Wart (character)

For the fictional character "Wart Pig", See U.S. Acres, or Garfield and Friends

Wart, also known as King Wart, is a fictional character from Nintendo. He is an anthropomorphic frog king who is the main antagonist and last boss of Nintendo's NES game, Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, which, for Western audiences, was transformed into Super Mario Bros. 2. In Japan, the character is known to his Japanese name as Mamu (マム, Mamū).

Background
Wart is the leader of his militaristic dictatorship, known as the 8 bits or the 8 bit Club. He is a past evil archnemesis of Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool.

According to the instruction manual of Super Mario All-Stars, his plan involves enslaving and imprisoning the inhabitants of "Subcon", the world featured in Super Mario Bros. 2. He also creates his own monsters with a device known as the Dream Machine. The inhabitants of Subcon call Mario for help, spurring the events that occur in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Concept and creation
Wart was the creation of Nintendo designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto. He was decided to be an evil main villain. Miyamoto had created Wart as an over-sized frog with claws and fangs, with a white belly.

Since Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2, Wart had the same appearance. Wart's appearance is sightly different elsewhere, looking more like a Koopa-like crocodile in the Nintendo Comics or a toad in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

In the remake of Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Advance, Wart is voiced by Charles Martinet, who voices Mario and Luigi in other video games. The voice acting was relatively limited to various frog noises and a few phrases like "Ah, rabbit!".

Wart is known to be prideful, rude and menacing, his goal is to rule over Subcon and becoming its king. In BS Super Mario USA, he is shown as being very jealous of Mario. However, Wart has a somewhat calmer attitude towards Link.

Origin


Wart made his debut appearance in Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic where he plays a role of a main villain and final boss of the game. The game was made into Super Mario Bros. 2 when released in North America. While many characters were changed into Mario series characters, Wart still remains the games antagonist. In the game, he appoints himself ruler of the area named Subcon, and starts enslaving the population. However, either Mario characters or Doki Doki Panic characters, depending on the version, defeat Wart, and the inhabitants punish him.

Cameos
Wart has made a number of other cameos in other games and media over the years. Wart appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, in a dream world known as Koholint Island, where he uses his Japanese name, Mamu. He teaches Link the Frog's Song of Soul by paying him 300 Rupees. He returns again in for BS Super Mario USA, Satellaview. Wart can be found in every tube while being in Subspace, where his room are similar to that of the prequel's last level, Mario must fight him. He is also mentioned very briefly in Mario Superstar Baseball in a Shy Guy's bio and in Super Paper Mario 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 also makes a minor appearance in the Nintendo Adventure Book Doors to Doom, when Mario and Luigi become lost in Subcon after travelling through a warp zone. Wart looked thin and more like a crocodile.

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, despite conceding not a likely candidate for the former. Wart was listed 4th in GamesRadar editor Alan Bradley's article "A baker's dozen of gaming's hungriest bastards", he stated Wart is "A hippie’s worst nightmare, Wart is a vegetable-hating, trippy looking frog king that kidnaps children and haunts the land of dreams. Though his allergy to health food is legendary, Wart’s impressive physique proves that he’s not above eating anything (or anyone) else, potentially even children’s bubble mix." Official Nintendo Magazine listed him as one of the "Nintend Feature: Unsung Mario Heroes", stating that Wart "was a tough cookie with one weakness - he hated the taste of vegetables. Some well-aimed turnips in the mouth and Wart was defeated. It's been 21 years now and Wart's still never returned, maybe because he was never a 'real' Mario character..." GamesRadar listed Wart 10th in the "Top 20 Nintendo Cameos". MTV wrote that Wart should have appeared in Mario Kart games by now, instead of Birdo and Shy Guy which both "kinda suck". NintendoLife claimed one of the reasons that Super Mario Bros. 2 is underappreciated is the fact that even Wario and Waluigi have "received more Nintendo love" than Wart.