Wario Land 4; GBA Ambassador

[Sebby19]

Quality of Life Tip #1 Jumping and throwing up is easier than Charge Throwing up, when trying to throw over a tall obstacle.

Quality of Life Tip #2 Shoulder Charging and then Ducking let's you slide some distance. Nice for quickly going through crawlspace, but it's never required.

[Zephyr_DragonLord]

raocow... It looks like that you're too used to those tough Mario games. This game doesn't hide progress like the Forest of Illusion does.
Or anything remotely like the romhacks. (By the way, I like how you're complaining while playing the level, and then go back, and say it's good. I understand how playing the level over puts a damper on your mood, so the second opinion is more well-founded...)

Wario Land 3 would probably be even more frustrating for you, even though you can't die in that game.

[Lunikyuu]

40 Below Fridge and Pinball Zone are the levels I personally remember having the hardest time with, so hopefully that means the worst is over (though I do remember having a bit of trouble with the boss...). I also remember them having 2 of the strictest time limits in the game on Super Hard, so let's be glad that's not a difficulty you can pick from the start (though with 40BF that's mainly if you're going for the CD).

[ACesspoolofHatred]

today's episode inspired me to do a shitty sketch

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[Divemissile]

pinball zone isn't that bad of a level, except for the timed bit. it's extremely stressful despite the comparatively high time limit, and if you die or miss one of the buddha pieces, you have to go through the whole level and (almost) every single puzzle and it's kinda tedious. the level isn't THAT bad (at least in normal/hard mode), but it can get pretty unfun.

[Sebby19]

One unique attribute of this level is that it has 3 Bonus Rooms. The rest of the main 16 only have two. Daniel guesses the developers accidently made one too many rooms, but I doubt it.

Pinball Zone

Introduction
"Pinball Zone is a giant pinball machine with a back and front board. The back board is the machine’s interior where Wario loads pinballs into catchers to advance. These rooms are punctuated by brief front board divergences along the face of the pinball table where Hammerheads are common. Wario begins at the base of the machine and eventually reaches the top, ROLLING back down to the vortex post-fold."

Game Idea
"Pinball Zone emulates pinball, with Wario nabbing balls and putting them into catchers—that much should be obvious by now. The game idea develops through the changing positions of the catchers, which elicit different interaction, and the mini-arrangements, which flesh out the process of bringing pinballs to their catchers. Post-fold, Wario becomes a pinball and ROLLS from the top of the front board down into the vortex at the bottom. This is perhaps a metaphor for the final ball falling through the outlane."


You know, when you think about it, Pinball Zone nicely segways into the theme of the next world, if you ignore the boss of 'industrial' world.

[Bean]

Watched the last two videos back-to-back. 40 Below Fridge with forgetting/not using the roll deal was funny in a talking at the screen way, but I guess the ice dudes were throwing you off. Pinball Land was more of a sigh because with how long the video was, you knew something would happen near the end to mess things up. Those timed escapes are a lot more intricate in this game than they are in Shake It!

[CM30]

Watched the last two videos back-to-back. 40 Below Fridge was with forgetting/not using the roll deal was funny in a talking at the screen way, but I guess the ice dudes were throwing you off. Pinball Land was more of a sigh because with how long the video was, you knew something would happen near the end to mess things up. Those timed escapes are a lot more intricate in this game than they are in Shake It!

Well, Lowdown Depths and Launchpad Labyrinth were certainly intricate with their escape sequences. Because like a certain level in this game (two in Super Hard mode), the whole level was timed.

Either way, kind of nice that he had a lot less trouble with Cuckoo Condor.

[Money]

the sound room is such a brilliant postmodern joke on the player, i love it so much

[Sebby19]

I agree. Some of those CDs make me feel awkward when listening to them. They do have a beginning and finish, they don't loop.

The next world's theme is

Toy Land! Toy Land! TOY LAND! TOY LAND!

My favorite world, which also contains my favorite level, and has the best 'gimmicks' for each level.

