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. They come in five different colors, with forty in total in the game. They are trapped in cages, and upon being released by Wario, will offer advice and game tips.

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, the Black Jewel was awakened.

Wario World
The game, Wario World, begins with the Black Jewel being awakened and causing much destruction to Wario's castle, turning it into a brand new world filled with enemies and monsters. Upon its path of destruction, the Black Jewel entrapped all Spritelings into small brown cages with black fronts and white, poorly drawn crying eyes. Wario can free them by attacking the box they are trapped in, thus bursting it open. They can be identified by the repeating "Hoo hoo!" noise they give off to alert Wario they are nearby. Each of the eight levels in Wario World contain five Spritelings to rescue, for a total of forty in the game. Wario seems to show dislike for the sprites, instead preoccupying himself with regaining his treasure. In the game's ending, it is the Spritelings that help rebuild Wario's castle at the end of the game; the more Spritelings Wario rescued throughout the course of the game, the higher quality and larger his new castle will be. The unrescued ones will still appear in the game's ending, though they will show up still trapped within their cages. In the ending, it is a red Spriteling that talks to Wario to tell him they plan to rebuild his castle, which is then followed by all forty Spritelings (whether caged or not) 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 manual. Wario claims that this is because they are his "enemies' enemies", and it can possibly be a humorous reference to his distaste for them he displays.
 * They are similar in concept and design to the Merfles of Wario Land: Shake It!, as they were another colorful, fairy-like, people that needed rescuing.