Wario Land: Shake It!

That video broke YouTube. In multiple ways.

One of the coolest video game ad campaigns I’ve ever seen was for Wario Land: Shake It!, a Wii title developed by GoodFeel and released in America on September 22nd, 2008. It started out as a basic YouTube video (in all its 2008 YouTube glory) with nothing to indicate what would come next. It plays, showing footage from the game, in which Wario gets increasingly reckless. Then, chaos! Titles outside of the video start falling. Coins being shaken out of an enemy pop out of the video player! Wario crashes into things, causing more damage to the entire YouTube page! It ends with even the video falling onto a pile of the page’s remains, titles and thumbnails and everything else, at the bottom. Some way to leave an impression!

And what a way to announce Wario’s latest platformer outing at the time, the sixth title in the Wario Land series, and the only one to be released on home consoles (unless you count the one made for the Virtual Boy). Also his last, so far. With its hand-drawn 2D animation, anime-styled cutscenes, and a gameplay that makes use of the Nintendo Wii’s capabilities, there was definitely something very interesting here. Plus, it’s good to see Wario away from his microgame company once in a while.

I’m so disappointed that the ad no longer exists, nor was it curated in its original form, instead existing as videos of screen rips. But, with that said, time to look at the game proper.

What a creep, that pirate.

The game begins as Wario’s on-and-off rival, Captain Syrup, breaks into a museum to steal a large globe. That globe is the location of a world known as the Shake Dimension, and upon further inspection, Syrup sees that its world is being taken over by a nasty monster known as the Shake King, who captured the dimension’s Merfle tribe (little imp-fairy things), kidnapped Merelda, Queen of that world, and seized its treasure: A bottomless coin sack. Guaranteed to drop money at every shake, endlessly. Syrup delivers the globe to Wario’s place.

Oh, so I should just break this thing?
Blergh, I have to do everything myself.

Upon receiving this bizarre gift, Wario thinks it must be destroyed to get the treasure inside, until one Merfle, the only one to have escaped, gets out to ask for his help. Wario doesn’t really care… well, until the bottomless coin sack is mentioned. Now he’s all in, willing to interrupt his busy days of garlic-eating and nose-picking, and ready to travel through the magical telescope that takes him into the Shake Dimension.

"When I was told about a heroic mustachioed
plumber, I was thinking of someone redder."

Shake, shake, shake it all!

The animation in this game is marvelous – everything looks great. We can thank Studio I.G. for this work of art, as they animated the cutscenes as well as the sprites and setpieces. It’s said that Wario alone required more than 2,000 animation frames, but every piece got the same level of care. Gosh, it’s gorgeous. The world is lively and looks incredible. I could stare at this game for a long time… well, until Wario gets tired of waiting for me to do something. The music is also great and memorable. They sure seemed to think so as well at Nintendo, considering that this game’s main theme became Wario’s theme in Smash 4.

The first level is Captain Syrup’s ship (don’t ask me how she got it into the Shake Dimension, I don’t know). It’s a tutorial showing all of the moves that Wario can do: Jump, stomp, ground pound, the classic fare. However, he has a few extra abilities: The first is that he can shoulder slam into enemies to kill them, a move that also lets him grab items. You can shake the Wii remote to make Wario violently shake coin bags. Or enemies, who’ll often drop a garlic to replenish Wario’s health. He can also punch the ground, which can cause various effects on the environment.

Wario's ass can destroy steel.
That's fact proven by this game.

All the treasure is MINE! MINE, you hear??

There’s a couple of gimmicks to the levels in this game: The first is that all levels contain three treasure chests, which Wario can open to take what’s inside. The second is that each level comes with missions that can be completed, anywhere from three to seven. Completing all of a level’s missions unlocks that level’s music in the Sound Test. The most important gimmick is this: Wario does not originally have a time limit to a level, he can explore all he wants. However, once he has achieved his primary goal (which is to rescue an imprisoned Merfle), he will activate an intruder alert and must run back to the level’s entrance to flee. This last part does have a time limit. It also means that, exceptions aside, most levels end where they begin.

It's a mad race back to the start, with the helpful
Merfle holding an arrow showing the way.

No joke, this thing is even called the
SubWArine.

Due to the rather peculiar idea here, most levels are designed to have multiple paths – generally one “proper level” portion with the usual enemies and trappings, and a “run back to the entrance” path that favors speed. Wario isn’t indestructible, but he’s surprisingly durable, so there are several levels that are less about survival and more about puzzle thinking, especially in order to find the three treasures within. That said, some levels shake things up (no pun intended), either by being an underwater shmup or by having the unlikely hero rescue the Merfle at the very beginning, making the rest a stressful race against the clock. Oh, and there’s also a few secret levels to find around the worlds, although the Merfles will help Wario find the maps that lead to them once he’s beaten the final boss.

A clown. Why is there always a friggin' clown.

On the topic of bosses, they certainly live up to their name. Their designs are pretty cool, and their fights are split into phases. Much like the rest, they’re also quite memorable. The one unfortunate detail is that you cannot go back to fight a boss you’ve previously defeated, until you beat the final boss at least – after which, even the boss levels will have missions of their own. Angry mention goes to Chortlebot, the third boss, a giant robotic clown head that gains a new trick at every phase. To beat it, Wario must swing on horizontal poles and jump on its head a few times, to break the protective casing that hides its weak point, then attack said weak point with the same technique. The issue? To pole-swing, you have to shake the Wii remote up and down. You’ll come out of that battle with your wrists exhausted, I guarantee.

