Wario (universe)

Wario (universe)
Developer(s)	Nintendo Game Freak Hudson Soft Treasure Intelligent Systems Suzak Good-Feel
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Koichi Kawamoto Goro Abe (WarioWare) Hiroji Kiyotake (Wario Land)
Genre(s)	Minigame Platfomer Maze Beat-em-'up Puzzle
Console/platform of origin	Game Boy
First installment	Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994)
Latest installment	WarioWare: Move It! (2023)
Article on Super Mario Wiki	Wario (universe)

The Wario universe (ワリオ, Wario) refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties concerning the subfranchise of the world-famous Mario game franchise centered on series anti-hero Wario. Wario's franchise is split into two major subseries, WarioWare and Wario Land. WarioWare is a series consisting of collections of many fast-paced and quirky "microgames", minigames lasting only a few seconds that are played in rapid succession, containing imagery based on topics such as sports, gross-out humor, food, and other Nintendo games, wheras Wario Land is a series of platformers with cartoonish mayhem, bizarre humor and somewhat unsettling imagery, being a more deranged take on the normally cheery and childish Mario archetype. Wario's appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, as well as that of related content, primarily represent the WarioWare series, though over time more representation of Wario Land, mainly in the form of minor content, has been added as well.

Franchise description

In mid-1989, early in the Mario franchise's release history, Nintendo released the Game Boy platformer Super Mario Land, in which Mario traveled to a far-off land to rescue Princess Daisy. This gave way to a subseries of handheld platformers; the second game in the series, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, which was released for the Game Boy in late 1992, debuted a new antagonist that resembled a larger, portlier, more thuggish counterpart to Mario, Wario. Wario, originally presented in a more straightforward, villainous light, takes over Mario's castle while Mario is away; then, once Mario returns, he must go on a quest to collect the six titular coins that are the keys to his castle in order to defeat Wario and reclaim it from him. Wario, for a time, then became a recurring Mario villain. Mario & Wario (a Japan-only release for Super Famicom by Game Freak in 1993) and Wario's Woods (released in the West in December 1994) both featured Wario enacting revenge plots against Mario and his friends. In one of Nintendo's first crossovers with a third-party franchise, Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman, a Game Boy installment of the Hudson Soft franchise Bomberman, the Bomberman must prevent Wario from plundering his home planet.

Wario was then permanently assigned a new role and outlook in the Mario universe, which is the one that still defines him to this day - that of a less malicious anti-hero motivated by a comically insatiable greed. Like Yoshi and his own relevance in the Mario games, Wario forever became part of the collection of recurring Mario side characters that would take part in a variety of Mario games, such as being a playable character in the Mario Kart and Mario Party and a major playable character in other Mario spin-off titles, while at the same time beginning to star in his own games.

The "third" game in the Super Mario Land subseries, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, became the first game in the Wario Land series of platforming titles for various platforms, a series which established a style of platforming different from the familiar Mario formula of jumping and bouncing on enemies through focusing more on physical attacks such as running tackles. The scenarios in Wario platforming games typically center around Wario's greed-motivated adventures and the incidental deeds of goodness he commits for others while doing so, such as defeating a more threatening villain in his quest to claim the reward money. Early in his own games, Wario briefly had an equally greedy rival of his own, a female pirate named Captain Syrup, who had briefly made a return appearance in 2008's Wario Land: Shake It! (known as Wario Land: The Shake Dimension in European languages) from Good-Feel (the most recent Wario-centric platformer) after a decade of absence.

Starting in 2003, Wario received a complete rebranding of his character when he starred in a more deranged, parodic, borderline scatological series of minigame collections entitled WarioWare, alongside an all-new cast of bizarre side characters and a very different twist on the established minigame collection formula. This subseries began as an idea for a Nintendo 64DD title, Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, in which the player would sometimes complete short minigames in quick succession before being interesting enough to expand into its own game on the Game Boy Advance. The developers at Nintendo R&D1 tentatively chose Wario as the star because he "was always doing stupid things and was really idiotic" according to Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto, before settling on him as the permanent mascot for the series. Intelligent Systems have mantled the series ever since the second installment, with programmer Kazuyoshi Ohsawa going on to create the Rhythm Heaven series, which has a similar aesthetic to and frequently crosses over with WarioWare.

