Wario

Wario
Wario series, Mario series character
File:WarioShake.JPG File:WarioWare.jpg Wario in his classic outfit (top/left) as depicted in the Wario Land series and Mario spin-offs, and in his biker outfit holding a Wii Remote (bottom/right) as depicted in the WarioWare series.
First game	Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992)
Created by	Gunpei Yokoi

Wario (ワリオ) is a fictional Nintendo video game character created by Gunpei Yokoi. Wario was designed as another antagonist to Mario (besides Bowser), and first appeared in the 1992 handheld video game Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the main villain and final boss. Since that time, Wario has developed into the protagonist and antihero of the Wario series, spanning both handheld and console markets, in addition to his numerous appearances in spin-offs of the Mario series. He is voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices Mario, Luigi, and Waluigi.

In most of Wario's adventure games, his actions are selfish and greedy, but he consequently does good deeds in order to get what he wants, the antagonizing force being an obstacle.

Wario's personality and actions are often the opposite of Mario's typical heroism and kindness, just as the first letters in their names appear to be opposites. The name "Wario" is a blending of Mario's name with the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Mario". The letter W also resembles an upside-down M, which is recognized by many as a naming correlation. In a kind of in-joke to the upside-down 'M', Wario's brother Waluigi has an upside-down 'L' on his hat.

Characteristics

Personality

In the video games he's been in, Wario has appeared as a very greedy Italian man who is always on the look out for any coins, or something more valuable, which most of the time starts an adventure where his ruthlessness and amazing strength can land him valuable rewards (which he proceeds to use foolishly). Unlike Mario, he is seen in multiple games with lavish vehicles such as motorcycles and cars, further evidencing his use of his various treasures.

Wario is also known for trying to get in Mario's way, as seen in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix where he has one of the music keys in his own theme park, and in the Japan only video game, Mario and Wario. In the end however, Mario usually comes out on top, and Wario is sent packing. His apparent partner is Waluigi, but no one knows if they are related or not.

Wario's hatred for Mario seems to have lessened from full blown hatred to simply causing mischief for him. In most sporting games, he usually uses dirty tricks, but nothing that would be considered evil or damaging. Instead, he tends to show a competitive spirit when combating or playing against Mario, but also tends to be a bad sport when he loses.

Even though Wario dislikes Mario, he sometimes has helped him in games such as Super Mario 64 DS as the fourth character who has been kidnapped by Chief Chilly, and Yoshi's Island DS where he makes an appearance as Baby Wario and helps Yoshi.

Physical appearance

Wario is portrayed as an exaggerated version of Mario; he is very corpulent and sometimes taller or shorter than Mario, has muscular arms, an absurdly large mustache, a bellicose cackle, and speaks with a more pronounced Italian accent, provided by Charles Martinet. Stylistically, he is similar to cartoon villains such as Snidely Whiplash and Dick Dastardly, though his counterpart, Waluigi, has an even greater resemblance to them. Traditionally, Wario wears a plumber outfit similar to Mario's, although with some differences. Mario's outfit is red and blue, with brown shoes and an M on his cap, while Wario's is yellow and purple, with curly-toed green shoes and a W on his cap. However, the release of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ saw Wario wearing motorcycling gear, with a yellow-and-red helmet emblazoned with the letter W, aviator goggles, yellow fingerless gloves also emblazoned with a W, a torn light-blue denim vest over a dark-blue shirt, and pink pants. One of his main abilities is his great strength, which he uses to overpower enemies far larger than himself. Since Wario Land 2, Wario has the ability to take advantage of physical status effects, such as being set on fire or flattened.

In Wario Land 4, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, it is shown that Wario owns a purple convertible, loosely resembling a 1960s Cadillac, dubbed the Wario Car. He owns a similar car, the "Brute", in Mario Kart DS that is black with a checkered design. The Wario Car also makes a number of cameo appearances in the WarioWare titles, both in minigames and cutscenes. According to the trophy section of one Mario Party game, Wario's car was designed for him by fellow WarioWare series character Dr. Crygor. One of the most distinctive features of the car is that its hood ornament is shaped identically to Wario's mustache. Wario also possesses a motorcycle, which features prominently alongside him in the WarioWare series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii.

Furthermore, Wario has poor hygiene. This can be revealed by talking to one of the Toads as Wario in Super Mario 64 DS and going to World 3-5 for the first time in Yoshi's Island DS. Also, he has had a crush on Princess Peach in earlier games such as Wario Land and Super Mario Land 2. Wario is incredibly fond of eating garlic, which is often used as a power-up in several of his games and acting as an answer to Mario's Super Mushrooms, and as a result many games depict his breath as foul-smelling. Wario can eat garlic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl to trigger his Final Smash, Wario-Man.

