NOTE: this hack features a lot of topless pixelated women in it, in ways that are important to the gameplay. (Yes, really.) If you're not comfortable with that, go read a different review.
INTRODUCTIONHalf the reason why I started this blog is to bring some attention to weird shit that no one else has played. ROMhacks and mods in particular are subject to this, since not only are they built off other games, a lot of them tend to feel pretty samey when you've played enough- and that means the really good ones can get buried. And the one I'm talking about today is a prime example of that.
Released in 2018 by Wakana on SMWCentral, Super Wakana Land is a unique hack, to say the least. Featuring an entirely new playable character with a custom moveset, several elaborate bosses, and ASM out the wazoo, it was a real treat to discover this. This is the kind of thing that gives ROMhacks a good name.
The hack was updated several times since it came out, but I'll be playing the 1.0 release, simply because it has extra content that's not in the updated versions, including the actual reward for finishing the Special World and a few other things. Trust me, a little bit of jank is worth what that version has.
STORY:
Surprisingly, there is an attempt at a story here, even if it's pretty thin. Wakana is a fairy with a shrine, and someone has stolen her donations box. It's not much, but I do love Wakana's facial expressions.
GAMEPLAY
There's actually a LOT to discuss here, way more than your usual SMW hack shenanigans. Wakana controls completely differently from Mario, to the point that you might forget you're playing a Mario game at times. Thankfully, there's a fairly extensive tutorial to teach you the intricacies of her moveset.
For starters, there's no dash button- you're always running at full speed, and can go even faster by running for a little bit. Not only that, you can jump several times in the air, float gently down like you have a cape, and ground pound through blocks. The spin jump is still present as well.
The biggest new feature is the MP system- by collecting all these little green orbs, you can power yourself up to shoot at your enemies, and enter an invincible sliding state that functions like a dash. You can also manually recharge your energy by standing still and pressing Up. Collecting Wakacoins (the new equivalent to Dragon Coins) increases the rate at which you can recharge your MP, so it's worth grabbing them if you can. Of course you don't get to keep them once you finish a stage, but still. There's a bunch of other little things, but those are the major ones.
Bottom line is: Wakana is HIGHLY maneuverable and mobile, and she's so much more fun to control than Mario ever was in this engine. It's glorious, and I love it.
GRAPHICS:
Normally I don't really cover graphics in SMW hacks because so many of them are taken from other sources, but I HAVE to talk about Wakana's sprites. They're ADORABLE, and so full of character. Every enemy, as well, has gotten a graphical overhaul. Not one vanilla SMW sprite is present here- it really adds to the general uniqueness of this hack.
Not to mention, there's a ton of high-quality art pieces scattered throughout, like this victory screen. Basically, you can feel the effort seeping through every pore of this hack, and it's a joy to behold.
OVERWORLD
Super Wakana Land has one of the best overworld maps I've ever seen in a hack. It's huge, interconnected, and full of great little touches.
Fairly early on you basically get two different paths to go on that lead to the final stage, and lots of little diversions and secrets along the way. Even the dead ends usually have something charming behind them- you'll see. It's fairly hard to divide this game by worlds given how seamless the overworld is, so I'll just be going over the levels in what order they came through.
Also of note are these icons on the levels- letting you know about all sorts of things, like secret exits, if a level has an extra heart you can collect, or the all-important EASTER EGGS. It's a fair bit more complicated than your average yellow dot on the map, wouldn't you say?
ADVENTURE, START!
This level starts the game off with a bang- it's a huge platforming jungle gym to get used to Wakana's greatly expanded moveset, with tons of nooks and crannies to explore. The enemies are absolutely no threat to you, so go ahead and mess around with them!
I don't have much else to say about this stage, but there is something interesting hiding here. Namely, this pipe you can find to the top left. What does it mean? Who knows... I'll cover that part later.
