Indie developers are filling the ‘Wario Land’-shaped hole Nintendo left in our hearts

On many occasions, Nintendo has chosen to shelve a series without announcing it or giving explanations, regardless of how beloved or highly valued it is. And those franchises remain there, in limbo, for decades or even forever, to the disappointment of fans who would like to see modern interpretations of that formula.

Metroid, a series that any fan would identify as one of Nintendo’s most iconic ones, has had long periods of time in which it has not seen a new release, such as the eight years that passed between the highly celebrated and influential Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion and Prime. F-Zero fans have gone almost two decades without getting a new game to quench their thirst for speed until the arrival of F-Zero 99 - which is also not what many fans have in mind when they think of a new F-Zero.

But some subgroups within the fandom around Nintendo have it even starker: there has not been a Wario Land that can be considered as such since 2008, when Wario Land: Shake It! was released for Wii, and there has not been the slightest move to bring it back, something that Nintendo itself justifies by not being able to make games for all of its IPs, when asked by a fan who spent $40,000 on Nintendo stock to be able to raise that question at the shareholders meeting.

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Pizza Tower, one of the biggest surprises of 2023

When Nintendo decided to give Mario’s antagonist in Super Mario Land 2 his own game, a new type of platform game was discovered, much more chaotic, direct, and destructive than the traditional Mario formula. The violence with which Wario moves through the levels is not simply an aesthetic choice but rather obeys a design other than a platformer, which with the right design becomes an exploration adventure full of possibilities. It is a valid, interesting formula that still has a lot to offer compared to more beaten paths, something that Nintendo itself does not seem to agree with, and on which two independent studios already capitalized, seeking to fill that void. One is already a successful reality, Pizza Tower, which became one of the biggest independent titles of last year, establishing itself with an 89 on Metacritic and being rated with an outstanding 9 by us.

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And Nintendo’s latest Indie World showcased put the spotlight on another project, this one still in development, called Antonblast, whose inspiration emanates from the same source and also looks great in terms of graphics, animations, and mechanics. This title was announced for release on PC and Switch in November 2024, and features another protagonist with anger management issues and a huge hammer that he is willing to use to settle scores with Satan himself. Furthermore, it has a demo on Steam that can be enjoyed at any time, with an introduction to the mechanics and a small offering of challenge so that the team can show the kind of experience they want to achieve.

Would it be good for Nintendo to resume or evolve its original formula and not limit Wario to the Ware? Without a doubt, as if Pizza Tower demonstrated one thing, it is that there is a lot to do with that mold. But while the house of Kyoto thinks about it, we’ll have to stay with what there is and what is to come as very valid options.