At least the bosses look really cool.
Like this big guy here, Rollanratl.

Your prices are extortion, lady!

The game also works in a different way when it comes to unlocking worlds. See, after the tutorial level, Captain Syrup opens up a shop on her boat where Wario can spend his hard-earned adventure money on maps, which open the next worlds. The map to World 1 is a gimmie at 1,000 coins, but the map to World 5 costs 200,000!!! Needless to say, some money-grinding will be necessary in order to get everything. The shop also has a handful of other items, such as a CD of the game’s animated intro, heart containers (which add an extra heart to Wario’s health bar) and replenishing potions (which will restore all of his health once if his HP hit 0 during a level or boss). With all the money that I’m handing over to her, that damn bottomless coin sack better be worth it.

Wario must envy Mario sometimes; at least HE
doesn't hurt himself when going fiery.

Also of note: Wario’s transformations. Mario has always had forms gained from power-ups that aid him; Wario has transformations, generally caused by the surrounding environment, and which he can use to solve puzzles. Only a handful of them, but they count. Also, instead of giving him an advantage, they tend to cause all sorts of comical, cartoony effects on the greedy plumber. It helps separate Wario’s series from Mario’s, that more comedic tone permeating the entire product. As an example, he can be set on fire and will then run wildly, getting further alight whenever he hits a wall, finally going up in flames (which, ironically, is what lets him destroy special blocks).

"Sorry, Merelda... my true love awaits me."

Speaking of comedy… After reaching and defeating the Shake King (a very tough battle, trust me on that one), Wario frees the Shake Dimension from the villainous pirate, liberating the Merfles. Queen Merelda approaches Wario to thank him… and he unceremoniously throws her aside and takes the coin sack. Ah, Merelda… your design is great, and you are no doubt an interesting character, but in a game where greed beats everything, you were only ever going to end up as a joke. Wario leaves the Shake Dimension and joyously shakes the coin sack, producing loads and loads of coins. The legend was true, it works! Roll credits.

HEY! This sucks!

…And when the credits end, Captain Syrup shows up to steal both the bottomless coin sack and whatever coins were made from it, meaning Wario did all this for (almost) nothing. Hey! Whatever happened to honor among thieves? You come back here with that sack, or else! Well, at least Wario still has the treasures and coins he collected throughout his adventure…

(I wish I could say “I’ll beat you in karting or at tennis!”, but Syrup never appeared in the Mario spin-offs. I hope she does someday - if DK's extended group of friends can make it to play baseball or whatever else, why couldn't Syrup from the Wario series join as well? She's be more interesting than friggin' Pink Gold Peach, that's for sure.)

This game is pretty good. The plot is nothing to write home about – obviously it’s a mockery on the tired platformer plot popularized by the Mario series, with the hero this time caring far more about the money at the end of the line than about the princess he’s supposed to rescue. Hell, the Shake King’s design has clearly been inspired partly by Bowser.

Wario only has money on his mind, but he's
being more heroic than he'd ever be willing
to admit.

The boss battles are so creative, as well.
Even if they can get pretty tough.

The game shines far more in its gameplay and art style. Wario can use a wide array of moves; the concept for the levels is novel and interesting (having to run back to the entrance under a time limit once the goal has been reached); the platforming is enhanced by puzzle segments where Wario needs to use his moves cleverly to reach a treasure chest or something else of value. Speaking of those, getting all of the treasures is a challenge, and completing all of the missions is even harder, since several require near-perfect knowledge of the layout of the level they’re in. There’s only one solution for those: Practice over, and over, and over. Thankfully, while the game does get tough, it’s at least nice enough to include a checkpoint just before you rescue the Merfle.

Flowers, fire, water or gusts, nothing will
stop my quest for riches!

Once again, no flower can stop me!

The art style, however… oh, wow. This game is beautiful. Hand-drawn games were uncommon at the time (with the advent of the indie scene, they happen every now and then, but in the Wii era, things were different; I can think of only one other hand-drawn game for the console, and I’ve reviewed it too). And yet, the result stuns by its beauty. Wario may be a slob, but all of his animations are lively, the worlds are lush and vibrant, and all of the enemies also look awesome. The anime cutscenes are incredible as well.

I can think of a handful of gripes I have with the game. While the gameplay is pretty great, it’s often difficult to reconcile the button controls with shaking/tilting the Wii remote in some situations. Shaking the remote, in particular, can get annoying, especially in sections where it’s frequent and mandatory (once again, the battle against Chortlebot comes to mind). Similarly, in the three submarine levels, you deal with wonky controls; Wario’s sub goes up and down by tilting the remote, then speeds up with Right and slows down with Left. Not a bad idea on paper, but the end result is impractical and troublesome.

Even the Shake King is no match!
I am the best of them all, I AM WARIO!

The game also had the bad luck of being released in 2008; it received positive reviews at the time, and firmly stuck to gamers’ brains with its marketing campaign, but it sold poorly, to the point that Nintendo has sworn off making any Wario Land games. 13 years later, still not a peep on that side of Wario’s family, while we’re getting WarioWare games regularly. Still, Wario Land: Shake It! is a game to try out, if you can find it. It does quite well on both style and substance, so it’s worth seeking and playing. As for me, with this review, I’ve tried to give it… a fair shake.

Pfft~ sorry, I couldn’t resist. And so, with this, I can move on to the big anniversary review.