EMPTY CAVES
The first level of a bit more substance in this hack, it keeps the momentum rolling right along. Right off the bat, this level looks great. The dark moody cave background, the translucent fog effect... and that Jazz Jackrabbit Medivo remix. For the second level, this goes HARD.
This is the first stage to get some use out of those flight abilities, with LOOOOOONG pits you need to flap your way across while dodging enemies.
The first appearance of the lengthening blocks is also here- thankfully, they don't crush you if you get shunted into a ceiling, here. They get used in some devious ways later on, but right now they're fairly tame.
The secret exit is thankfully rather easy to find, since the pit that leads to it is marked pretty clearly. Get used to hunting for those secret exits- they're vital to unlocking this game's deepest secrets.
Also this lol-worthy easter egg. Yes, they bounce you- but if you pound down through it, you get a SECRET CODE! What does it do? Who knows, but you'd better collect them all.
LIGHT TEMPLE
Not much of a level, aside from some puzzles to get the Wakacoins. The P-switches don't have audible timer music anymore, so that's slightly annoying. Oh well. It's a Switch Palace, so it's not meant to be hard. It does get you excited to see what stuff it unlocks, though!
The biggest thing of note here are the green fairy blocks- they become nonsolid when you get all 4 Wakacoins in a level. Remember this, because the game doesn't tell you, and there's important secrets locked behind those later.
PIPE RUINS
Taking the tileset of the first level to an afternoon theme, this level carries on the breezy pace of the world so far. As the name implies, pipes are everywhere in this level, from the background to the foreground.
You do get your first clue to the Green switch blocks here, though, covering up most of the pits in the level, and taking a chunk out of most of the stage's difficulty as a result. Ah, well.
The real challenge of this stage is finding the end of it, which an out of the way message box will conveniently tell you- though, it's not too hard to find anyway. This level doesn't break any new ground, but it keeps the ball rolling.
OLD TOWER
Capping off the world with a bang, this level looks great, with the subtle rainbow gradient in the background. Plus, Castlevania Aria of Sorrow music is always a plus.
I tell you, after seeing so many death courses like this in SMW hacks that give Mario trouble, it's so much fun to just blaze through them with Wakana's superior mobility. The spiked balls and fireballs mean nothing to her.
The secret exit is found at the start of the stage, blocked by bricks that can only be dealt with via a P-switch. But hold up- you can't pick up those switches anymore, so you have to run all the way back from when you hit that switch. Get those steps in!
Not only that, when you get through that pipe, you have to spot the broken bricks in the wall. On the other side is a secret message- "Find the 68..." wonder what that could mean.
The second half of the stage changes to a brilliant red hue, and adds in crushers to get in your way- but you're an ultra quick fairy, you can just slip right past them.
The leadup to the boss swaps out the energy for an ominous music track, getting you hyped for the battle ahead... with this thing. I'm sure this game is full of SMWCentral in-jokes that I do not understand, but "not so fast, fluffybabe" had me dying.
Anyway, this boss is pretty easy. Only four hits, and she drops goombas constantly to pick up and toss at her. Even gaining the ability to fly halfway through doesn't make her any more difficult. Still a great capper to the intro world of the game.
UP ON THE CLOUDS
The parallax scrolling clouds and Touhou music give this level a great vibe, and it's backed up by another breezy obstacle course.
A new mechanic introduced in this level is this red block- that will generate Grab Blocks if you press the grab button next to it. And it immediately gets some use unearthing a P-switch to open a pipe back at the start of the level.
It takes you up to another section, with tight jumps and this cloud enemies that flies around following you, spewing lightning all the way. Thankfully, the lightning itself doesn't hurt you. Another level that's short, but oh-so-sweet.
SUDDEN DARKNESS
First off, I have to say that I love the purple mountain background in this level, it's SO pretty to look at.
The orders of the day are Boos, and these blocks that you can only destroy with ground pounds from above. The Boo Rings in particular benefit heavily from Wakan's ability to float, especially if you have to pass down through them.
