I Think Nintendo Is Letting One Of Its Wildest, Weirdest Characters Fade Away, And I Hate It

When I replayed 1992’s Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins recently, the part that struck me the most was the final level. Here was our castle-stealing enemy Wario (in his first ever appearance), towering over Mario, leaping about trying to crush him, nabbing power-ups, and generally being nefarious.

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 followed in 1994, establishing this dastardly anti-hero as the star of his own game for the first time. A humble Game Boy release it may have been, but it did a fantastic job of underlining the personality of this unique character.

In this title, Wario is determined to steal a valuable treasure in order to obtain a castle (that darn Mario selfishly wanted his own castle back at the end of the previous game after booting Wario out of it). His greed, bumbling nature, and body-slamming physicality are all well established here.

So, too, is his penchant for adopting hilarious-looking alternative forms like Jet Wario, who flies a little like Raccoon Mario, and Bull Wario who has access to another classic maneuver: the ground pound.

The anti-hero persona of Wario became well-established over a series of Wario Land games, with new transformations being added to the mix along the way. What I particularly enjoyed about these was that they were integral parts of properly exploring the games’ levels.

For instance, an arrangement of blocks that can only be destroyed by fire might be preventing you from going in a certain direction.

While Mario would probably resort to a Fire Flower in such a situation, Wario prefers the hands-on approach to problem solving: The player must find a nearby source of fire, ignite Wario (thereby becoming Hot Wario), and guide him into the blocks as he dashes around aflame. In some titles, he can’t die, which is a unique and interesting mechanic for those mostly experience with the also-excellent Super Mario games.

Other outlandish forms like Vampire Wario, Bouncy Wario, and Zombie Wario also play important parts in varying up the action. Wario Land 4 is my favorite entry, delivering some of the very best presentation that the Game Boy Advance was capable of and emphasising the importance of the timer in completing levels and then rushing to the exit.

There’s a unique sense of humor to a Wario platformer, a brute force brashness and a general tone that’s just so refreshing and anti-Mario. It all made him my favorite Nintendo character.

Wah, Wah, Wah!

Some Wario games have been great. Sometimes, things got a little too out there, with 2007’s Wario: Master of Disguise leaning all the way into the touchscreen capers of Nintendo DS and being awkward to control as a result. A few years before that, the lamentably short Wario World had hit the GameCube, and that wasn’t the most inspiring jaunt on the console.

Wario World launched in 2003, as did WarioWare: Mega Microgames!, the Game Boy Advance title that began to change absolutely everything for the character.

The furthest thing from a platformer, WarioWare was a great compilation of seconds-long minigames, fired at the player in rapid succession. The replay value lies in hitting high scores in each batch of games, whether arranged in themed sets for each associated character or mixed up from several batches.

Through eleven different games, I’ve had a blast with the WarioWare series. I loved collecting those odd little trinkets as I stylus-poked my way through the DS’s WarioWare Touched (some WarioWare unlockables are great, some absolutely aren’t). I had some of the most hilarious gaming nights of my life with Wii U’s Game & Wario, laughing at diabolically bad drawings in the Pictionary-esque mode. I even enjoyed trying to actually perform well on the ‘ladder’ in the Wario Cup in WarioWare: Get It Together.

This was not, however, the Wario I knew and loved. He’s a quirky platformer star, to me, and he hasn’t had a platformer since 2008’s Wario Land: Shake It!

That game captured his essence very well, with the Wiimote being employed in motion controls that weren’t obnoxious. Waggling it to furiously shake bags of treasure or hapless enemies was the sort of thing I could get on board with. It was also a beautifully hand-drawn 2D adventure, and there isn’t much I enjoy more than one of those on a cold winter evening.

Almost twenty years later, it seems he’s just the WarioWare meme machine, and I hope that’s not all he’ll ever be from now on. I’m a WarioWare enjoyer, sure, but these titles are really just an appetiser as far as I’m concerned.

If Donkey Kong can suddenly emerge with an all-new, much-beloved platform adventure after what seemed like an eternity, it’s only fair that Wario can too.