Why Does Wario Fart?

[Bubba]

Well well well. No need for the disrespect @BeepBoopWAH . Sakurai is only doing what's best for his team and tries to overcome the barriers that the Wario series has set up perhaps both legally and perceptively for the main regions of the world. Personally I could defend him not only because he made a very well structured series of games but also he's human. No one's perfect but I agree he should respond to this minority fanbase.

The way Wario is portrayed changed drastically I agree but it's not like I can help it. Wario is Nintendo's portrayal of Deadpool and that is both a risk and a reward. The risk is people hating his guts because he changed so much but the reward is a bigger audience and wider popularity. I can see what he's trying to do and I applaud that but like the Nostalgia Critic review of Master of Disguise this is more widely accepted as a problem rather than a solution from a conservative point of view.

 

[Melluh]

What I don't like about Sakurai is that he seems to change his mind depending on what the fans want that week and call it a good decision, even if it completely contradicts something he said before. Sure he can make mistakes like everyone, but I just get the feeling he doesn't have much... integrity, as the guy who made the game.

The article is super well done, gotta say. It's really good to know there's actually reasoning behind Wario's general representation as it is now and it's not just something done for the sake of it because his design inspires it. Even so, I don't think it justifies it at all? I mean, Smash in itself is something I always saw as a love letter to everything Nintendo, a good chance to highlight what every character is made of, and... the fact they ignored everything that's so relevant in Wario Land (that is, game mechanics that are signature to the franchise) just to focus on what the manuals and marketing say about him... A lot of people said it already, but I think the transformations would have done the trick if they wanted to keep it goofy. :c

 

[warelander]

The thing is Wario having an afinity for toilet humor and him being kinda gross have always been part of the character, in fact there are plenty instances of him picking his nose or comments about him having a gross stench prior to his inclusion in Brawl. What makes his Smash portrayel problematic in my eyes is the fact that they took this one trait and inflated it to downright stupid degrees, it’s a part of the character, but so are his greed and strenght, I would even argue that they are much more important, given that he actualy demonstrates them to a much larger degree in the actual games, which in my opinion have a lot more staying power then other materials.

I get the whole idea of wanting to make him wacky and unique, but as it has been mentioned several times now the transformations could have done that just fine, whille also staying true to his actual playstyle, which is my biggest problem, Wario in Smash just does not feel right, he doesn’t feel imposing with his strenght, he is way to floaty and he is missing several core moves, when you compare him to other plattformer characters like Kirby or Mega Man, who have their gameplay very well translated into Smash , it just comes of as incredibly jarring.

I’m also still waiting for an excuse as to why the charge was removed, because it’s not just in the Wario plattformers, but also several Ware games and Mario spin offs, in fact it’s most recent appearence was in Mario Golf World Tour, which came out the same year as Smash For, so it’s not like it’s some sort of relic, it’s still a relevant part of the charcter and to me removing it is a clear sign of not giving a shit to represent the character well.

 

[blanche]

Well well well. No need for the disrespect @BeepBoopWAH . Sakurai is only doing what's best for his team and tries to overcome the barriers that the Wario series has set up perhaps both legally and perceptively for the main regions of the world. Personally I could defend him not only because he made a very well structured series of games but also he's human. No one's perfect but I agree he should respond to this minority fanbase.

The way Wario is portrayed changed drastically I agree but it's not like I can help it. Wario is Nintendo's portrayal of Deadpool and that is both a risk and a reward. The risk is people hating his guts because he changed so much but the reward is a bigger audience and wider popularity. I can see what he's trying to do and I applaud that but like the Nostalgia Critic review of Master of Disguise this is more widely accepted as a problem rather than a solution from a conservative point of view.

Why is it that turning his sole bearing trait into a farty, comic-relief character more widely accepted by audiences then the quirky, greedy, anti-hero Wario?

@PushDustIn


Read my post..

Yeah, but why is it his character being reduced to that? Is it because Nintendo feels characters need to be more light-hearted and playful for Mario? I know that Waluigi's first portrayal was different from his others, but I don't understand why they choose to not capitalize on Wario's other (more admirable, more interesting) features.

The WarioLand commercials are a tad bit irrelevant to your point.. I don't see how the Japanese commercials showing Wario as a quirky funny guy has to do with him turning into the overtly-gross, completely idiotic, farting buffoon we see these days.

The WarioWare interview (assuming you meant the obscure one for the first one, not others) didn't show him as gross, he was more shown as a quirky, violent, and quick to rouse guy.