In these games, Wario gets the idea to acquire vast riches by founding his own video game company to capitalize on the medium's success. To achieve this, he also calls up all of his friends from his hometown, Diamond City, to program hundreds of extremely simple games for him to maximize profits. The gameplay itself resembles an extended rapid barrage of extremely simple "microgames", each lasting mere seconds and taking no more than one or several appropriately timed button presses to complete, and the number of microgames a player can complete before failing a set number of times is set as their high score. The microgames display a variety of surreal imagery, including Wario having to jump at the right time in order to avoid getting run over by a giant hot dog on wheels, successfully guiding a finger into a nostril, and reenacting classic scenes from older Nintendo games. Different installments of the series for different platforms have featured their own, unique twists to the gameplay dependent on the hardware of the console itself, each releasing either incredibly early or incredibly late in a system's lifespan. These included the tilt-controlled WarioWare: Twisted!, the touchscreen-controlled WarioWare: Touched!, the motion-controlled WarioWare: Smooth Moves, the camera-controlled WarioWare: Snapped!, and the creation game WarioWare: D.I.Y.. A spinoff for the Wii U, Game & Wario, was released in 2013, and the next traditional entry, WarioWare Gold, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2018. The latest installment, WarioWare: Move It!, released on the Nintendo Switch in 2023.

Wario first became playable in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the Super Smash Bros. series, WarioWare is recognized as Wario's home franchise, separately categorized from the Mario series in a similar fashion to Yoshi and Donkey Kong.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Wario was not recognized as a distinctive universe in the original Super Smash Bros. nor Super Smash Bros. Melee, so there were neither playable characters nor stages based on the franchise in the first two installments. However, there were trophies for Wario and the Bucket. Wario was strongly considered for Melee's roster, and on a fan questionnaire on Smabura-Ken, Sakurai stated that he would add Wario to Melee if he had more time to add just one more character. In addition, one of Mario's alternate costumes in both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee is a yellow and purple color scheme based on Wario's attire.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Wario is recognized and treated as a distinctive universe in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It focuses heavily on the WarioWare games due to their extreme popularity.

Fighter

• 
  Wario (Starter): The franchise's first playable character. By default, Wario is dressed in his biker jacket as he is seen in the WarioWare series, but he also has his original plumber overalls as alternate costumes, giving him twelve different costumes in total. Wario's down special is the Wario Waft, which allows him to release gas he has built up over the match as a form of atomic flatulence. His Final Smash transforms him into Wario-Man.

On the final character select screen (after all characters are unlocked), Wario shares a column with fellow Mario side series characters Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Yoshi.

Stage

• 
  WarioWare, Inc. (Starter): Occasionally, the stage takes the player from the main "elevator" into a microgame, which they can complete to obtain a reward. Some microgames can damage or knock back characters.

Assist Trophy

• Kat & Ana: These twin ninja kindergarteners use their ninja skills and slash in multiple "X" formations on the stage, damaging any foes that make contact with their attack. This is the only Assist Trophy originating from one of the Mario subseries.

Music

Original Tracks

• WarioWare, Inc.: A disco-inspired rendition of the main menu theme from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, as well as the title screen from the same game.
• WarioWare, Inc. Medley: A medley of a large number of songs heard in the first title of the series, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, including the menu theme, Wario's theme, as well as Dribble & Spitz's theme, among others. This song is also played during Wario's Classic Mode credits.
• Ashley's Theme: A big band version of the vocal theme song of Ashley in WarioWare: Touched!.
• Ashley's Theme (JP): The same as the above song, but with Japanese lyrics.
• Mike's Song: A 50's rock-and-roll version of the vocal theme song of Mike in WarioWare: Touched!.
• Mike's Song (JP): The same as the above song, but with Japanese lyrics.
• Mona Pizza's Song: A fully redone version of the vocal theme song of Mona in WarioWare: Twisted!.
• Mona Pizza's Song (JP): The same as the above song, but with Japanese lyrics.

