You asked for it, you got it. Is Wario Land: Shake It! the answer to your classic gaming prayers or is merely a 16-bit era relic with a pretty polish?

Loved
Hand-drawn Visuals: The well animated oversized sprites and lush, parallax-scrolling backgrounds provided by anime studio Production I.G give Shake It! a clean and comical look. Character and enemy designs may vary in their quality, but no two stages look alike and special visual effects are used sparingly.
The Music: It's obnoxious, cheesy, gratingly catchy. And it's amazingly fitting for the game. Saccharine sweet smooth jazz, twangy country-western instrumentals and spooky ditties pepper the soundtrack, tunes that may have you bobbing your head while thinking "God, this song is annoying."
Short, But Not Shallow: The main campaign, as it were, will probably take little more than five to six hours to blow through. When Wario vanquishes the final boss, however, not an easy task, there's still plenty to do. I completed the game with just 71% of the stages unlocked, 40% of the treasure acquired and a paltry 7% of the stage missions under my belt. Expect to double (or triple) your core gameplay time to get everything.

Hated
Nothing New: Wario Land 4 for the Game Boy Advance set the bar for the series, bringing with it new gameplay mechanics and heaps of charm. Shake It! has hardly any of that, offering a rather mundane collect-a-thon without much in the way of interesting gameplay concepts. A few Wario Land staples appear later in the game, but Shake It! feels like it was plucked from the 90s in the gameplay department. The Wii remote adds little more than frustration when it doesn't respond or fires you out of a man-cannon at the wrong angle.
Boss Battles: They're either simplistic and dull or maddening in their difficulty. The uninspired boss battles, some just plain annoying for the shear amount of stuff they throw at you, illustrate just how wearisome some of the new mechanics can be.
Subwarine Stages: Shake It! deviates from standard jumping and bumping for a handful of stages, but these underwater segments are more of an annoyance than a welcome change of pace.

Wario Land: Shake It!'s 2D gameplay feels somewhat stale and sterile in comparison to what Nintendo has offered the series in the past, not unlike New Super Mario Bros. a title that was frustratingly simple, devoid of new ideas. The core mechanics are there, and they're presented with finesse, there's just a surprising lack of innovation on display.

That doesn't mean it's not enjoyable, as the mechanics are sound and the allure of increasing percentages through perfected gameplay to collect every last object is still there, even if the tasks sometimes feel insurmountable and hardly worth the effort. It's just that die-hard Wario Land fans may feel like they've been there and done that. And done it better.

Wario Land: Shake It!, developed by Good-Feel and published by Nintendo was released on Sept. 22 for the Wii. Retails for $49.99. Played to completion.

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Haven't had enough upcoming Nintendo game scan stuff? Hit the jump for looks at promotional images for Fatal Frame IV and Rhythm Heaven Gold.

New Nintendo Titles [NeoGAF via Game|Life]

July 10 DS Densetsu no Starfi Taiketsu! ¥4,800
July 24 Wii Wario Land Shake ¥5,800
July 31 Wii Rei Gesshoku no Kamen ¥6,800
July 31 DS Rhythm Tengoku Gold ¥3,800
August 7 DS Fire Emblem DS ¥4,800
August 22 DS Inazuma Eleven ¥4,800

Details on the site are scant, but the titles are definitely something to get excited about. But remember kids, just because something appears on a Japanese blog, doesn't mean it's real. Just means, it's in Japanese!

Eds Note: Rhythm Tengoku Gold has been confirmed as real by the Nintendo Japanese site. Thanks, 刘治家! The new issue of Famitsu confirms the other games as well. Nintendo of Europe today has confirmed Wario Land as well. Hooray!

Upcoming Releases [Rambling Man via NeoGAF]

Overalls Wario [Smash Bros. DOJO!]

The wags at ScrewAttack have a new video out chronicling the Ten Biggest Douchebags of Gaming. Wario is there as is my arch nemesis, the Burger King, but not all the douches are digital. Our favorite lawyer friend (who shall not be named lest he arive in a puff of sulfurous smoke) makes an appearance as well. Who's at number one? It might not be who you think, but I'll say it's a classic character who isn't human. Any guesses? Flynn De Marco

So, the honeymoon's over and the novelty's worn off by now. A good chunk of us got our Wiis and have played Wii Sports, Twilight Princess or Wario Ware: Smooth Moves into the ground. As Greg Howson at Guardian's Gamesblog points out:

I appreciate there is always a post launch lull, but I'm struggling to get too excited about the Wii at the moment. The terrible Call of Duty 3 makes me fear for future Wii conversions of multi format games, while the Virtual Console downloads are technically flawed and far too familiar.

