YR123's Top 5: Wario Land: Shake It! Music

So I decided to give a small tribute to a pretty underrated game with a surprisingly stellar soundtrack, 2008's Wario Land: Shake It! (also known as Wario Land: The Shake Dimension and Wario Land: Shake in Europe and Japan, respectively) for Wii by Nintendo and Good-Feel.

Wario Land: Shake It! is the sixth entry of the Wario Land series, which were all previously on handheld Nintendo platforms. After a long absence since Wario Land 4 for Game Boy Advance, the series returned on the big screen for more action you could shake a money bag at. With a new anime art style, crazy levels, and a good challenge to complete entirely, Shake It! was a real step up from the last game, but what I personally found to be the best part about this awesome game was its soundtrack.

The direction that Tomoya Tomita, the game's main music composer, took for Shake It! breathed new life into the music of Wario, with many well composed melodies and a grand scale of variety in music style. While I can't say the music of Shake It! is the best in history, I felt that the composer's work needed a lot more recognition than it has received, especially since Shake It!'s sales were pretty lukewarm compared to other great games on Wii. I just find it a shame a lot of people are missing out on not just a good game, but a good game with exceptionally good music, as well.

I handpicked the order of each song presented in this video I have made myself, but believe me, I did have a bit of hard time choosing a top 5, so if you like what I have here, just know there's more where these came from.

Of course, since I made this list, this top 5 countdown is my opinion. Feel free to agree or disagree, or post what are your top 5 songs from the game.

Either way, enjoy the music!

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Wario
• Land
• Shake
• It
• The
• Dimension
• Music
• Top
• Five
• Original
• Soundtrack
• OST
• Launchpad
• Labyrinth
• Sneak
• Peak
• Return
• Creep
• Blue
• Sea
• Gurgle
• Gulch
• Bamboozle
• Village
• Tomoya
• Tomita
• Good-Feel
• Nintendo
• Wii
• YR123
• YR
• YoshiRider
• YoshiRider123
• MasterYoshiRider

[mamamuas]

On the topic of Wario Land's music, what's your opinion on the soundtrack from the GB games? I've only had the chance to play WL3 and 4 exhaustively, but I'll be darned if they weren't flooding with memorable tunes. WL4 especially, since it's the one I played the most. Crescent Moon Village, Toy Block Tower, Toxic Landfill, the Hurry Up theme, Fiery Cavern...I wouldn't stop today.

Brawl's OST's absolute lack of WL love leaves me both sad and angered.

[MasterYoshiRider]

@mamamuas I agree that Brawl's OST's lack of Wario Land music was kind of disappointing. Wario Land is indeed a very overlooked series.

I have only played through the first two games, as well as Virtual Boy Wario Land (although I wasn't able to listen to the audio), and they definitely have some catchy tunes. The ending themes came to mind at first, but I'll be honest that I really think that Shake It!'s music tops them both by a long shot. Both games are fun, especially Wario Land II.

[HKLurch18]

great great list, and i totally agree, this game has an epic soundtrack. I love this game so much that i actually brought it to GamesCom in cologne yesterday where Charles Martinet, the voice of Wario signed it for me! Best Day ever! =D

[vulcanblast1]

am i the only one who thinks that wario is the best anti-hero in the history of video games?

[HellfireDJ]

Man, it's great to see someone who loves this soundtrack like me. So underrated (as the game)!

[scratch799]

Does this game actually HAVE any bad level themes to begin with?

I can't think of one which I struggle to listen to. In that respect, it reminds me of Yoshi's Story.

If I had to choose, I think my 5 favorites would be...

#5- Pirate Shop or Main Menu theme (if we're doing just stage themes though, Soggybog River, Slipshod Slopes, or Gurgle Gulch)

#4- Ropey Jungle

#3- Savannah Valley

#2- Stonetooth Caverns Escape

#1- Foulwater Falls

Its-All Mine gets an honorable mention!

[mamamuas]

WarioLand in general is surprisingly underrated both on the Internet and RL. It's like WarioWare hogged the spotlight completely and nowadays few remember, let alone PLAY, the games that put Wario on da map.

That lack of attention spreads to this video, sadly . As a proud owner of the game, I agree; picking up only 5 is a task only the brave take. You did a most magnificent selection.

Kudos, not only to your musical and videogaming taste, but for having the balls to go ahead and post this.