Wario

Wario is a recurring character in the Super Mario franchise, designed to be an arch-rival to Mario. He is a muscular, hot-tempered, obese, and greedy character, usually playing the role of an anti-hero or an antagonist; he has also gone on to become the protagonist of his own self-named franchise, the Wario franchise, including games such as the Wario Land series and the WarioWare series. His name is a combination of Mario's name and the Japanese word warui (い), meaning "bad."

Wario is a creation of Hiroji Kiyotake. Long-time Super Mario artist Yoichi Kotabe also helped with the character's final design. Wario's defining traits are his yellow cap and purple overalls; larger build and remarkable strength; unintelligence; gruff Italian accent; rude, reckless, and greedy personality; zigzag mustache (as well as other bizarre physical features); insatiable appetite for garlic; and rivalry with Mario. The WarioWare and Super Smash Bros. titles depict him in a biker outfit: a jean vest, yellow gloves, and an aviator hat with goggles.

Wario has two iconic vehicles usually seen in his series of titles: the Wario Car from the Wario Land series, and the Wario Bike in the WarioWare titles. In addition, he owns a plane called the Bulldog, which appears in Mario & Wario and Wario's Woods, among other titles. In Wario Land II and Wario World, he is depicted as owning his own castle. The WarioWare series of games depicts him as owning a microgame-creating company called WarioWare, Inc. based in Diamond City. Wario also appears in the Super Smash Bros. series, in which he is classified under the Wario franchise, represented by his "W" symbol, separately from the Super Mario franchise.

Creation
The idea to introduce Wario as a new character originated during the development of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. The staff team aimed for a "change of pace", and to not be bound by the ideas which were continuously used in Super Mario games leading up to that time; they desired to provide Mario with a new objective. Rather than having Mario fight for the benefit of someone else (such as Princess Daisy in Super Mario Land, and Princess Peach throughout other games), the staff wanted Mario to fight to win back something of his own. It was initially director Hiroji Kiyotake's idea to introduce Wario as a new character that fits this change in objective, although several rejected characters were presented earlier, which no one took a liking to. Before any actual character development, Wario's name was the first thing that was decided on, being derived from the Japanese word "warui", meaning "bad". Wario's physical design and personality were based on the idea that a protagonist should have an arch-rival and nemesis. Kiyotake stated that Wario's relationship with Mario was inspired by the American comic book characters and, who is physically well-built, motivated by self-interests, and more cunning than his counterpart, Popeye. Wario is the second Super Mario character to be inspired by Bluto, with Donkey Kong being the first.

Kiyotake subsequently discussed his idea with his assistant character designer and co-director Takehiko Hosokawa, with whom Kiyotake normally sought approval before presenting an idea to the rest of the game's staff. To Kiyotake's surprise, the idea to flip the "M" seen on Mario's Cap to create a "W" received extremely enthusiastic support from the rest of the staff. Wario went on to become the game's main antagonist by taking over Mario's castle, which met the staff team's initial vision of diverting from the conventional objectives established by previous Super Mario games.

Yoichi Kotabe helped the development team of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins with Wario's final design. He drew Wario with Popeye's nemesis Bluto in mind, and also partially based Wario on, the evil circus owner in , to highlight his evil nature.

History
Wario's history spans several decades and includes many appearances throughout the Super Mario franchise. Wario is the main character of the Wario franchise, which encompasses two main series of games, the Wario Land series and the WarioWare series. Wario was originally portrayed exclusively as a villain, as he makes his first appearance in the Super Mario franchise as the main antagonist of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. He continues to be the villain in other games until Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, which starts the Wario Land series of games that feature him as the protagonist and the playable character of each game. Wario is also featured in the WarioWare series, where he is the founder and owner of a game company, WarioWare, Inc. In both of these series, Wario is generally portrayed as an antihero, as his goals are in the interest of increasing his own wealth.

Aside from games in the Wario franchise, Wario has been a playable character in one game in the Super Mario series of platformers, Super Mario 64 DS. Wario has also been playable in nearly every game in the Mario Kart series and Mario Party series, as well as the vast majority of Super Mario sports titles, such as the Mario Tennis series and Mario Golf series. Wario has been involved in crossovers between the Super Mario franchise and other franchises; he is a playable character in every game in the Mario & Sonic series, and he has been a fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series since Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Wario has also made small appearances within games in the Donkey Kong and Yoshi franchises, as well as some cameo appearances in games outside of the Super Mario franchise.

