Captain Syrup

Captain Syrup in Wario Land: Shake It!.
Captain Maple Syrup
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Base	Kitchen Island
Voiced by	Hitomi Hirose (2008)
Debut	Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land

Captain Syrup is a pirate captain who has acted as a recurring antagonist in the Wario Land games. She had a notorious reputation as the dread leader of the Black Sugar Pirates, although the common public seemed to think Syrup was a man.

Background

As the captain of the S.S. Teacup and the Brown Sugar Pirates (later the Black Sugar Pirates), Syrup's rivalry with Wario was exceeded only by Wario's own rivalry with Mario. She was one of the only foes Wario has faced down more than once. Although they have stolen from each other on different occasions, Syrup shared a flirtatious relationship with her arch-rival and referred to him as 'handsome'.

Wario Land

Captain Syrup first appeared in Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land, when she and her crew had stolen a golden statue of Princess Peach, which was stored in the Syrup Castle atop Kitchen Island. Syrup also possessed a magic lamp which contained the genie Denpuu. Wario eventually attacked her castle in hopes of stealing all their treasures and the statue.

At the end of the game, Wario found Syrup resting in her bedroom in Syrup Castle. She immediately summoned Denpuu and used him to battle Wario, only for Wario to defeat the genie. Syrup then set off a bomb that destroyed the entire castle while she fled the explosion. Wario survived and stole Syrup's magic lamp, which he used to get his own castle, while Mario retrieved the Princess Peach statue.

Wario Land II

Captain Syrup later sought revenge on Wario in Wario Land II. She led an assault on Wario's castle, stealing all his money and flooding the castle. The outcome of Wario's counterattack depended on the ending path. In the "Storm Wario's Castle" ending, the pirates were able to kick Wario out of his castle and turned it into Syrup's new castle. Wario was able to reclaim his castle after defeating Syrup. In all other ending paths, Syrup and her pirates were chased around by Wario until Syrup engaged Wario in a final confrontation, usually while riding a flying machine of some sort. She was thwarted in each ending path, however, and Wario reclaimed his treasure.

Shake It!

After a lengthy absence from the spotlight, Syrup finally returned in Wario Land: Shake It!. After stealing the Ancient Globe from a museum, she learned that the treasure she was after - the Bottomless Coin Sack - had been stolen by none other than the Shake King. She soon met a Merfle and he offered her the treasure in exchange for her help. She took him on his offer, but with a twist. Rather than take on the Shake King herself, she gave the Ancient Globe to Wario as a 'present'. As she expected, Wario's greed motivated him to take on the Shake King himself.

Captain Syrup did her part to help out Wario by letting him brush up his skills on her new ship, the Sweet Stuff and then by running a store to sell him the goods he needed for his adventure. Though given her scam, charging Wario for her services was just another way to get more money out of him. After Wario had finally defeated the Shake King and started using the Bottomless Coin Sack, Syrup appeared in his garage and used a vacuum cleaner to suck up all the loose coins before taking the Coin Sack and driving off, leaving Merfle to explain their prior arrangement to an extremely angry Wario.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, she appeared as an Advanced-rank Primary Spirit. When fought in a Spirit battle, Syrup's Spirit possessed Bayonetta and fought alongside a giant pale Kirby (possibly acting in place of the Genie).

Trivia

• Like Samus Aran, the instruction manual initially refers to her as a man in order to surprise players at the end of the game.
• Syrup is notable as the first female antagonist within the Mario franchise.
• The only other Wario villain to make multiple appearances was Rudy, and that is only if Dr. Mario 64 is counted. Syrup remains the only villain to make multiple appearances within the Wario Land-branded games.
• Prior to the release of Shake It!, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu referred to her as Maple, which has led some to believe that her full name is Maple Syrup. However, the name Maple has not been used outside of that article, indicating that it may have been some sort of error and not actually canon.
• She was mentioned in Animal Crossing: New Horizons by Captain Gullivarrr, who compliments the player at one point by calling them "even sweeter than the famous Captain Syrup" but hopefully without the "double-crossin'".