Victory Theme

• Victory! Wario: Shares similarities to many Wario games, featuring musical qualities from both the WarioWare series and the Wario platforming series. It would be implemented into the first stage music for the game Wario Land: Shake It!.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Allusions were made to the Wario series prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, but it was not revealed that Wario himself would return until after the release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, as he is now an unlockable character. As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the majority of the Wario content in Smash 4 comes from the WarioWare titles. A significant amount of focus was put on the popular WarioWare character Ashley, who appears as an Assist Trophy. While most of the character specific music pieces from Brawl did not return, both versions of "Ashley's Song" return, along with a brand new arrangement exclusive to Japanese releases of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. A costume set based on Ashley was released as downloadable content for Mii Swordfighters. Otherwise, Smash 4 features content from Wario Land: Shake It! and Game & Wario, which were released between Brawl and Smash 4.

Fighter

• 
  Wario (Unlockable): a crude, pompous treasure-hunter from Diamond City and one of Mario's oldest rivals. Unlike in Brawl, where he was a starter character, Wario must be unlocked. Wario now has more fluid animations. The swelling of his head and hands in some of his attacks has been compared to his attacks from Wario World. He now has eight alternate costumes as opposed to twelve in Brawl.

Stages

for Nintendo 3DS

• 
  WarioWare, Inc. (Unlockable): staged in the elevator shaft of Variety Tower from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! It is a transitionary stage where the elevator brings the fighters to one of nine microgames, five of which are from Mega Microgame$!: Arrow Space, Blowin' Up, Crazy Cars, Kitty Cover, and Sole Man. Two more - Lose Your Marble and Blowin' Up - come from WarioWare: Touched!. The other two are unique to Smash Bros.: Don't Move - which requires players to remain still - and Taunt - which requires players to taunt the self-obsessed Jimmy T. Successfully completing a microgame usually awards the player with a status effect that could benefit them in battle. WarioWare, Inc. is one of the possible stages to appear in Level 4 of All-Star Mode as a home stage for Wario. Its Ω form is columnar.

for Wii U

• 
  Gamer (Starter): staged in 9-Volt's bedroom from Game & Wario. The main platform is 9-Volt's desk, where his mother 5-Volt acts as a stage hazard. When 5-Volt looks at the fighters, a beam of light is sent to them and damages them for 20%, inflicting high knockback. Fighters can avoid this by hiding behind objects. She can appear from the doorway, window, TV, or, if the stage is set a certain way, she will appear from a gaming pad or picture from an easel. Fakeouts can also appear. The layout of the stage changes each time the stage is played. It is one of the possible stages to appear in Level 4 of All-Star Mode as a home stage for Wario. Only its Ω form can accommodate 8-Player Smash, which takes place on the desk, but without any of the books or writing utensils.

Items

Assist Trophies

Bold italics denotes an Assist Trophy new to the Smash Bros. series.

The Pic of the Day introducing Ashley as a new Assist Trophy. She was revealed prior to any knowledge that Wario was returning.

Assist Trophies from the Wario series. In addition to those listed, Wario's partner in crime from the Mario series, Waluigi, returns from Brawl.

• Kat & Ana: a pair of kindergartners who practice ninjutsu. Like the Pokémon Latias & Latios, Kat and Ana fly across the screen and slice opponents with their katanas. They cannot be harmed by opponents and they do not harm the summoner.
• Ashley: a young witch from WarioWare: Touched! When summoned, she conjures a purple cloud that causes a variety of effects, similar to Togepi. All opponents caught in the cloud are slowed, but she may also turn fighters invisible, or make food items damage fighters instead of heal them. Her design is derived from Game & Wario. In the Wii U version, Ashley's hair turns white and her irises turn red when she conjures the cloud. These are details carried over from the WarioWare games.