Nationality
In the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64 as well as in all versions of Mario Party and Mario Party 2, Wario is voiced by German translator Thomas Spindler and speaks two lines in German, most notably "So ein Mist!" (German for "oh, crap!"). According to a comment left by Spindler, Wario was envisioned to be German by Nintendo staff and he was directed to voice Wario accordingly. Despite this aspect of Wario's character having been ignored since the release of these games and Charles Martinet taking over the role, with Martinet's portrayal adopting a thick Italian accent similar to Mario and Luigi's, Wario's theme song in Mario Strikers Charged is in a style reminiscent of Germanic folk songs. Charles Martinet stated on November 6, 2020 that he did record a "Doh! I missed!" voice clip for Wario. Though Spindler recorded Wario's lines for the Japanese market after being told Wario was originally thought of as German, Martinet did not receive this information when recording Wario's lines for English and portrayed Wario as Italian similar to Mario and Luigi.

Speech
Wario tends to speak more than his nemeses Mario and Luigi do. In SNES and Game Boy games, Wario does not have any voice acting, but he speaks through in-game text to express himself. During these games, he also tends to speak in slang, such as dropping his "g"'s and also using shortened words when describing Toad (such as "'Shroom" instead of "Mushroom"). He also speaks in various comic strips made during that time. Wario provides miscellaneous quotes as hints in the manual of the first Wario Land and narrates various parts in that of Wario Land II, and the manuals of Wario Land 4, Wario World, and Wario Land: Shake It! are primarily written with him as the narrator. He does, however, briefly have a synthesized chuckle sound effect in Super Mario Land 2, and also has a growling sound effect immediately before fighting him. In Mario Kart 64, Wario receives voice acting for the first time, provided by Thomas Spindler and Charles Martinet in the Japanese and overseas versions respectively. Spindler also voiced Wario for Mario Party and Mario Party 2, but Martinet has voiced him in all other games in which he has received voice acting since then. Martinet portrays Wario with a deep, gruff voice to give him a "tough" demeanor, whereas Mario and Luigi are given higher-pitched, softer voices. Originally, his voice was similiar to Mario and Luigi's but deeper, and over time, it became lower-pitched and rougher. With the more recent WarioWare games, which have full voice acting, Wario's voice has become increasingly hoarse due to Charles Martinet's aging.

Wario speaks with a strong Italian accent, but there are several notable differences between his speech and that of Mario and Luigi. For example, Wario is less likely to refer to himself in the third person, as evidenced by quotes like "I lost! To a buncha losers!". Additionally, Wario adding "-a" after contractions is much less common, such as when he says "It should've been called Wario Golf! You're gonna love it!" after the intro for the N64 version of Mario Golf. However, there are still some instances where this is not the case, such as Mario Kart Wii, where he says "It's-a me, Wario!" and "I'm-a gonna win!". Wario frequently speaks in full sentences; for example, he is heard saying "What, are you my caddy?" and "What is this dump?!" in the opening cutscenes of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis, respectively, "Have a rotten day!" to his enemies in Wario World, and "Ha ha! Wario wins! Take that, losers!" in Mario Kart Wii. In the Super Smash Bros. series, the inverse occurs: Wario's speech in these games primarily consists of grunts and yells, with only one meaningful word ("Yes!"). In the WarioWare series, Wario often speaks in full sentences that are conveyed by subtitles; WarioWare Gold in particular gives Wario full voice acting for all of these lines. In some Japanese commercials, Wario was voiced by Chikao Otsuka.

Personality
Wario is extremely greedy and does anything to get money, as shown especially in the Wario Land series and in Wario World. He is also a miser, as he never lets anyone else touch his treasure. Sometimes, his greedy nature even overtakes him and he occasionally loses control of himself, even going as far as to double-cross his friends. He is also shown to be childish at times, which is best demonstrated in the ending of Super Mario Land 2, where he proceeds to cry like a baby after being reduced in size, only to punt his shoe at Mario before sticking his tongue out in a taunting manner while taking his leave. Wario's acts of heroism are usually driven by greed, such as defeating the Black Jewel and Shake King, and rescuing Spritelings in order for him to rebuild his castle or get treasure.

