthrough.

Wario Land II is a good game overall, but I’m still not a huge fan of it. I find a lot of the stage designs to be rather bland since you’re just meandering around collecting absolutely massive amounts of coins with just a few puzzles thrown in the way. I prefer action-based platforming over puzzle platforming, and I think Wario Land: Shake It! did a much better job of balancing the two styles.

Interestingly, Nintendo released this game for the original Game Boy in March of 1998, shortly before the Game Boy Color dropped, only to release a Game Boy Color version less than a year later, in February of 1999. The original version features Super Game Boy enhancements, but I prefer full-color games whenever possible, so I naturally went with the Game Boy Color version, just like I did with Link’s Awakening. I think the original version might be rarer though.

Wario Land II doesn’t feature a traditional overworld map like its predecessor, though it does unlock a “Treasure Map” after you initially beat the game showing the different branching paths for the stages. This helps you to locate the hidden exits and secret chapters. I will of course be completing all of the secret chapters and obtaining all of the treasures and picture panels, which are required for 100% completion.

I’ll be posting each chapter in a separate video with timestamps for each level (referred to as “stories” by the game). These stages were not completed back-to-back in a single session. I simply edited the successful runs together for a single video.

In this first part I started a new save file and completed Chapter 1: One Noisy Morning.

Chapter 1: One Noisy Morning:

Story 1: Turn off the alarm clock! - 2:17
Story 2: Turn off the giant faucet! - 8:36
Story 3: Let the water out! - 14:57
Story 4: Go down to the cellar - 22:18
Story 5: Defeat the giant snake - 27:56

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR and the GameCube's component cables at 60 frames per second. I'm using an original model Game Boy Advance as a controller via a GameCube/Game Boy Advance Link Cable.