Smash Tour items

• Kat & Ana (Red): a pair of kindergartners from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! All collisions with walls and ceilings are automatically teched.
• Ashley (Blue): a young witch from WarioWare: Touched! She slows down the spinner on the board when used.

Mii Costumes

Outfit

• Ashley Outfit (DLC): this outfit is based on Ashley, a young witch from WarioWare: Touched! who otherwise appears in Smash 4 as an Assist Trophy. The outfit was released with a corresponding black wig as downloadable content on February 3, 2016. The Mii wields Ashley's shape-shifting companion Red, transformed into a scepter as a weapon. An official Mii based on Ashley's likeness can be downloaded via a QR code on the official site.

Headgear

• Wario's Cap
• Ashley Hat (DLC)

Music

Original Track

The only new remix is exclusive to Japanese releases of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• Ashley's Song (JP) Ver. 2: An operatic arrangement of "Ashley's Song" from WarioWare: Touched! It plays on the Gamer stage. It is exclusive to the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, in place of the English version of the Brawl arrangement of this song. It is used in the trailer to promote the downloadable Ashley set for Mii Fighters in all regions, however.

Returning Tracks

Arrangements and remixes from previous Smash Bros. titles.

• WarioWare, Inc.: A disco-influenced arrangement of "Title" from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! It plays on WarioWare, Inc. and Gamer.
• WarioWare, Inc. Medley: A medley of pieces from Mega Microgame$!, including the menu theme, Wario's theme, as well as Dribble & Spitz's theme, among others. It plays on Gamer.
• Ashley's Song (JP): An arrangement of "Ashley's Song" from WarioWare: Touched! It plays on the WarioWare, Inc. stage in the Japanese version and Gamer.
• Ashley's Song: An arrangement of "Ashley's Song" from WarioWare: Touched! It plays on the WarioWare, Inc. stage and Gamer in the international versions.

Source Tracks

Compositions and arrangements directly sourced from Wario games with no alterations.

• Ruins (Wario Land: Shake It!): From Wario Land: Shake It! It plays on Gamer. It is the only piece of content in Smash 4 explicitly taken from the Wario Land series.
• Gamer: From Game & Wario. It plays on Gamer.

Victory Theme

• Victory! Wario: A theme that shares similarities to songs from many Wario games, also used as the basis for a song in Wario Land: Shake It!.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Wario series returns for Ultimate, featuring WarioWare representation yet again. However, there has been a significant increase in Wario Land representation from previous Smash titles, mainly through Wario's moveset and the addition of Spirits. Ignoring spirits, the Wario series itself overall received roughly the same level of representation as its Smash 4 appearance, but with all the previously cut music returning from Brawl, although Kat & Ana no longer appear as an Assist Trophy.

Fighter

• 30.
  
  Wario (Unlockable): Wario returns as an unlockable fighter. A few of his moves, such as dash attack, have been updated to better reflect his appearance in the Wario Land games, and Wario-Man is no longer a transformation and player-controlled, instead unleashing a flurry of cartoon-like attacks if it connects.

Stages

Both Wario stages from previous games return as retro stages in Ultimate.

• 
  
  WarioWare, Inc. (Starter): Returning as a retro stage.
• 
  
  Gamer (Starter): Returning as a retro stage.

Assist Trophy

Kat & Ana are no longer an Assist Trophy, but they do appear as a Master spirit.

• Ashley: Ashley returns from Smash 4 with a slightly updated design matching her appearance seen in promotional artwork from the 2010s.

Mii Costumes

Outfit

• Ashley Outfit

Headgear

• Wario's Cap
• Ashley Hat

Music

There are no new tracks and remixes for Wario, although all previous tracks return.

Returning Tracks

Arrangements and remixes from previous Smash games. The track "Ashley's Song (JP) (for 3DS / Wii U)" was previously Japanese-exclusive.

• WarioWare, Inc.: A remix of the main menu and title themes from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$. Returns from Brawl.
• WarioWare, Inc. Medley: A medley of tracks from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$, including the introduction theme to 9-Volt's microgames, the boss microgame theme of Jimmy T., the theme for Dribble & Spitz's microgames (namely, Drifting Away), the introduction theme to Dr. Crygor's microgames, the introduction theme to Wario's second collection of microgames, a snippet of the game over theme of Dr. Crygor's microgames, the newsflash jingle, the Main Menu theme, and the Title Screen theme. Returns from Brawl.
• Ashley's Song (JP) (Brawl): A remix of the Japanese version of Ashley's theme from WarioWare: Touched! Returns from Brawl.
• Ashley's Song: A remix of the English version of Ashley's theme from WarioWare: Touched! Returns from Brawl.
• Mike's Song (JP): A remix of the Japanese version of Mike's theme from WarioWare: Touched! Returns from Brawl.
• Mike's Song: A remix of the English version of Mike's theme from WarioWare: Touched! Returns from Brawl.
• Mona Pizza's Song (JP): A remix of the Japanese version of the Mona Pizza theme from WarioWare: Twisted! Returns from Brawl.
• Mona Pizza's Song: A remix of the English version of the Mona Pizza theme from WarioWare: Twisted! Returns from Brawl.
• Ashley's Song (JP) (for 3DS / Wii U): A military-march styled cover of the Japanese version of Ashley's theme, from WarioWare: Touched! Returns from the Japanese version of Smash for Wii U.

Source Tracks

Tracks sourced directly from the Wario games.

• Ruins - Wario Land: Shake It!: The theme played in Stonecarving City, sourced from Wario Land: Shake It!
• Gamer: The "Mom Appears!" cue, sourced from Game & Wario. On the Gamer stage, this cue plays when 5-Volt appears (or to fake players out). Only the cue plays when outside of the Gamer stage.

Victory Theme

• Victory! Wario: A theme unique to the Smash series that served inspiration for the theme of Stonecarving City from Wario Land: Shake It! The Ultimate version is sped up.

Games with elements appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series

The Wario universe has games represented throughout the Super Smash Bros. series with a total of 17 games. The latest game represented in this universe is WarioWare Gold, released on July 27, 2018.

Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins

• Playable characters:
  • Mario's yellow/purple alternate costume in all Super Smash Bros. games (with the exception of Ultimate) is based on Wario's color scheme.
  • Wario debuted in this game and is a playable character since Brawl.
  • His Ground Pound move originated in this game and was re-purposed as his down throw in Smash.
  • Half of Wario's costumes show him dressed in his classic overalls outfit, which was first seen in this game.
  • His original monochromatic color scheme from this game is used as one of his alternate costumes.
  • Wario's pose while parrying is lifted directly from his character artwork from this game.
  • Wario's cap appears as a headgear for all of the Mii Fighters in Smash 4 and Ultimate.
• Trophies:
  • Wario appears as a trophy in Melee.
• Stickers:
  • Tiny Wario appears as a sticker.
• Spirits:
  • Wario (Overalls) appears as a fighter spirit.

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

• Playable characters:
  • Wario's forward smash (later returning as his dash attack in Ultimate) is his signature Dash Attack from various Wario titles, which originated from this game.
  • Wario's ability to crawl comes from this game.
• Spirits:
  • Captain Syrup appears as a spirit. Her spirit battle references her ship, the SS Teacup, as well as the Genie, the final boss of this game.

Virtual Boy Wario Land

• Playable characters:
  • Wario's neutral air is reminiscent of his Body Slam move from this game.
• Stickers:
  • Tiny Wario appears as a sticker using his artwork from this game.

Wario Land II

• Playable characters:
  • Wario's current short-sleeved shirt, which was first seen in this game is part of his alternate costumes.
  • Wario's up tilt is similar to his pose from the game's 100% completion screen.
  • Wario's item throw animation is similar to his throwing animation in this game.
  • Wario's sleeping animation is identical to his sleeping animation from this game's introduction.

Wario Land 3

• Playable characters:
  • Multiple of Wario's animations has him do a "W" sign with his hands, which he was first seen doing in this game's box art.

Wario Land 4

• Playable characters: