- This article is about Wario's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Wario.
Wario (ワリオ, Wario) makes his first playable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was one of the first newcomers announced at E3 2006 alongside Meta Knight, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, and Snake.
Wario currently ranks 10th on the tier list (the second highest ranked sub-series Mario character) due to his unique attributes as a fighter and unique options for approaching fighters. On the downside, his attacks lack range and his Up Special recovery is mediocre, being one of the worst in the game. However, this has not stopped Wario from achieving high tournament results and good matchups.
Attributes[]
Even by Smash Bros. standards, Wario is a very unique character. Due to being small and a heavyweight, he is difficult to KO, but he also possesses the best aerial mobility in the game due to having the third fastest air speed and drastically more air acceleration than other characters.
Wario's aerial mobility, in conjunction with his good aerial attacks, greatly aid in Wario's ability to shift direction and speed quickly, making him a good punisher, and camper despite lacking a true projectile. Wario's is also capable of approaching fighters as well as quickly escaping due to his mobility and small stature.
Wario also possesses a good ground game. His grab game is extremely potent, with his down throw being able to chain opponents, and his forward throw dealing 13% damage. Wario's Smash Attacks are extremely powerful due to possessing low startup and end lag and dealing high damage, particularly his Forward Smash.
Wario's Special Moves are highly versatile moves that reflect his unpredictability. Chomp is a quick damage racker and projectile eater that cannot be shielded, giving Wario a good defensive option. Wario Bike is a good approach move, being capable of avoiding most attacks while moving, as well as functioning like a projectile when dismounted. Corkscrew easily traps opponents into multiple hits, and serving as a useful out of shield option. Wario Waft is Wario's most unpredictable move, having low startup and end lag and being capable of KO'ing at 50% as well as giving Wario a massive vertical boost.'
However, Wario is hampered by many flaws. Wario lacks other KO moves outside his Smash Attacks and Wario Waft, and therefore must be careful if they turn stale. Wario's biggest flaw lies in his mediocre range, with other characters with disjointed ranges being more than capable to outclassing him. His recovery is also poor without Wario Bike or Wario Waft, leaving only Corkscrew which goes a mediocre distance. In addition, his Special Moves are held back in some way; Chomp takes longer for large items, Wario Bike is unusable if far away from Wario, Corkscrew goes its aforementioned distance, and Wario Waft requires a long charge time.
Overall, players must remain creative in their approach with Wario, taking advantage of his unpredictable moves and aerial mobility to bait opponents into making moves that can be punished, as well as remain out of reach of other characters with better range.
Moveset[]
Ground Attacks[]
Normal[]
- Neutral Attack: Performs a left hook, then a right hook. 6% for hook, 5% if close to body.
- Forward Tilt: Winds up his fist before punching forward. Can be angled. 12-14% on arm, 11% for body.
- Up Tilt: Raises both hands above his head. 10% if clean, 6% if late.
- Down Tilt: Stabs his hand at the ground. 8%.
- Dash Attack: Trips and falls flat on his face. 7% if clean, 5% if late.
Smash Attacks[]
- Forward Smash: Performs a shoulder tackle. 19% uncharged, 26.6% fully charged.
- Up Smash: Spins multiple times while attacking with his head. 1% (hits 1-5), 10% (hit 6) uncharged, 1.4% (hits 1-5), 14% (hit 6) fully-charged.
- Down Smash: Spins on the ground while attacking with his head. 13% (clean), 10% (mid), 5% (late) uncharged, 18.2% (clean), 14% (mid), 7% (late) fully-charged.
Aerial Attacks[]
- Neutral Aerial: Spins in place while extending his hands and fingers outward. 9% (clean), 4% (late).
- Forward Aerial: Sticks his foot out foward. 7% (clean), 5% (late).
- Back Aerial: Pushes his head forwards. 10%.
- Up Aerial: Claps upwards. 17%.
- Down Aerial: Turns upside down and spins downward, attacking with his head. 2% (hits 1-6), 4% (hit 7)
Grabs and Throws[]
- Pummel: Pokes the opponent in the torso. 2%.
