History VideoGame / WarioLand3

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: This game is Wario's most heroic role to date. Yeah, there's treasure in it, but the guy still goes out of his way to help a mysterious person he doesn't even know, and in turn [[spoiler: He saves the world twice over.]]

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: This game is Wario's most heroic role to date.

%%* LevelInTheClouds: S6 Above the Clouds.

* BusmansHoliday: The game begins with Wario taking his plane out for a joy ride, only for it to suffer engine failure mid-flight and crash-land in the woods. There Wario finds the mysterious music box and get sucked in, kick-starting another exciting adventure.

%%* ChainOfDeals: The whole game is this. You can't just search directly for the music boxes; first you have to cut down the tree blocking your way to two other levels, find overalls so you can ground pound to reach certain treasures, collect a seed so you can make beanstalks to reach higher areas, and so on...

%%* BubblegloopSwamp: E1 The Stagnant Swamp.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Wario can actually be killed by the final boss, rending him NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Come ''Wario Land 4'', Wario's invincibility is gone completely.]]

* TheAmazon: W3 The Pool of Rain.

* {{Kitsune}}: Wolfenboss, a flying fox in a sorcerer's robe who attacks with magic. His Japanese name is Kezune, the pronunciation for Kitsune.

* BeTheBall: Shoot, a sportshare [[{{Expy}} almost exactly like]] Dunk from ''Wario Land II''; Shoot, however, prefers soccer to basketball. Like Dunk, Wario must bounce on Shoot to make him curl into a ball and then cast him into the net. Unlike Dunk, Shoot's battle has [[Literature/AesopsFables a tortoise]] goalie whom Wario must also knock down to get a better shot at the net; the turtle will block most of Wario's shots (though it '''is''' possible for Wario to score without stunning him), [[GangUpOnTheHuman but will let Shoot score for free]].

* VampiresHateGarlic: Wario loses his Vampire Wario transformation if he touches garlic.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: The only point in the game where you can die is [[spoiler:during the final boss fight against the hidden figure]]. Your penalty for it? A Game Over screen and being sent back to the map so you can simply try it again.

* FalseInnocenceTrick: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, you learn that the hidden figure is sealed within the five music boxes to prevent him from conquering the world outside the music box. Your goal in the game is to deliver them to him after he tricked you into thinking he was good.]]
* FloatingLimbs: [[spoiler:The hidden figure's hands. In fact, performing a ground pound on one stuns it, allowing it to be picked up and thrown freely.]]

** This is also [[spoiler:the hidden figure]]'s preferred method of combat during the final boss fight.

* NonStandardGameOver: [[spoiler:{{Inverted|Trope}} in the battle against the hidden figure, as it's the ''only'' way to reach the GameOver screen. It's PlayedForLaughs more than anything, though, as you just return to the world map afterwards.]]

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Wario only agrees to find the music boxes and free the hidden figure when offered freedom and any treasure he finds along the way. [[spoiler:Played twice over when the hidden figure is freed, reveals his plan to take over both the music box world and the outer world, and tries to kill Wario. Wario defeats him in self-defense, not only saving both worlds, but also lifting the hidden figure's curse on the music box world's inhabitants, who give Wario the rewards the hidden figure originally promised him.]]
* OneHitKill: There is exactly ''one'' example of this in the game: [[spoiler:the hidden figure's hands.]] In this case, it's because the final boss stage is a BossOnlyLevel, so the game can't send Wario off to another room upon taking a hit as with other bosses.

* SaveBothWorlds: [[spoiler:What Wario ends up doing at the climax of the game.]]
--> [[spoiler:A hidden figure]]: [[spoiler:Now I can rule this world and the outer one as well!!]]

* StoryOverwrite: The game saves after beating the final boss; but when you resume your save, Wario is back in the music box, despite leaving before. [[spoiler:The hidden figure is also back in his {{seal|edEvilInACan}}, and you cannot fight him again until all the treasures are collected. Until then, he can only tell you where to find the next treasure to collect.]]