Recently, with the onset of games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Strikers Charged, Wario has been depicted using explosive flatulence as a weapon against his opponents. Prior to WarioWare: Smooth Moves (the first game of his to depict him using flatulence jokes), he was never associated with bodily functions.

Appearances

See also: List of Wario video games

Wario platforming series

The first in the Wario series, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, marked Wario's first appearance as a protagonist and introduced his first villains as antagonists, Captain Syrup and her Brown Sugar Pirates (later renamed the Black Sugar Pirates in the sequel). Wario discovers that the Brown Sugar Pirates have stolen a gigantic statue of Princess Peach, made of pure gold, from Mario and that he is looking for it. Wario then decides to take advantage of this and steal it from Captain Syrup before Mario can retrieve it. However, all his hard work is lost when, just as the castle built around the statue crumbles, Mario comes by in a helicopter and uses a powerful magnet to airlift the statue, waving and smiling obliviously at Wario on his way out. On the other hand, the genie accepts the treasure that Wario has collected throughout the game and builds him a castle in exchange with the size of the castle being proportional to the amount of treasure collected.

The game is also one of the relatively few Wario games to feature limited lives. If Wario loses all his lives, the game ends, and the only one, apart from Virtual Boy Wario Land, where he made use of various hats to get special powers in much the same way as Mario subsequently did in Super Mario 64,

In his next adventure, titled Wario Land, for the Virtual Boy, Wario must fight his way out of a giant cave which houses several different worlds, gathering money along the way. The game features Virtual Boy-style pseudo-3D gameplay, allowing Wario to travel into the background at various points in the levels.

File:FireWarioshot.PNG

Wario set ablaze in Wario Land 3.

Wario Land II was released in March 1998 for the Game Boy and a year later for the new Game Boy Color, thereby being the first game to feature Wario in color. The story continues the rivalry between Wario and Captain Syrup. Captain Syrup and her Black Sugar Pirates loot Wario's castle, and Wario subsequently chases them to their lair on Kitchen Island to retrieve his treasure. After defeating Captain Syrup and the Giant Spear King, Wario recovers his treasure and returns home.

Unlike the first two games, in Wario Land II Wario's abilities are gained through status effects. For example, he can be set on fire by the fire from a candle, allowing him to be set on fire and run uncontrollably in one direction until he bursts in flames, which in turn allows him to burn through certain objects.

Instead of having a life meter as in some of his other games, Wario loses coins when he takes damage, and in the event that he runs out of coins, he still cannot die — basically making him invincible. Wario Land II also featured secret exits in its levels, which allowed the player to experience alternate boss battles and endings. There are five end boss battles and one more battle before the player can experience the actual ending.

In Wario Land 3, also for the Game Boy Color, Wario finds himself trapped in a Music Box World, and before he can leave he must help a mysterious figure regain control of this world by defeating a horde of monsters. Only when the figure promises Wario that he can keep all of the treasure he collects along the way does Wario agree to help. This game introduces a new villain, Rudy the Clown, who would later appear in Dr. Mario 64. Unlike past games, Wario is not set on a linear path, and can collect any treasures available to him. He also lacks all of his innate powers (with the exception of jumping and walking), and must find them as he makes progress in the game. Just like Wario Land II, Wario is invincible, and the bosses do work around the common fact that being harmed once ends the battle.

File:Wario Land 4 screenshot.png

Screenshot from Wario Land 4, with Wario exploring in traditional side-scrolling adventure like Mario.

The premise of Wario Land 4 for the Game Boy Advance begins with Wario reading about a treasure-packed golden pyramid deep in the jungle. Wario decides to track down the treasure and travels there in his Wario Car. He must retrieve four pieces of jewelry (each guarded by a boss) in order to get to the final treasure and defeat the Golden Diva (the master of the pyramid who appears throughout the game), who transformed Princess Shokora into a cat. Wario Land 4 sports a 'middle-way' between the classic limited-lives gameplay of the first game, and the invincibility of the two following. Here, Wario has a health meter, and if he loses all health in a level, he loses all the treasure gathered in that level and is ejected back out to the "world map" - instead of losing lives.

Wario World for the Nintendo GameCube is a departure from typical Wario platforming games in how it plays. It was co-developed by Treasure and Nintendo, and is a 3-D beat 'em up/platforming video game. Unlike the Wario sidescrollers, Wario World focuses more heavily on action, although there are still many platform jumping and puzzle-solving sequences. Wario gets his hands on a mystical Black Jewel, which eventually destroys his castle and turns all of his treasure into monsters. Throughout the game, Wario will encounter Sprites trapped in small boxes. Once Wario defeats the Black Jewel, the Spritelings will reward him with a new castle. Depending on how many Spritelings, treasures, and coins Wario finds in each area, he will get one of two castles—if he does not collect enough wealth and Spritelings, he will be given a shack. As in Wario Land 4, Wario has a health meter, but the status effects have been removed.

