Spriteling

"Wario! Hi! I've been waiting for you!  I'm one of the Spritelings of the forest!  I have really bad news.  That evil black jewel you stole is sucking up all of the negative greed energy swirling around in your castle, and terrible things are starting to happen! Honest!"

- Spriteling

The Spritelings are forest sprites who assist Wario in Wario World. A total of forty Spritelings appear in the game, coming in five different colors. They are trapped in cages and offer advice upon being released by Wario.

Background
Thousands of years before the events of Wario World, the Spritelings encased the evil Black Jewel as it corrupted any and all who owned it, causing chaos and destruction. The Spritelings trapped it to be put to sleep for all eternity. When Wario stole the Black Jewel thousands of years later, it was awakened.

Wario World
In Wario World, the newly awakened Black Jewel traps all Spritelings in small brown cages with black fronts and white, poorly-drawn crying eyes. Wario can free them by attacking the boxes they are trapped in to burst them open. They can be identified by the repeating "Hoo hoo!" noise they make to alert Wario that they are nearby. Each of the eight levels in Wario World contains five Spritelings to rescue, for a total of forty in the game. Wario seems to show dislike for the Spritelings, instead preoccupying himself with regaining his treasure. In the game's ending, the Spritelings help rebuild Wario's castle; the more Spritelings Wario rescued throughout the game, the higher quality and larger his new castle will be. The ones he did not rescue will still appear in the game's ending, though they will still be trapped within their cages. In the ending, a red Spriteling talks to Wario to tell him they plan to rebuild his castle, which is then followed by all forty Spritelings (including any in cages) dancing to perform their magic.

Profiles

 * North American instruction manual, page 14: "This fella is a Spriteling—these guys are always shut up in boxes! If you help these guys out, they'll give you hints about the quest! They're meddlesome little twits... I mean, hints are all well and good, but I'd rather have coins!!"
 * North American instruction manual, page 22: "You know, I'd like to tell these guys, "Hey, I'm busy! You guys free yourselves!" ...But it turns out, if you bust open the boxes they're in and set them free, they'll give you something in return! If they didn't, who would save them, anyway? Not me! It's a pain in the neck!"
 * North American instruction manual, page 31: "These guys are your enemies' enemies, so they're your allies...or so they say! From what I gather, they're trying to do away with the evil black jewel just like I am! Whatever the case, I just don't like their smug little smirks. Oh well... If you've got the time, save these little guys and make sure they give you something good in return!"

Trivia

 * Despite their friendly demeanor and serving as allies, they are listed in the enemies section of the Wario World instruction booklet. Wario claims that this is because they are his "enemies' enemies".
 * They are similar in concept and design to the Merfles of Wario Land: Shake It!, as they are both colorful, fairy-like people in need of rescuing by Wario.