Wart (character)

Wart
Mario character
First appearance	Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987)
Voiced by	Charles Martinet (2000)

Wart, also known as King Wart and in Japan as Mamu (Japanese: マムー, Hepburn: Mamū), is a fictional character from Nintendo. He is an anthropomorphic frog king who debuted as the main antagonist and final boss of two Nintendo games: 1987's Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic for Famicom in Japan, and 1988's Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES outside Japan. Wart is the leader of a militaristic dictatorship, known as the 8 bits or the 8 bit Club. He is an evil nemesis of Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool.

Origin

Wart, as he appears in Super Mario Bros. 2, spitting bubbles at the player. The player damages Wart by throwing vegetables into his mouth.

Wart made his debut appearance in 1987's Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, where he plays a role of a main villain and final boss of the game. The game was converted into 1988's Super Mario Bros. 2 for its North American release. While some characters and music were changed into Mario series elements and the game world is named Subcon, Wart remains as the game's antagonist, instead of Bowser, who usually serves that role in the series. In both versions, Wart creates his own monsters with a device known as the "dream machine", appoints himself ruler of the land, and enslaves its inhabitants.^[1] However, Wart is ultimately to be defeated by the protagonists and then castigated severely by the liberated populace.

Based upon this storyline, Wart and his malignant colleagues are also amongst the antagonists of various television and comic book series in the Mario franchise.

Cameos

Wart has made a number of cameos in various games and media. Wart appears in 1993's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for Game Boy, in a dream world known as Koholint Island, where he uses his Japanese name, Mamu. He teaches Link the "Frog's Song of Soul", which helps Link on his quest.^[2] He returns in 1996's BS Super Mario USA Power Challenge for Satellaview. In the game, Wart can be found in every tube while being in Subspace; where his rooms are similar to that of the prequel's final level, Mario must fight him. There is an entire satellite broadcast episode associated with the game titled "Wart's Trap, Look Out Mario Brothers" (「マムーの罠，危うしマリオブラザーズ」, "Mamu no Wana, Abunauｓhi Mario Burazazu").^[3] He is mentioned very briefly in Mario Superstar Baseball in a Shy Guy's biography, and in Super Paper Mario where a "Cyborg Wart" appears in a character's comic book.

Wart made two appearances in Valiant Comics's Nintendo Comics System imprint. In Cloud Nine, he abducts King Toadstool and tries to flood the Mushroom Kingdom; and in Tanooki Suits Me, he appears as a prospective buyer of several priceless pieces of artwork Bowser had stolen from the Mushroom Castle's Royal Art Gallery. Under the guise of a friendly skateboarder, Wart makes a minor appearance in the Nintendo Adventure Book Doors to Doom, when Mario and Luigi become lost in Subcon after traveling through a warp zone.

Reception

IGN editor Lucas M. Thomas thought Wart deserved a spot as a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl or in a Mario spinoff series, although conceding that he was not a likely candidate.^[4] Wart was listed in GamesRadar editor Alan Bradley's article "A baker's dozen of gaming's hungriest bastards", he referred to Wart as a "trippy looking frog" whose "allergy to health food is legendary" and "he’s not above eating anything (or anyone) else, potentially even children’s bubble mix."^[5] GamesRadar also listed Wart's appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening as the tenth best Nintendo character cameo.^[6] On other hand, GameDaily included Wart their list of the 10 worst Mario characters, stating he "will always be the loser that filled in for Bowser", and they also called him "a somewhat ironic figure" because he dies from eating too many vegetables despite being an overweight creature.^[7]

References

External links

• Wart's information page at TMK.net