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Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB)

Status: Playing
I started playing this game on Wednesday 13 October, 2021
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

November 5, 2021 06:50:03 PM
Still playing!

I ran into an issue that I'd play get to a certain level and then want to stop playing. The game has an auto-save feature, or at least that's what I thought. But, it wasn't working! I wasn't sure if that was because I wasn't doing something in the game, if I was turning off the VB at the wrong time or something else entirely. I did some looking around online, read the game's manual all to no avail.

And then I realized that the cartridge I was playing on was made in '95 ('96 at best) and that whatever battery it had to maintain the saved game was long dead...so OF COURSE IT WOULDN"T WORK.

Fortunately I was able to boot the game on a custom cart I have - which does allow for saved games - and, well - I've kept on playing.

I've really been enjoying the game, and the variety in the levels. I've already cleared the 2nd boss which gave me a fright the first time through because I did not understand what I was supposed to do to defeat it. I sort of muddled by way through and was able to defeat it on my second attempt which was both a huge relief and an even greater surprise! Who knows, I might even get to the end of the game on this one...though I also need to start playing all the other VB games. Sigh.


October 14, 2021 07:18:32 PM
So I had played a bit many years ago, but mostly to check that my cartridge was working. Never "seriously". Last night I sat down - or more fairly, leaned in - and played this for a good 30 minutes or so. Maybe it was a little bit longer.

I made it as far as level 4 - the first boss - whom I was unable to defeat, though I did hit him once. I think three hits and I'd beat him.

I'm playing partly to know the game better - but also due to a project I'm working on, so I want to document some stuff. This is like my field notes:

The game has various elements that play off movement between foreground/background. These include:

- Spike balls that swing forward/backwards
- Hopping points where you jump into the background, play around ona little level that's far away, and then jump back
- One of the minigames has you jump back and forth repeatedly - it's the one where you're trying to stock up on hearts (100 hearts = 1up)
- The first boss has two different attacks (that I've seen). The 1st wave of attacks come from the background into the foreground (swings a ball and chain)
- There's a fish in level 3 that swings into the foreground, where it can hurt you.
- Also some sort of shark/fish that sits in a hole in the background facing the camera, it comes "out" and you need to avoid it.

The game also has a lot of parallax - and many layers of fore/background stuff going on .

- Some level elements like the blocks look rendered in two layers, so the seem to have a bit of volume/depth.


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria