1990s
Virtual Boy Wario Land
1995 · Platformer · Virtual Boy
Overview
Virtual Boy Wario Land was the finest game on Nintendo's failed 3D handheld — a well-designed platformer that used the depth effect creatively, sending Wario between foreground and background planes.
Deep Dive
Nintendo R&D1 designed Virtual Boy Wario Land to exploit the system's depth display genuinely. Wario moved between three planes of depth — front, middle, and back — to solve puzzles and reach secrets.
Developer Story
Virtual Boy Wario Land was developed by Nintendo R&D1 under Hiroji Kiyotake. It was one of the last games released before Nintendo discontinued the system.
Did You Know?
- Virtual Boy Wario Land is consistently rated the system's best game and cited as evidence that the Virtual Boy's failure was a market problem rather than a design problem.
- The game used the full capabilities of the system in ways that simpler launch titles did not.
