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Wario (JP) is a character in the Mario games who first started off as an antagonist, but has since then has appeared in his own games such as the WarioWare series, Wario Land, and Wario World. He quite often makes playable appearances in spin-off Mario games, like the Mario Sports and Mario Kart series

Wario essentially embodies the antithesis of Mario. Whereas Mario is kind, altruistic and brave, Wario is shown to be greedy, cruel and exploitative of others. While Mario's motives are centered on selflessness and heroism, Wario's motives are centered on personal gain and jealousy. Sometimes in his treasure hunting endeavors, he will coincidentally help others for his own personal gain, such as in Wario Land 3. He's also famous for his bizarre behavior, which is much more exploited in games themed after him like the WarioWare series.

Wario is extremely vain in spite of his less-than-photogenic appearance, emblazoning his castles and Mario Kart racetracks with his image and even working his signature nose-and-mustache combo into all of his WarioWare microgames. Wario's games often have a more madcap and surreal sense of humor than Mario's, reflecting the comic nature of the man himself. Unfortunately for Wario, his money-grubbing schemes tend to end disastrously.

Other key attributes of Wario include his immense strength and surprising jumping prowess (despite his weight and lazy lifestyle) such as in various games where Wario has demonstrated his ability to smash through walls and hurl enemies many times his size. He is also depicted as being tougher and more durable than Mario as evidenced in the Wario Land games.

Wario's name is chiefly a portmanteau of the Japanese word warui, roughly meaning 'bad', and Mario's name. In addition, 'W' and 'M' resemble each other when inverted, further making Wario's name indicative of his nature as Mario's 'evil twin'.

In addition to chief appearances in the Mario and Wario series and spin-offs, he's also made his Super Smash Bros. debut as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii. Wario's special moves include the Chomp, the Wario Bike, the Corkscrew, and the Wario Waft. The outfit he wears is either his attire from WarioWare Inc. or his traditional outfit, depending on the player's choice. 

Over the years, Wario has evolved from an evil villain with a lust for power and conquest of castles (à la Bowser) to an anti-hero figure who operates his own money-making schemes, which is explored in detail throughout the WarioWare series. On the other end of the scale, Wario has occasionally even seen himself portrayed in a more positive light, especially in Super Mario 64 DS where he was initially kidnapped with the other plumbers; he can be freed and help the heroes with the collection of Power Stars, although his motives in this case are not clear.

Description

Whilst based upon the image of Mario, Wario has been designed as a complete antidote to Mario inside and out, serving as an embodiment of uncouth greediness. This is reflected in his physical appearance, with his obese stomach, a jagged moustache, a pink blob for a nose, dipping chins sticking out, grinning eyelashes and an unnaturally wide mouth. On the other hand though, Wario boasts a spectacular level of strength which is picked up in his strong, muscular arms and large hands fitted with gloves.

Meanwhile, his traditional attire - in similar fashion to Mario's - consists of a clashing colour scheme of yellow and purple, with yellow used for his underlying shirt and hat and the latter for his overalls, opposing to Mario's color palette. His hat proudly bears the W mark in a deeper shade of purple, and to complete his odd taste of fashion Wario typically wears a pair of bottle green slippers. However, in his first appearance in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and in his early appearances, Wario's overalls had a pinkish-tint and wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt, but in his later appearances, Wario now wears a yellow short-sleeved shirt and purple overalls, which was first seen in Wario Land II.

Alongside his traditional outfit, Wario boasts an alternate costume that he primarily wears for his WarioWare Inc. corporations. This costume provides a more businesslike image, whilst still maintaining a bizarre taste that Wario is renowned for. It consists of a dark indigo top with a ripped blue jacket over it, combined with pink jeans strapped on with a red belt and a pair of yellowish fingerless gloves. The most outstanding feature though is his yellow helmet which he proudly bears over his head. His alternate outfit is rounded off with dark indigo slippers.

History

SML2 - Wario Artwork

Wario's classic appearance.

Wario's made his first appearance in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins for the Game Boy as the main antagonist. In this game, you learned that when Mario went off to save Princess Daisy from Tatanga in the game Super Mario Land; Wario, in his immense jealousy of Mario, went and took over Mario's Castle and its surrounding island. Wario then gave the 6 gold coins containing the power of the castle to 6 trusted allies of his, including Tatanga. When brought together, these coins granted Mario access to the inside of the castle where he could then defeat Wario.