Wario is also incredibly vain. He considers himself to be very good-looking, despite most others describing his face as ugly or downright frightening; Wario is considered scary to most of the Toads and even King Boo (though not as scary as Bowser), as revealed in Super Mario 64 DS. Wario has constructed various monuments in his likeness, many of which illustrate his wealth. His palace in Wario World was filled with golden statues of himself before its destruction, which reappear in the game's best ending; in Welcome to Greedville, the centerpiece of Wario's hometown is a golden statue of him surrounded by a golden fountain, and in the Fire Attack game in Game & Watch Gallery 4, Wario is seen defending a giant golden statue of himself. Wario's vanity is perhaps most apparent in the WarioWare titles, where nearly every microgame he makes references him in some way. If he does not fully or partially appear in the microgame himself, then at the very least, his nose and mustache will be placed upon a creature or object, though the player might need to clear or fail certain games to see this. In WarioWare Gold's Wario's amiibo Sketch mode, when Wario is given an amiibo of himself as reference, he will draw a handsome, muscular version of himself in a detailed style resembling that of a, but when given a different amiibo, he will draw a comically sloppy picture of any other character, implying that he can draw exceptionally well, but only bothers to do so in order to boost his own ego.

Wario has been portrayed as simple-minded, with his bio from Super Mario 64 DS mentioning he lacks intelligence. However, Wario's Warehouse implies that he is smarter than Waluigi.

Wario's official bios and various games he appears in have established that his favorite food is garlic; according to Colonel Roy Campbell in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wario constantly eats whole cloves of garlic, which gives him smelly breath that spreads onto fighters caught in his Chomp attack. However, Hiroji Kiyotake originally envisioned Wario's favorite food as s instead. Wario is also known to be gluttonous and addicted to sweets, occasionally to his detriment, as shown in WarioWare: Touched!.

Wario is also known for his lack of personal hygiene; he often picks his nose and forgets to clean his teeth, which can cause him problems due to his addiction to sweets. Wario has also been shown, mainly in Japanese media, to enjoy jokes of a nasty and bizarre nature, an example being discussing the color and size of his waste. This aspect of his personality was not initially present, and was only introduced at around the release of Wario Land 4. Wario's fondness for crude humor was generally removed during the game's localization, although it later became prominent in Wario: Master of Disguise, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario Strikers Charged.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wario's down special is Wario Waft, which has him hold his flatulence in to unleash a -esque explosion. Wario also scratches his buttocks in one of his idle poses, in addition to wiggling it toward the screen in one of his taunts, alluding to his fondness for crude humor. Wario's back throw also involves him hitting the opponent with his posterior while posing. Wario can be apathetic at times, which is shown when he laughs after turning Ness into a trophy and making Lucas run away from him in the Subspace Emissary story mode, as well as lying on the ground and laughing at his defeated opponents. Wario's Super Ability, Gas Mask!, has him flatulate loudly and daze the opposing team captain (as well as his/her teammates). Wario's opponents negatively react to this, and make humorous wheezing or choking noises (while saying things such as "Oh, Wario!" or " Excuse you!"); Wario himself responds, saying nasty lines such as "Juicy!", "Spicy!", or "Excellent vintage!". Wario's slightly deranged, bizarre behavior also appears here, where his "Away" entrance animation has him make a slicing motion with his hand under his neck, signifying death for his opponent. One of Wario's animations for scoring a goal shows him being thrown up by his teammates, while he laughs wildly. One of Wario's animations for enduring an opponent's goal has him violently grab the metallic Soccer Ball and mutter "I hate you, you stupid ball!". However, the ball explodes on Wario, thus leaving him speechless.

Wario has frequently been used by Nintendo as a lighthearted comic relief character. This is evident in a handful of Super Mario and Wario games, where he humorously emotes, goes into long rants, or childishly rages in sports and kart races. Wario's double-sided humor comes into play in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as shown in his animations and moves, as well as cutscenes involving him in the Subspace Emissary.

