I'm of the opinion that Wario Land: Shake It! is not only the best Wario game, it's better than Wario Land 4, and it's better than both Mario Galaxy games (in my opinion by the way). I adore Wario Land: Shake It with the bottom of my heart with alot of things it does. It defines Wario so well in my eyes, the gameplay is really fun, the music is one of my favorite gaming OSTs ever, the visuals are Cuphead levels of spectacular, I adore so much of what this game does.
I understand the shaking may seem annoying, but unlike DKC Retruns where the games expects you to be precise, the motion controls in Wario Land: Shake It! is justified since it's not as hard as DKC Returns and it controls differently from that game. Also you're not gonna have a game on the Wii, have its setting called the Shake Dimension, have Wario & Shake King shake stuff, have a coin-bag that only spews money if you shake it, and not expect the player the shake the remote. It adds a funny, weird charm to the experience.
Two gripes I have with the game is the submarine levels are okay but inferior to the platforming levels and the rewards for the missions is underwhelming making the replay value sucky. Otherwise, it's genuinely one of my favorite & best games on the Wii + one of my favorite games by Nintendo. I would unironically love to see a Wario standalone movie based on Shake It! and I wish Nintendo (+ Smash Bros) represents the Wario Land series better since WarioWare overshadows it.

Reviewed on Oct 28, 2023


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