After Super Mario Land 2, Wario gained much popularity so he starred as a boss in another game titled Mario and Wario, a Japan-only game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In this game, Wario would throw a bucket on top of either Mario, Yoshi, or Peach's head, so Wanda the Fairy would then have to guide them to stop Wario. This is one of the few games to use the SNES Mouse.

Soon after Mario and Wario, Nintendo released Wario's Woods, a game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo Entertainment System. In this game, Wario attacks the Mushroom Kingdom, so Toad had to stop him. In the NES version, Wario was the only boss, though the SNES version had multiple bosses including Wario. Wario's Woods is the only game on the NES to have an ESRB rating and it is also Wario's only appearance on an NES game.

Soon after Wario's Woods, Nintendo gave the rights to Hudson to a Bomberman game with Wario as a guest. The game is called Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!. It's unknown whether or not this game was the influence for Wario to always use bombs in games after that, but it is expected by some.

Wario also starred in his minigame collection, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! for the Game Boy Advance. The game also had a GCN spin-off called WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, both starred the characters Orbulon, 9-Volt, Wario, and other various new characters. Further titles in the series include WarioWare: Twisted!, WarioWare: Touched! and WarioWare: Smooth Moves (on the GBA, DS, and Wii respectively). In the original WarioWare,, Wario decides to exploit the burgeoning video game industry for profit in a piece of self-satire from Nintendo. To save money all of his games are to be micro-sized, while development duties are mostly handed out to his friends in Diamond City. Unbeknown to them, Wario fully intends to keep all the profits. Further games have involved other loose plots and madcap humor, with microgames appearing apropos of nothing.

Wario entered the Mushroom Kingdom fraternity proper in Mario Kart 64, his first appearance as a playable character in a Mario spin-off title. Quickly endearing himself with declarations that he was "gonna win", he has appeared in every Mario Kart title since, always as a heavyweight character. Other titles that he's been included in are Mario Golf and Mario Tennis. He also appeared as one of the villains in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.

Owing to his popularity as a comic anti-hero, Wario has starred in a number of solo platforming adventures over the years, mostly in the vein of Mario's earlier outings and mostly on handheld consoles. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, while trading on Mario's familiarity, marked the first Wario platforming adventure, in which the yellow archfiend set out to capture a massive golden statue of Princess Peach that had been stolen by the Black Sugar Pirates, led by Captain Syrup.

Two further Game Boy/Color outings were to follow - Wario Land II, in which Wario's treasure was stolen by the Black Sugar Pirates, and Wario Land 3, in which Wario was abducted by a music box that he stumbled upon in a cave and was promised treasure for helping its apparent former ruler. Wario Land 4, on the Game Boy Advance, marked a departure from the previous two games in the series in that Wario was able to die, and saw Wario exploring an ancient pyramid in a quest, once again, for wealth. Wario: Master of Disguise has been his only Nintendo DS adventure thus far. Wario even appeared in a title for the Virtual Boy, Virtual Boy Wario Land.

To date, Wario appeared in two home console action-style games. The first one was a GameCube title named Wario World - in this game, a mysterious black jewel that Wario stole and added to his treasure horde came to life in the middle of the night and promptly set about transforming Wario's castle and all of his treasures into a parallel dimension populated by bizarre monsters. The second game, a Wii title called Wario Land: Shake it!, starts with the return of Captain Syrup. She starts the plot by stealing a globe from a museum and giving it as a gift to Wario, who then opens the large parcel in which the globe came in and reads the note that captain syrup left with it. The note reads "The real gift is inside. Enjoy!".

Wario, not understanding the true meaning of the note, then proceeds to grab a sledge hammer. Before he can complete his backswing, a hole in the top of the globe opens up and steam rushes out. Startled by all this Wario ducks down and by this time a telescope appears pointed at the globe just above his head. Out of the steaming hole appears a creature called a murfle. As soon as Wario hears the murfle speak, he immediately jerks out of his defensive position and hits his head on the telescope. Angered By all this, Wario then grabs the murfle and draws his fist back to punch him and the murfle stops him by telling him the Shake King has stolen from his homeland a magical sack of coins that never gets empty. Wario is roused at the thought of endless money and travels to the murfle's homeland on the globe via the giant telescope in search of the endless coin sack.