According to the instruction booklet for WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, Wario was taught how to drive by Dribble & Spitz, although his Mario Kart 64 trading card published by Nintendo Power states that while driving, Wario has committed "too many infractions to list", and that his license has been repeatedly revoked due to his reckless driving. According to the instruction booklet for Wario Land 4, Wario exercises during his free time and he is afraid of heights, although he is seen bungee jumping in WarioWare Gold. According to the gamebook Warioland 4, Wario hates flowers and sand, and despite having an enthusiasm for it when he counts his treasure, math is a weak subject for him.

Physical appearance
According to the Wario World instruction booklet, Wario weighs 308 pounds (140 kilograms), although he claims that this is just because of his clothes. He has broad, muscular arms, a large belly, and his excess fat overlaps the openings of his overalls. The diagram of Wario's body from the booklet shows that his arms and legs are pure muscle, meaning that the rest of his fat must be stored elsewhere.

Wario's skin ranges from a fair to tan complexion. His nose is pink, large, slightly pointed down, and he has large nostrils. His head is broad and rectangular, as is his mouth, which has blocky teeth and almost always assumes a fixed grin. He also has a round, thick, cleft chin. He has wide, round eyes, which were initially crooked in his early appearances, but have since changed to both face the same direction. They are outlined with a light blue, baggy ring similar to Waluigi's, and shaped by his cheeks and arched brows. He has very constricted black pupils that largely obscure his irises, which are of a navy blue shade.

Although Wario's body is much wider than other human characters, Wario is not as short as his stout posture makes him appear; he is noticeably taller than Mario and roughly as tall as Luigi, but he is still shorter than other characters, such as Peach and Waluigi. His athletic abilities tend to make him a powerhouse character, as is supported by his body type.

Wario has light brown hair, which is the same color as Waluigi's. His hairstyle is similar to that of Waluigi's, having small flips at the back, swooped up bangs, and styled sideburns. He also has a large, black, zigzag-shaped mustache.

Within the Super Smash Bros. series, Wario's appearance changes. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, where Wario appears as a Trophy, his undershirt is long-sleeved, while his skin has a tan complexion, reflecting his most recent appearances at the time in games such as Mario Party 3. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where Wario debuts as a playable character, his design is updated to match his more recent appearances. In the game, Wario's undershirt is now short-sleeved in costumes which feature his original clothing, though his overalls and hair receive realistic details. In costumes featuring Wario's biker outfit, extra detail is given to his hair and shoes, and his denim jacket receives more pronounced textures. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Wario's design is updated to be vibrant and cartoonish, while his physique is more muscular, resulting in him appearing more in line with his recent appearances in games such as Mario Kart 8. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Wario receives a slightly subdued color scheme, while his hair and clothing receive simple detailing.

Clothing
Wario typically wears a plumber outfit with a cap and overalls, similar to that of Mario, Luigi, and Waluigi, with several key differences. He wears a yellow cap with a white streak on the rim, a yellow T-shirt and a purple overall with white buttons, and green pointed shoes. His cap has a light blue "W" printed on it, which exceeds the white spot space it is inside. He also wears white gloves, with the same light blue "W" printed on each glove. Wario's primary color, yellow, is the opposite color of purple, Waluigi's primary color, on the.

Wario's outfit in older appearances is slightly different from his current outfit. Originally, his overalls were pink and he wore a long-sleeved yellow shirt. In appearances beginning with Mario Party 5, Wario wears a short-sleeved shirt.

In the WarioWare series, Wario dresses in a biker outfit, which consists of a yellow helmet with red stripes, goggles, and a blue "W" similar to that on his cap, a dark blue undershirt, a short-sleeved denim jacket, yellow fingerless gloves, pink jeans, and dark blue pointed shoes. This outfit is only used in the WarioWare series and the Super Smash Bros series. In both Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 and Virtual Boy Wario Land, Wario uses an explorer's topee in place of his usual cap, which retains the blue "W" on the front, although he otherwise has a similar outfit to his standard outfit.

In the Mario Strikers series, Wario wears a pair of shorts and a yellow T-shirt with a numbered jersey, as well as cleats. Specifically in Mario Strikers Charged, Wario wears armor over his T-shirt and fist guards to protect himself.

