Poll Should the antagonist be a surprise?

[CM30]

I'm torn on this matter, since the series does both setups well. On the one hand, it's got a fairly long tradition of having 'surprise' antagonists you only learn about near the end of the game. These include:

1. Captain Syrup in the original game (well, her gender anyway)
2. The Demon Head in VB Wario Land
3. Rudy the Clown in Wario Land 3
4. The Golden Diva in Wario Land 4
5. Terrormisu in Wario: Master of Disguise

At the same time, the series can work with a known villain too:

1. Captain Syrup is known from the start in Wario Land II
2. The Black Jewel is introduced in Wario World's intro
3. The Shake King is seen the minute you start up Wario Land: The Shake Dimension

Additionally, while Syrup's gender was a surprise in Wario Land 1, her name was not, and her existence was mentioned in the manual. So, we knew Syrup was the villain, we just thought she'd be male like the Shake King.

What do you prefer? The villain being kept a secret or them being introduced in the game's intro?

 

[Really Ilini]

I think surprise villains tend to make more sense for Wario's stories, as they usually don't start from a place of needing to thwart them. The Shake King gets around this by not being the main motivator behind Wario stepping in to be the hero, and I wouldn't say Syrup is exactly villainous in II, moreso just trying to get her revenge on Wario for what happened when they first crossed paths. The Black Jewel feels a little more generic in this regard as it forces Wario into another world he must escape from anyway.

 

[noobmurderer34]

This made me realize I don't think Wario ever has a showdown with any of the villains multiple times in the games, it's always one big encounter right at the end. I can't think of any other examples anyway at least. I think having the villain be known would work great if they hindered your progress throughout the story, but usually their only presence is their logo like Golden Diva for 1 second when you enter the pyramid, Demon Head when you're in the treasure rooms, and Shake King during the intruder alert escape thing. I guess Shake King makes his presence slightly more known since he shakes you when you lose the levels and you're reminded he kidnapped the Merfles but that's about it. So if they're only going to show up at the end anyway I like the twist villains, the known ones are good too, it's just I'd like to see what one with multiple encounters would look like

 

[CM30]

This made me realize I don't think Wario ever has a showdown with any of the villains multiple times in the games, it's always one big encounter right at the end. I can't think of any other examples anyway at least. I think having the villain be known would work great if they hindered your progress throughout the story, but usually their only presence is their logo like Golden Diva for 1 second when you enter the pyramid, Demon Head when you're in the treasure rooms, and Shake King during the intruder alert escape thing. I guess Shake King makes his presence slightly more known since he shakes you when you lose the levels and you're reminded he kidnapped the Merfles but that's about it. So if they're only going to show up at the end anyway I like the twist villains, the known ones are good too, it's just I'd like to see what one with multiple encounters would look like

Wait there is one example of Wario fighting a villain multiple times. Wario Land II with Captain Syrup. He fights her for 3 of the game's possible endings.