Neal gets his hands on the last two Game Boy games of Nintendo's 8-bit Summer.
This week, Neal covers two classic Game Boy titles—a relatively unknown gem and a long-awaited platformer staring Mario’s greedy doppelganger.
First up is Mole Mania, an action puzzle game starring Muddy Mole, who is perhaps Miyamoto’s least known protagonist. And to finish it off, Neal lets us know whether or not Wario’s first starring role was worth the wait, or if its hype is simply the product of nostalgia.
Mole Mania
| System | Virtual Console - Game Boy |  |
| Cost | $2.99 | |
| Players | 1 | |
| Controllers | NULL | |
| ESRB Rating | Everyone | |
| Released | Feb 1997 |
Mole Mania is one of Shigeru Miyamoto’s least known works. Made by the DK ’94 team using the Link’s Awakening engine, it is an adorable action puzzle game filled to the brim with content. You play as Muddy Mole who has to journey through eight worlds to rescue his family from an evil farmer. It has a wonderfully whimsical vibe that permeates the game through various in-game signs and the character’s design and animation.
The gameplay is of the push-and-pull puzzle variety, similar to games like The Adventures of Lolo and Chew Man Fu. What makes Mole Mania more interesting is that it keeps on layering new concepts. That makes for a bit of a slow start, but it ramps up in complexity and difficulty soon enough.
Mole Mania is the kind of game that I think everyone should try out on Virtual Console. It might not gel completely with you, but it’s still worthwhile to try out an interesting game that came out during a time when the Game Boy was buried by the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation.
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
| System | Virtual Console - Game Boy |  |
| Cost | $3.99 | |
| Players | 1 | |
| Controllers | NULL | |
| ESRB Rating | ||
| Released | Mar 13, 1994 |
I didn’t play much of Wario Land before. In my head, the game, a spinoff of Super Mario Land 2, was this gem that I had to play to completion. Sadly, after playing through it on the 3DS Virtual Console, I realized that Wario Land is a woefully slow-paced game that doesn’t really even live up to the game it was spun off of.
It is still a good game, though, and it is quite clear that it is a Super Mario Land game at heart and not really what we’d come to know as a Wario Land game. The hat power-ups don’t offer too much variety, and Wario moves very slowly. The highlight of the game are likely the hidden treasures, which are tucked away throughout the levels and must be found to truly complete the game and make Wario stupid rich.
I am down on Wario Land, but don’t let that dissuade you if you have fond memories of this title or have never played it before. If you’re okay with a slower-paced game that is more of a tease of the great games to come, then go and check it out.