The level closes out with a high-pitched P-switch run made trivial by Wakana's speed- but it's still a fun challenge.
Of course, there's still a goofy easter egg to find... if you spot a pipe that seems inaccessible, there's a fake wall that lets you go inside, where you can see... this.
I love ROMhacks.UNUSUAL MEETING
After another in-joke that's beyond me, the level proper begins. It's another underground cave level, but with some tight squeezes between various pipes.
This level is very claustrophobic on the whole, with lots of enemies in close quarters that you'll have to blast away with magic, while trying not to bonk your head on the ceiling.
Both exits require P-switch puzzles to deal with, the second much less so than the first. The first requires you to sneak down an out of the way gap in the pipes, then leap your way back up the ? blocks once you hit the switch, faster than Yuugi Hoshiguma gets drunk.
And, you actually get to FIGHT Dark Mario, who's a fair bit tougher than the first boss. He jumps around, tosses fireballs, but all with noticeable pauses in between his moves. Which is good, because he takes a LOT of hits to deal with. I will say, his hitbox is slightly jank when he's jumping, so you sometimes get hit, too... but he's vulnerable for the entire battle, so there's no real problem with just waiting for other opportunities. Fun boss fight.
SILLY BRIDGE
Time for the first autoscroller of the game, and it's a spicy one! Piranha plants spewing fireballs everywhere, koopas getting right in your way...
Oh, and these Flutter enemies. They can be really mean if you stomp on them, since they chase you all around. Best to leave them be- or just shoot them. Really, it's so fun to be able to just blast away commonly invincible enemies in SMW...
Anyway, this level is a fun, frantic time that's over before you know it. But it is FUN, and that's the important thing.
After this part, you'll unlock the next area... BUT, you need the Blue Switch to get in, and that hasn't been unlocked yet. I love this- it's a great use of a semi-nonlinear world map. Time to run off somewhere else instead.
BEACH PARTY
Welcome to the beach level, where the music goes insanely hard on the piano. Anyway, the gimmick is that water functions like lava, instally pulling Wakana under. Fine by me, it means there's no actual water levels in this game.
This level goes heavy on the Volcano plants, putting them in spots that would be awkward if, you know, you couldn't shoot through walls lol.
The secret exit is relatively easy to find, being behind a fake wall and some invisible passages- thankfully these small holes still let you see enough to make it through.
The regular exit is another p-switch chase, with a lot of blocks in your way that's easy to clear out. Of course, there's another lewd Easter Egg here... I'll give you a hint. Find a pipe hidden in the ceiling somewhere. It is a nice Parodius reference.
More aesthetic chops on display here, with the background displaying signs of heat warping- very pretty indeed.
This stage introduces a fair amount of unique foes, many of whom hail from Super Mario land- the easter island heads and Sphinxes abound. Quicksand, too- especially with low ceilings.
It gets worse, though, when the Angry SUn decideds to put in an appearance. The quicksand makes it quite difficult to get away from it at times. Thankfully, once you get the Blue Switch, it's not too difficult... but you'll have to save that for the revisit.
ANCIENT BUILDING
Prince of Persia music + red/yellow gradient tiles = perfect desert temple aesthetic. No notes- this makes an impression from the word "go", with its tight crampage and devious enemy placement.
This level's major gimmick is On/Off switches that shift walls around, blocking off and opening up paths all around the rooms, sometimes in not-quite-obvious spots.
As the stage progresses, the spaces get tighter, and the hazards get tougher. Get a load of these Thwomps, they can be a real bear to get by without getting grazed.
I will say, this fake wall for the Grab Block generator is a bit mean, since that's a mandatory part of the level progression- but it's not that hard to find.
There's a well-executed jumpscare in this level with the switch block that turns off THE ENTIRE FLOOR under you- good thing you have multiple jumps!
It gets especially hair-raising when this one Thwomp starts chasing you all around the level, while you scramble to get to the door... still having to deal with all these switches along the way. This level is the hardest one so far, and it's entirely due to its length. That's not a bad thing at all, though- most of the stages so far have been really short, so it's nice to have one with a bit more meat on it.
