Wario Land II GAMEBOY

Wario Land II is Nintendo’s 1998 sequel, releasing simultaneously in monochrome and Game Boy Color versions — the Color release adds visible palettes and a handful of exclusive areas, while the underlying game is otherwise identical. It’s also the series’ first entry to remove death entirely: taking damage knocks Wario around or briefly transforms him, but no hit ever costs a life.

That change reframed the platforming around exploration and treasure-hunting rather than survival, with alternate paths and branching level exits pushing toward replaying stages for secrets instead of just reaching the goal. It set the template the rest of the Wario Land series would build on for its remaining Game Boy and Game Boy Advance entries.