With this being the last mainline entry of the Wario Land games coming out on the Nintendo Wii back in 2008, it’s fair to say it was a good send off if it stays the last. Which is strange considering the overall popularity of the games that started on the Gameboy. With the popularity of the Switch it’d be a great time to bring it back, as the closest we’ve got in years was the newest Wario Ware game, which is more akin to the Mario party games rather than the side scrolling platformer of the Land series.
This game oddly ditches the Nintendo Nunchuk completely and only uses the main Wii controller, horizontally. At this is were all the gimmicks that come with the game are controlled, as normal you have the shoulder bash, and the ass drop move in previous entries, but now along with vigorous shaking mechanics. These can be used on enemies to shake health or coins out of them, you can use it to aim your throws, and the direction at which you shoot out of a canon to destroy objects or reach a higher platform. Or the main shake component where you punch the ground which can trigger explosions, lower/higher areas or even change what a particular enemy can do. My favourite bit though is controlling the unicycle with it, however it can be a bit tedious.
The games premise is simple enough, the queen of the shake dimension is kidnapped by the shake king and the Merfle ask Wario for his help. Due to the returning Captain Syrup he his able to travel to the shake dimension. There is five areas which consist of main missions and bonus stages you unlock by finding the hidden maps in the stages. Each area has it’s own nicely animated design so each stage feels different along with the terrain and enemies you’ll face. Each mission will only take a couple minutes, and consist of you reaching the end to find the caged Merfle, which the triggers a count down and you have to race back to the start before it runs out to save the Merfle and exit the stage. The last stage of the area is the boss fight which awards you an emblem and once you’ve collected them all it allows you to face the shake king.
The whole game is exceedingly short, which is nothing new for the series, but like super short. I mean it’s a bitesize game at it’s core so you can really pick it up as and when and achieve something in it. Each stage has hidden items dotted around it you need to find, and separate goals like amass 16,000 coins, take no damage, defeat the golden enemy etc. So to do everything will take several attempts at each stage. Making for a highly repayable game and it is really fun to be fair to it, not to challenging and different enough each stage to be engaging every time.
It does stylistically do enough to stand out from the typical Mario game, as even the Kirby games tend to look and feel the same. Having it’s own cartoon aesthetic helps set the tone for the game along with the weird grunts and noises he makes for conversation. Having a few nicely animated sequences through out the campaign is a welcome bonus. Also having the shop on Captain Syrups ship allows you to buy items, some you don’t have a choice for you have to buy each areas main maps to unlock them. You can buy extra hearts, revives, and bonus stuff that can be viewed in the extras part of the menu.
All in all it’s a fun little game, and it’s a real shame Nintendo haven’t made any more, as for the most part the series sold well, this one not as highly as anticipated but it’s been long enough to maybe attempt a new addition to the series.
I’d certify this game a good 7/10 Positively Tasty. For the most part it’s a solid fun game, lacking in content pretty much everywhere, and once you’ve done a couple areas the new gimmicky stuff from the motion controls wears off pretty fast.
Nintendo Switch September 26th 2008.
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