The boss of this stage is SICARI and K-16 from the similarly OC-centric hack Sicari, a reference that I actually understood for once. K-16 slowly walks back and forth along the ground, shooting slow-moving bullets, while Sicari jumps around and occasionally tosses a projectile in an arc. Their fight can get pretty hectic, since there's two of them, they both spew various projectiles, and they get faster as the fight goes on. Thankfully, they do NOT share a health bar, so it's easy to knock out the slower K-16 to free up space to deal with Sicari. Great boss, and a lovely climax to an already great stage.
As for the easter egg, it's in a slightly discolored block near a door. Hopefully that'll give you enough of a hint! It gives out a button code and cryptic instructions, but WHAT COULD IT MEAN?? Hmmmmm.
(I'm not gonna give the button code here, play the game and find it yourself.)
WATER TEMPLE
Another short little puzzle level, but I do like the blue palette here.
Also note the green flames here- you can refill your MP to the maximum with these, but they're very rare.
Now, you COULD go up and do the caves, but there's a little more to deal with down in the beach area.
SLEEPY SHIP
This level's a lot less outwardly foreboding than your typical ghost ship stage, but it has cannons to get in your way instead, along with the usual ghostly suspects. What is notable is that some of the cannons have an increased fire rate- better watch out for that.
The bigger threat here, though, is water. Holes in the floor suddenly got a lot more threatening- one dip in there, and you're dead. Especially when the holes start moving. Even so, this stage is mostly a straight shot towards the end... if you're going for the normal exit.
But what about the secret exit? Well, coming back here with the Blue Switch activated will keep this key from falling in the water. Easy peasy.
The door it unlocks takes you to the second half of the stage, with a new gimmick- certain objects are ghostly, with them fading away as soon as you get close. How do you deal with that?
Well, if you wander far enough away from one of the ghost pillar boundaries, they turn solid again. I don't precisely understand how it works, but the puzzle's simple enough that you can figure it out easily. Just don't fall into a pit when the floor turns ghostly mid-walk.
The boss is actually somewhat difficult, though. You can't jump on her, only shoot at her. Thankfully, there's these ledges that you can use to recharge your MP, but that doesn't make eveading her bullet hell any easier... Especially when she starts spamming three types of projectiles all at once, while sliding back and forth across the room. It's doable... if you're patient and wait for attack windows to present themselves.
This level isn't immune to some level of jank, but it's certainly very clever, and I can respect that.
ILLUSIYELLOW FOREST
This stage has the best background yet, with the sun streaming from the top of the trees for a very pretty visual. Plus, a banging remix of Beware the Forest's Mushrooms... good stuff.
This is another puzzley stage, and I really like how the gimmick is executed- for the most part. When you go through a pipe, the stage turns BLUE, and the layout changes. The normal exit just involves carting gray and blue switches between the two halves, but the secret exit...
Not only do you have to find a key through a roundabout route, you ALSO have to find an absurd alternate path with ? blocks appearing below a pipe once you hit a P-switch, with little in the way of obvious telegraphs. I found this by accident- this could have used a LITTLE more obvious signposting.
Still a good puzzle level with some great aesthetics, but not my favorite.
MARINE EXPEDITION
A lovely little diversion in a submarine. It's short, sweet, and surprisingly difficult given you can only have one torpedo on screen at a time.
The Rip Van Fishes are what you really need to watch out for here, especially with the slow speed of the submarine. This stage is pretty short- but this is the kind of gimmick that would outstay its welcome heavily if it stuck around longer, so the short length fits it.
THE LEGENDARY .BRR
This is the most elaborate puzzle stage in the game yet, with lots of obstacles centered around using Bob-Ombs to blow up specific walls- while hopefully not falling in the drink yourself, of course.
