In this game, you control Wario, a brutish and greedy character who can break most bricks with a punch. Wario has a body slam attack that he can use to destroy enemies, and he can also pick them up and throw them at his foes. There are three different power-ups that Wario can find: the Bull Hat, which lets him plough through bricks in a single hit; the Jet Hat, which allows him to fly horizontally for a short period of time; and the Dragon Hat, which allows him to breathe a long stream of fire for a short period of time. The game revolves around money, with Wario earning coins by grabbing them floating in the air, punching them out of bricks, or body slamming into foes and collecting their dropped coins.
Throughout the stages, you can also find hidden treasures buried deep within some levels by finding a key and then throwing it at the skull door to unlock it. Once Wario reaches the end of a level, he usually needs to pay a toll to get the end-of-level door to open. You must press Up on the Control Pad and B to pull out a coin worth 10 coins, which you must throw at the door. If you succeed, the door opens, and you can exit the level. Before finishing each level, you can choose to play a mini-game that doubles or halves the amount of coins you have, with a 50/50 chance.