Why Does Wario Fart?

PushDustIn

Source Gaming
Hey guys, if you remember awhile back I promised I would do research into everyone's favorite menace. Well I'm happy to say it's finished. I found a lot of new information and compiled previously known information. Please, please let me know if you notice anything wrong or if something should be added. I want these post to be as accurate as possible. After I play some Wario Land: Shake It, I'll work on getting part two up onto the site.
Why Does Wario Fart? (Part One) is now up.
moeru.gif


Also, after part two is released, I'll be happy to answer any questions about these posts!
 
This does provide for good insight into why this came to be as it stands now, you've certainly done a good job in compiling the information. I'm looking forward to how you elaborate on it in the second part to see if the move is rooted any deeper. I'm confident that this should clear things up for confused Western fans and pathe the way for discussion. Good work so far!

I do have a question for whenever you choose to answer them:
"Wario’s obsession with butts and toilet humor was already in full swing as Wario Land 4 was released three months prior to Melee…"
I don't quite know what you're referring to with this. 4 definitely had some strange imagery with stuff like the Sound Room visuals, but I don't remember it being toilet humour-driven. Could you please provide some examples of where toilet humour is used in Wario Land 4, in particular some that's showcased in the same way as the Wario Waft would later be?
 
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This does provide for good insight into why this came to be as it stands now, you've certainly done a good job in compiling the information. I'm looking forward to how you elaborate on it in the second part to see if the move is rooted any deeper. I'm confident that this should clear things up for confused Western fans and pathe the way for discussion. Good work so far!

I do have a question for whenever you choose to answer them:
"Wario’s obsession with butts and toilet humor was already in full swing as Wario Land 4 was released three months prior to Melee…"
I don't quite know what you're referring to with this. 4 definitely had some strange imagery with stuff like the Sound Room visuals, but I don't remember it being toilet humour-driven. Could you please provide some examples of where toilet humour is used in Wario Land 4, in particular some that's showcased in the same way as the Wario Waft would later be?
Not to mention a loading screen in Sluggers so that could also be Namco Bandai's fault in the first place but that's just a hypothesis. But then again maybe Shake It! did it first and it got popular.

Well the sound room does look pretty sketchy but it doesn't imply anything that I know of.
 
Now that's what I call a article which has some explanations about how Wario's characterization on both country. Personally, the characterization of him on the Japanese commercials could be that cliché of "the dimwitted overweight character" in Japan stereotypes we saw nowadays, but that's me talking. It could be this or Sakurai is just messing around with his ideas.

Overall, it's a great article and I'm glad I read it.
I can't wait to see part 2.

"Wario’s obsession with butts and toilet humor was already in full swing as Wario Land 4 was released three months prior to Melee…"
I don't quite know what you're referring to with this. 4 definitely had some strange imagery with stuff like the Sound Room visuals, but I don't remember it being toilet humour-driven. Could you please provide some examples of where toilet humour is used in Wario Land 4, in particular some that's showcased in the same way as the Wario Waft would later be?

Maybe the "toilet humour" he is speaking about was this section in the manual...? About the Wario Waft, could be that microgame on WarioWare: Smooth Moves which the player needs to waft his farts or even his ability in Mario Strikers Charged which influenced for them to do that in Brawl and Sm4sh.
 
(when I saw the title, I thought this was a troll thread)

That's a good examination of wario's portrayal accross both side of the ponds. I had no idea about those JP commercials, and seeing it presented like that help put his portrayal in smash into perspective. Adding to that, I guess the CGI intros to Camelot's mario sports spinoff fit in the optic of wario being primarily a comical, "butt monkey" character.

That being said,

Hiroji Kiyotake was the director and graphic designer for Super Mario Land 2, and is considered the father of Wario.