 

[PushDustIn]

Why is it that turning his sole bearing trait into a farty, comic-relief character more widely accepted by audiences then the quirky, greedy, anti-hero Wario?

@PushDustIn


Read my post..

Yeah, but why is it his character being reduced to that? Is it because Nintendo feels characters need to be more light-hearted and playful for Mario? I know that Waluigi's first portrayal was different from his others, but I don't understand why they choose to not capitalize on Wario's other (more admirable, more interesting) features.

The WarioLand commercials are a tad bit irrelevant to your point.. I don't see how the Japanese commercials showing Wario as a quirky funny guy has to do with him turning into the overtly-gross, completely idiotic, farting buffoon we see these days.

The WarioWare interview (assuming you meant the obscure one for the first one, not others) didn't show him as gross, he was more shown as a quirky, violent, and quick to rouse guy.

Which post are you talking about? The best way to reach me is via Twitter. Sorry that I haven't checked this thread in awhile...been very busy.

I think the commercials are extremely relevant. It shows how the character has been promoted to the public. Based on the designs in the commercials, you can tell the people who made the commercials at least talked to the developers. The Japanese versions are the only commercials that have Wario cross-eyed-- which has been a part of his character design since day one (but ignored in the US commercials).

The WarioWare interview states that Wario was chosen because he is 'stupid'. This is reflected in his reactions in the Wario Land, which causes him to change his power based on enemies attacks. He has super human strength (as evident in all of the Wario Land games), but it hasn't been a defining feature since Wario Land 1 (though you could argue that invincibility aspect of Wario Land 2 and 3 are a continuation of the 'strength' characteristic). He's always been very 'greedy' and is blinded by his greed which is why the WarioWare story makes some sense with his character.

 

[warelander]

Which post are you talking about? The best way to reach me is via Twitter. Sorry that I haven't checked this thread in awhile...been very busy.

I think the commercials are extremely relevant. It shows how the character has been promoted to the public. Based on the designs in the commercials, you can tell the people who made the commercials at least talked to the developers. The Japanese versions are the only commercials that have Wario cross-eyed-- which has been a part of his character design since day one (but ignored in the US commercials).

The WarioWare interview states that Wario was chosen because he is 'stupid'. This is reflected in his reactions in the Wario Land, which causes him to change his power based on enemies attacks. He has super human strength (as evident in all of the Wario Land games), but it hasn't been a defining feature since Wario Land 1 (though you could argue that invincibility aspect of Wario Land 2 and 3 are a continuation of the 'strength' characteristic). He's always been very 'greedy' and is blinded by his greed which is why the WarioWare story makes some sense with his character.

Have you ever actually played a Wario plattformer? World has him piledrive things much taller than him like a DINOSAUR into the ground, that's a much bigger example of his superhuman strenght being a defining trait than anything Land 1 offers, then there is also Shake It where he can toss the Shake King around with ease, not to mention him being a power character in every Mario spin off ever and even the Ware games have shown him working out on occasion. Being very strong, but not very mobile was always what made Wario different from other plattforming characters like Mario or Kirby, Smash figured it would be better to ignore that in favor of making him floaty and giving him a ''lulz random'' moveset, that couldn't do a worse job of representing Ware if it tried.

As for commercials the japanese TV commercials were actually really good at reprenting what happens in the games themselves, without turning Wario into Farty MCfartrio and even then commercials are supplementary materials and giving those higher priority then the games themselves (especially since the games show the developers' intentions) is nothing short of ignorant, the actual games a character originates from will always be the best way to gauge how he/she/it should be potrayed, since that's the potrayel people will always have in front of them when they boot up the game.

Also I'm still waiting for someone to white knight the removal of the charge and how it's not a example of disregard for Wario's legacy.

 

[blanche]

Have you ever actually played a Wario plattformer? World has him piledrive things much taller than him like a DINOSAUR into the ground, that's a much bigger example of his superhuman strenght being a defining trait than anything Land 1 offers, then there is also Shake It where he can toss the Shake King around with ease, not to mention him being a power character in every Mario spin off ever and even the Ware games have shown him working out on occasion. Being very strong, but not very mobile was always what made Wario different from other plattforming characters like Mario or Kirby, Smash figured it would be better to ignore that in favor of making him floaty and giving him a ''lulz random'' moveset, that couldn't do a worse job of representing Ware if it tried.

