Wario Land 4 - Burning Nightmares GBA

Wario Land 4 - Burning Nightmares
General
Author	Hiro-sofT
Type	Game Hacks
Version	1.0
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2022/06/08
Links
Download
Website

Wario Land 4 - Burning Nightmares is a single level ROM Hack of Wario Land 4. This hack features a very big and long new level in the style of the original Wario Land titles (2, 3 and 4).

The stage is the result of months of work and showcases some of the things, which are possible with the current Wario Land 4 Editor and some other tools. This is the authors entry into Wario Land 4 hacking and was created as a means to get their feet wet in this area.

Features

• 3 difficulties: Normal, Hard and S-Hard.
• Make use of Fire Wario, Bat Wario and Zombie Wario as you try to find a way to leave his nightmares.
• The frog switch timer is not giving the player a grace period.
• 4 Puzzle pieces, one CD, Keyzer and 10 diamonds wait for the player to be discovered on each difficulty.
• Vanilla game experience is not required, but recommended.
• Lots of surprises and fan service like music and set pieces resembling various Wario or Wario-related titles. Some more obscure, others pretty well known.

Installation

ROM information
Database match	Wario Land 4 (USA, Europe)
Database	No-Intro: Game Boy Advance (v. 20210227-023848)
SHA-1	B9FE05A8080E124B67BCE6A623234EE3B518A2C1
CRC32	D6141609

The patch is in BPS format. You can use Floating IPS or MultiPatch to install the patch.

User guide

Story

Wario returns once more… again… after returning again… and AGAIN!

"Hey! You! Yeah, you! Listen up when Wario’s talking to you!"

"I just was getting some rest, after a very stressful day at my game development job! Must have been really tired and sleepy… and now I happen to be inside some sort of nightmare or whatever! Everything in here doesn’t seem to make any sense, but it’s actually bizarre enough, I could believe this is actually real… maybe a bit too real?"

"Bah! Doesn’t matter! I smash everything, no matter if it’s new or old or… something in between! This is my dream, you losers, get outta here! At least the crystals, coins and gold are equally as real as these weirdos, and you will gonna help me collecting every single penny! I want all of it, you hear me? Everything! Why care, if it’s only a dream? Listen, this is my Dream, alright? And I do whatever I want in it! And I love money!"

"Now stop asking questions!"

"I am sure this is going to be a lot weirder and harder as that one time I smashed ugly Golden Divas face, inside that one golden pyramid way back then! If you think that was already too difficult, then put this hack down now! I don’t want that folks make me look bad, by jumping into entire beds of spikes for no reason, you hear me?"

Notes

As in the nature of the vanilla game, the stage is very difficult on S-Hard mode. It's not recommended to play on S-Hard without having played the level at least on the lower difficulties. Expect this one to be especially rough.

In case it proves to be too difficult on a single playthrough, consider breaking it into multiple runs to collect everything.

Screenshots

Media

Wario Land 4: Burning Nightmares - RomHack (GBA) (Hack Games Longplay Channel)

Known issues

The CD and gem pieces when collected appear during the result screen in odd positions. This is due how the entry passage was never supposed to have a CD in it. This level wasn’t meant as an entry passage level, but to make playing the level more convenient, it was added there regardless (so you don’t need to play an entire stage and boss just to get to it). It’s just a visual oddity and doesn’t affect the game otherwise.

When Wario is currently inside a transformation state and enters a room with different music than the one that plays in the area he was previously in, the song will start without the distortion effects applied. This is a vanilla game limitation and can’t be fixed without too much work. If Wario enters a transformation, after the one he has entered the room with is done, the music will again distort as usual.

Sometimes the song in the outside section starts to be slightly distorted, when Wario was waiting on the spot and gets moved out of his idle animations. The cause for this is actually unknown and is fixed when either a new song is loaded or Wario loses a transformation state.

Credits

Burning Nightmares:

• Leveldesgin - Hiro-sofT.
• Graphics - Hiro-sofT (for custom assets), Hudson Soft, Nintendo, Compile (in game credits text).
• Music Editing - Hiro-sofT, Midis provided by VGMusic.
• ASM Patches - Beco, SSP.
• Playtesting - Hiro-sofT, Nick123.
• Tools used - WL4 Editor, YY-CHR, Sappy, Usenti, Mid2agb, GraphicsGale, HxD, SynthFont, VLC.
• Tutorials - SSP, Blanchon Ultime.

Song list:

• Sweatmore Peak - Wario Master of Disguise.
• Result Screen - SML3 Wario Land.
• Parsley Woods - SML3 Wario Land.
• Uncanny Mansion (aka “Defeat four ducks/Syrups Castle”) - Wario Land 2.
• Ghost house - Super Mario Land 2.
• Vampire Wario - Wario Land 3.
• Stage 1 - Virtual Boy Wario Land.
• Warp Zone - Wario Blast.
• Continue - Wario Blast.
• [* hidden song] - [* game hidden].

Special Thanks to WL4Maker Discord and player.

(For the hidden song, beat the level on super hard by getting all four treasure pieces and Keyzer, enter the credits level and enter the pipe at the end of the credits...)

Changelog

Note: Contains spoilers.

Ver. 1.0 Final Release

• Fixed the hacks description.
• Added 2 more diamonds on NORMAL and 3 more diamonds on HARD.
• Updated some background object tiles to look nicer.
• Changed the position of switch blocks to prevent a softlock inside the 1st bonus pipe area.
• Added a rock, in the bat secret of the 1st house area on NORMAL, to make it easier to access the secret room on the right of the room.
• Added an additional light into the bat secret of the 1st house area to prevent a softlock.
• Adjusted the zombie Wario secret route which leads to the secret house sewer area to prevent a softlock.
• Removed the boxes in the 2nd house sewer room climb on the right of the room, to prevent a softlock.
• Replaced the rock in the 2nd house sewer room with Mad Scienstein on NORMAL and HARD difficulties to prevent a softlock.
• Added a light to prevent players to enter the hint room for the Warios Adventure secret room to prevent a softlock.
• Adjusted the switch hallway after the bat section of the vampire Wario song house section to prevent softlocks on HARD and S-HARD difficulties.
• Added a warning sign at the famous very long ladder drop to warn players in advance from the upcoming spike pit.
• Updated credits.

Discord Version Hotfix

• The level uses now a faster camera, making hopefully some sections less blind when entered.
• Adjusted the secret with the bat room in the first house section on HARD mode, included a rock to make it less unforgiving for messing up.
• Adjusted the bonus pipe entrances, so that you no longer have an enemy in your face in case you didn't kill them.
• Fixed a mapping error in the first bonus pipe.
• Adjusted the camera in the bat room in the first house section to show the celling.

Discord Version Release

• First official release.

External links

• Romhacking.net - https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6909/
• Wario Land 4 Hack Vault - https://wario-land.github.io/HackVault/info.html