For a long time I was angry at him. He’d robbed me of adventures that would no longer happen. A friend of mine even bought me a plushy of Wario, telling me I was free to destroy it any way I saw fit (except by fire, that would have been too quick!).
I eventually got over “Super Mario Land 3" really not being Super Mario some 20 plus years after its release and, on the advice of the same friend who gave me the destroy-me-Wario, gave it another chance. So I hunted down a copy of the Gameboy cart and started to connect with this plump would-be hero.
Wario of old was a treasure hungry madman. No princess to rescue, just material wealth to plunder. Refreshing take on the main character role. He was mean, grumpy, and cunning. Somewhere along the line he became a farcical flatulence joke, which is a real shame. I’ve only started on this journey of a missed childhood gaming gem, but with each course cleared in looking more and more forward to the rest of the series. Part of me is a little sad I went out of my way to avoid these games when they were new, but the bigger part is thrilled to have fresh, classic, games to enjoy still!
