Wario's Woods - Gameplay

Gameplay

The objective of Wario's Woods is to clear the playing field of monsters of varying colors by using bombs of matching color, which are dropped into the field from the top of the screen. In order to do so, the monsters and bombs must be rearranged by the player such that three or more objects of the same color are placed adjacent to one another in horizontal, vertical, or diagonal rows, with at least one object being a bomb (such rows are called a match). For example, a match may consist of two red monsters and one red bomb, but may also consist of two red bombs and one red monster. When the play field is cleared of all the monsters, the player progresses to the next round, where the initial number of monsters increases. The monsters themselves also begin to vary, ranging from requiring two matches to completely destroy them or can only be cleared in diagonal rows.

Unlike other action puzzle games such as Tetris or Puzzle League where the player directly manipulates the game pieces, either as they fall or via a cursor, the player directly controls the character Toad, who moves around inside the playing field atop the fallen objects. Toad primarily can pick up individual objects or lift entire stacks and place them elsewhere in the playing field, but is unable to manipulate objects he cannot immediately reach. However, Toad can perform a variety of additional tricks, such as scurrying up stacks to retrieve specific objects or kicking them across the play field. If the player cannot clear the playing field of its objects quickly enough, the play field will eventually fill to the brim and trap Toad, resulting in a Game Over.

The player is also given a pseudo time limit called the "Time Gauge," which switches between Bomb Time and Enemy Time each time it expires, causing the game rules to change. During Bomb Time, Birdo drops bombs into the playing field. During Enemy Time, Wario drops monsters into the playing field and lowers the ceiling, shrinking the available space and making it both harder to arrange objects and easier for the playing field to quickly fill up.