Wario's transformations

Wario has become known over the years for his many and varied transformations, as brought about mostly by certain enemies in his platforming adventures. Examples include:

  • Fiery Wario - Upon being set ablaze, Wario will dash back and forth uncontrollably, eventually being consumed by the fire and smoldering down to near nothing. While he smolders, Wario slows down and can destroy torch blocks that he makes contact with. Remarkably, after being burnt to a crisp, he is able to reform himself and make a full recovery, with even his clothes intact.
  • Frozen Wario- Some enemies will try to freeze Wario. If they succeed, then Wario will freeze and be sent sliding across the screen in the direction of the freeze blast until he hits a wall. This ability is more of a hindrance than a benefit, although Wario is invincible and can slide through spike balls in certain places without damage.
  • Crazy Wario - Wandering around in a daze to jaunty theme music, Wario lost much control over his movements. An ability to knock out his enemies with a bizarre killer belch was removed after Wario Land II. This ability strangely resembles intoxication or some other form of impairment.
  • Snowman Wario - Another cold transformation that occurs when Wario gets snow dropped on him. Snowman Wario defeats enemies by walking into them, and when on a slope, he will roll until he hits a wall.
Fat Wario

Fat Wario.

  • Fat Wario - Certain enemies in the Wario Land series will throw food at Wario. When Wario comes into contact with the food, he ingests it and instantly gains half his weight, becoming Fat Wario. His jump is severely hampered along with his speed, but in return for his loss of mobility, he gains the ability to defeat enemies simply by walking into them along with the ability to perform a Ground Pound, making him able to destroy strong blocks with relative ease. Wario returns to normal after getting some exercise (for example, walking a certain amount of steps or falling into water and swimming).
  • Tiny Wario - When Wario is hit by an enemy in Wario Land, he shrinks much the same as Mario does in Mario games, thus becoming Tiny Wario. This transformation robs Wario of the ability to use his signature shoulder barrage attack, although Wario did have the advantage of a faster running speed and the ability to fit through narrow gaps. This transformation was also seen in WarioWare: Smooth Moves when he was transformed into hundreds of smaller versions of himself due to riding a motorbike given to him as a present by Penny Crygor.
  • Vampire/Bat Wario - In Wario Land 3, Wario donned a fetching cape and gained the supernatural power to defeat enemies by walking into them by getting a bite from a bat. He could also transform into a bat himself. Regarding this as a rather cool transformation in the Wario Land 3 manual, he was no doubt disappointed by the decision in Wario Land 4 to remove the 'vampire' part. Also seen in Dr. Mario 64.
Wario-Man

Wario Man.

  • Wario Man - As seen in the WarioWare series first debuting in WarioWare Twisted!. Wario Man can do literally everything that regular Wario can, all while wearing a hilarious bright pink outfit. In WarioWare: Touched!, Wario proclaims that he's "stouter than an iron borito and tougher than cardboard". Wario can turn into Wario Man by eating 'funky' garlic.

Mario Kart series

Excluding Super Mario Kart, Wario has appeared in every Mario Kart game to date. He is always in the heavy class of drivers and usually has a relatively high top speed accompanied by poor acceleration common to heavy drivers. Contrary to this though is his Wario Bike, featured in Mario Kart Wii, which actually has the highest acceleration and lowest top speed of any heavy vehicle.

In these games, he appears to be very unsportsmanlike and laughs if he passes another racer. In most installments, he is a playable character from the beginning, but in Mario Kart 7, he is an unlockable character. In Mario Kart 8, Wario is a playable character from the beginning again. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Wario shares the special Bob-omb item with his default sports partner Waluigi, who shares similar character attributes to him.

Mount Wario MK8

If a mountain wasn't enough, how about Wario's own hot-air balloon?

In addition, throughout the Mario Kart series, Wario has had a number of tracks dedicated to him, which are typically of extreme and unorthodox nature with difficult, twisted layouts and settings that reflect his character attributes. They include two stadiums, which feature sandy bumps and mud pits, a gold mineshipwrecks and even a Colosseum circuit. Finally, for Mario Kart 8 the latest track in Wario's name is Mount Wario, a lengthy adventure throughout a mountainous terrain course.

In Mario Kart Tour, their are also two variants of him, them being Wario (Hiker) and Wario (Cowboy).

Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate design.

Wario was never a playable character until Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though he did appear as a trophy in the GameCube game and Brawl's predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee and one of Mario's alternate costumes is based on Wario's outfit in all of the Super Smash Bros. series, except Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Attacks

His special attacks are:

Wario, like every other character, has a wide assortment of attacks that he is able to perform. He has one of the best aerial games because of his very fast lateral air movement, and his aerial attacks are excellent for performing combos. His down tilt is one of the fastest moves in the game, able to offensively zone. If he uses the Wario Bike, he will hop on a motorcycle and drive around the stage smashing into his opponents. It is excellent recovery as it travels far horizontally and if it collides with the stage, he can easily recover. He is able to get off of it, though other people can then pick it up and break it.