I'm a waste of carbon so I want to point out Takehiko Hosokawa was the co-director on SML2 and the original Wario Land, and is actually the person who consistently involved on the WL, and one of the few of the original WL team to work on the warioware games (even if in a limited capacity). Of course, Kiyotake is Wario's creator (as said in this interview with R&D1 staff) and there's nearly no english material featuring Hosokowa beside Wii Play Motion's iwata asks so there's really nothing that hint at what his input was on the character but... yeah, nitpicks...
 
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Now that's what I call a article which has some explanations about how Wario's characterization on both country.
Thanks for the kind words!

I was shocked when I found out the difference in portrayal. I grew up in the United States, so I was only exposed to the US commercials. The Japanese commercials have changed how I think about Wario now.

Part two is up!
@ChanceTime @Bubba
It should answer the question about the toilet humor that was featured in Wario Land 4 (sorry to keep you waiting! Formatting the post took ~2 hours).

@Glowsquid I'll work that information into the the About Wario section. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll add Takehiko Hosokawa on my list of things to research to see what I can find in Japanese too. Thanks for the information.
 
The thing is, stuff can be written about Wario to whatever extent, really the bigger indicator of his character comes from the games themselves, wherein he doesn't demonstrate toilet humour. I understand that these are still official sources and all, but I think the reason people find the Smash rendition of Wario to be a misrepresentation is because it's not the sort of thing he does in the games.

Even if the promotional material is different, the Wario Land game content remained the same, by and large. Maybe it's just me in thinking that actual gameplay interactions define a character more than detatched notes, but I'm pretty sure doing is more important than being told. I'm not blaming Sakurai for the presentation or some shit, I just think it remains a poor rep in spite of the proof against it. I'm not saying it's incorrect, it's just a shame more than anything. I'm not even diputing the comedic tone, but I could understand it more if his moveset was formed around humiliating transformations, since that was an aspect to him that was actually shown rather than documentation and other-source dialogue phoning in how gross he is. That's just me, though.

Nevertheless, your investigation was very thorough and the article is very admirable for that and in presentation, too. Very good work!
 
Another thing this help clarifies is why wario's in Warioware.

In a 2006 interview with the WW team, the interviewer asked why they chose wario as the protagonist of the series, and Yoshio Sakamoto responds "Wario is always doing stupid things and is really idiotic, so we thought him and the rest of the characters would be best for the game.". It seemed like a weird comment when I read it at the time (although I guess the wl *gaems* have plently of slapstick, which should've been enough of an hint), but with everything's our pal PushDustIn digged up, it, again, Makes More Sense.
 
Both parts were a truly splendid article! I hope many people read it and are enlightnened. Also very nice imagery.

Well, for me, the new information were the part about the size and color of his poop, which I think is hilarious (I'm not Mozart though), and Sakurai's interview. I for one welcome all the toilet humor, but I don't think Wario Land or WarioWare ever intended toilet humor to be the only thing Wario can do: that's where Sakurai/Smash are to blame (I disagree with your conclusion, sorry; while I do enjoy Smash Wario, I do think he still leaves to be desired). Wario is a character who is meant to be funny in various ways, not just one.

Aaaand finally, this article doesn't mention it (which is okay as it was not the its theme), but nothing about Wario's innate dopeyness justifies how he was portrayed in SSE (until everyone joined up in the end), where he did downright bad/seriously villainous things (contradicting Sakurai's statement), which is being the opposite of Wario's fun/quirky self.
 
that's
um
when you talked about toilet humor, I didn't imagine it would be that extreme
yeah, looks like sakurai isn't to blame for the "le funny farting man" characterization. This has been, um, enlightening.
Sorry. I was pretty shocked too.

The thing is, stuff can be written about Wario to whatever extent, really the bigger indicator of his character comes from the games themselves, wherein he doesn't demonstrate toilet humour. I understand that these are still official sources and all, but I think the reason people find the Smash rendition of Wario to be a misrepresentation is because it's not the sort of thing he does in the games.

