Wario Land Shake intro and gameplay videos

by Christopher Grant { Jul 4th 2008 at 10:28AM }

Scheduled to be released later this month in Japan, Wario Land Shake has been largely invisible ... until now. A little too dramatic there? Fair enough, but we're excited is all. While Mario and his fancy blue overalls snubs his mustachioed nose at 2D console games nowadays (even on a handheld, it's 2.5G or bust for Mario), there are still believers in the cause. Yes, dear reader, that's a plural believers; it's not just Castlevania creator Koji Igarashi who still thinks 2D platform gaming is "somewhat alive".

Now you can add Nintendo's rascally un-mascot Wario to that list as well, as evidenced in these videos from his latest console outing. Above you'll find the animated intro (don't worry, your inability to understand Japanese shouldn't interrupt your ability to follow along) and after the break, you'll find the first gameplay footage, in all it's 2D, sprite-based glory.

Tags: Nintendo, Wario-Land-Shake

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 10:36AM

Nice.

Reminds me of Yoshi's Island game... I hope it has the same difficulty as Yoshi's Island DS and the same kind of collectibles.

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 10:39AM

By the way... this are the same animators from Star Ocean, Professor Layton, Tales and Xenogears games... and, Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell, right?

Kevin @ Jul 4th 2008 11:43AM

It kinda has a DK Jungle Beat feeling to it as well with the smashing and stuff, only with more precice control I suppose.

mr nimblewick @ Jul 4th 2008 11:46AM

It looked like the Professor Layton style. I liked how they all talked in grunts.

DangerMouse @ Jul 4th 2008 11:57AM

Yeah, I thought the same about Yoshi's island when i watched the video. Hopefully this is good, because Yoshi's Island was terrible.

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 12:04PM

"Hopefully this is good, because Yoshi's Island was terrible."

WTF? Yoshi's Island is of the best platformers not only on the SNES, is one of the best platformers ever...

The difficulty is great and the graphics and art style too.

Noshino @ Jul 4th 2008 12:07PM

Well, if it kept the same difficulty as previous Wario Land games then it would be fun enough, hell, if they kept all the modes as previous ones, it will be awesome..

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 12:25PM

After watching the video again, yes, it looks very similar to Yoshi's Island (which is a good thing).

The art style is very similar, and both are hand drawn... also, Wario is throwing some objects, with a reticule, just like Yoshi throw the eggs.

And in the water scene, Wario is transformed in a submarine, just like Yoshi transformations.

trotskylite @ Jul 4th 2008 2:03PM

i think dangermouse probably meant that yoshi's island ds was terrible ... which compared to the snes original, it was.

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 2:15PM

Yohis's Island DS is as good as the original. It keeps the same formula. It has received just positive reviews.

And the Extra and Secret levels... oh... very hard.

Is one of my favorites on the DS. Definitely in my top 10.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jul 4th 2008 2:48PM

I can't believe you liked Yoshi's Island DS. It was awful.

I'm a huge fan of the original. It's a 2D masterpiece.

But Artoon's sequel? The music was forgettable, the graphics were bland (half of them seemed like they were ripped from the original, and the other half looks bland), and the gameplay was DULL. The baby switching mechanic was nice, but the game itself was dull. It was a soulless sequel. And the bonus stages were excessively hard; to the point where I stopped caring about finishing (as much as I wanted to, I couldn't be arsed to 100% the game).
About the only good thing I can say about the game is that it wasn't buggy.

With that said... I hope Wario Land: Shake It delivers. I've been a huge fan of the Wario Land series (with only minor disappointment in WL4 due to how short it was).

trotskylite @ Jul 4th 2008 3:57PM

i don't know if artoo's YI could be called outright awful. it was a competent platformer, but couldn't live up to its pedigree. personally, i found the baby-switching tedious and the elements of the levels you needed different babies for just felt sort of shoehorned in to make it seem like they'd expanded on the original formula, but it lost the original's immaculate playability.

SoulBlade @ Jul 4th 2008 5:15PM

Yoshi's Island was the first thing I thought of when I saw this vid too. That game was among my favorites on the SNES. This one looks entertaining, but I hope there's a bit more in this game than what was shown in the video. There probably is.

I hope the game isn't short and offers some challenge as well. At least a difficulty setting or something.

Matthew @ Jul 16th 2008 12:03AM

God Im so glad I dont own the Wii.

Are these the types of games ya'll get excited about?

Jody Anthony (gamertag and psn: JodyAnthony) @ Jul 4th 2008 10:54AM

yes.

Dark Archon @ Jul 4th 2008 10:58AM

So... what do you think is wrong with a great 2D old-school-like sidescroller?

TECHSev @ Jul 4th 2008 11:02AM

You're happy you don't own a wii because one of the games they're making is a side scroller for it that's 2D?

Why don't you go back to the whole you crawled out of.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 4th 2008 11:04AM

Ok enjoy this NDF cause it doesn't happen often.

I actually like the way it looks and plays. It reminds me of the old old game boy games but with modern graphics and some decent physics. IF I had a wii this would be one of very few games I would probably buy.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jul 4th 2008 11:31AM

Oh thank the Nintendo gods we have Tmac's approval. Wiithout it, this game would surely fail.

juju187 @ Jul 4th 2008 12:16PM

this is why i brought my wii. if this has many levels or dare i say downloadable lvls i see instant classic.
now gimmie some side scrolling metroid and caslevania and we in business.

Mike @ Jul 4th 2008 1:18PM

I don't even own a Wii and I'm excited for this game. Apparently some people don't appreciate the amount of work that goes into drawing dozens of sprites while maintaining a consistent style. I think this looks awesome.

SoulBlade @ Jul 4th 2008 5:16PM

Juju - I'll trade this game for a side scrolling metroid in a heartbeat.