In Mario Party 2, Wario's clothing changes depending on the board he plays on; as such, he can be seen in his standard outfit, a Western-themed cowboy outfit, a -themed wizard outfit, or an explorer's outfit. In Mario Tennis Aces, Wario wears a tennis outfit similar to that of Mario, Luigi, and Waluigi, consisting of a yellow cap with a white visor, a yellow T-shirt with white collars, purple shorts with yellow linings, and a pair of sneakers instead of pointed shoes.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wario has 12 costumes, including his default overalls and biker outfit, while in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, his number of costumes is reduced to 8, including his default appearances.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl features 6 costumes for Wario's original appearance in a cap and overalls:

Only the first four of these costumes return in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
 * The first is Wario's standard yellow cap and undershirt, purple overalls, and green shoes.
 * The second consists of a red cap and overalls, brown shoes, and a blue undershirt, resembling Mario's appearance in the DIC Super Mario cartoons.
 * The third consists of a cyan cap and overalls, a pink undershirt, and magenta shoes, resembling Mario's appearance on Mario Bros.'s Japanese boxart.
 * The fourth consists of tiger-orange overalls, a green cap and undershirt, and brown shoes, resembling Mario's appearance in Wrecking Crew's Japanese boxart.
 * The fifth consists of a brown undershirt and shoes, a cream cap and overalls, and brown gloves, resembling Foreman Spike's appearance in Wrecking Crew.
 * The sixth consists of a white cap, shoes, and undershirt, as well as dark blue overalls, resembling his in-game sprite from early Wario Land titles on the Game Boy.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl also features 6 costumes for Wario's biker outfit from the WarioWare series:


 * The first is Wario's default biker outfit, as it appears in the WarioWare series.
 * The second consists of a white biker helmet, jeans, and fingerless gloves, as well as a black undershirt and a red vest and shoes.
 * The third consists of maroon shoes, teal jeans and fingerless gloves, an indigo undershirt, and an orange biker helmet and vest.
 * The fourth consists of a black undershirt and jeans, and a dark green biker helmet, fingerless gloves, and shoes.
 * The fifth consists of brown shoes, a black vest and jeans, a white undershirt, and a red biker helmet and fingerless gloves.
 * The sixth consists of maroon shoes, a cyan biker helmet and vest, a grayish-white undershirt, and dark gray fingerless gloves.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate replace these with 3 new biker costumes, in addition to Wario's default biker outfit:


 * The first consists of a red biker helmet, vest, and shoes, pale blue jeans, and navy blue fingerless gloves with fuchsia "W"s.
 * The second consists of a green biker helmet and shoes, fingerless gloves with yellow "W"s, a yellow vest, and lavender jeans.
 * The third consists of a purple helmet and shoes, periwinkle jeans, red-violet gloves with light blue "W"s, and a vest which is light blue in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and spring green in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Unlike in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wario retains the same dark gray undershirt across all of his biker costumes in these games.

In Mario Kart Tour, during the Vancouver Tour, Wario wears a purple beanie, a pair of brown snow boots with beige fur trimmings, a brown and yellow hiking vest, a purple sweater with "W" patterns all over in white, blue jeans, a purple hiking backpack with green straps, and carrying a lantern. During the Western Tour in the same game, Wario wears blue jeans with a brown belt with a silver buckle containing a Star, a brown vest, yellow square patterned shirt, and a beige cap and purple neckscarf.

In Mario Golf: Super Rush, Wario's outfit consists of a yellow polo shirt with a purple collar, sleeves, and buttons, yellow and purple pants with a diamond pattern, a belt with a gold buckle with a "W" on it, green sneakers with gray soles, and a yellow cowboy hat with a blue "W" logo similar to his normal hat.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Wario wears different outfits depending on the sport or activity being played. He can wear a yellow tank top with white stripes, which, depending on the event, may also have short sleeves, with black shorts, white socks, and green sneakers that are the same ones he wore in Mario Tennis Aces; a green, white, and black wetsuit while barefooted; a karate gi; black swimming trunks with a purple stripe while shirtless just like Waluigi's; or, in certain events, his normal outfit.

Development
Wario's physical appearance has slightly changed as his design has been updated. In his first appearance in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, he has bigger shoes, a more cartoonish look than Mario, and is noticeably slightly cross-eyed. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 updates these features, making Wario look less exaggerated. This game and Virtual Boy Wario Land also briefly exchange Wario's cap for an explorer's topee, although he returns to his normal attire for the subsequent three Wario Land games and all his appearances in the various Super Mario spinoffs. Beginning in Mario Golf and continuing after Wario World, however, he started wearing short sleeves instead. The WarioWare series introduced Wario's biker outfit, which subsequently appears in the Super Smash Bros. series alongside his original attire.