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Wario. The hidden figure was sealed away by the power of the music boxes, which had to be used together again to release him. Wario was told instead that these would bring him back to his world.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:The hidden figure's first order of business when Wario frees him? Try to kill Wario, of course.]]

* BubblegloopSwamp: E1 The Stagnant Swamp.
* BubblyClouds: S6 Above the Clouds.
* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: W1 Desert Ruins.

* ConsoleCameo: One of the treasures in The Big Bridge is based on a Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Wario can actually be killed by the final boss, rending him NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Come ''Wario Land 4'', Wario's invincibility is gone completely.]]

* GuideDangIt: While few of the treasures are that hard to figure out, some of the Musical Coins can be well hidden. The worst example is one in S1 The Grasslands. It is way up on a platform above the screen -- and thus [[BehindTheBlack invisible until you reach it]] -- which is above a cliff over the blue chest. So, not only do you have to jump off a Spearhead to reach to top of a seemingly empty cliff, you also have to find a rather small hole to jump through upward to reach the platform, which is only reachable by throwing another Spearhead onto the cliff and jumping off the thrown enemy to reach the hidden area.

* HumanSnowball: An ability Wario can gain in E2 The Frigid Sea. It can be used to break snow blocks.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Not even a potential, but a guarantee: The game's programmed so that all sprites literally explode when opening a chest. Well, to get to the red chest in E1 The Stagnant Swamp, you have to ride a turtle to get to the chest, and he's pretty much guaranteed to stay there when you open it, [[WhatTheHellHero meaning you pretty much have to blow up the poor turtle who took the time to help you get there in the first place.]]

* AccidentalHero: Wario just wanted to leave the music box; he wasn't planning to defeat any villains wanting to TakeOverTheWorld until [[spoiler:Rudy was freed and attacked him]].

* AlwaysNight: The East side, [[spoiler:at least until you collect the two sun fragments]].

* BagOfSpilling: The game begins with Wario unable to do most of his Wario things, such as shaking the stage with his GroundPound, performing high jumps or even the series staple of his bull charge. Said abilities are recovered progressively by finding certain treasures. To sweeten the deal, Wario also claims power-ups that boost him beyond some of his original abilities, like the Frog Prince's Gloves, which allow Wario to swim against currents.

** [[spoiler:The entire population of the Music Box world was turned into the monsters Wario beats up throughout the game by Rudy.]]

* BeTheBall: Shoot, a sportsbunny [[{{Expy}} almost exactly like]] Dunk from ''Wario Land II''; Shoot, however, prefers soccer to basketball. Like Dunk, Wario must bounce on Shoot to make him curl into a ball and then cast him into the net. Unlike Dunk, Shoot's battle has [[Literature/AesopsFables a turtle]] goalie whom Wario must also knock down to get a better shot at the net; the turtle will block most of Wario's shots (though it '''is''' possible for Wario to score without stunning him), [[GangUpOnTheHuman but will let Shoot score for free]].

* BonusFeatureFailure: Getting every music coin in each level is much harder than getting all of the treasures. And what is your reward? You get one extra course in the extended mini-golf game.
* BonusLevel: The Forest of Fear, the Warped Void, and Above the Clouds are totally optional levels; players will only enter them if they go out of their way to find non-story treasures in the main game. Fittingly, most of their included treasures only affect each other; this is most notable in the Forest of Fear--the Gray Treasure (a Compact Mirror) unlocks the Warped Void, and every other item from the Forest opens new paths in that level. This is the ''only'' level in the game with this feature.

* ConsoleCameo: One of the treasures in The Big Bridge is a Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu.
* CraniumRide: Used on one occasion to get to a musical coin.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: The only point in the game where you can die is [[spoiler:during the final boss fight against Rudy]]. Your penalty for it? A Game Over screen and being sent back to the map so you can simply try it again.