Jody Anthony (gamertag and psn: JodyAnthony) @ Jul 4th 2008 10:54AM

i never got into any of the wario land games, but i gotta say this looks pretty damn good

gamer2000 @ Jul 4th 2008 11:02AM

There goes another great Nintendo franchise...

peepoop @ Jul 4th 2008 11:24AM

"There goes another franchise"? Where's it going?

Into the Realm of Awesomeness and the Land of Games Worth Purchasing?

If that's what you mean, then I totally agree with you.

Jaclo @ Jul 4th 2008 11:08AM

What's not to love about 2-D sidescrolling, platforming action? Fun stuff.

I've only played two other Wario games, Wario Land 4 and Wario World, but I enjoyed both, so I'm actually looking forward to this.

And to Matthew, as an owner of all current systems, I have to say that you are being close-minded. Open up a little. Maybe you'll have fun.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jul 4th 2008 2:55PM

You should definitely check out the first three Wario Lands. Far superior to #4.

Dyer @ Jul 5th 2008 10:40AM

Nice i like it. Hopefully if this turns out well wario wont have to sleep in his car ;)

Jaclo @ Jul 4th 2008 11:10AM

Although, I have to say.... I'm a little concerned with the the title. Looks like we'll have to shake the controller to shake those coins loose. Seems unnecessary and gimmicky.

Who know though?

peepoop @ Jul 4th 2008 11:26AM

God forbid an action that requires the character to shake something out of a bag should be, y'know, tied to shaking a real-life object...

StrangeAxel @ Jul 4th 2008 11:29AM

The animation looks really nice, and the gameplay does too. Wario Land games have always been pretty awesome.

The only part I'll never understand about Nintendo is they'll have voices for grunts, laughs, and mumbling, but why in the hell don't they just finish the rest of the work with *actual* voice acting?

It's retarded to have this kind of animation with no voice acting, and just grunts. It kinda deteriorates the quality of the work.

...Then again, if there were voicework here, when it'd get dubbed into English, you'd have the weeaboos bitching about how "poor" the acting is. So I guess I'll just void my last comments...

Mr Khan @ Jul 4th 2008 11:40AM

Wario, like Mario and Luigi, can speak in short sentences, and has done so before, but a full vocabulary seems to be beyond his reach too

And i sense you, like i, have a reactionary attitude against the legions of people who whine about the poorness of American voice acting

mr nimblewick @ Jul 4th 2008 12:03PM

Well, American voice acting does suck. Plus "good" voice acting looks stupid coming out of jilted video-game character model movement.

StrangeAxel @ Jul 4th 2008 12:13PM

I don't understand how you can compare American acting to Japanese acting when you can't even understand Japanese -- unless you are an immigrant from Japan and have lived there your whole life.

Just because the Japanese can scream better, and the females sound cutesy and kawaii, doesn't make the Japanese language/acting better than ours. If it wasn't for some Japanese anime looking cheesy to begin with, maybe some of the anime would actually sound good in English. Cowboy Bebop was one of those that actually sounded good.

Noshino @ Jul 4th 2008 12:35PM

StrangeAxel,

"you'd have the weeaboos bitching about how "poor" the acting is. So I guess I'll just void my last comments..."

The acting isn't good, not only their reactions seem to be off, also, the voices don't match those of the characters, to the point in which you don't believe the character...

But it isn't all the fault of the voice actors, its the script itself also, since the translations tend to be poor (hence why many hardcore fans would rather have fan subs)

They ONLY series that I thought it sounded better than in its original language was Dragon Ball, for some reason, for me, it sounded much better in spanish, well, that is, not all of them sounded better, but most did.

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 12:42PM

Noshino

Yeah, I like Dragon Ball, Z and GT better in spanish. Goku and Vegeta voices are way better.

But... what spanish did you liked? I like the mexican spanish for that series.

The Spain spanish sounds awful and I never heard the south american accent in the series.

Noshino @ Jul 4th 2008 12:53PM

oh, hell now, Spaniard Spanish is awful for translations...thing is, I like the language, but their accent is too unique that it isn't good for dubs.

The ones that are most often used are Mexican or Chilean, for DB I actually prefer the mexican voices.

Man, DB hasn't really aged well, but goddamn, it does bring good memories, and their soundtrack still amazing...

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 4th 2008 1:12PM

Dragon Ball Z intro

-Mexican:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-snbyP-5I&feature=related

-Spain (sounds awful, even the translation is bad)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk45FXHCVLU

mr nimblewick @ Jul 4th 2008 1:36PM

Japanese voice-acting is better precisely because we cannot understand them. It's why I can listen to Jpop but can't stand American pop. If I could understand the inane things they are singing about, I'd want to kill myself.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jul 4th 2008 3:03PM

Mr Khan:
They've spoken full sentences before. I swear to it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWnJ-5hES2Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWfZjVbFFkc

Plus, with the games, it's not like Mario/Luigi/Wario/Waluigi have Japanese voices... Nintendo uses Charles Martinet for all releases.

Arf @ Jul 4th 2008 6:36PM

Oh god yes.
I live in Argentina, and I grew up watching the mexican DBZ.
You had to see my face when I first heard the american version through youtube. Really disappointed, especially about the soundtrack, which sounded like power rangers + porn music.

WarioMan @ Jul 4th 2008 11:29AM

I just realized the music in the gameplay video is Wario's victory theme in Brawl.

ZaxCG2 @ Jul 4th 2008 1:42PM

I believe its the song from most of his games. Music production sounds kinda lazy, but it certainly is catchy.

Funny that they're giving Wario so much love. But thats fine- I love him!! I've always enjoyed his 2D, elbow-thrusting outings with the GB games. Good to have it back.