- Forward Throw: Spins twice before throwing the opponent. 12%.
- Back Throw: Throws the opponent behind him before hip-thrusting them. 2% (hit 1), 7% (throw)
- Up Throw: Throws the opponent upwards and headbutts them. 4% (hit 1), 6% (throw)
- Down Throw: Slams the opponent into the ground and ground pounds them. 4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)
Special Moves[]
Wario's Special Moves | |||
---|---|---|---|
Brawl | 3DS/Wii U | Ultimate | |
Standard Special | Chomp | ||
Side Special | Wario Bike | ||
Up Special | Corkscrew | ||
Down Special | Wario Waft | ||
Final Smash | Wario-Man |
Taunts[]
Up: Belly-laughs so hard (as heard by the Wii-mote when selecting Wario), his jaw unhinges, so he has to manually put it back with his hands. If he is holding the back tire of his bike, it looks as if he is biting it.
Side: Accompanied by a "wiggly" sound similar to the one heard while using Corkscrew. Wario wiggles his butt at the screen with his hands extended in each direction, and he teasingly snickers. Wario seems to float as the bottoms of his shoes are touching each other. His shortest taunt.
Down: Wario faces the screen, holds up three fingers with his left hand that seem to form a "W" for Wario, and then does the same with his right hand after putting away his left hand. Then, he holds them both out at the same time. Wario utters "Wah!" three times for each time he holds up a hand, the third "Wah!" having the most enthusiasm.
While riding Wario Bike (in any direction): Wario faces to his right and does his signature "W" sign at the screen with both hands and then picks his nose with his left hand. Another trick considered a taunt is when Wario does a wheelie by gently holding up on the control stick, where he stands on the back of his seat and flaps his right hand based on how fast he is going up and down.
In competitive play[]
Wario has strong matchups all around. He is countered by three characters, soft countered by one, has 8 even matchups, soft counters 14 characters, counters 8, and hard counters 2. Wario's superb air game and air speed allow him to have amazing mobility (especially for his weight class) and his aerials are all either fast, powerful, or both. His air game allows him to counter characters like Zero Suit Samus, Lucario, and Toon Link, beating all of them in the air. Wario also possesses a very powerful chain grab with his down throw which is particularly effective against characters such as Wolf and Bowser. However, characters with disjointed hitboxes, such as Marth and Meta Knight in particular outrange him on all fronts and can space him out for the entire game. King Dedede can also shrug off his aerials (except for Uair) and can chaingrab him. Peach also can float past Wario's aerials and she can combo his grab release into a guaranteed up smash negating one of her biggest weaknesses (her poor kill power). Even some lower tiered characters such as Sheik can heavily abuse his aerial grab release. Overall, Wario has good matchups and is a threat to many characters.
Wario was initially ranked at 8th place in the high tier on the first Brawl tier list. However, as the metagame developed, Fiction, TheReflexWonder, and other dedicated Wario mains began achieving dominance at nationals, such as FAST 1 and GENESIS; these players demonstrated the usefulness of his great aerial mobility and powerful KO options, and as a result, Wario quickly shot up the tier list, reaching as high as 3rd in June 2009. Although he was considered one of the best characters in the game at this point, his position at the top of the tier list did not last for long. Meta Knight's continuing prominence in competitive highlighted Wario's trouble versus the character due to his lack of disjointed reach, and many Wario mains, such as Fiction, became inactive in the scene or dropped Wario for other characters. Wario has since dropped down to 10th place in the high tier.
While Wario is currently seen as a borderline top tier or a high tier in singles, he still remains an extremely powerful threat in doubles play. He is considered one of the best doubles characters in the game, because his aerial mobility serves as a powerful disruption tool, allowing him to easily maneuever among a field of four players. He also possesses two of the most reliable combo and KO setups in his down throw and forward throw, and his half-charged Wario Waft has become notorious for swinging the momentum of a match with an extremely early kill. Wario remained one of the most popular doubles picks throughout Brawl's competitive lifetime, and many players, most notably Ally, brought out a pocket Wario in doubles to great success. False and Nakat's double Wario team in particular was feared as one of the strongest doubles teams in the United States in 2013 and 2014, with victories over ADHD and Nairo and a second place finish at SKTAR 2.
