Wario

Sub-franchises

Wario Land | WarioWare  

Overview

The Wario franchise consists of all games that star Wario, Nintendo's "rival" for Mario. Wario is supposed to be the exact opposite of Mario; greedy, fat, and willing to do anything to get his way. Thus, many of his games center around his greedy nature. The Wario franchise consists of two other franchises: Wario Land and WarioWare. In addition, the Wario franchise has had four other games not categorized into these two franchises.

Games

Wario first appeared in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. The franchise continued with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Wario's first starring role. The Wario Land franchise has expanded to include several other games: Virtual Boy Wario Land, Wario Land II, Wario Land 3, Wario Land 4, and Wario Land: Shake It!. These games are platformers that center around Wario's greed. They differ from traditional Super Mario platformers in that Wario can alter his appearance through enemies (e.g. hitting a zombie transforms Wario into one), although not always for a negative outcome.

Two other Wario platformers have been released. Wario World was released for the Nintendo GameCube, and again stars Wario on a quest to gain much treasure. Wario: Master of Disguise for the Nintendo DS was another platformer starring Wario. In the game, Wario could enter into a television show and "become" whichever character was in that show.

The WarioWare franchise began with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! on the Game Boy Advance. The series has since become well-known for its fast-paced, quirky microgames. Other games in the franchise include: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, WarioWare Twisted!, WarioWare Touched!, WarioWare; Smooth Moves, WarioWare: Snapped!, and Made in Ore.

Wario has also starred in two other games. Wario's Woods was a falling block puzzle in the same vein as Tetris and Dr. Mario. Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! was released for the Game Boy, and is essentially Bomberman, but with Wario as the lead character.