Especially when enemies are around to get in your way- MP is more scarce than usual in this level, so you might get caught unawares. The fire enemies especially can be a real pain the neck if you don't have the energy to dispatch them, so make your shots count.
Another short little puzzle level, but I do like the blue palette here.
Also note the green flames here- you can refill your MP to the maximum with these, but they're very rare.
Now, you COULD go up and do the caves, but there's a little more to deal with down in the beach area.
SLEEPY SHIP
This level's a lot less outwardly foreboding than your typical ghost ship stage, but it has cannons to get in your way instead, along with the usual ghostly suspects. What is notable is that some of the cannons have an increased fire rate- better watch out for that.
The bigger threat here, though, is water. Holes in the floor suddenly got a lot more threatening- one dip in there, and you're dead. Especially when the holes start moving. Even so, this stage is mostly a straight shot towards the end... if you're going for the normal exit.
But what about the secret exit? Well, coming back here with the Blue Switch activated will keep this key from falling in the water. Easy peasy.
The door it unlocks takes you to the second half of the stage, with a new gimmick- certain objects are ghostly, with them fading away as soon as you get close. How do you deal with that?
Well, if you wander far enough away from one of the ghost pillar boundaries, they turn solid again. I don't precisely understand how it works, but the puzzle's simple enough that you can figure it out easily. Just don't fall into a pit when the floor turns ghostly mid-walk.
The boss is actually somewhat difficult, though. You can't jump on her, only shoot at her. Thankfully, there's these ledges that you can use to recharge your MP, but that doesn't make eveading her bullet hell any easier... Especially when she starts spamming three types of projectiles all at once, while sliding back and forth across the room. It's doable... if you're patient and wait for attack windows to present themselves.
This level isn't immune to some level of jank, but it's certainly very clever, and I can respect that.
ILLUSIYELLOW FOREST
This stage has the best background yet, with the sun streaming from the top of the trees for a very pretty visual. Plus, a banging remix of Beware the Forest's Mushrooms... good stuff.
This is another puzzley stage, and I really like how the gimmick is executed- for the most part. When you go through a pipe, the stage turns BLUE, and the layout changes. The normal exit just involves carting gray and blue switches between the two halves, but the secret exit...
Not only do you have to find a key through a roundabout route, you ALSO have to find an absurd alternate path with ? blocks appearing below a pipe once you hit a P-switch, with little in the way of obvious telegraphs. I found this by accident- this could have used a LITTLE more obvious signposting.
Still a good puzzle level with some great aesthetics, but not my favorite.
MARINE EXPEDITION
A lovely little diversion in a submarine. It's short, sweet, and surprisingly difficult given you can only have one torpedo on screen at a time.
The Rip Van Fishes are what you really need to watch out for here, especially with the slow speed of the submarine. This stage is pretty short- but this is the kind of gimmick that would outstay its welcome heavily if it stuck around longer, so the short length fits it.
THE LEGENDARY .BRR
This is the most elaborate puzzle stage in the game yet, with lots of obstacles centered around using Bob-Ombs to blow up specific walls- while hopefully not falling in the drink yourself, of course.
Especially when enemies are around to get in your way- MP is more scarce than usual in this level, so you might get caught unawares. The fire enemies especially can be a real pain the neck if you don't have the energy to dispatch them, so make your shots count.
Late in the stage, a P-switch gets tossed in, for another briskly-paced run forward. Better not fall in the water along the way, otherwise you'll have to do all of that again.
Of course, once you find the thing you're looking for, you've gotta run all the way back to the start... but at least you don't have to do the puzzles again.
The boss is pretty tricky to deal with, he'll jump around and toss all sorts of bugs that crawl all over the places at you. They do disappear after a couple of seconds, at least. The trick is to lead his shots, since he only shoots once on the ground and once in the air. When you learn his pattern, he has a really nice rhythm to him.
More importantly, another letter in the SECRET CODE is present here as a reward for this detour.
