History VideoGame / WarioLand4

* {{Bookends}}: The game's intro shows a cat [[spoiler:(specifically, Princess Shokora's cat form)]] narrowly avoiding being run over by Wario before a newspaper flies into its face. The final scene of the ending shows the same thing happen to a different cat - the main difference being that the newspaper [[spoiler:is advertising all you can eat steak.]]

* ClippedWingAngel: After Wario beats her down to her last hit point, the Golden Diva transforms into one final, far weaker form: [[spoiler: a quivering pair of lips that scuttle across the floor. They're completely harmless; should they bump into Wario, the lips will immediately dash off to the opposite end of the room. It takes nothing more than a simple shoulder-bash to defeat the Diva in this form for good.]]
* CollapsingLair: After Wario defeats the Golden Diva, he, the black cat, and Dr. Scienstein book it out of the pyramid, with Wario carrying whatever treasures he's managed to save up to this point.
* CollisionDamage: As with the prior entries, this is zigzagged and Wario can only be damaged by enemies that are [[TheSpiny actually harmful]] or dangerous hazards like spikes or magma.

** In one of the credits images, Wario is carrying a box full of Platform/{{Game Boy Advance}}s, with another box near him. The treasure that spawns the image is also a golden GBA.

* CreditsMedley: After the initial credits theme, the player is treated to a medley of remixed level tracks, which varies depending on how much treasure you collected. Notably, for the absolute worst ending, the viewer is initially treated to the Hall of Hieroglphys theme -- with lyrics.

** Running out of time during an escape causes the level to turn grayscale as Wario loses coins.

* GuideDangIt: [[spoiler:The Golden Diva]] has multiple attacks, each of which has a different method that Wario has to use to hurt her. One attack involves a hammer being thrown at you. [[spoiler:You have to throw it upwards and then move so that it lands on Wario, turning him into Spring Wario, which allows him to smash into the Diva's mask.]] The game gives little indication that you're supposed to do this - it assumes the player will remember that [[spoiler:hammers are used by the enemies that can turn you into Spring Wario - and the player may even assume you're supposed to throw it at the Diva (which won't remotely harm her).]]

** When Catbat's bat head disappears, its cyclopean mooks literally turn red. Instead of transforming Wario, they directly hurt him. Catbat also starts creating speedier tidal waves that always undulate. On top of that Catbat can now only be harmed with ground pounds, which make taking it out while collecting all the treasures in Super-Hard mode impossible without an item to lower Catbat's health.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Princess Shokora is an Engrish-y version of [[EdibleThemeNaming Chocolat]].

''Wario Land 4'' (''Wario Land [[SuperTitle64Advance Advance]]: The Treasure of the Golden Diva'' [[MarketBasedTitle in Japan]]) is the fourth game in the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' series (not counting ''VideoGame/VirtualBoyWarioLand''), originally released in 2001 for the Platform/GameBoyAdvance.

* NumberedSequels: The game immediately lets players know that it's the fourth of a series... except in Japan, where the game is instead titled ''Wario Land [[SuperTitle64Advance Advance]]: The Treasure of the Golden Diva''.

* TheSongRemainsTheSame: Oddly, the title screen stays in English in both versions and the Palm Tree Paradise one stays in Japanese in both versions. And the odd aversion is the ending song, which is an American-style song with English lyrics in Western regions and an anime-type song with Japanese lyrics in Japan.

''Wario Land 4'' (''Wario Land [[SuperTitle64Advance Advance]]: The Treasure of the Golden Diva'' [[MarketBasedTitle in Japan]]) is the fourth game in the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' series (not counting ''VideoGame/VirtualBoyWarioLand''), originally released in 2001 for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance.

''Wario Land 4'' was given a limited rerelease for Ambassadors on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, and later released publicly on the UsefulNotes/WiiU UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole and available until its shutdown in March 2023.

** [[UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch Mr. Game and Watch]] appears as the shopkeeper for the item store [[spoiler:(except not, it's actually Princess Shokora in disguise)]].

** In the background of Spoiled Rotten's arena, two [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCubes]] can be seen stacked atop a television, with one turned over to display its top.
** In one of the credits images, Wario is carrying a box full of UsefulNotes/{{Game Boy Advance}}s, with another box near him. The treasure that spawns the image is also a golden GBA.

* DenserAndWackier: The ''Wario Land'' games beforehand were offbeat, but ''4'' kicks the weirdness up a few notches. Unlike the comparatively more grounded settings of its predecessors, the game takes place within an ancient pyramid that houses anachronic and surreal worlds to explore within its paintings. The art style is as varied as the locales are, utilizing everything from pre-rendered sprites of real objects or [=3D models=], to cartoonish aesthetics wherever appropriate. The game's sound design also warps and distorts in response to Wario's actions to contribute to the atmosphere--especially his transformations, which cause the background music to shift pitch, change tempo, and warble. The voice lines of Wario himself are treated similarly. They consist of several smaller voice clips that are combined and played in ways that often sound nonsensical and blatantly artificial.

** When Catbat's bat head disappears, its cyclopean mooks literally turn red. Instead of transforming Wario, they directly hurt him. Catbat also starts creating speedier tidal waves that always undulate.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: An odd example with Cractus, who [[TheComputerShallTauntYou hangs down from the top of the screen laughing at you]] when you get turned into a zombie. If he were to hang down like that while you're in regular condition, you'd be unable to hit him.

* TimeLimitBoss: Every boss is fought on a time limit, with treasures starting to disappear if you take too long. Some bosses actively exploit this by using moves that don't deal damage, but will waste valuable seconds if they hit you; Catbat's projectiles in the first half of the fight puff you up (in the second half they just damage you), Cractus's saliva turns you into a zombie (leaving you unable to AttackItsWeakPoint until you transform back) and Aerodent throws fireballs that trigger the notoriously lengthy Flaming Wario transformation.

* TimeLimitBoss: Every boss is fought on a time limit, with treasures starting to disappear if you take too long.

* HelpfulMook: Dr. Scienstein shows up in almost all the bonus rooms [[FastballSpecial whenever a projectile is needed]]. He cannot be defeated, only knocked over, yelping in pain each time he's attacked in some way.

* MadeOfIron: Wario, although [[DownplayedTrope not quite to the extent]] [[{{Nerf}} that was previously seen in]] ''VideoGame/WarioLandII'' and ''VideoGame/WarioLand3''. For one thing, he actually ''is'' [[HeartsAreHealth able to die]] outside of the game's [[FinalBoss final boss]] fight this time. Outside of that, however, Wario can still take icicles, rocks, axes, spikes, and lava with little more than a bit of lost health.