As for commercials the japanese TV commercials were actually really good at reprenting what happens in the games themselves, without turning Wario into Farty MCfartrio and even then commercials are supplementary materials and giving those higher priority then the games themselves (especially since the games show the developers' intentions) is nothing short of ignorant, the actual games a character originates from will always be the best way to gauge how he/she/it should be potrayed, since that's the potrayel people will always have in front of them when they boot up the game.

Also I'm still waiting for someone to white knight the removal of the charge and how it's not a example of disregard for Wario's legacy.

damn son you went in my boy

 

[Glowsquid]

woah peeps, let's not go berserk on pushdustin here

Wheter or not they actually represent developer intent, marketing plays an huge enduring role in the perception of characters and works of media. How many people do you see saying the Sonic games are "all about speed" when the earlier entries were actually quite slow-paced and methodical? The article provides an explanation - not necessarily a justification (even if I disagree with the ultimate concluson that "I feel that Masahiro Sakurai tried to represent who the character actually is.")- for the choices made in Extreme Pugilist Fraternity.

 

[warelander]

If I came off as overly aggressive I apologize and I don't want to discredid any of the work that went into the article, however I'm still failing to see how Wario's JP marketing potrayal translates into his Smash incernation. The worst we have seen was the Land 4 website, which shows that he likes to talk about crude stuff (and him having a foul sense of humour has been stated in western materials as well) and that at least to me, doesn't translate into Wario becoming the Marioverse equivalent of a South Park canadian. Making a fart joke (which wouldn't be out of character for Wario) isn't the same as farting into peoples faces, Shake It had him fart in one of his idle animations and it didn't bother me, Wario being vulagr has always been a part of his character, but never the main draw and that's (one of the many aspects) where Smash goofed up in my honest opinion.

Again, no offence to PushDustIn, this is just a subject I fell strongly about, if I ever come of as aggressive I don't mean to lash out on him, he is just trying to find reasons as to why Wario is potrayed the way he is in Smash and that's totally fine, however I can't agree with his verdict that Smash Wario isn't garbage and that's my bottom line.

 

[ShyGuyXXL]

@TB100 Why do you always delete your messages? That was a well-written post!

I wouldn't say that Wario has ever been (or should be) portrayed completely seriously, I just don't want him to be nothing more than a stereotype.
We already have enough fat guy stereotypes in the media.

 

[Metal]

This is what happens when you eat at your local Taco Bell or Chipotle Mexican Grill

 

[The 3rd Wario Brother]

What exactly is a fart? The word "FART" can stand for: Frequency Actuated Rectal Tremor. Farting, also known as flatulence, is the act of passing intestinal gas from the anus. Intestinal gas comes from several sources: air we swallow, gas that seeps into our intestines from our blood, gas produced by chemical reactions in our guts, and gas produced by bacteria living in our guts. Burps are not farts that come out your mouth. They have to do with your stomach.

Mystery solved!

 

[TB100]

The article is pretty good I will admit and it does explain a bit more about why Wario was portrayed the way he is in Smash (Also why english Smash 4???)

However
To say Wario was portrayed as a serious bad guy in the west is incorrect.
Especially since we got stuff like this.


Even that Wario Land 4 commercial you mentioned is pretty silly.

The only time he was really portrayed as a bad guy was really back when Yokoi was in charge of the whole thing (SML2-VBWL) and even then, it was really only limited to the commercials for the most part.

I mean, look at stuff like this

How can you look at this and not laugh at the whole absurity of it all?

While there are differences between them
As The Japanese marketing tends to focus more on Wario's hyjinks and craziness
Whereas the American marketing focuses more on Wario's greed and selfishness

At the end of the day, they're both very silly and absurd and neither one is supposed to be taken seriously.

And for the record, I have no problem with Wario being portrayed as a silly and comical character, that's always been one of his most defining traits even going back to SML2 and it's one of the reasons why I and several other people enjoy Wario so much
The problem I and many people have with Smash Wario is how it puts a lot of emphasis on him being this total farting grossout character even though that's never really been the case. (Not even in Japan was this really the case even though it's more of a thing there.)

Yes Wario does have a crude sense of humor, and both bathroom and crude humor have always played a part in the Wario series (Hell I have no real big problem with the Wario Waft to be completely honest), but the way they play it out in Smash just reeks of flanderization.
Where they focus exclusively on Wario being this grossout character and not much else beyond that. (I know that wasn't the only focus, but it certainly feels that way.)

