Wario

Wario in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves.
Wario
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Gray
Relatives	Waluigi (possible brother)
Voiced by	Charles Martinet
Debut	Super Mario Land 2

Almost every hero has an evil doppelganger at one point or another in his or her career. Mario is no exception, but perhaps no hero has ever had such a 'evil twin' that could spawn his own series of spin offs with spin offs. Making his debut in Super Mario Land 2, Wario started as a rather generic villain. In appearance, he was taller and fatter than Mario. His mustache was crooked and his ears were strangely pointed. But his personality was not really defined until Super Mario Land 3 which is more popularly known as Wario Land. A greedy, self-absorbed anti-hero, he's often characterized in a crude manor (often with his finger up his nose).

Background

Early Years

Wario as a baby

His past is somewhat mysterious in itself. It is is said that he and Mario knew each other previous to his first canon appearance. He was seen as a baby in Yoshi's Island DS (making him around the same age as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong and Bowser). Apparently the Toadies tried kidnapping him but were annoyed by his crying. Baby Wario was found by Yoshi and joined his party of babies for the last four levels of the third world. He left the group after clearing the third level castle, so he could explore it for treasure.

He was later seen at the final level, Bowser's castle, searching for more treasure (to Baby Bowser's displeasure). He rejoined Yoshi's group for the final battle against Bowser, and afterwards he was returned to his "home", which was a pile of hoarded treasures on a floating raft. The ending revealed that Baby Wario was one of the seven "star children", born with one of the seven fallen stars. Baby Wario's special ability was a magnet which could attract metal (particularly coins).

Adult Life

Wario the Villain

Wario's original debut

Wario played the role of villain most often in his early appearances. In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, he took over Mario's castle and Mario Land while Mario was busy taking care of Tatanga in Sarasaland (in the first Super Mario Land). Mario eventually defeated Wario at the end of the game.

Afterwards, Wario attacked Mario and his friends again in Mario & Wario, in a stranger way. He flew around in a small plane and dropped buckets and other items that landed on the heads of Mario, Peach or Yoshi, blinding them as they navigated an area of obstacles. But with the help of Wanda and Luigi, Wario's prank was undone. At the end, one of the characters boarded a similar plane and dropped a bucket over Wario's head, causing him to crash and then become trapped in the bucket. In Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!, Wario battled with a hero from another world, Bomberman. Whoever won this battle depended on which character had been chosen by the player.

Wario then invaded the Peaceful Woods with an army of monsters and redubbed it Wario's Woods in the game of the same name, although it was implied that the monsters were only hostile due to "the nightmare that Wario inspired", but he was ultimately defeated by Toad. At the end of the game, in the NES Round Clear version he becomes huge in an attempt to intimidate Toad, but then becomes too large and the body "pops" to revert Wario to his normal self with an inflation pump nearby. At this point he attempts to flee in his plane only to crash into a tree and fall comically. In the SNES Round Game Mode, he erected a castle in the middle of the forest which Toad destroyed with a single bomb while Wario flew overhead in his plane, and without Wario's influence the monsters settled peacefully in the forest. This was the last of Wario's villainous acts for a while.

Wario Land

After their early clashes, Wario surprisingly did little more to trouble Mario. Instead he focused on amassing his own fortune. In Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Wario heard that the pirate crew of the notorious Captain Syrup had stolen a golden statue of Princess Peach. Wario decided to steal the statue from Syrup as well as the pirates' other treasures. He hoped that the treasures and the ransom money from the statue combined would be enough to get him his own castle. Wario attacked Syrup's pirate forces on Kitchen Island and succeeded in defeating Syrup. Mario beat him to the golden statue, but Wario was able to recover a genie lamp, and the genie was able to grant Wario the castle he longed for.