Even if the promotional material is different, the Wario Land game content remained the same, by and large. Maybe it's just me in thinking that actual gameplay interactions define a character more than detatched notes, but I'm pretty sure doing is more important than being told. I'm not blaming Sakurai for the presentation or some shit, I just think it remains a poor rep in spite of the proof against it. I'm not saying it's incorrect, it's just a shame more than anything. I'm not even diputing the comedic tone, but I could understand it more if his moveset was formed around humiliating transformations, since that was an aspect to him that was actually shown rather than documentation and other-source dialogue phoning in how gross he is. That's just me, though.

Nevertheless, your investigation was very thorough and the article is very admirable for that and in presentation, too. Very good work!
Humiliating transformations would really make an interesting moveset. Perhaps if Wario World had featured transformations instead of regular combat, we would have seen more Wario Land inspirations. As I point out, a lot of his animations are from Wario Land, but his moveset is a mix of Wario Land, Wario World and WarioWare. If only he had beat Peach in the "If there were a Smash 2 Poll...".

Both parts were a truly splendid article! I hope many people read it and are enlightnened. Also very nice imagery.

Well, for me, the new information were the part about the size and color of his poop, which I think is hilarious (I'm not Mozart though), and Sakurai's interview. I for one welcome all the toilet humor, but I don't think Wario Land or WarioWare ever intended toilet humor to be the only thing Wario can do: that's where Sakurai/Smash are to blame (I disagree with your conclusion, sorry; while I do enjoy Smash Wario, I do think he still leaves to be desired). Wario is a character who is meant to be funny in various ways, not just one.

Aaaand finally, this article doesn't mention it (which is okay as it was not the its theme), but nothing about Wario's innate dopeyness justifies how he was portrayed in SSE (until everyone joined up in the end), where he did downright bad/seriously villainous things (contradicting Sakurai's statement), which is being the opposite of Wario's fun/quirky self.
That's true I didn't examine the Subspace Emissary. It wasn't intentional, I swear! Maybe if I can bribe one of the YouTubers I know, I can work that into a video version of the article. Definitely won't be for awhile, but I'll keep it in mind.

Another thing this help clarifies is why wario's in Warioware.

In a 2006 interview with the WW team, the interviewer asked why they chose wario as the protagonist of the series, and Yoshio Sakamoto responds "Wario is always doing stupid things and is really idiotic, so we thought him and the rest of the characters would be best for the game.". It seemed like a weird comment when I read it at the time (although I guess the wl *gaems* have plently of slapstick, which should've been enough of an hint), but with everything's our pal PushDustIn digged up, it, again, Makes More Sense.
I added this information into the WarioWare section! I should've used more WarioWare images in the article, but I love the Wario Land official art more. Plus...eventually, I'd like to do a general series article so I didn't want to include the other characters (Like Ashley, 9-Volt, Jimmy, etc).
 
It's an interesting run down, though a few things bother me:

Eating garlic to turn into Wario Man was something that was originally invented for Smash Brothers.

This needs a source, since unless the idea of Wario Man was introduced in some Melee beta or something, then eating garlic has always tied into Wario Man's appearance in some way. Or at least it did in WarioWare Touched, to a degree.

Secondly, while the use of toilet humour has always existed in the series, it was rarely as prominent as in the Smash Bros series. You had some small in game references, some manual comments and some WarioWare microgames, but Wario's use of farting and stuff was rarely ever in the game's general 'story'.

Finally, it still doesn't explain the lack of Wario Land content in Brawl and 4 in other ways, like music, stages, trophies, assist trophies, stickers, etc. Or for that matter, the very few WarioWare references in trophies in Brawl or what not.
 
I don't care how much poop or fart jokes they put into manuals, commercials and websites or whatever.
1. Like people have said, it's not part of the actual game.
2. It just feels out of place. As if the person writing it had nothing to do with the game and just took liberties with portraying the character. Like they just wanted to make it funny but gross jokes were the only thing they could think of.
3. That doesn't justify making it a move for smash bros.

I know I've said it a million times but...
It just pains me to see him like that. That everyone now thinks this is what Wario is about. Anytime anyone talks about him they ALWAYS mention the farts...

