In the game, Wario has to gather four treasures to unlock a pyramid and save Princess Shokora from the Golden Diva.

The player can also collect treasure that increases their score in the form of coins that are dropped by enemies and floating crystals.

If the timer finishes counting down, the player's score will begin to rapidly deplete, resulting in Wario being kicked from the stage and losing all collectables if it reaches zero.

Players can optionally use medals gained from playing minigames to buy an item that deals damage to the boss before the fight begins.

Wario is reading the newspaper when he notices an article about a mysterious pyramid found deep in the jungle.

After completing these passages, Wario gains access to the innermost part of the pyramid, which ends up being the stronghold of the Golden Diva.

Upon their escape, Shokora is restored to her true form—this may be a brattish child, a female version of Wario, a Peach-like princess, and, ultimately, a superheroine-like princess (what form Shokora is restored to depends on the total number of treasure chests Wario had acquired from the other bosses prior as well as how quickly the Golden Diva is defeated—if he took too long to defeat any of them, some of these chests will be withheld).

[5] The game has been re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014: in Japan on April 30, in North America on May 8, and in Europe and Australia on June 5.

IGN gave Wario Land 4 a 9 out of 10, or "Outstanding", citing its well thought out level design and replayability.

[16] GamePro stated "Boasting fantastic graphics and awesome transparency effects for water and fog, Wario Land 4 pushes the GBA to its visual limits".

[11] Nintendo Power stated "It's polished variety paired with a mishmash of moves, which makes Wario Land 4 fun through and through".