Powers and abilities


Despite his fatness, Wario is quite athletic and wields superhuman strength that both exceeds that of Mario's and almost rivals that of Bowser and Donkey Kong. Wario's trademark move is the Dash Attack, which involves charging with his shoulder out. Wario is shown to have a wide variety of grappling moves; in Wario World, Wario can use his strength to attack his enemies in a variety of ways, using special moves including the Piledriver, Corkscrew Conk, and Wild Swing-Ding.

Wario consistently has the ability to use his body weight to his advantage. Since his first appearance in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario has shown the ability to Ground Pound, causing small earthquakes to stun his foes. In Wario Land: Shake It!, Wario is able to cause tremors by using the Earthquake Punch.

Wario is commonly associated with explosives, including Bob-ombs, as well as ways of stealing coins, such as a magnet or even a large vacuum; he is also able to fly via jetpack in Mario Golf: Super Rush and WarioWare: Get It Together!.

Wario's fatness is attributed to his unique eating abilities and superhuman gluttony. Wario can eat inanimate objects, and has used his oversized bites to injure foes. Some of his transformations are related to him eating something, such as cakes, doughnuts, and apples for Fat Wario, or stale garlic for Wario-Man. Wario also has the power of flatulence to stun or injure his opponents, as seen in the Mario & Sonic series, Mario Strikers Charged and the Super Smash Bros. series.

Wario has also demonstrated great strength with the use of items, such as the Power Up Pots, which give him unique transformations. He also shares some transformations with Mario, such as Fiery Wario and Metal Wario. Wario has other transformations associated with self-injury, such as Flaming Wario, Crazy Wario, Flat Wario, Frozen Wario, Electric Wario, and many more. Wario does not receive lasting injuries from these transformations, as he is always able to recover immediately as if nothing happened to him.

Occupations
Wario is often depicted as an adventurer and thief, and there have been many hints toward his other jobs and hobbies. One of Wario's most consistent occupations is his ownership of a game company in the WarioWare games.

The commercials for Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 consistently establish Wario as a hypnotist, although he only puts it to use in the former game.

Wario Land II seems to depict Wario as a farmer. He keeps several chickens outside his castle, including his notable "beloved pet" hen. It is unknown if Wario uses these chickens for agricultural purposes, though. He is also seen doing some farm work in Game & Watch Gallery 4 in the cutscene for Fire Attack. On a similar note, his third vehicle in Mario Kart DS, Dragonfly, is a tractor.

Wario is shown to be a shopkeeper in the Club Nintendo comic "Warios Weihnachtsmärchen", where he runs a bomb shop, as well as Welcome to Greedville, where he runs his own store, Wario Mart.

Relationships
Wario's greatest rival is Mario, stemming back to childhood according to various comics and the Super Mario-kun manga, where their rivalry is a major theme. According to Mario in the instruction booklet of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario has been jealous of Mario because of his fame, ever since they were children. While Wario occasionally teams up with Mario (for example, in Super Mario 64 DS), the relationship between them is mostly hostile, though Wario feels more contempt toward Mario rather than actual malice and Mario does try to be civil and friendly with Wario sometimes. A quiz on the Play Nintendo website states that Wario "claims to be Mario’s old friend". The official website for Wario Land 4 reveals that Wario enjoys tying Luigi's shoelaces together, and he is antagonistic toward Mario's other friends as well. He fought Toad directly in Wario's Woods, where he often called him names such as "'Shroom"; Wario and Toads also share bad chemistry in Mario Superstar Baseball (but not its sequel). Toads show fear toward Wario in Super Mario 64 DS, though they try their best to be polite to him. One remarks on Wario's lack of hygiene and advises him to wash his cap more often. A few, however, admit to changing their opinion on Wario after realizing how many Power Stars Wario has retrieved. In the Mario Party  games, the Toads are polite to all playable characters, including Wario.

