The Cane and Rinse videogame podcast · Cane and Rinse

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 - Cane and Rinse No.707

March 31, 2026·1 hr 55 min·9 clips

Why did Nintendo rename this game in the West and decide to star the villain from the previous game?

1. Cane and Rinse podcast volume 15, issue 707 covers Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, a 2D side-scrolling platformer for the original Game Boy released in Japan in January 1994. 2. The episode features host Leon Cox alongside panelists Darren Gargett, James Carter, and Leah Haydo, all of whom played the game specifically for the podcast recording. 3. The episode's central question is whether Wario Land has a coherent identity of its own, or whether it sits uneasily between being a Mario Land sequel and the first entry in a Wario franchise. 4. The game was developed by Nintendo R&D1, a team described as almost entirely the Metroid 2 Return of Samus developers, with composer Kozue Ishikawa also having written music for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. 5. The game carries a 1993 copyright despite its January 1994 release, suggesting it was originally planned for late 1993 and pushed back; it received an average review score of 81% and a Nintendo Life user score of 8.3 out of 10. 6. Its only official re-release was on the 3DS Virtual Console in December 2011 in Japan, February 2012 in Europe, and July 2012 in North America, priced at $4 or £3.59. 7. All four panelists report a strong prior connection to Super Mario Land 2 — with James Carter and Darren Gargett both citing it as among their favorite Game Boy games — but limited or no history with Wario Land specifically. 8. James Carter paid £3.59 for the game on 3DS in 2013 and had never played it until preparing for the podcast, using Cane and Rinse as his 'backlog-clearing game history guilt machine.' 9. Darren Gargett describes multiple failed attempts to get into the Wario Land series across three games and ultimately finished Wario Land Super Mario Land 3 in a single Saturday afternoon once he reframed it as a sequel to Super Mario Land 2. 10. Leah Haydo has childhood history with the game, having sought out all its secrets and treasure on original hardware; she played through it again for the podcast using emulation with save states. 11. The game's narrative is minimal: Wario arrives on Kitchen Island, a pirate-themed location, intending to steal a pirate's treasure to fund his own castle; magic pots transform him into Dragon Wario, Bull Wario, or Jet Wario. 12. The panel discusses Wario's transition from villain of Mario Land 2 to protagonist here, noting he barely appeared in Mario Land 2 (only as a final boss) and had not been given enough personality in that game to obviously justify starring in a sequel. 13. On visual design, the panel agrees that Nintendo's choice to use much larger sprites than Mario Land 1 — sacrificing screen space — is the game's most important artistic decision, giving Wario expressive facial animation and making boss encounters screen-filling spectacles on the original dot-matrix hardware. 14. The enemy roster is described as eclectic and inconsistent in tone — sunglasses-wearing moles throwing 'boot-warangs,' sword-carrying Disney-styled ducks, seahorse creatures that resemble a 'slightly off Sonic the Hedgehog,' and thwomps with only two-and-a-half spiky sides — attributed to a design team without a consistent visual brief. 15. Controls are noted as differing meaningfully from Mario: Wario can dash-charge into enemies, headbutt blocks from below, and throw stunned enemies; which actions defeat which enemies is described as not always logical and requiring trial-and-error learning. 16. A mechanic unique to the game requires players to throw a coin into a slot to open the exit of each level, costing 10 coins and potentially wasting money if the coin misses; the panel connects this to mid-level checkpoint coins and the Shovel Knight checkpoint system as a structural comparison. 17. Leon Cox makes the argument that New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS — whose core mechanic is coin and gold collection — would have worked better as a Wario game, given that the character's brand identity is material greed. 18. Patreon listener Tracy Will One describes the game as a 'half-hearted attempt to leave traditional Mario roots,' earning the best ending by finding all treasure, and notes the strangeness of playing as the previous game's villain. 19. The episode includes a second Patreon letter from Radon Chongeling Bay describing the sprite work as 'huge and gorgeous,' praising the content volume as rivaling a home console game, and noting that playing it again still 'feels just as good in the hands.' 20. Listeners who enjoy retro game history, Game Boy platform analysis, or Nintendo design philosophy debates will find the most to engage with; those expecting technical speed-run or difficulty discussion will find the tone more reflective than competitive.

As heard by us

A warm, detailed panel on Wario Land and the odd shape that still makes it stand apart.

The Cane and Rinse panel treats Wario Land, Super Mario Land 3 as a Game Boy platformer with its own weird little identity, not just a Mario offshoot in a different costume.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A Game Boy Wario Land chat that keeps wandering off the beaten path.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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