45. Maze Woods Story 5: Defeat the giant bee!
“Defeat the giant bee!” feels e’en mo’ like a padding level than other boss levels, repeating similar setpieces with the bees introduced in the level preceding this level, — granted they fit better here: they just would’ve had a better effect if they were introduced here — as well as returning the terrible floors you can fall thru to hide the treasure door, as well as yet ’nother down there for some coins.
The bees aren’t fun, either: puffy Wario is ’mong the least fun status effects in the series thanks to how slow it moves & how redundant it feels next to bouncy Wario; & thanks to the camera in this game, which doesn’t move unless you touch a boundary, it’s a guessing game where there are spots high ’bove you can float up to, so you’ll end up getting stung & floating up @ various places just to check e’erywhere if you haven’t already memorized the level or looked it up in a guide. They’re not challenging to get past, either, as you can just stay ducking & they can’t sting you. You’d think they’d put the effort to better differentiate this level from “Escape from Maze Woods” by making you climb up platforms that require you to be standing to reach them to add difficulty, but the bee sections in this level are actually easier & simpler than that earlier level.
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