LogFAQs > #967580775

Wario - Wario Land: Shake It!

I think there are two solid directions that you can take with Wario. First, you could be a fan of his playstyle up to Wario Land 3, very slow and methodical, very anti-Mario. Where Mario defeats enemies and gains momentum by stomping on their head, Wario takes every last one and uses them for all theyre worth, tossing them about, beating them up for extra money, just abusing the system as best he can. And, in return, the world HATES Wario, looking to bully him right back and give him as many silly and stupid status conditions as it can muster, making for methodical experiences that play out very much akin to slapstick comedy: Wario walks into a field of rakes until he catches a rake in his teeth and uses it to beat the other rakes to death. Of these, I really love Wario Land 2s dedication to secret exits based less on level design cues and more on contextual clues - sleeping through his own first level is a VERY Wario thing to do. However, I do prefer the athletic approach that went into his later games - 4, World, and Shake It, specifically. Here, Wario plays more toward his circus strongman athleticism, still getting beaten and battered by the world around him plenty, but having more traditional platforming levels with some beat em up and exploration elements mixed in. I do prefer this approach to the original Wario Land approach, but I see both as very valid interpretations of the character. Shake It, though, is where I think it starts getting really fun. Wario is an immaculately animated character, every little animation giving him just that extra bit of oomph in everything he does. The earthquake punch is an incredibly fun on-command move to both puzzle through various labyrinths with and smash everything in your path, and led to one of the most fun bits of Youtube interactivity with the collapsing video player. And most importantly, this game masters Wario Land 4s concept of running back through a level under a time limit. Wario often shoots out of cannons to start a charge back through a stage hes beaten, destroying everything in his path, ruining the level that he just spent so much time combing through in one final mad dash to get away with his loot. It is a delightfully rude and disrespectful time that gives Wario fantastic setpiece moments to compliment his funny moment-to-moment gameplay. And I only wish the series continued from here - what a great direction to go in, a shame it didnt sell too well. Ah well, WarioWares fun.

Mario Baseball Profile: Wario - In Mario Superstar Baseball, Warios a weird character. His special is the Liar Ball, which sends a pop fly to the outfield. However, the ball splits into two right before impact with the ground - catch the regular ball and Warios out, catch his decoy garlic, and Wario gets a guaranteed double at minimum. Wait to be safe and Wario is gonna get to first base no matter what. Its a 50/50 that gets completely suppressed by Yoshi, whose tongue catch can be used on reaction from the center of the two ball split to always catch and get Wario out. Its a weird hail mary play that will at least always score a runner off of third on a sacrifice fly but thats what Warios built for anyway. Wario is a power hitter who can just baaarely hit Home Runs, probably being the weakest character who can be thought of to often knock it out of the park. This used to be a great detriment to him, and put him in direct competition with Pianta, another large-bodied character who just barely had enough power to knock it out of the park who also plays Warios preferred position, 2nd Base. A fierce debate raged over who was the better 2nd Baseman - Wario has an ability called Sliding Catch that lets him accelerate into dives, giving him fantastic range to catch grounders and fly balls, but Pianta has a naturally big body that doesnt make him THAT much worse than Wario, and has the Laser Beam ability that turbos the ball to home plate to tag a runner out at home. Ultimately, Pianta won the war with Wario, and Bad Mario was temporarily considered to be a worse character than Daisy, who was rising in the meta until Waluigi came into prominence as a 1st Baseman, giving him even more consistency for throwing runners out at first with his chem partner, and making up for his weakness just by Waluigi being there - Waluigi ALSO has laser beam, after all. Additionally, Wario had chemistry with Boo, who sees EVERY game as an undisputed Top 6 character and the best pitcher, giving Wario two chemistry partners to turn his home run chances from possible to likely if both are on-base. Wario is now a character who should see every game and opens up teambuilding possibilities via his presence, and is no longer merely a defensive presence due to Waluigi shifting around him.

Best Smash Appearance: Brawl - I had such high hopes for Wario. Hes such a fun character, exaggerating all the worst aspects of Mario and putting them into the forefront, a gross reflection of machismo taken to its most self-indulgent. I do not think there is another Smash Bros character whose portrayal has hurt them as much as Wario. Olimar & Alph people dont know have personalities, thats pretty rough. Byleth didnt get anything from their game and was essentially a response to trends rather than a character, thats no fun. Wario? Wario had years of established character, and all of it got hyper focused into making him zany, jerky, and random, and boiled his personality down to the farting man. It cannot be stated how much the Wario Waft has overtaken Warios general perception - hes gross and liked the smell of his own gas before, but so much of Wario revolved around this one feature that he was passed over in NSMBWii as wed have to add a farting mechanic for Wario. Wario ceases to be a bully, a strongman, a greedy idiot who will break his body in whatever way to get a quick buck - hes just lost his mind. Every animation from a character known for goofy cartoon animations becomes a jerky mess that seems to be missing frames whenever he moves. Hell, the guy couldnt even keep his Shoulder Bash, his signature attack, for all three games he appears in, losing it in Smash 4 for uh some reason, I guess. It is an absolute shame, there are great things about Wario. Brawl committed to his animation style a bit harder than the other games and it looks not great, but it commits to the look well. Hes got a bunch of moves that mirror Mario but have more exaggerated elements to make him look like a Mario tryhard. Hes got some of the best body breaking in the game with his enlarging fists and head on attacks that put a ton of emphasis on everything. Bike and Chomp are legitimately super fun moves. Wario-Man used to be the most fun Final Smash in the game before the universal FS changes in Ultimate ruined it. I do not hate the pieces of Warios kit - if you gave it to someone who isnt Wario, Id say its pretty good, even. Could use some work, but might be a solid B. But man I wanted to play Wario so badly. And I still do. Because this isnt Wario, and its hurt my ability to experience the guy in other games by what its done to him. This is more personal than other ones, but F