#zettel #gaming sourced from: [[Wario Land 4]] # The Frog Switches in Wario Land 4 are a Great Mechanic for Inducing Stress in a Familiar Space The way the Frog Switches work is that once you step on them, a timer is put on the top of the screen and "frog Blocks" become solid. In this time you have to escape from the level in either the same way you went before, or in a new way as outlined by the newly revamped level. And if the timer weren't stressful enough, the music now becomes this intensely dissonant ambient track that captures the stress of a countdown so incredibly well. The stress is multiplied then if the player has not found all the collectables in the level, as they'll still be hunting for these required collectables (the four crystal pieces, Keyser and the CD) as they're rushing back to the exit at the start of the level. It's a really excellent gameplay mechanic to get the player worked up and stressed out, but in a fun way. Making a player backtrack is normally pretty tedious, but Wario Land 4 makes it interesting, engaging, stressful and fun. As an example, see: [[Pinball Zone from Wario Land 4 is a memorable level because of its dichotomy between modes before and after activating the Frog Switch]]