Games for Lunch: Wario Land: Shake It!

In a nutshell: Animated greed.
9/24/2008 7:32 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Developer: Good Feel
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Sept. 22, 2008
System: Wii
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

0:00 A 2-D platformer from Nintendo is enough, on its own, to get me excited, but the beautiful hand-drawn animation I've seen put me over the top with anticipation for this game. Here's hoping my standards aren't too high.

0:01 "Yeah, let's go!" Wario intones. A treasure map scrolls by in the background of the title screen, with gentle guitar music and the sound of lapping waves. "Wario Time!"

0:02 An anime cut scene shows a redheaded pirate in a dark museum, looking at a globe under glass. Cut to the sea, where a pirate holds up a bottomless coin sack in front of his cheering minions. He also has captive a pretty blue-haired girl, an "enchanting young queen. Even disdain is lovely on this face." Wow ... that's disturbing. A green guy with a white orb growing out of his head hides behind a crate and vows to rescue her. He flies off over the water. Back in the museum, Red lifts the globe out through the ceiling.

0:04 Wario is sleeping when the bell rings with a huge package delivery. It's the globe Red stole. "A little present from me to you, the real treasure's inside. Enjoy!" Wario takes a sledgehammer to the globe and out comes ... a telescope, with the green guy in it. He's tiny compared to hulking Wario, who looks bored as Greeny tells the tale of the pirate taking over the "Shake Dimension." Wario perks up when he hears about the bottomless coin sack and its unlimited treasure. With that, Wario jumps into the telescope and is transported into the Shake Dimension. Now Loading...

0:06 Side view now, but the animation looks nearly as good as in the cut scene. "Mr. Wario, welcome to the Shake Dimension," says Greeny, whose name is really Merfle. Red, aka Captain Syrup (wait, wasn't she a bad guy in the original Wario Land?) explains that I have to beat five bosses on five continents. The detail on the characters is really amazing, especially if you're used to pixilated sprites.

0:08 And I'm in control. Wario has a nice springy jump (complete with "sproing" sound effect). He makes an audible grunt every time he jumps, too. That's going to get annoying fast. Nice butt stomp and shoulder charge, too.

0:09 What are huge, green, Mario-style pipes doing on a pirate ship?

0:10 Heh. I have to shake the controller to shake money out of bags I'm carrying. It's endearing for now, but I bet it gets old quick.

0:12 Awesome! I can pick up items and throw them at blocks and such, like the eggs in Yoshi's Island. Tilting the remote to aim is pretty easy, but it's a shame I can't walk as I aim.

0:14 I get an "award" for jumping on a guy's head. Is everyone copying Xbox Live's Achievements now? Seriously, is anyone not doing this kind of thing these days?

0:15 I get shot out of a horizontal cannon and go rampaging through a long line of blocks. Fun! Also, mega-butt stomp.