Wario (pronounced war-E-oh) is a character in Nintendo's Mario series.

Wario is Mario's self-proclaimed "rival" and evil doppelganger. Though he resembles an evil twin, the two are unrelated.

Unlike Mario, who is heroic and kind, Wario is greedy, lazy, and ill-mannered. He is hugely jealous of Mario's fame, and has frequently tried to steal enough wealth to make himself as beloved as Mario. Such plans almost always backfire, however. Mario has only directly fought Wario once; since then Wario's antics have occurred largely in the background of the rest of the Mario universe.

According to a comic story published in Nintendo Power, the reason Wario acts the way he does is because Mario, ironically, was a bully to him when he was young. Wario especially hated playing cowboys, because he was almost always the rustler that the sheriff, played by Mario, had to arrest.

The name "Wario" can be taken to be a blending of Mario's own name with the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Mario". In America, the name is often seen as being a play on the word "war" and the fact that the letter "W" resembles an upside down "M."

He first appeared in Super Mario Land 2 for the Game Boy as an antagonist who stole Mario's castle. Then Wario started appearing in his own series of games which include:

• Wario Land series
  • Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy)
  • Virtual Boy Wario Land (Virtual Boy)
  • Wario Land 2 (Game Boy)
  • Wario Land 3 (Game Boy Color)
  • Wario Land 4 (Game Boy Advance)
• Wario Ware, Inc. series
  • Wario Ware, Inc. Mega Microgame$ (Game Boy Advance)
  • Wario Ware, Inc. Mega Party Game$ (GameCube)
  • WarioWare Touched! (Nintendo DS)
  • WarioWare Twisted! (Game Boy Advance)
• Wario World (GameCube)

Wario also appears as a secondary character in Mario games such as:

• Mario Golf
• Mario Tennis, Mario Power Tennis
• The Mario Party series
• The Mario Kart series

Additionally, Wario is a playable character in Super Mario 64 DS.

Wario also appears as an antagonist in Wario's Woods, and as Bomberman's immediate rival in Wario Blast .

PilotWings 64 has a cameo appearance by both Mario and Wario in the Little States stage. On Mt. Rushmore, shoot Mario's face and Wario will replace him.

The antagonist in Wrecking Crew (which was released before Super Mario Land 2), "Mr. Spike," is believed by some to have been the same person as Wario, so Wario's last name is believed by those to be Spike. However, the design for the Spike character is radically different than Wario, as seen more clearly in the Super Famicom game Wrecking Crew '89, which also contained the first Wrecking Crew.

Also, in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there is a W Emblem which changes Mario into Wario's clothes.

See also

• Waluigi
• Wario the Quario