Wario in his classic yellow outfit with his Wario Car

Wario continued going on treasure-hunting adventures, first traveling to the lost land of the Awazons in Virtual Boy Wario Land. Captain Syrup later attempted to gain revenge on Wario. She had her pirates raided Wario's castle and looted all his treasures while he was sleeping. This set the events of Wario Land II into motion, as Wario battled and defeated Syrup to regain his treasure. In Wario Land 3, he accidentally stumbled into a magical music box with a city inside. Tricked by the evil clown demon, Rudy, he set out to collecting all the treasures for him. But not one to be taken lightly, Wario defeated Rudy and set the inhabitants free from his evil.

Wario also acted as antagonist to Dr. Mario in Dr. Mario 64. He attempted to steal Dr. Mario's Megavitamins, believing they would make him rich, but Mad Scienstein beat him to the punch. Wario and Dr. Mario spent the entire game chasing down Mad Scienstein. Wario did not get the Megavitamins in the end, but he does get to beat down Mad Scienstein.

As time went on, Wario heard about a great archaeological find, the pyramid of Shokura in Wario Land 4. His plundering of the pyramid not only greatly added to his collection, but freed Princess Shokura from an ancient curse placed by the Golden Diva. However, his personal treasure horde was once more threatened after the collection of a strange Black Diamond. His greed released the ancient evil within and as a result his treasure was transformed into a variety of monsters. In Wario World, he and the spritelings worked together the defeat the ancient evil.

Wario also gate-crashed on Mario and Luigi in Super Mario 64 DS, accompanying them on a trip to Princess Peach's Castle for cake. But the three were captured by Bowser and placed within the walls and portraits of the castle. Wario was held prisoner by Chief Chilly until he was rescued by Luigi. Afterwards, he put his efforts into helping Mario, Luigi and Yoshi to rescue Peach (ironic, considering how they were the exact same characters Wario had antagonized years ago in Mario & Wario).

WarioWare, Inc.

Among his castle and gaming company, he also owns his own Bi-Plane - the Bulldog. He also has the 'Wario Car', his own stylish purple car suitable for treasure hunting. He has a psuedo-brother named Waluigi. It is unknown if they are actually relatives, but they are often seen working together in the sports games.

The Incredible Wario-Man

In WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$, Wario was shown to be living in a house in Diamond City. Inspired by the success of video games like Pyoro, Wario decided to make his own video game-developing company: WarioWare, Inc. He did not want to do the work himself, so he hired a group of his friends to make games for him. Wario also pulled fast ones on the group and made escape plans to avoid paying them, in his plans to make as much money as possible with as little work. Wario also had microgames of his own, the only common theme between his games being that they somehow feature Wario's image.

Among his many misadventures, Wario has also unleashed the ability to turn into the incredible Wario-Man, a superhero that effectively looks like Wario in pajamas. He first unleashed the power in WarioWare: Twisted! when, while hanging around Dr. Crygor's lab, he was sucked into the Gravitator. Meanwhile Orbulon and some of Wario's other friends are riding a spaceship. When Orbulon spots Wario-Man, he shoots him down. In WarioWare: Touched! Wario-Man is born again when a sickly Wario eats some moldy garlic. The effect of the garlic transforms him into Wario-Man once again. After showing off new powers, he is hit by a train as the effect begins to wear out and is knocked into a sewer where he is promptly beat up by the Sewer Guru.

The Form Baton.

In Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, Wario returned to his villainous ways and stole the red Music Key. He takes it to an amusement park with the intention of using it to create 'DDR: Wario Mix', a series of interpretive dances to all of his lesser qualities, such as stench, greed, and stubby legs. Mario bested him in a dance contest, however, and he relinquished the key.

Wario discovered an ancient device known as the Form Baton in WarioWare: Smooth Moves and used it to bring a new craze to Diamond City. At the end of the game he tested a new motorcycle made for him by Penny Crygor. However, the motorcycle malfunctioned, sucked him up and spat him out as an army of Tiny Warios. The Tiny Warios attacked a strawberry field, and later combined together in order to become Wario again. However, at that point Wario was chased down by the Splunks, who forced him to return the Form Baton to the Temple of Form.