In Mario vs. Wario: The Birthday Bash, Wario was depicted as having a crush on Peach and tried to one-up Mario by buying her a Samus Doll she wanted for her birthday before Mario could. Wario also attempted to find a stolen golden statue of Peach in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 in order to ransom it back for money. Peach appreciates Wario's heroic deeds in Super Mario 64 DS, although in Mario Super Sluggers, they have bad chemistry. Other than all that, Peach has not interacted with Wario much to make their relationship with each other clear enough to understand and the games do not portray Peach as a love interest for Wario. Instead, Mona fills in the role of Wario's love interest, with various WarioWare games and supplementary material revealing that she harbors romantic feelings for her friend and employer, Wario, who is occasionally hinted to return the interest. She once revealed to Joe that she was interested in Wario's mustache. However, Mona's only concern for Wario is if he is too cheap to pay her fair share and everyone else's.

Captain Syrup surpasses Mario as Wario's greatest nemesis. In her appearances in various Wario Land games, she measures up to Wario in terms of both wit and greed. Captain Syrup has called him "handsome" in her latest appearance in Wario Land: Shake It!, although she is most likely being sarcastic. Wario is also on bad terms with Bowser, as they mercilessly taunt each other in Mario Superstar Baseball and possibly share some rivalry, as shown in the opening movie of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. While they teamed up in Mario Power Tennis against the Mario Bros., this is the exception rather than the norm, with Wario helping to defeat Bowser in Super Mario 64 DS, and Bowser stopping Wario from taking Mario down in Mario Super Sluggers out of a desire to finish off their mutual foe himself.

While Wario and Waluigi sometimes bicker, their relationship overall seems to be a positive one, with them sharing good chemistry in the baseball games and often teaming up in sports events and spinoff titles. The two share many aspects of their personalities and even looks, although the exact relationship between Wario and Waluigi is somewhat ambiguous. Certain Nintendo of Europe sources, such as Wario's Warehouse or the Mario Kart DS website, suggest that they are siblings, but the DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games contradicts this idea by stating that they are not related under a News Brief. Waluigi's trophies in both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl indicate that their relationship is intended to be unclear; Wario merely calls Waluigi his "sneaky pal" when the two were briefly in opposition in Mario Super Sluggers, and Charles Martinet, who voices both characters, has stated his belief that they are simply "two evil guys who found each other".

In the WarioWare series, he has a growing selection of employees. In particular, Jimmy T is rumored to be his childhood friend. Mona is stated to have helped him adventuring, look up to him and have a crush on him, with one moment in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! alluding to Wario returning her affection by stating he finds her cute. He trusts Dr. Crygor to help with fixing his machines and creating his bike. His A-Rank card in WarioWare Gold states that he never locks his door so his friends can come and go as they please. While the trailer for WarioWare: Get It Together! shows Wario calling his employees "chumps", he also praises their abilities. Starting with WarioWare Gold, he also keeps a picture of everyone with him. However, he has been known to use them for cheaper labor and get away without paying them. Despite this, his employees forgive him not long after setting him straight. Overall, Wario's greed can get him into trouble with his employees, but he is ultimately close friends with them.

In Super Mario 64 DS, both King Bob-omb and Chief Chilly view Wario's mustache as "worthy" to challenge theirs, while insulting Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi about their mustaches, despite the latter not having one. Throughout both battles, the two characters do not berate Wario as much as they did to the other heroes, but they still treat him as an enemy of Bowser.

Wario has also been an acquaintance of Donkey Kong. In Mario Party, they are shown doing poses together, and they both specialize in strength. In Mario Superstar Baseball, they are on the same team, with Donkey Kong even attempting to give Wario a fist bump for the latter's home run, only to unintentionally pound Wario into the ground. Often, Wario has the same demeanor with Donkey Kong as he does with everyone else, but to some degree, Wario sees Donkey Kong as a powerful asset on his side.

Profiles and statistics
Wario has consistently been portrayed as a character who prioritizes power and pure strength over other abilities. Games that feature Wario as a playable character almost universally highlight his power as his highest stat; however, this is often balanced by Wario's other stats being significantly lower than other characters. This can create a high contrast between Wario's strengths and weaknesses, such as in Super Mario 64 DS, where he has the highest strength, but the lowest speed and jump, as well as in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, where he has the highest Stamina, but the lowest Skill of any character. Notably, despite this focus on power, Wario's drive in the Mario Golf series is surpassed by that of Mario, who is usually depicted as an all-around character. In the Mario Kart series, Wario is placed in the heaviest weight class, making him capable of knocking away other racers while being able to stay on the road himself more easily; he also has a high top speed, but low acceleration to compensate. In any game which pairs characters up as partners or teammates, Wario is paired with Waluigi, who was designed as Wario's doubles partner for Mario Tennis. Wario's emphasis on power tends to complement Waluigi's greater focus on speed and technique.