JUST ANOTHER CASTLE
Just another castle? Definitely not, not with this devious snakeblock sequence right at the start. This level doesn't hold back in the least, tossing you through all sorts of obstacles, heavily involving these Bowser Statues- trying to dodge around their fireballs while staying away from deadly spikes and bouncing Podoboos is an adrenaline rush and a half.
I'm a huge fan of this part, where you have to wait for the Snake Block to overwrite the tiles the Statue is resting on, to get it out of your way. It's creative and functions well.
The penultimate room in particular is a masterclass in level design, with the snakeblocks moving FAST to form and unmake platforms, block you from progressing, then provide JUST enough window to slip through before you get smacked. It's frantic, fast-paced, and I love it.
The last room is just as good, with two snakeblocks going up either side of the room, with you having to switch between them, and dodge the fireball that latches onto it. It's great stuff.
The boss caps off the level in style. While a snakeblock rolls around above the lava, it's flying up above and spewing bouncing fireballs. There's no tricks or gimmicks- just you and the boss. It's an exciting fight, if not necessarily very complicated. But i'd rather have a simple test of reflexes than an obtuse boss, and this passes with flying colors.
Easily one of my favorite levels in the game, it squeezes a LOT out of an old gimmick in surprising ways, and is capped off with a great boss, too. Phenomenal work.
SILLY SHIPS
Hope you like the airships from SMB3, cause this is like that, except a HECK of a lot faster and full of tough jumps to take advantage of Wakana's superior movement.
There's cannons EVERYWHERE in this stage, firing off constantly to get in your way. This level is fairly short- but it's a tough nut to crack, and it'll probably kill you at least once if you're not careful.
Also the return of the moon joke- Har har.
As the stage goes on, there's a lot more hectic jumps, and the cannon placements get far more devious, combined with enemies in claustrophobic spaces. Never have I valued a health bar so much as I do now.
This level is fairly short- but it's a tough nut to crack, and it'll probably kill you at least once if you're not careful.
SKULL SURFING
The gimmick of this stage is riding the skull platform across a passage of deadly water- it moves pretty slow, so you have a lot of room for error, and it lets you drink in the aesthetics instead. A lovely blue-hued stage with clouds rolling on by in the background.
There's some devious enemy placement here, with the bats and Spike Tops always placed in spots that are just a TINY bit inconvenient for you. But, Wakana can fly- so it's not too much trouble.
Really, I don't have much else to say about this one. It's a short stage, but it goes down easy. I do like how the entire stage plays out just so you can get behind these p-switch blocks at the start.
NOM NOM MADNESS!
This is one of my favorite levels in the game. The music is a goofy-ass remix of a Touhou PC-98 song with the goofiest soundfont you've ever heard, and it just adds to the Nipper theming greatly. I also love the rainbow-ish gradient of the tiles- another example of Wakana Land's strong aesthetic sense.
Not to mention, there's still looooooong pits of nippers with low ceilings that you have to carefully glide your way across. It's frantic, to be sure- but it's so much fun.
But that's not even the best part of the level. The best part is THIS...
Yes the game just turned into Undertale, with a similarly NOM-ized version of Ghost Fight playing. It's perfect. I was laughing my ass off the first time I saw this.
Far from being a meme, this is an EXTREMELY well-executed joke, where the screen's constantly moving to the left while you dodge various munchers in your way. There's even a focus button to slow yourself down, to make slipping through small gaps a little bit easier. It's completely jank-free and just cements this stage as being absolutely hilarious. and amazing. Easily one of my top 5 stages in the hack, if not SMW hacking as a whole.
NOW. There's obviously more to this hack, but... well, look at how absurdly long this review is already. That's right, this is gonna be a multi-parter! Besides, Nom Nom Madness is one of my favorite stages in the hack, and a great place to cap off part 1. Look forward to part 2... eventually! I'll edit the end of this entry to lead to the second part when it's up.
PART 2:
https://froginaboxstudio.blogspot.com/2026/08/games-from-frogs-box-165-super-wakana.html
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