More Treasure Hunting

Wario in his thief costume

One day while watching some television in Wario: Master of Disguise, Wario spied a new television program about the Silver Zephyr, a gentleman thief who used a magic wand to don different disguises. Envious of this thief's power, Wario devised the Telmet which allowed to enter television land. He stole the wand, Goodstyle which left the Silvery Zephyr as Count Cannoli. Wario renamed himself the Purple Wind (silent but deadly!) and took off to steal as much as he could.

He inevitably got involved in a scheme to collect the five Wishstones. His efforts were constantly harassed by Count Cannoli and Carpaccio. In the end it turned out that the Wishstones were used to steal away the ancient demon, Terrormisu and Wario had unwittingly released her. However, Wario was able to defeat her and she fled back to her home dimension. Goodstyle revealed he was actually the first of the Cannoli clan that sealed Terrormisu away and he was using Wario because he knew he could defeat him. Wario was angered he'd been used, but Goodstyle gave him access to the entire Cannoli fortune. Wario was ecstatic... but when he returned to the real world, he realized a fatal flaw in his plan - the Telmet only transported him! All of the riches he accumulated remained in television land, leaving Wario with nothing.

Wario shaking it up

While relaxing on top of the Wario Car one day, Wario received an unexpected gift in Wario Land: Shake It!. The gift was the Ancient Globe received from none other than his old enemy Captain Syrup, whom had apparently turned a new leaf. He was immediately greeted by a Merfle, one of the subjects of Queen Merelda. With a great deal of disinterest, Wario heard the tale of how the evil Shake King had taken over the Shake Dimension and captured the Queen. It was only after the Merfle mentioned the Bottomless Coin Sack, one of the queen's treasures, that Wario suddenly took interest.

Immediately Wario set off into the Shake Dimension. He met up with Captain Syrup on her new ship, the Sweet Stuff and underwent a few training exercises before setting off. In order to combat the Shake King, he had to free all of the Merfles imprisoned across the globe and defeat five evil bosses to gain their Boss Emblems. Only then was he able to break the seal of the Shake King's castle. The two did battle and Wario soon proved himself the better (and greedier) man and toppled the evil king. For his efforts, Queen Merelda came to greet him and thank him for his efforts. Not interested in her at all, he quickly grabbed her and tossed her aside and took the Bottomless Coin Sack with him back to his own world. But as he was lost in the nirvana of endless money, his riches were suddenly snatched out of his hands by a greedy Syrup, who had previously made a deal with Merfle that entitled her to the Coin Sack. A stunned Wario watched Syrup drive off with his loot while Merfle tried to explain. Enraged at being hoodwinked again, Wario took out his frustration on the Merfle.

Abilities

Wario is often shown as having great strength. This is especially particular in the Wario Land games. Whereas Mario prefers to jump on enemies, Wario can release a charging attack to tackle them into next week. Wario also utilizes the hip drop technique, and he often picks up enemies to throw at other enemies. On the other hand, Wario can barely jump into the air and is often slow and sluggish compared to the more nimble and acrobatic Mario brothers. He is naturally classified in the heavyweight class in the sports games. Additionally, in Super Mario 64 DS, Wario is the only person who can change into Metal form, after exposure to the Power Flower.

Wario also has a variety of other forms, which are mostly seen in the Wario Land games. Some are gained through power-ups like Mario's, but most Wario can gain from being attacked by certain enemies (for example, being pounded would turn him into Flat Wario). See Wario's Different Forms for more info.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wario has the following moveset:

• Standard Special Move: Chomp- Wario will reach forward with his mouth to bite into his opponent. If successful, he will continue to bite into his enemy until they break free.
• Side Special Move: Wario Bike- Wario whips out his motorcycle from the Warioware games and rides it around. If he gets knocked off of it, he has to re board it afterwards.
• Up Special Move: Corkscrew- Wario spins upwards into the air.
• Down Special Move: Wario Waft- The infamous farting attack; the attack is charged up and is more powerful the longer it is held in. A powerful fart can propel Wario straight into the air.
• Final Smash: Wario-Man- Wario transforms into his Warioware alterego by eating garlic. Wario-Man is controlled similarly to Wario, but he can pummel enemies, negate various moves, deliver a powerful shoulder tackle and fly while performing his midair attacks. The only downside is that using the motorcycle as Wario-Man will cause the motorcycle to go uncontrollably fast.

