Wario


 * For fighter info, see Wario (SSBB).
 * For universe info, see Wario (universe).

Wario (, Wario) is a character from the Mario series, known as the "Anti-Mario" in his early days, that eventually became popular enough to spawn his own side-franchise. He has made small cameos in the first two Super Smash Bros. games, and will make his debut as a full fledged character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Character description
When Nintendo's very first handheld system, the grey brick known as the Game Boy, launched in 1991, Gunpei Yokoi's Super Mario Land launched with it. Mario's 4-bit adventure was so successful that one year later, a sequel arrived. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins takes place directly after the first game, when Mario comes home after defeating the evil alien Tatanga. When he arrives, he discovers that his castle has been taken over by his antagonistic, greedy counterpart, Wario, and he must retrieve the 6 Golden Coins hidden around the land to get his home back. In the final showdown, Wario was revealed to look very much like Mario himself, except fatter, slightly shorter, and with a big, bulbous nose that had a jagged, pointy mustache jutting out of it. In a three-part battle, Wario uses the same powerups that Mario had access to throughout the game, and adds his own abilities to the mix. Wario charges at his opponent with his shoulder, and crashes to the floor butt first, which become staple moves for the character in future games. When counquered by Mario, he reverted to a "tiny" form, and escaped out the window to search for better treasures.

And search for them he did, as he landed a starring role in the third game in the series, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. It takes place directly after 6 Golden Coins, in which Wario sets out to earn as much gold as humanly possible, so he can buy his own castle and rub it in Mario's goody-goody face. This game played differently than the first two games, because Wario brought his own style with him. Instead of deploying acrobatics like Mario, Wario relied on his brute strength, and the ability to sport various hats that gave him different powers, such as a dragon hat that spewed fire. He also gained his own villain in this adventure, the equally greedy Captain Syrup, who captured a Genie to use for her own selfish purposes. By the end of the quest, Wario gives both Syrup and the Genie a sound thrashing, and pays the Genie to grant him his castle.

After antagonizing Mario and his friends yet again in games such as Wario's Woods and Mario and Wario, Wario continued to have three more adventures on various Game Boy platforms. In Wario Land II, Wario experiences a case of bad karma when Captain Syrup kicks him out of his own castle and steals it. Wario Land 3 involves Wario doing his first (slightly) unselfish deed, saving the inhabitants of a music box from the devious Rudy the Clown- on the condition that he gets to keep all the treasure that he earned along the way. In Wario Land 4 he does what Mario had been doing for the last decade beforehand and rescues a princess. Through these games, Wario eventually evolved from the classification of "villain" and earned the title of "anti-hero".

After all these platforming escapades, Wario, now sporting biker gear as opposed to a yellow version of Mario's duds, notices the boom of the video game industry, and decides to take advantage of this craze by forming his own game company. Due to his short attention span, instead of creating a single game of reasonable length, he opts to make over two hundred games, each of them a mere five seconds long. Too short to even be called "minigames", they were dubbed "microgames". Finally, since he was too lazy to make all these games himself, he hires a handful of his fellow residents of Diamond City to do his dirty work for him, among them the feisty multitalented Mona, and the Nintendo superfan 9-Volt. Thus, the Wario Ware franchise was born.

As if having two of his own series of games wasn't enough, Wario has also made appearances in a great number of Mario spinoffs, including the Mario Kart and Mario Party games, as well as a great plethora of Mario sports titles. In these titles, Wario is no longer evil, but more of a bumbling comic relief. He also gains a sidekick bent on bothering Mario's brother, Luigi, named Waluigi.

Due to Wario's popularity, he has been chosen as one of the newcomers in the latest addition to the Super Smash Bros. franchise, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Instead of being added as yet another Mario character, Wario enters the arena representing the Wario Ware franchise, as shown by his biker uniform.

As a playable character
Wario's color scheme appears as an Alternate Costume for Mario. This has no effect on gameplay whatsoever.

As a playable character
Wario is once again represented by a costume with his colors being sported by Mario. Once again, this costume change has no effect on gameplay.

Trophy
In addition, Wario has his own Trophy in the game, unlocked by beating All-Star Mode on any difficulty level without continuing.


 * Wario:
 * 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)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

 * Main article: Wario (SSBB)

Wario is confirmed as a newcomer in the latest installment of the Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. As a fighter, his moves and maneuvers seems to be very erratic and sometimes comical in nature, ranging from a dash where he appears to be dancing, to a fart attack that builds up in power as time passes. There are still several unknown details as to how he will play in-game. Mario will also have a Wario costume again and Wario will still be able to retain his original suit.