Wagan Land


Wagan Land is a Japanese platform video game series developed and published by Namco for home game platforms, now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment. It first began in 1989 with the Family Computer title Wagan Land, although the earliest game to feature the character was a 1987 electro-mechanical amusement machine for arcades. Several sequel games would be released for later systems, the latest being the Nintendo DS game Chibikko Wagan no Ōkina Bōken. The player controls the titular character, a small mechanical dinosaur, that can attack enemies using sound waves - he must use this to defeat Dr. Devil, a mad scientist who plots to take over his home world of Wagan Land.
The series' boss encounters are instead minigames, many being based on the Japanese wordplay game "shiritori" - likely due to its usage of Japanese, the Wagan series remained exclusive to Japan. Critical reception for the series has been positive, with praise being given to its "cute" characters and usage of minigames in place of boss fights. A number of Wagan titles would be digitally re-released on online game services, such as the Nintendo Virtual Console, alongside Japanese mobile phones.

List of games in the series

Overview of the series

The player character, Wagan, has the ability to temporarily stun his enemies with sound waves shaped like the noises "Wah" and "Gah". Enemies cannot be destroyed with Wagan's sound waves, but the player can stand over one while it's stunned. When the player picks up a Waganizer, the sound effects shot by Wagan will become bigger with each increment, allowing the player to stun enemies for longer periods. When a four Waganizers are collected, Wagan will become invincible for a limited period, increasing his walking speed and allowing him to defeat enemies by touching them. However, Wagan will revert to his initial sound effect attack once the invincibility effect wears off. Moreover, in most of the games the player will have access to exclusive power-ups for the final stage, such as a "Super Waganizer" that actually destroys enemies, a Wagacopter that allows Wagan to fly, and an amulet that allows the player to cancel one of the final matches with Dr. Devil, among other items.
There is no energy gauge in any of the games and if the player touches an enemy or falls into a trap, then they'll lose a single life. However, since Wagan's jumping ability is height and the stage designs are not overly complex, the games in the series are not very difficult. The series was popular with not only young males players, who were main demographic, but also female players as well.
The series was never released internationally due to the difficulty of localizing the shiritori mini-game to non-Japanese players, which involves chaining Japanese words. Despite being a mini-game, the shiritori matches are an integral part of the series' gameplay and were too important to simply remove.

Overview of each game

''Wagan Land''

The first installment of the series. It was originally released for the Family Computer on February 9, 1989, and then ported to the Game Gear on July 26, 1991. The Famicom version was re-released on the Virtual Console on September 2008 for the Wii and on May 7, 2014 for the Wii U.
The objective of the game is to reach the end of each action scene by making the best use of Wagan's sound wave attacks and jumping ability. The player must confront a boss at the end of certain stages, but instead of actually fighting the boss in battle, the player is challenged to a mini-game where they must score more points than their opponent. The graphics in this installment featured simple backgrounds with bright colors. The boss theme that was later used in Wagan Land 2 and Super Wagan Land was first used in this installment for the shiritori and concentration mini-games.
The Game Gear version of the Wagan Land is different from the Famicom version and the plot involves Wagan Land being attacked by Dr. Devil once again. In order to avoid the afterimage effect that was caused by playing action games on an LCD game at the time of the game's release, some of the stages were redesigned and others were replaced. New power-up items for the action scenes were also added that were previously introduced in Wagan Land 2, as well as an hourglass that stops time during the mini-game segments. The Game Gear version lacks the ability of allowing the player to slowly descend into the ground by pressing the jump button while in mid-air, a features that has been included in the other games of the series.

''Wagan Land 2''

The second installment of the series, released for the Family Computer on December 14, 1990. The sequel adds new features such as power-up items for the action scenes and special stages set on lakes and clouds. New mini-games includes "number searching", "noise breakdown", and a panel-based rock-paper-scissors. With the exception of the number searching game, none of the new mini-games introduced in this installment were brought back in the succeeding games. The story takes place several years after the other Wagan Land games, in which the player takes control of Wagan II, the son of the original Wagan. The final battle theme in this game would later be used as the final battle theme in Super Wagan Land. The boss introduction theme would be used in Super Wagan Land as well. The boss battle theme was used in Super Wagan Land, as well as in the later DS sequel.
Like in the original game, some stages will have two different exits at the end, allowing the player to slightly alter their course. This was the last game in the series to retain this feature.

''Super Wagan Land''

The first installment for the Super Famicom, originally released on December 13, 1991, and later released for the Wii Virtual Console on June 2009. This game was also remade for the i-Appli, S!-Appli, and EZ Appli mobile phone services in 2005. Due to the change of hardware, many improvements were made such as 3D-like visuals that made use of gradiation and stereo sounds and voices. A "mosaic guessing" mini-game has also been added as well where the player must guess the identity of an object covered by mosaic.
Because of its inclusion of various stages and boss battles from the first two Famicom installments, as well as in the inclusion background music, this installment is more of a compilation of the previous installments than a new game by itself. This was the first installment to include a password feature, as well as adjustable difficulty settings, which became standard features for the succeeding installments.
The warp zones and alternate routes from the first two Famicom games were removed in this installments, although some of the stages differ greatly between difficulty settings. Moreover, the shiritori mini-game now has a new rule which causes one to lose by default when the opponent chooses a word than ends with the Japanese consonant "n".

