Nintendo fans lose it over surprise return of a GBA classic

Nintendo has just announced that a classic GBA title is coming to Nintendo Switch in less than a week, and fans are mostly just thrilled that they’ve remembered this franchise still exists.

As revealed on the official Nintendo of America Twitter account this morning, the 2001 GBA classic Wario Land 4 will be available to Nintendo Switch Online members on February 14.

“Wario's back for more,” announced Nintendo, “and more... and MORE in Wario Land 4, coming to #NintendoSwitch for #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members on 2/14!”

The folks in the comments were pretty thrilled to see Wario Land back on the system, even if some were confused as to why it’s taken Nintendo so long.

“Damn... I remember playing this on the playground during recess on my GBA and getting in trouble because we weren't supposed to bring electronics to school,” replied user @FAILURE7X, “What a time to be alive.”

“It'sa WAAAAAAARIO time! It's great to be able to play this game again after all these years!” commented user @JetPhoton.

Personally I’m surprised it took this long for this one to make it onto the system, because the Wario Land series has only increased in popularity over the years.

Even though there hasn’t been a new entry in the series since 2008, with the last release being Wario Land: Shake It! on the Nintendo Wii, the desire for more Wario has never been higher.

You can probably blame that on the popularity of other titles that have taken a lot of inspiration from the franchise, like for instance the 2023 platformer Pizza Tower.

Here’s hoping this means that Nintendo has something in store for Wario down the line, outside of further cameos in stuff like Mario Kart and Mario Party.

Give us Wario Land 5 already, because the demand is clearly there.