Tier placement and history[]
Wario was initially ranked at 8th place in the high tier on the first Brawl tier list. However, as the metagame developed, Template:Sm, Template:Sm, and other dedicated Wario mains began achieving dominance at nationals, such as FAST 1 and GENESIS; these players demonstrated the usefulness of his great aerial mobility and powerful KO options, and as a result, Wario quickly shot up the tier list, reaching as high as 3rd in June 2009. Although he was considered one of the best characters in the game at this point, his position at the top of the tier list did not last for long. meta Knights's continuing prominence in competitive highlighted Wario's trouble versus the character due to his lack of disjointed reach, and many Wario mains, such as Fiction, became inactive in the scene or dropped Wario for other characters. Wario has since dropped down to 10th place in the high tier.
While Wario is currently seen as a borderline top tier or a high tier in singles, he still remains an extremely powerful threat in doubles play. He is considered one of the best doubles characters in the game, because his aerial mobility serves as a powerful disruption tool, allowing him to easily maneuever among a field of four players. He also possesses two of the most reliable combo and KO setups in his down throw and forward throw, and his half-charged Wario Waft has become notorious for swinging the momentum of a match with an extremely early kill. Wario remained one of the most popular doubles picks throughout Brawl's competitive lifetime, and many players, most notably Template:Sm, brought out a pocket Wario in doubles to great success. Template:Sm and Template:Sm's double Wario team in particular was feared as one of the strongest doubles teams in the United States in 2013 and 2014, with victories over Template:Sm and Template:Sm and a second place finish at SKTAR 2.
Role in The Subspace Emissary[]
Wario is the tertiary antagonist in The Subspace Emissary and one of the Subspace Commanders alongside Bowser and Ganondorf, though he appears to have relatively low control over the army in comparison to his cohorts. Wario's reason for joining was merely to cause widespread havoc, and he actually cares very little about the army's actual objective, so long as he's allowed to do whatever he wants. This is also Wario at arguably his most villainous as he’s shown to be downright sadistic and does villainous things not only out of greed but for his own enjoyment. After Kirby does battle with Petey Piranha to free the princesses, one of the cages in which Petey holds either Princess Zelda or Princess Peach will break, depending on which cage the player damaged more while battling Petey. The Princess who the player saves will escape with the player; the other will be injured and trapped beneath their wrecked cage. Wario drops heavily into the stadium with a Dark Cannon. Blasting the princess, Wario traps her in the form of a trophy and takes off with the trophy on his shoulder. He is revealed to be a member of the Subspace Army.
Wario then hunts down Lucas in an abandoned zoo, dispatching Porky to corner him and weakening him. Porky is defeated by Lucas with the help of Ness, but Wario appears and fires at Ness. Ness dodges all of Wario's cannon shots and learns that Ness is too skilled to get hit. He then fires at Lucas, who was vulnerable, and Ness is shot when he pushes Lucas aside. Wario then takes away Ness, and Lucas runs away in fear.
Upon finding the trophy of Luigi, Wario lets his guard down and picks up the trophy, apparently elated to find the brother of his rival Mario. Wario is ambushed by Waddle Dees and then loses his trophies to King Dedede, who steals his Cargo. Realizing that he needs to redeem his failure, Wario tracks Lucas and his partner, the Pokémon Trainer, down and fights them. Wario is defeated and left behind. When Galleom's Subspace Bomb detonates, the area of Subspace expands and absorbs Wario's trophy. After coming back to life, Wario confronts King Dedede later on the steps to the Great Maze, and he is stunned to see Luigi and Ness beside him. King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness point to the Great Maze to show it to Wario, who thinks that they are pointing to his nose (Wario was standing between King Dedede and the Great Maze). Thus Wario starts to pick his nose. Realising that he can't fight all of them, he instead drives his bike to the top and beats them there. He also aids the heroes in their battle against Tabuu. The credits depict the entire group on a cliff, looking out at sea towards a large "X" formed out of light, the location of what once was the Isle of Ancients. Although he works for the Subspace Army, he had no specific allegiance to Master Hand, only following his orders because he enjoyed doing so.