''Wagan Land 3''

Wagan Land 3 is the third and final installment of the series for the Family Computer, released on December 8, 1992. The game's setting is changed from Wagan Land, the location in preceding installments, to a space city where the "Hisopiso family", a distant relative of the Wagan family, lives. Because of the change of setting to space, Wagan's jumping ability is increased and there are stages where the player can walk upside down under the ceiling. This installment also introduces a 2-player versus mode where the player can control any of the boss characters. The ending of this game serves as a cliffhanger to the next installment, Super Wagan Land 2.

''Super Wagan Land 2''

The second installment of the series for the Super Famicom, released on March 25, 1993. The story continues from where Wagan Land 3 left off. This installment introduced various elements, such as the inclusion of special equipment and the ability to revisit previously completed stages. In addition to the gravity stages introduced in Wagan Land 3, this installment introduces a variety of other stages such as flying stages where Wagan must fly through the sky using a rocket booster while avoiding enemies, underwater stages where Wagan must proceed by equipping an undersea rotor, and stages where the player must control a tiny character. The new mini-games introduced in this installment includes a Latin alphabet guessing game and a faster version of the shiritori game. This installment is the only game where Dr. Devil becomes an ally of the player. The game features a standard route that the player takes, as well as an alternate hidden route, making this installment a bit closer to the first two Famicom installments. The player must complete both routes in order to see the real ending.

''Wagan Paradise''

The third and final installment for the Super Famicom, released on December 16, 1994. The story takes place several years after the events of Wagan Land 2. The main characters this time are a pair of siblings named Takuto and Karin, who must against the Nummers clan, who are citizens from an underground civilization. Story sequences are now added between stages which shows the two siblings investigating a series of strange events on Wagan Land. In contrast to the first two Super Famicom games, the game's graphics is composed of characters with black outlines on pastel-colored background that employed light hues. The designs of Takuto and Karin are also rounder compared to the previous incarnations of the Wagan character. The mini-games are all completely new and now resemble IQ testing puzzles which the player must solve under the allotted time.
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the game a 30 out of 40.

''Mega Wagan Land''

A Wagan Land mobile phone game released exclusively for S! Appli mobile phones in 2005. However, this is not an actual new game, but an expanded edition of the S! Appli version of Super Wagan Land, featuring the same world map and some of the same areas, as well as the same three mini-games. Unlike the S! Appli port of Super Wagan Land, which only had Dr. Devil as a boss, this version also has other boss characters as well. While the graphics are similar to the Super Famicom version of Super Wagan Land, the cards were changed for the shiritori game, which depict new items such as a mobile phone and a printer. Other new minor elements were also added such as new bosses.

''Hirameki Action: Chibikko Wagan no Ōkina Bōken''

The first completely new installment of the series since Wagan Paradise, Hirameki Action: Chibikko Wagan no Ōkina Bōken was released for the Nintendo DS on January 29, 2009. The action segments are not much different from previous installments, but the game now includes puzzles which utilizes the DS's touch screen. The game's soundtrack consists of new versions of the previous games' music. Wagan and Dr. Devil are featured in this game, along with several new characters.
On release, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 30 out of 40.

''Wagan Te Kon Nani Yowakatta Ke''

''Wagan no Panel Shiritori''

''Wagan Shiritori de Shōbuda!''

Characters

Most of the characters in Wagan Land 2, along with Wagan's wife, have no official names, so they will be referred by a descriptive names for the sake of convenience. Moreover, the Tree of Smiles in Wagan Land 2 is a different character from the Tree of Smiles that appears in the other games of the series.
The series' chronology goes as followed: Wagan Land, Super Wagan Land, Wagan Land 3, Super Wagan Land 2, Wagan Land 2, and Wagan Paradise.

Main series

;Wagan
;Wagan II
;Mrs. Wagan
;Wagan's older brother
;The Elder of the Island
;Wounded Soldier
;Dr. Devil
;The Tree of Smiles
;Hisopiso
;Space Monster Gargon
;The Genies of Shirusube
;Naha and Rotta

''Wagan Land II'' characters

;The Gatekeeper of the Island
;The Collapsed Proto Wagan
;The Child of Nessie
;The Frozen Dragon
;Owl
;The Old Adventurer Proto Wagan
;The Elder of the Proto Wagan Village
;The Big Proto Wagan
;The Tree of Smiles

''Wagan Paradise'' characters

;Takuto
;Karin
;Rati
;Kumukumu
;Numolf
;Numacon
;Nummestein
;Great King Nummer

List of mini-games

In the Wagan Land series, when the player confronts a boss, they will be challenged to some sort of the mini-game in which the player must accumulate a set number of points in order to proceed to the next stage. The mini-games in Wagan Paradise are completely different from ones in the other games in the series, while Chibikko Wagan no Ōkina Bōken for the Nintendo DS has most of the mini-games from the earlier games, as well as new ones.

Mini-games in ''Wagan Land''