Bios of Wario often note several common points of information about him, including his love of money, his vanity, his appetite for garlic and other foods, his origin as Mario's childhood friend who later became his greatest rival, and his status as the founder and president of WarioWare, Inc.

Wario's color scheme is usually yellow with purple accents, matching the color of his cap and overalls. His logo is the "W" symbol on his cap.

Portrayals
This is a list of all voice actors who have portrayed Wario, with the exceptions of Welcome to Greedville and the internal Nintendo Merchandising Inc. safety video from 2004 featuring Wario; the voice actor for Wario is unknown for either of these pieces of media.

Gallery


Quotes

 * "I'm-a Wario! I'm-a gonna win!" - Mario Kart 64
 * "Fire!" - Mario Kart 64
 * "Obey Wario, destroy Mario!" - Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins advertisement
 * "You want fun? Wario show you fun!" - Mario in Real Time
 * "Should've been called WARIO Golf! Still, you gonna love it!" - Mario Golf
 * "Nintendo! Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!" - Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour / Mario Power Tennis
 * "Who do you think you are, buster?" - Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
 * "What, are you my caddy?" - Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
 * "Yeah, oh yeah! Wario wins!!!" - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
 * "I lost! To a buncha' losers!" - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
 * "I pounded down a healthy cup of sugar (with just a dash of coffee) for breakfast." - WarioWare, Inc. Mega Party Game$
 * "Hurry up!" - ''Wario Land 4
 * "Eccellente!" - Wario Land 4/Wario World/early WarioWare games
 * "I'm-a number 1!" - Wario World
 * "Have a rotten day!" - Wario World
 * "Good luck!" - Wario Land 4/Wario World
 * "Get outta here!" - Wario World
 * "Excellent!" - later WarioWare games
 * "Oh no! Somebody cheated. I CAN'T LOSE!!!" - Mario Power Tennis
 * "It's-a Wii! Wario!" - WarioWare: Smooth Moves
 * "Wario is great!" - Mario Hoops 3-on-3
 * "Behold the Telmet! Television! Teleportin'! And, uh, it's a helmet." - Wario: Master of Disguise
 * "Trying to read my mind, Cannoli? Don't bother! You'll find NOTHING!" - Wario: Master of Disguise
 * "See that big sturdy man on the Touch Screen? That's me...WARIO! Now get me some treasure!" - Wario: Master of Disguise instruction booklet
 * "Rock 'n' roll!" - Wario Land: Shake It!
 * "Ha! I'm amazing!" - Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
 * "Pull my finger" - Mario Strikers Charged
 * "A Treasure Chest! Outta the way! This one's mine! I just turn here... and tweak here... aaaaaaand... whaaaaaaaa!" - Mario Super Sluggers
 * "It's-a me, Wario!" - Mario Kart Wii
 * "Wario's great!" - Mario Kart Wii
 * "So long!" - Mario Kart Wii
 * "Wario wins!" - Mario Kart Wii
 * "Yeah! Take that, losers!" - Mario Kart Wii
 * "Bah! I let you win!" - ''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
 * "Right Here hehe haha!" - ''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
 * "So ein Mist!" - Mario Party
 * "Oh, my God!" - Mario Party (Japanese version only)
 * "Which job do you wanna take? They're all pretty great!" - WarioWare: D.I.Y.
 * "I HATE YOU!" - Mario Kart 7
 * "Ha ha! Take that, losers!" - Mario Kart 7

Trivia

 * Wario is the only Super Mario character with an amiibo released before the launch of Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge who does not have a corresponding Mini Toy in the game, as using Wario's amiibo only leads to the player simply receiving a Mini Spek.
 * In the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Plummers Academy", an unnamed, overweight plumber wearing yellow and purple clothing can be seen as a classmate of Mario and Luigi. This character's similarity to Wario is probably coincidental, as Wario's debut came three years after The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was produced.