Each Wario Land game was better than the last, but I knew not to expect that here coming off of Wario Land 4. Even still, I was kind of disappointed with the game. It was a pretty mixed bag overall.

Speaking of bags, there's a lot of treasure bags in this game. And the only way to get the coins inside is to shake it until money comes out. Problem is, the money flies everywhere, so if you want to get all of it, you better find an enclosed place to shake the bag in. There's another? Better bring it to the same place and shake again. And again. Multiple times in each stage.

This isn't the only instance of unnecessary motion control. Aiming your throws is a pretty solid expansion of Wario Land gameplay, but it's done by tilting the wiimote. I'm fine with motion controls in games like Wii Sports or Metroid Prime because they do something there that Control Sticks either can't do or aren't as well equipped to, but such is not the case with Wario Land: Shake it.

There's other motion control gimmicks, but the worst is the Subwarine levels. My gosh. It's like a perfect storm of bad design. First, it's an unnatural extension of the main gameplay. Then it's an autoscroller. Thirdly, it has motion control to move. But not entirely, no. You tilt to aim your Subwarine, but use the d-pad to move forward and back. It's a tank controls abomination. Also, there are branching paths that, if you want to get a treasure chest, you just have to... guess the right path. All of the Subwarine levels are genuinely awful.

If one was to remove all of the issues I discussed, it would probably be a serviceable platformer, but it still has issues. Not only as a game, but as a Wario Land game. Wario Land 4 backpedaled on many of the unconventional mechanics that Wario Land 2 established, but Wario Land: Shake it goes even further. There's a health bar and besides few exceptions, it has none of the unconventional powerups. It's closest in style to Wario Land 1, really. That's not automatically bad, but aside from motion control, there's no consistent design decisions.

It lifts the 'hurry up' mechanic from Wario Land 4 where one runs through the stages backwards, which I mostly found fine, but it also takes two of the unconventional 'powerups': Fire and Snowball Wario. The problem with this is the mission system. Each stage has multiple missions, one of which is often 'Don't take damage'. Now, Wario Land 4's health system wasn't optimal for a system where enemies hitting you could actually be a powerup (One of the few flaws with that game), but I'd say it's more of a problem in Shake it. There's about 3 levels where these powerups are used, so if this was the first Wario Land game you played and you saw a block that had a flame on it, you may think, "Huh. Maybe I break that block with this fire enemy. I probably shouldn't touch it though, since I want to beat that 'Don't get damaged' mission."

The ironic thing is that if the game wanted to simultaneously have these mechanics and also reward good play while also making the game accessible, It could've just made Wario immortal like in 2 or 3. There are fragments of old Wario Land design, but they go against the game GoodFeel was trying to make: A by-the-books 2D platformer. When it's that and there's little to no motion control, it's fairly good. But those moments are few and far between.

Dang. I started this review thinking the game was a 5/10, but it might actually be a 4/10. But still, there were good elements. The bosses, for the most part, were pretty good. There were a few issues (The final boss at one point combo'd me with unavoidable attacks and I lost half of my health), but they were good regardless.

I also liked the idea of a shop, but it was very half-baked. All you can really by is required maps and health upgrades/restorers. Regardless, making the treasure have value besides and endgame reward is a solid idea and I appreciate the thought.

Visually, the game is pretty good. The animations are nice and the backgrounds are good. In terms of sound, the music was alright. I can't really remember many tracks though.

Point is, this game disappointed me. I may have liked it a bit more if I hadn't played the other Wario Land games, but I stand by my review. However, if this is the first/only Wario Land game you played, tell me how you feel/if my scenario about the fire powerup applied to you. Anyway, Wario Land 2, 3, and 4 are far more worth your time than this.