Wario: Master of Disguise showed the return of the Wario Land series, and was released on March 5, 2007 for the Nintendo DS. The game allows Wario to transform into various different forms of himself, each giving Wario certain abilities. It centers around Wario (A.K.A. The Purple Wind), inventing the Telmet, allowing him to enter a television series revolving around thievery. In this game, Wario is given criminal-like abilities from the get-go as The Purple Wind (Thief Wario), such as unparalleled jumping abilities, similar to those of a cat burglar. Wario also steals a magic wand known as Goodstyle to aid him in his criminal endeavors. The wand is essential for Wario in order for him to don various disguises, such as Cosmic Wario (an astronaut) and Genius Wario (a mad scientist-type disguise). The plot revolves on Wario acquiring the various pieces of the Wishstone, an ancient tablet that supposedly grants the wish of those who behold it, in order for him to gain all the wealth and treasures in the world. As in the latest Wario adventure installments, Wario has a health meter. Wario's disguises include Thief Wario, Cosmic Wario, Genius Wario, Captain Wario, Dragon Wario, and Wicked Wario.

The next game in the Wario Land series is Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, a 2D sidescroller. It uses a sideways Wii Remote for control and has the player shake the remote among other things to use special moves.

WarioWare series

Wario World marked a break in the series of games featuring Wario going solo in 'classic' treasure hunting. Instead, the franchise shifted focus towards the newly established series of WarioWare games, starting with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! (later remade as WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! for the GameCube) for the Game Boy Advance.

In this series of games, Wario is the founder of a video game development company, which he founds after seeing a report on a new "killer app" video game titled Pyoro on television. He then hires his friends to help him make his games. In most of the WarioWare titles, after they make the profit from the video games, Wario attempts to run away with all of the profits, but is foiled in the end. Each of the games consists of a number of microgames that last between one and seven seconds. The game spawned several sequels available across all of Nintendo's current consoles and handhelds.

The release of WarioWare: Twisted!, released in 2004 (Japan) and 2005 (North America) for the Game Boy Advance, utilized new features of the Game Boy Advance. In this game, Wario wakes up from a nap on his couch and begins to play a spaceship game on his Game Boy Advance, but he soon crashes into an asteroid and loses. Infuriated, Wario breaks his GBA by throwing it at the floor. Overcome with regret, he takes it to Dr. Crygor, who restores it to a playable condition, though it loses its face buttons and gains a tilt function in the process, which inspires Wario to develop new games based on the tilt function.

The cartridge of the game has a built-in gyro sensor and rumble feature (for feedback during rotation). Most of the microgames are played by rotating the entire handheld device.

In WarioWare: Touched!, which was the first game in the Wario series for the Nintendo DS, Wario is walking down the street after having stolen a Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP, but trips and drops them into a sewer hole. However, an old man floats up, and asks him if he dropped the GBA systems, or if he dropped the 'fancier one.' Wario states that he wants all of them, and then lunges at the Sewer Guru, causing them both to fall into the sewer. Wario comes out with the fancier system, and has no idea how to play it until he finds the stylus. After winning a game, he decides that this idea would make a ton of money, and goes to get his friends to help out. Near the end, Wario walks down the street and trips near the same sewer hole. The Sewer Guru comes out, red all over the face, and smacks him over the head with a baton as revenge.

The newest of the WarioWare Inc. games, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, released 2007 (2006 in Japan), saw the Wario games move on to the Wii console. In this game, Wario stumbles upon an old temple, and when he comes to the Form Baton (similar to the Wii Remote), he notes its inspiration for a new series. He then escapes Indiana Jones style (a gigantic boulder chases him when he picks up the Form Baton). The Form Baton is however eventually returned, only to be used by Orbulon for his own purposes soon after.

Other game appearances

In "300", Wario played Leonidas.

Other media

The Super Mario Adventures graphic novel, which is a collection of comics originally serialized in Nintendo Power, features Wario in two of the stories. It features a variety of storylines, including a story of Wario's past and his relationship with Mario, explaining Wario's rivalry with Mario.

Various Wario merchandise has been released, including plush dolls, T-shirts, and stickers. There is also a series of Mario Kart RC cars, featuring Mario, Luigi, and Wario in their respective karts.

Wario could be seen among many evil imaginary characters in the South Park trilogy Imaginationland. Wario also appeared in an episode of Robot Chicken involving famous characters in a car race.

External links

• Wario Land: Shake Dimension/It! official page
• Wario at the Super Mario Wiki