The premise follows Wario on vacation in the Awazon river basin, relaxing at the Aldegara waterfall. After being woken up by a beaver, Wario notices strange creatures entering behind the waterfall and decides to follow them. Wario stumbles upon a cave full of treasure and attempts to claim it as his own, however, he collapses deep underground and must find his way back to the surface. The player controls Wario across 14 floors consisting of non-linear levels . The goal of each level is to collect treasures and find a key to unlock an elevator to the next floor. Wario can jump or run into enemies to knock them down. Stunned enemies can be picked up and thrown at other enemies or clouds that give coins. Wario can also perform a shoulder charge or body slam to attack enemies and break blocks. There are three power-ups Wario can equip, including a bull hat that increases his strength, an eagle hat that allows him to fly and attack in the air, and a fire-breathing dragon hat. Wario can combine the eagle and dragon hats into the "King Dragon" hat, granting him all three skills. Wario has the ability to leap between the background and foreground using jump pads. In most levels, the player needs to navigate between the two planes to explore and search for items , or avoid enemies and obstacles that move between the planes. If Wario takes damage, he will shrink, losing his power until he picks up a clove of garlic or a hat. If Wario is hit while small, he loses a life and all the coins he had collected in that level. Every three floors, Wario must fight bosses that make use of the Virtual Boy 's stereoscopic 3D effect. Between floors there are mini-games where Wario can gamble the loot he has collected so far. Each level in the game contains one of ten artifacts hidden inside secret chambers and the ending depends on whether Wario found them all and the coins he collected.