Non-playable appearances[]
- Midair Stadium
- The Ruined Zoo
- The Path to the Ruins
- The Battlefield Fortress
- The Ruins
- The Ruined Hall
- Subspace (Part II)
Playable appearances[]
- The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))
Other[]
On-Screen Appearance[]
Crashes in sideways on his bike while laughing, jumps off, and his bike explodes while he dusts himself off.
Idle Poses[]
- Crosses his arms, fists clenched.
- Scratches his butt.
Victory Pose[]
Victory Theme: Wario Series Theme
- He does a donut on his bike, makes a "W" sign with his hand, saying "Yes!", then pulls on his mustache and makes the "W" sign again, process repeats.
- He laughs gloatingly and then falls over, rolling on his back.
- Pats his belly, releasing a fart that after smelling, results in an "Oooh..." from Wario.
Wii Remote Choice[]
Wario does his signature belly laugh, also heard when initiating his upward directional taunt.
Credits Music[]
- WarioWare, Inc. Medley
Cheer[]
- "Wario! Cha-Cha-Cha!"
Costume Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Due to his dodgy walking animation, if he is walking backwards on conveyor belts in custom stages, he cannot walk onto another conveyor belt.
- Despite Wario Land being an action-based game series, most of Wario's moves don't come from any of his games, but are unique to Brawl, much to the disappointment of many fans.
- Also, despite his crouch in Wario Land shrinking Wario to half his size (for purposes of a platform game), his crouch in Brawl is next to useless.
- Wario never blinks. In fact, the only times his eyes are closed are when he is asleep, stunned, or being hit.
- Biker Wario's buttons show a W, and underneath it says "Made In". This is a reference to the Japanese name for the WarioWare series, "Made in Wario". Also on the back of his WarioWare outfit, it reads "Hurry Up!".
- If Wario is wielding a Hammer/Golden Hammer and stays in one place, he will be floating and swinging instead of standing.
- Wario, even though he wields the Home-Run Bat with his hands, swings the bat in his side smash with the bat held in his mouth.
- Although Wario still has the same voice actor (Charles Martinet) as in his own games, in Brawl, it is somewhat less cartoonish than in said games - the same applies to Luigi and Mario.
- Wario is the only character in Brawl with more than 3 taunts, not counting Smash Taunts.
- Wario is the only character to have two poses when selecting him. When he's in his biker outfit, he has his hands in a position of clapping with his mouth open. In his classic overalls, Wario has his arms out while making his signature "W" with his fingers.
- Wario is the only character that can ride a vehicle without using a Final Smash.
- If Wario hits a static Deku Nut while on his bike, he is launched with enough force to be instantly KO'd.
- When Wario picks up a Screw Attack or a Franklin Badge, he wears them on his nose; but when he becomes Wario-Man, he wears them on his shirt.
- Wario does not gain any horizontal distance whenever he jumps from a ledge. This means if no directional input is pressed, Wario will simply re-grab the ledge after he falls.
- Brawl is the only game where Wario is a starter character.
External links[]
- Wario's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
- Subspace Emissary Screenshots
- Wario Character Guide at SWF
- Wario's hitbox size of each of his moves
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Wario universe | ||
---|---|---|
Characters | Wario (Brawl · 3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) | |
Side Characters | Assist Trophies | Kat & Ana · Ashley |
Mii Fighter Costumes | Ashley · Wario | |
Stage Hazard | 5-Volt | |
Stages | WarioWare, Inc. · Gamer | |
Music | List | List of Music (WarioWare series) |
Songs | "Ashley's Song" · "Mike's Song" · "Mona Pizza's Song" | |
Collectibles | Trophies | Brawl Trophies · 3DS Trophies · Wii U Trophies |
Stickers | List of Stickers (WarioWare series) | |
Spirits | List of spirits (Wario series) | |
Related universes | Mario · Donkey Kong · Yoshi · Wrecking Crew |