Fun fact: First time I played this game, I went into the yellow passage first. Why? I think because the black cat was sitting above the entrance.

[Le Neveu de Rameau]

Wario Land 4's hidden CDs are so much better than Rex Rocket's were.

[Money]

no but like, my favorite part is how it tricks the player into thinking it's like, a sound test or something, because what else would a "sound room" be? and then it turns out it's a sound room (as in, just a bunch of weird sounds). it plays perfectly on assumed video game conventions without waving its arms around and screaming IM A JOKE ABOUT VIDEO GAMES LOOK AT ME! i honestly cant think of a better piece of postmodern humor off the top of my head.

[Jesuiscontent]

Yeah that's what I meant by some CDs are "kind of" from the game, like Soft Shell, and the Moon Lampost is Palm Tree Paradise (the first green level) in reverse.

Back then I thought all of these were legitimate music you could find in Japan or something...

[Dustinvgmaster]

I always found the sound room a bit strange, but gosh darn, if it ain't funny.

[Lostsoldier20]

Still waiting for the Topaz CDs. Pretty sure that's the one with the silliest/stupidest of the songs.

I've been pretty quiet here, but I have expressed my frustration in the comments like most others. A lot of the problems raocow has been having is "There be enemies in the way. Lemme avoid killing said enemies that don't respawn, despite it helping be now and later during the escape" and also, pretty much quoting my comment here, "There be an enemy that encourages taking things slow. Lemme bum rush it and get frozen, never learning my lesson ever."

Like the mosquito in the Pinball escape. He like, never made an effort to kill it, despite extreme panic about it existing, and got hit way more times than needed. And every single ice guy in the entire level of 40 below.

Luckily, I don't THINK Topaz has too many moments like this available? Though, raocow is always about proving all expectations wrong, no matter how good or bad they are.

[Picochilla]

Still waiting for the Topaz CDs. Pretty sure that's the one with the silliest/stupidest of the songs.

It's also the dumbest World in the whole WL4 game imo. Those Gimmics there are mostly pretty stupid.

[Lunikyuu]

so when it's a boss I remember being easy, raocow has a hard time, but when it's a boss I remember being hard, raocow has an easy time, good to know =P (though tbf, I probably got used to Cractus's hitbox at some point and forgot about it)

Also honestly, I find Hard mode much more interesting than Normal mode, so I'm glad raocow's playing it, even though I do feel kinda bad when he gets distressed at a part.

[Sebby19]

Here's another link to another full chapter from the book, on his website:

Rewards, Punishment, and Psychology

It basically talks about the money and other spoils you get in the game, and the mental pull they have on the player. It's a thick read, but interesting.

[warpio]

wow good job at that chicken clock battle. I remember having more trouble at this boss on normal than raocow did on hard...

and here I was thinking I would be in for an entertaining trainwreck of a video where he spends 30 minutes not knowing you can throw in midair...

[Nimono]

i'm going to laugh so hard if raocow actually gets 100% at the end

[Sebby19]

So I was watching a speedrun of the game by the Games Done Quick people from last year, and I discover in the comments that there is a cheat code to unlock the Karaoke song in the sound room, bypassing the 18 Gold Crowns you need.

I just tried it, and it works! Huh.

Say raocow, do you want to know it?

[Voltgloss]

Well done keeping your cool during today's "hurry up" segment, raocow.

[Alice]

Well done keeping your cool during today's "hurry up" segment, raocow.

That was a lot better than normal. Glad he didn't end up having to repeat gathering all the items, lol.

[went]

Get your popcorn ready for tomorrow.

[CM30]

I'll be optimistic and say raocow will have no problem with The Big Board.

I mean, doesn't seem like it'll be a hard level. Just a bit of timing needed and a few rooms that might have their collectables become impossible to get if you mess up.

Oh forget this. This is raocow we're talking about. He's gonna charge through, get hit by every lightning bolt possible and wonder why the treasure chests aren't collectable.