Do know what he means. I will occasionally play a pick-up round of Wii Tennis with Mrs. Bashcraft, but that's about it at the moment. (McWhertor, on the other hand, spent yesterday playing Wario Ware: Smooth Moves alone. Yes, ALONE.) So it's poll time! And for the really chatty-types, clack away in the comments section:

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Playing With Your Wii? [Guardian, Image From Infendo]

The jury is in for the 2007 ToyAwards that will be presented at the opening ceremonies of the International Toy Fair in N rnberg Germany tomorrow, and Nintendo Europe will be taking home an award for the 1-2 punch of the Wii and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, with judges citing the appeal for new age groups and encouragement of group play as major factors in their decision.

The jury chose the product because the play concept of Wii tends to encourage playing PC games in groups instead of alone. In addition, the product not only appeals to player types with an affinity to PCs, but also to new age groups - a real lifestyle theme.

WarioWare and Wii win toy fair award [Nintendo-Revolution @ Blogspot]

The official Japanese site has clips of each required stylus technique to put Wario in different outfits, showcasing each costume's powers. You can even watch the rare Nintendo DS non-non-game's commercial here.

The localized version ships in March, so put your pre-orders in now. Is my Wario fanboyism showing yet? Michael McWhertor

My personal Wii system seller, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, looks better than I could have possibly imagined. This five-minute preview shows off (I assume) 9-Volt's section of microgames, all based on classic Nintendo franchises. Great allusions to Punch-Out!!, Wind Waker, Starfox, Ocarina of Time, Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime... everything really. I almost wish I could unwatch it to see these again for the first time. Michael McWhertor

Details are scarce for us English-only readers, but it appears that Wario will have a total of seven "disguises" that will help him progress through levels. These disguises appear to be enabled by using the stylus to draw things—like SCUBA helmets for underwater zones, for example.

As the resident Wario uber-fanboy at Kotaku, I'm desperately trying to contain my enthusiasm for this game. However, I humbly and sincerely request that you check out the latest shots over at Jeux France. It may not have the art style that I prefer, but, for crying out loud, it's WARIO. Michael McWhertor

Wario the Thief: more images

Miis can look like more than you or me. They can look like Nintendo characters. Or like Nintendo characters who rob banks. Can't wait for the inevitable stream of famous Miis, including the ubiquitous Paris Hilton. Brian Ashcraft

Fanboy Miis [Video Game MM, Thanks Brett!]

Any game you give to your buddy who's getting married pales in comparison to this. Tokyo-based game programmer Gregg Tavares helped create the end-all, be-all of game nerd presents.

The happy couple, David and Elly, are huge gamers themselves. Two rooms in their three bedroom house are for games (each having their own private space). Not only do they have every console, but also three cabinets as well!

Gregg writes:

A group of about 11 of us met one day in December to discuss ideas for games. Should we make a small adventure game? Should it be multi-player so they could both play at the same time? Maybe it should just be a side scrolling shooter or a simple platform game. Ultimately we decided on making a bunch of simple mini games in the spirit of Wario Ware.

The game was made in secret and unveiled on the wedding day. The above clip shows the bride and groom playing it for the first time. Like game wedding cakes we've posted before, but playable and non-fattening. Brian Ashcraft

Game Wedding Game [TV In Japan]

Actually that last part is me, because I just wet myself thinking about playing some baby Wario! That mega-adorable cover art you see above this post not only makes me thirsty for some breast milk, it gets me equally pumped for some baby Wario and baby Bowser action... on the internet! I could stand to have a little less upturned infant and dragon ass shoved in our faces, but I'm probably asking too much.

Yep, previously unannounced online features and the inclusion of two unannounced characters are absolutely newsworthy, in my opinion. I'm no Yoshi fan, but Nintendo 2D platforming makes me all giddy inside.

Oh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that breast milk comment. Michael McWhertor

Like Mario? Clumsy? Here's a product for you: CareLeaves brand Mario band-aids from Japan. Slap one of these water proof band-aids that feature the likes of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Donkey Kong, etc. Perfect to cover scraps and cuts from banging on question boxes. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Nichiban]