Sports

Wario and Waluigi team up to race

Wario has participated in most of the sports of the Mushroom Kingdom, despite his apparent hatred for Mario. These include:

• Kart Racing: Wario's first competition with Mario and friends is in Mario Kart 64. Wario is playable in every following game, including Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Arcade GP, Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, and Mario Kart Wii.
• Golf: Wario is playable in Mario Golf 64 and Mario Golf GBC (after being defeated in the Match Game, being the last opponent after Mario), Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Golf: Advance Tour (where he was unlocked by transferring 54 Birdie Badges from Toadstool Tour).
• Tennis: Wario is playable in Mario Tennis 64, Mario Tennis GBC (in the minigame mode, through the Game Boy-Nintendo 64 transfer device) and Mario Tennis: Power Tour.
• Baseball: Wario is a playable captain in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers. His team is the Wario Muscles.
• Soccer: Wario is also a playable captain in Super Mario Strikers and in Mario Strikers Charged.
• Basketball: Wario is playable in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Itadaki Street DS.
• The Olympics: Wario is playable in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

In many of the opening cutscenes of the games, Wario is often seen with Waluigi trying to find ways to thwart the Mario brothers. In the Mario Tennis 64 intro, Wario and Waluigi watch as the others start off a tournament. During a match between Mario and Luigi, the two villains barge in to settle their rivalries. However the unexpected arrival of Bowser, who just wants to play Tennis, eases tensions.

In Toadstool Tour, Wario and Waluigi spy on Mario and Luigi playing a friendly game of golf with Peach and Daisy. Aiming to show them up, they have an unsuccessful competition with Yoshi and Koopa Troopa that leads to a confrontation with an extremely angry Bowser.

In the Power Tennis opening, Wario and Waluigi lose a match to Mario and Luigi. Later when defacing a picture of Mario and Luigi on the scoreboard, they are pursued by the police. While escaping, they stumble into Bowser's secret training facility. There they spend time training in order to beat the Mario brothers. They interrupt the final match by taking Donkey Kong and Yoshi's place. Rather than play Tennis though, they bring out a Bob-Omb firing machine instead. However Mario and eventually all of the other competitors end up using their Tennis Rackets to send the Bob-Ombs flying back towards Wario and Waluigi as well as Bowser's blimp in the air. The three villains end up being caught in a huge explosion of Bob-Ombs for their efforts.

The Super Mario Strikers intro begins with a match between Wario and Mario, which ultimately ends in Wario's defeat. In the Superstar Baseball intro, Wario receives an invitation to play Baseball when Bowser issues a flyer out asking for challengers. During the competition, Wario is seen playing on the side of Waluigi and Donkey Kong. Despite a strong showing, eventually their side loses.

Wario also has a role in the Challenge Mode of Mario Super Sluggers, where his area of the Baseball Kingdom is the Wario City. However, Bowser Jr. turns off the power of the city causing it to be filled with a fog and stranding Wario on a rooftop. After Mario's friends came to rescue him, he would then be recruited into their baseball team. Wario could use his magnet power from Yoshi's Island DS to move metallic objects and was the only character who could open treasure chests. In the ending movie he and Waluigi, in the manner of the previous intro movies, attempting to sabotage the fireworks ceremony by replacing one of the bob-ombs Mario was supposed to knock into the sky with his bat with a Bullet Bill (which presumably his bat was too weak to deflect), but Bowser leaped in at the last minute to send it back to the brothers. Instead of being hit by the bullet, Wario and Waluigi were caught on its arms, which carried them into the sky before exploding and dropping them.