Now let's get this out of the way, I know a few people do enjoy Wario in smash and I'm not gonna bash on those who do
but to say it's a all around fair representation of Wario as a character is not accurate at all.
Now granted, It's not the worst representation of a character ever (He was somewhat fine in Smash Brawl IMO aside from the lack of Wario Land representation), But he could have been represented much better then he did (Especially in Smash 4's case).

 

[RevampedSpider]

(@ShyGuyXXL, this is also a response to your post too)

Fixed the first point, I'm not sure how I got that mixed up...I even included a list of Wario games in the first page!

Like I said in the post, Wario's toilet humor was heavily stressed in Wario Land 4's promotional material, and his characterization in general. Even from the start, he was made to be a cross-eyed, intimation of Mario. The villain/ bad guy role was really up-played by American promotional materials, whereas in Japan it's been much more lighthearted.

Furthermore, the main "hook" of the Wario Land series (or at least as I see it), hasn't been used since Wario Land 4. The various "reactions" could have been made into a very interesting moveset, but were completely absent from Wario World and Shake It. The main thing that differentiated Wario Land and Mario Land were these reactions, and it's a shame that they don't have a platformer that uses this set up. It's a bit similar to Mario's hat system, but it's different enough that they really add a unique element to platforming.

Sakurai doesn't always base moves off the game, or moves that the character can do themselves. Sometimes, he takes from all kinds of sources, or tries to capture the feel of the character (See Captain Falcon or Fox/Falco/Wolf). This is because in Sakurai's mind, the characters are performing in Smash Bros. They are not the actual characters. Instead, they are trophy versions of the actual character. This is why some characters, despite having a perfect move-set available to them (Like Sonic, Snake or Luigi) have completely unique abilities or moves in Smash. Lastly, Sakurai wants every character to have something unique about them. Unfortunately, since Wario had elements of being viewed as a comedic, "idiot" character (See the WarioWare interview, Wario Land 4 promotion, Wario Land Japanese commercials) he was assigned that role to in Smash Bros. Again, since he's performing, Wario was made to become an even more exaggerated version of himself. It's not like Sakurai pulled this moveset out of his butt (pun intended). Remember, all movesets are given the okay by their original characters. Therefore, Hiroji Kiyotake has approved of Sakurai's interpretation of the character. There had to be a reason, and I think my post illustrates why it was given the okay.

Personally, I'm not a fan of it myself (to some degree), but I can understand why he's designed like that now. I dislike the severe differences that exist in the translations in Smash for 3DS/ Wii U, as I feel they are really throwing Wario under the bus. In the Japanese version, they are much kinder and respectful to him. Especially the American version....wtf.....

As for the lack of Wario Land content, my guess would be because it's not a prominent series anymore. I'm not sure why they didn't pull more from Wario Land: Shake It/ Wario World (Especially in Brawl), as the art for that game is absolutely gorgeous. It probably had to do with time, and the import process. Fire Emblem received 0 extra trophies in Melee because of the time. Rare had all their trophies cut too. In the newest game, it's probably because the lack of new content. The last Wario Land game was released in 2008, which is 7 years ago. I really hope they bring the series back, but I feel that the high production costs of Shake It, and the lack of sales might have scared Nintendo away from the series for now. Game and Wario might have scared Nintendo from a WarioWare title too, so I'm not sure what the future holds for our favorite guy. Sakurai has to focus on series that are relevant to Nintendo-- or retro series, which Wario Land is in the middle of. I'd personally put Wario Land in the same boat as Golden Sun representation. Not relevant, not retro so it's not a priority. Again, I really wish this wasn't the case as the Wario Land series has amazing platforming and level design.

Kiyotake didn't create Wario, he designed him.

 

[Boris Carloft's Car Loft]

Well, it's hard to really credit any one individual with Wario's creation, since the furthest back we can trace his conception is to the throwaway idea for his punny name, which in and of itself was the result of an ol' "group think" at R&D1. However, Wario's final design and personality was all the brainchild of Kiyotake. I believe there were several different artists pitching their own concepts for the character during SML2's development, but Kiyotake's vision won everyone over -- the importance of his role in Wario's creation has been highlighted a lot in the years since.

 

[Crescent-Moon Villager]

Methanogenic bacteria dwell within the colon of The Fat Man, ever converting a constant stream of organic matter into gaseous compounds which must be expelled. This, dear forumers, is the reason Wario farts.