Is Wario a Mario Character?

I guess I could have said that. Just remember Mario, simply Mario.

Between you and everyone else I think we don't get along very well, so it feels awkward if I say his name. So I just come up with nicknames for people who I don't get along with so much.
 
Kyon said:
Donkey Kong was the title character, Mario was the hero and protagonist.
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Only in the first game. He was the villain in the sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. Considering that the sequel still has a very clearly Donkey Kong-based title, and Mario is not the main character, it's safe to say that he's not the main character of the original Donkey Kong games; rather, he's just a major character in that series before he got his own series. Wario got his own series after starting in the Mario series.
Kyon said:
What would you have called him before Wario had his own games? a Mario character.
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What would you have called Mario before Mario Bros. was released? A Donkey Kong character. You would also call him Jumpman, but that's a different subject.

The point is, Mario wasn't always the star, and it wasn't always his series. He got his own series after being a major character in the Donkey Kong series, and his series is now considered its own separate thing. I see no reason why Wario, who was a major character in some Mario games before getting his own very distinct and separate series (two, in fact), would not be granted the same liberty of being considered the star of his own separate series, rather than an offshoot of another series (since Mario is generally not considered an offshoot of Donkey Kong).
 
King Hehehe said:
Only in the first game. He was the villain in the sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. Considering that the sequel still has a very clearly Donkey Kong-based title, and Mario is not the main character, it's safe to say that he's not the main character of the original Donkey Kong games; rather, he's just a major character in that series before he got his own series. Wario got his own series after starting in the Mario series.

What would you have called Mario before Mario Bros. was released? A Donkey Kong character. You would also call him Jumpman, but that's a different subject.

The point is, Mario wasn't always the star, and it wasn't always his series. He got his own series after being a major character in the Donkey Kong series, and his series is now considered its own separate thing. I see no reason why Wario, who was a major character in some Mario games before getting his own very distinct and separate series (two, in fact), would not be granted the same liberty of being considered the star of his own separate series, rather than an offshoot of another series (since Mario is generally not considered an offshoot of Donkey Kong).
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That's because DK is considered a Mario character, as is Diddy and Dixie.

Essentially, what matters is the COMPANY's opinion on their own stuff, and in their book, Wario, DK and Yoshi are all subseries of Mario. DK and Wario are Mario characters with their own series, but they are still Mario.
 
You lost me. I'm not sure how the ape fits into all this, why are we discussing about Mario being a Donkey Kong character when we're supposed to be talking about Wario.

I still stand by my case, that Wario is a Mario character. I have nothing else to add to this discussion.
 
The point is the parallel between the two. Mario started in the Donkey Kong series just as Wario started in the Mario series. The way Mario is considered a Mario character while Wario is also considered a Mario character is simply inconsistent in how they are classified. And yes, Nintendo has made it very clear that they're all a part of the same interconnected universe, which is often referred to as the Mario universe, but the point stands that Wario developed his own series after his first appearance in the same way Mario did. They're connected, yes, but Wario's series are not very closely related to the Mario series anymore, unlike the Yoshi games.
 
Well, if we look at Wario from Wario Land and Donkey Kong from, well, Donkey Kong (Mario VS Donkey Kong and others) then yes, both are part of the Mario franchise as they are related to Mario in some way. Even if the first Donkey Kong names Mario as JumpMan, it is safe to assume both series and their respective protagonists are indeed part of the Mario series of games. As such, we can see Wario dressed in his overalls pretty much every time he is featured in a Mario related game.

However, Wario from WarioWare is part of his own series, unrelated to Mario. The reason why Wario has a different logo in Smash Bros. is because of that, Wario is meant to be representing the WarioWare franchise. The same goes for DK, who is representing the DKC series and it's bongo games and all, those have no relation to Mario.

Ok, some will say "but 9-Volt plays Mario games" or "but Mario is referenced more than once in Donkey Kong Country", well, these are just cameos, right? In Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Mario actively comes to take a giant statue of Princess Peach, it's not quite a cameo.
 
He's a Mario character. He just also happens to have his own successful series. Just like DK. After all, at the end of the day, he is still Wario -- being a "bad" counterpart to Mario was the reason for his creation and is a fundamental part of his character.
 
Of course Wario is a Mario character. He is in almost every spin-off Mario game, as are Bowser, Toadette, Waluigi etc.
Without Mario there won't even be a Wario. He is also a Wario character of course.
 
NanoRim said:
Yes, he spawned from the Mario franchise after all.
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Wario is a Mario character, but he's not a core Mario character used in Shigeru Miyamoto's games. In WarioWare he's even less of a Mario character, but you can still find a link between their worlds. Wario is always referring to him in microgames and their descriptions... "That filthy Mario could never hold a job!"

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The Super Mario Land series (Wario's birthplace) was also separate from the core Mario franchise, and stood on its own. It had its own world, never to be seen again. It also excluded staple characters like Bowser, Luigi, Peach/Toadstool, and created Tatanga, Wario, and Princess Daisy, instead. Mario was living in a castle of his own in a mysterious place called "Mario Land", very different from the Mushroom Kingdom.
 
Major bump, but I got the german version of the Super Mario Encyclopedia recently, which has a big section at the end of the book where it names tons of games from the franchise and guest appearences, including the entire Wario and Donkey Kong Franchises, as well as Stafy 3 and Rhythm Heaven Megamix for Wario and company or Punch Out on the Wii for Donkey Kong.

Wario is also mentioned as a character that spun off from Mario, while DK isn't, which makes sense, since Mario Bros/Super Mario and Donkey Kong Country are spin offs of the original Arcade series, while Wario spun off from the Mario Land series.

Point is that Nintendo doesn't seem to make much of a distinction between the series and considers everything that can in some way can be traced back to the Arcade Donkey Kong to be part of one huge world and franchise, which should be obvious in my opinion, but this is the closest thing to an official word on that that I ever heard.

In other words: yes, he may not be part of the core Super Mario cast, but he is a Mario character, there's no way he isn't.

If anyone wants pics for confirmation feel free to ask.
 
Of course Wario is a Mario character!
He debuted in a Mario platformer, was inspired by the man himself and is his rival, is a veteren of the Mario spin offs, most of his merchandise is under the Mario banner and is even a playable character in SM64DS among other things, hell, the Wario franchise has even kept it's ties to Mario despite going off on it's own direction, with the plumber appearing several times in the franchise via Cameos and the Land games having Warp Pipes and the like.

He may not be a "core" Mario character like Yoshi or Bowser, and like Donkey Kong, has taken a bit of an independent identity of his own with his own cast of characters and style over the years, but at the end of the day, he's most definitely and still is a Mario character, arguably more so then Donkey Kong.
 
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JS Shantae said:
This is a pretty silly question, in my opinion.
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True. I can't comprehend how some people think he's not a Mario character. He appears in many, many Mario games, so how is he not a Mario character? Of course he's a Mario character, but he's also a Wario character. Just like DK, who is a Mario character and a character in his own series.
 
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