Wario is also playable in all eleven games of the Mario Party series - Mario Party, Mario Party 2, Mario Party 3, Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, Mario Party 7, Mario Party 8, Mario Party-e, Mario Party DS and Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party. He will be returning in Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party 2.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Wario appears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, with his WarioWare outfit and his classic overalls as an alternate costume. His special moves are derived from a combination of Waioware and original moves, and he also has his tackling ability from Wario Land. He has two trophies- one normal trophy and one of Wario-Man. Wario also appears as six different stickers- using artwork of Wario from Super Mario 64 DS, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Super Mario Strikers, with his bike from WarioWare: Mega Microgame$', as Tiny Wario from Virtual Boy Wario Land and as Wario-Man from WarioWare: Touched!!.
  • In "The Subpace Emissary", Wario was one of the antagonists serving under Master Hand as part of the Subspace Army. He went around using a Dark Cannon to turn fighters into trophies. He first appeared at the end of the first level, capturing whichever princess (out of Peach and Princess Zelda) that Kirby had failed to save. Wario later attempted to capture Ness at the Ruined Zoo. But when Ness continuously dodged his beams, he instead aimed his cannon at Lucas so that Ness took the blow instead, and Ness was captured by Wario. Wario stored the trophies in a special hovering car; he was later lured out when he saw a trophy of Luigi lying on the side of the road. At that point King Dedede stole his kart, and a swarm of Waddle Dees took the Luigi statue from him. Wario then battled Lucas and Red at the ruins, but he was defeated and became a trophy. Soon afterwards a Subspace Bomb was set off, and Wario's trophy was sucked into the portal to Subspace. It remained there until freed near the end of the game. Wario then joined the party and rode his motorcycle up the staircase towards the Underground Maze and the final battle with Tabuu.
• Wario also appeared in the eighth world of the Japan-only game Denetsu no Stafy 3. In this world he worked together with Stafy to get treasure and used some of his transformations from the Wario Land games. He gave Stafy a treasure related to him in each of the first three levels. These treasures were a Wario hat, a Warioware game and a Wario nose and mustache set.

Other Media

• Wario appears throughout the Super Mario-Kun manga series after first making a one-panel teaser appearance in an issue based on Super Mario Kart. This included arcs based on Super Mario Land 2, Wario's Woods, Mario & Wario and Wario Land, although his role in the Wario Land adaptation was diminished due to Mario, Yoshi and Luigi also appearing. He has also been featured in a spin-off manga started in 2007 entitled Ore Dayo! Wario Dayo!! (which translates to It's Me! I am Wario!!), which focuses on Wario games such as Wario World and Wario: Master of Disguise.
• Wario was featured in a pair of "Mario Vs. Wario" comics printed in Nintendo Power magazine as follow-ups to the "Super Mario Adventures" comics. The first was based on Super Mario Land 2 and had Wario inviting Mario to his house and having bosses from the game attack him as he came. The root of Wario's hatred for Mario was shown to be Mario's unintentional bullying of Wario in their childhood days. In the second comic, they compete in buying Princess Peach a present she wants.

Canceled Appearances

• Unused text in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga indicates that Wario was one of the celebrity guest characters planned to appear when a new drink was made, and apparently he was to appear to taste the Hoohoo Blend, causing the cashier to complain about his outstanding tab. He gives Wario's Gold, which was changed to a Greed Wallet in the final game.

Trivia

• In Japanese, the word 'warui' means bad, possibly meaning Wario's name has more significance than just being M upside down.
• It is implied in Mario Golf that Wario's mustache is fake; it is found along with a yellow cap in one of the lockers in the clubhouse.
• Wario appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and it is also possible to change Mario's costume colors to Wario's colors.
• In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, if Mario wears the W Emblem Badge his clothes will change to Wario's colors.