When I was a kid I instantly fell in love with Wario's character because he WASN'T a stereotypical fat guy.
I've always been fat myself but whenever there was a fat guy in a movie, on TV or in a game, nine times outta ten he was either stupid, gross or both.
I don't think I ever saw a character who was fat but also competent or had any redeeming qualities about him.
That's not very encouraging for a kid like I was...

So naturally, when I first got to know Wario he quickly became my favourite character. He was strong, he was the main character, he did his own thing, he was an anti-hero, he had an awesome moustache and a cool design. He had big muscles! When was the last time you saw a character that was fat AND had big muscles?

But now all of that has just been replaced with "He's the gross fat guy that farts."
And since Smash Bros is so huge everyone who hasn't played Wario Land will believe it.

YOU RUINED MY CHILDHOOD, SAKURAI!!! TT.TT


(Just exaggerating. .....No I'm not.)
 
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It's an interesting run down, though a few things bother me:

Eating garlic to turn into Wario Man was something that was originally invented for Smash Brothers.

This needs a source, since unless the idea of Wario Man was introduced in some Melee beta or something, then eating garlic has always tied into Wario Man's appearance in some way. Or at least it did in WarioWare Touched, to a degree.

Secondly, while the use of toilet humour has always existed in the series, it was rarely as prominent as in the Smash Bros series. You had some small in game references, some manual comments and some WarioWare microgames, but Wario's use of farting and stuff was rarely ever in the game's general 'story'.

Finally, it still doesn't explain the lack of Wario Land content in Brawl and 4 in other ways, like music, stages, trophies, assist trophies, stickers, etc. Or for that matter, the very few WarioWare references in trophies in Brawl or what not.

(@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.
 
I hate how series can only be represented if they are relevant or retro now. Smash is supposed to be about acknowledging nintendo history and Wario Land is a HUGE part of Wario's history which is why it sucks to see it ignored.
Plus, I don't even think the timely status of a series puts a limit on the move sets allocated. Take Mario for example, whose Cape move was given to him years and years after Super Mario World was released. Factoring this into account means there's no reason why Wario couldn't have used transformation-influenced moves considering the gap between Brawl and the last case of the transformations being used was actually a smaller amount of time.
 
Also, Wario Land 1, 2, 3 AND 4 have all been released on virtual console so people have been able to play them again.
Smash references all kinds of obscure shit that no one has heard of or played in decades.
Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru got an assist trophy AND a regular trophy. Who has even heard of that? The only reason I know it is because characters from that game got cameos in other games. It's an obscure japan-only gameboy game from 1992 but apparently it was more important than Wario Land.
Captain Rainbow gets a trophy. Captain frickin' Rainbow!
And so does Art Academy.
But Wario Land doesn't deserve one? At all? Yes, you'd have to make a new 3D model but so what!? Melee had tons of new 3D models for their trophies!

Duck Hunt becomes a character for being "retro" and "classic" and supposedly a big part of Nintendo's history.
But Wario Land gets no trophy, stage, remix or even a sticker even though (like AwesomeCauliflower68 said) it's a huge part of Wario's history. Without Wario Land he'd be a forgotten character today. Wario Land gave him a personality. It made him unique. Before that he was just "an ugly, evil, cross-eyed Mario.

Sakurai? If you wanna make Wario "unique" and you think giving him a fart attack is the only way to do that, FINE. Go ahead. But at LEAST keep his actual signature move in there.
There's no reason the charge attack couldn't have been one of his moves. Why isn't it his dash attack? Instead of falling on his face he could be doing the charge. They would just have to change the animation.
WHY did they have to remove it completely?
Why whyyyy whyyyyyyyy?

 
I think this "performing" thing that Sakurai says is bull. I get when a character needs to be "performing" like Captain Falcon due to having no moveset without it, but prioritizing toilet humor and randomness over HIS SIGNATURE MOVE is just absolutely stupid. This stuff is why I hate Sakurai.
 
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