Wario-Man is Wario's alter-ego and Final Smash. Wario's attacks have different properties as Wario-Man, and his special moves become more powerful as well.

Wario returns in Brawl's follow-up, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, this time he is an unlockable character as opposed to being a starter character in Brawl. He retains his attacks from Brawl. He also lost some of his alternate costumes and now has eight costumes as opposed to twelve, four WarioWare and four Classic.

Wario returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an unlockable character once again. He now has a new Wario-Man Final Smash, instead of being a temporary power-up, it is now a supercharged attack maneuver. He still has eight costumes, four WarioWare and four Classic.

Costumes

In Brawl, he was the only character with 12 costumes with one half being his biker WarioWare design and the other being his classic design. This continues into Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U with him being the only other character besides Little Mac to have 16 costumes.

Wariobrawl

A classic Wario screenshot from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Trophy Descriptions

Super Smash Bros. Melee

"An old acquaintance of Mario's. His failure to seize Mario's castle has fueled Wario's desire for a palace of his own. Wario has herculean strength and can do things that even Mario can't imitate. His unexpected skills include a talent with items and the ability to assume many roles, among them a snowman, a zombie, and a bat."
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (11/92)

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

"Mario's self-styled rival. He loves money and gross humor. He often sets out in search of hidden treasure. His bold moves come from his superhuman strength and are completely different from Mario's moves. Aside from adventuring, he's also the chairman of game maker WarioWare, Inc. Its franchise game is WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$."
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (11/92)
WarioWare Mega Microgame$ (5/03)

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U

"A living embodiment of gross, this villain hates Mario and loves money. He claims to have known Mario since childhood, but who can tell if that's true? In Smash Bros., he's a seriously agile heavyweight fighter. He can store up his trademark Wario Waft for explosive results. Did I mention he's gross?"
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (11/92)
WarioWare Mega Microgame$ (5/03)

Trivia

  • Wario is based off of Popeye's enemy Bluto.
  • Wario is also based off of Pinocchio's antagonist, Stromboli.
  • Wario was designed to look like an ugly-looking caricature of Mario.
  • Wario was created to symbolize Nintendo R&D1's frustration to work on Game Boy titles, such as Super Mario Land.
  • Wario is the first character in Super Smash Bros. to use a vehicle as one of his moves, alongside Diddy Kong.
  • In all of the Super Smash Bros. games except for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, one of Mario's alternate costumes is based on Wario's color scheme. The same thing happens in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door when Mario wears the W Emblem badge to turn his colors into Wario's.
  • In Super Mario Odyssey, there is a Wario costume and hints Wario's major roles, saying that Mario should at least wash it before he wear it.
  • In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Plummer's Academy", there exists a fat, unnamed plumber who wore yellow and purple. This could be part of the inspiration for Wario, who was created three years later from the episode's original airing.
  • In Wario Land: Shake It!, the first stage's song "Stonecarving City" is considered to be Wario's theme, as its used in his victory theme in the Super Smash Bros. series and in the amiibo mode for Mario Party 10.
  • The design director of Wario Land: Shake it!, Tadanori Tsukawaki, stated that he sees Wario as a cool loser, who is actually rather manly instead of just a gross guy who farts.
  • In his early appearances, Wario originally wore fuchsia overalls and a yellow long-sleeved shirt, which was first seen in his debut in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, but in his later appearances, Wario now wears purple overalls and a yellow short-sleeved shirt, which was first seen in Wario Land II.
  • Wario's vision is 20/40. This lower quality of vision is due to studying.
  • Wario's hand grip strength reaches 80 psi.
  • Wario has a shoe size of 8.
  • Wario can perform over 100 push-ups without stopping.
  • Wario has a lack of cavities due to him eating the harmful bacteria that cause it. This was debunked in WarioWare: Touched! where Wario suffers from cavity problems after eating sweets.
  • Wario once fought King Dedede in the popular internet show Death Battle and lost.
  • Wario's Woods on the NES marks Wario's only appearance in an NES game.
  • Although Wario is absent in Mario Tennis: Power Tour, Waluigi makes an appearance in this game, making it the only time where Waluigi is seen without Wario.
  • Jack Black (Bowser's voice actor in The Super Mario Bros. Movie) has stated his interest in a potential sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie in which Pedro Pascal, who played Mario in a Saturday Night Live sketch, would voice the character, the film's main villain.

Gallery

  Main article: Wario/gallery
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