Retro Review: Wario Land II

Welcome everybody, to the first Retro Review! As the name suggests, here I review retro games. Today I review one of my favourite games - one I used to play all the time when I was younger.

Source: Wikipedia

Wario Land II (1998, Game Boy)
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Publisher: Nintendo

Overview
Wario Land II was released for the Game Boy in Europe on March 28, 1998. It is a 2D platformer starring Wario, greedy treasure-hunter and rival of Mario. Wario must retrieve his treasure, which has been stolen from him by Captain Syrup and her Black Sugar Gang.

Story
Being an 8-bit game, Wario Land II's story is kept mostly to the instruction booklet and less to the game itself. However, the game does include cutscenes at the beginning of every chapter. These serve to explain what is happening during the chapter. The introductory custscene does a good job at explaining all that happens during Chapter 1, save for the giant snake. However, the cutscenes afterwards don't seem to do that good of a job explaining the levels beyond the first (of each chapter.) Even so, there are multiple endings, and each is slightly different! For an 8-bit game, that was quite a feat!
Story score: 7/10

Gameplay
Wario Land II doesn't play like your average everyday platformer. There's no health bar or lives counter! However, this isn't bad. The game includes 9 transformations, each with their own unique attributes. Most end after a certain time has passed (or other unavoidable criteria has been fulfilled.) They all can be used in unique ways as well - Tiny Wario can jump high, Fat Wario can break special blocks, etc. Did I also mention there are levels with secret exits?
Gameplay score: 8/10

Replay value
Wario Land II has a very high replay value. It's impossible to get all of the panels and treasures in one playthrough, and the secret exits are very cleverly hidden - on one occasion, you have to do absolutely nothing to get to the secret exit! All but one of the alternate paths boast their own unique final bosses, each different in design, attacks and method of beating. Don't forget the secret Time Attack level!
Replay score: 10/10

Overall score
The scores are as follows:
Story... 7/10
Gameplay... 8/10
Replay... 10/10

I award the following rank:

I've always enjoyed playing Wario Land II, and it's been avaliable on the 3DS eShop since the 19th of July, 2012. I highly recommend this game to anyone interested in 2D platformers.