* FloatingLimbs: [[spoiler:Rudy's hands. In fact, performing a ground pound on one stuns it, allowing it to be picked up and thrown freely.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Wario can actually be killed by the final boss Rudy, rending him NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Come ''Wario Land 4'', Wario's invincibility is gone completely.]]

** This is also [[spoiler:Rudy the Clown]]'s preferred method of combat during the final boss fight.
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Every enemy and boss except Mad Scienstein and the final boss, Rudy the Clown. They are actually the citizens of the Music Box world who sealed Rudy away using the Music Boxes sometime before your arrival, but got cursed into monstrous forms just before he was sealed. The reason they attack you is because they fear his revival and didn't think you were strong enough to defeat him, but once he is defeated for good and they are returned to normal, they have no problem letting you keep all the treasure you collected and sending you back to your own world.]]
* GoombaSpringboard: Possible once you get the Jumping Boots.

* GroundPound: Possible once you get the overalls.
* GuideDangIt: While few of the treasures are that hard to figure out, some of the music coins can be well hidden. The worst example is one in S1 The Grasslands. It is way up on a platform above the screen -- and thus [[BehindTheBlack invisible until you reach it]] -- which is above a cliff over the blue chest. So, not only do you have to jump off a Spearhead to reach to top of a seemingly empty cliff, you also have to find a rather small hole to jump through upward to reach the platform, which is only reachable by throwing another Spearhead onto the cliff and jumping off the thrown enemy to reach the hidden area.
* HatOfPower: Getting the spiked helmet allows you to break blocks with your head.

* InflatingBodyGag: Helio's battle. He has an air pump inside him, and you defeat him by making him cough it up and pumping it until he pops. Appropriately, Helio looks like a literal balloon.

* LoneWolfBoss: [[spoiler:All of the bosses except the final boss]], as they are [[spoiler:revealed to be the citizens of the Music Box world who have been cursed into monster forms by the BigBad, and are attacking you to try to stop you from getting the Music Boxes to revive him. In fact, the only enemy in the game who is actually working for the Big Bad is Mad Scienstein, who is also the only uncursed human you encounter]].

* {{Metroidvania}}: Certain treasures obtained give you powerups in order to access new areas in previous levels. For instance: The red overalls found in The Volcano's Base let you stomp on a frog with a platform on its head in Out of the Woods.
* MonsterClown: [[spoiler:The "hidden figure" turns out to be one of these.]]

* NighInvulnerability: No matter how much he gets hit by enemies, Wario can never die. ([[spoiler:Except for when he gets crushed by final boss Rudy's hands.]])

* NonStandardGameOver: [[spoiler:{{Inverted|Trope}} in the battle against Rudy, as it's the ''only'' way to reach the GameOver screen. It's PlayedForLaughs more than anything, though, as you just return to the world map afterwards.]]

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Wario only agrees to find the music boxes and free the hidden figure when offered freedom and any treasure he finds along the way. [[spoiler:Played twice over when the figure, Rudy, is freed, reveals his plan to take over both the music box world and the outer world, and tries to kill Wario. Wario defeats him in self-defense, not only saving both worlds, but also lifting Rudy's curse on the music box world's inhabitants, who give Wario the rewards Rudy originally promised him.]]
* OneHitKill: There is exactly ''one'' example of this in the game: [[spoiler:Rudy's hands.]] In this case, it's because the final boss stage is a BossOnlyLevel, so the game can't send Wario off to another room upon taking a hit as with other bosses.
* OneHundredPercentCompletion: Collecting all 100 treasures and all 8 music coins in every level.
* PalmtreePanic: N4 Bank of the Wild River, N5 The Tidal Coast, and N6 Sea Turtle Rock.

* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:With the exception of Mad Scienstein, all of the enemies in the game are cursed townsfolk trying to stop Wario from releasing Rudy. Wario doesn't know that the hidden figure is evil, whereas the townsfolk think he does; they could have saved themselves and Wario a lot of trouble by telling him who -- and what -- he was really working for. They end up giving him the same reward Rudy promised him in the beginning, anyway, so his greed wouldn't be an issue. Possibly justified in that it's unclear whether any of the townsfolk can speak while cursed, though the manual suggests they can.]]

* RingOutBoss: Inverted like its predecessor. Like in Wario Land 2, Wario can only be defeated by the Boss kicking ''him'' out of the room instead.

--> [[spoiler:Rudy]]: [[spoiler:Now I can rule this world and the outer one as well!!]]

* StoryOverwrite: The game saves after beating the final boss; but when you resume your save, Wario is back in the music box, despite leaving before. [[spoiler:Rudy is also back in his {{seal|edEvilInACan}}, and you cannot fight him again until all the treasures are collected. Until then, he can only tell you where to find the next treasure to collect.]]
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Played with. Before you get the flippers, Wario cannot go below the surface, constantly paddling above the water. When you do get them, he can swim underwater fine.

** Fire Robota = Flame Kitsune

* TacticalSuicideBoss: A few bosses. But the most notable is Helio, who for some reason just so happens to drop the pump that fills him with air and causes him to blow up.

* UnitsNotToScale: On the map screen, the Colossal Hole and the volcano crater appear to be several times larger than most other landmarks, such as the Big Bridge. When you go inside the levels, however, the opposite happens.

** An extra course in the aforementioned minigolf game after collecting all 8 music coins in all 25 levels.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Wario. Rudy was sealed away by the power of the music boxes, which had to be used together again to release him. Wario was told instead that these would bring him back to his world.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Rudy's first order of business when Wario frees him? Try to kill Wario, of course.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: [[spoiler:The entire population of the Music Box world was turned into the monsters Wario beats up throughout the game by Rudy.]]

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: Wario can actually be killed by the final boss Rudy, rending him NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. Come ''Wario Land 4'', Wario's invincibility is gone completetely.]]

* LighterAndSofter: ''Wario Land 3'' is a much brighter game in aesthetic in tone compared to the rest of the series and especially its successor, falling more in line of being a ''Mario'' title than the ''Wario Land'' series. The graphics are brighter and more colorful, the soundtrack is simplistic and lighthearted, the enemy lineup is much more friendly, cutesy and silly. [[spoiler:The "enemies" are GoodAllAlong, being the cursed citizens of the music box world]], and Wario for the first time, takes on a more heroic role rather than the greedy AntiHero and VillainProtagonist he was in prior entries.

* {{Cap}}: Oddly for a Wario game, Wario can only hold 999 coins.

* LighterAndSofter: ''Wario Land 3'' is a much brighter game in aesthetic in tone compared to the rest of the series and especially its successor, falling more in line of being a ''Mario'' title than the ''Wario Land'' series. The graphics are brighter and more colorful, the soundtrack is simplistic and lighthearted, the enemy lineup is much more friendly, cutesy and silly. [[Spoiler: The "enemies" are GoodAllAlong, being the cursed citizens of the music box world]], and Wario for the first time, takes on a more heroic role rather than the greedy AntiHero and VillainProtagonist he was in prior entries.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: You must beat Shoot at soccer/football.

* BossOnlyLevel: [[spoiler:The Temple.]]

* BearsAreBadNews: Brr Bears, who repeatedly push you back with their icy breath, are some of the most annoying enemies in the game.

* Metroidvania: Certain treasures obtained give you powerups in order to access new areas in previous levels. For instance: The red overalls found in The Volcano's Base let you stomp on a frog with a platform on its head in Out of the Woods.

* WhereItAllBegan: [[spoiler:The last of the five music boxes is hidden in N1 Out Of The Woods, the very first level. And the FinalBoss fight takes place in The Temple, the starting point for Wario's quest.]]