Back when Nintendo Power was the one video magazine to rule them all (at least in my opinion), they would have some very special sections, including comics featuring some of Nintendo’s most beloved characters. After Super Mario Adventures (see my article on that story for more details) completed its run at the end of 1992, Mario would star in two more comics in a new series entitled Mario vs. Wario. In these stories, Mario would be pitted against Wario, his nefarious look-alike, who at the time was a brand new character introduced in Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. The tales contained the same cartoon action and mayhem that Super Mario Adventures had, and although both of them were self-contained stories as opposed to being serialized, they still made for fun and exciting reads all around. Let me tell you about the times when Wario wished to get even with Mario in the comics.
The first story appeared in January 1993, and introduced Wario as being Mario’s old playmate back when they were kids. Twenty years after he last saw Wario, Mario received a letter from him inviting him to his castle for a reunion. As Mario set off, he had no idea of Wario’s true intentions. You see, Wario’s childhood was filled with terrible memories, such as the time he helped Mario in the garden but was stuck plucking painful Piranha flowers while Mario picked turnips, and the day that a Thwomp flattened Wario while he and Mario tried to use it to flatten coins. What really made Wario angry, however, is that whenever they played cowboys, he would usually become the rustler while Mario became the sheriff. Wario’s plan was to lure Mario to his castle in order to get his revenge from having suffered what he saw was a lousy childhood.
Meanwhile, as Mario journeyed to Wario’s castle, he faced several obstacles. He encountered a giant rat with a pointy nose, which he yanked off and used it as a party favor. He was ambushed by three round pigs, but used one of the as a bowling ball to knock down the other two. He outwitted a witch by first dodging her fire spells and then using a pair of cauldron lids clamped onto his feet to cross the moat. When Mario met a giant octopus, he realized that he had been ill since he was living in fresh water. Mario tried to help out by pouring some salt in the water, only to realize that he was actually pouring sugar. After surviving these challenges, Mario finally arrived at Wario’s castle.
It was there that he found his old playmate, who had become a giant, and he began attacking Mario. In reality, he had just filled himself with air, and when Mario spotted a plug on him, he pulled it, causing Wario to deflate back to his normal size. Having been beaten by Mario again, Wario had a tantrum, claiming that Mario was nothing but a bully. Mario did not understand what Wario meant, but being the nice person that he was, helped Wario to calm down and suggested that they should have a good time like they used to years ago. Unfortunately for Wario, this meant another game of cowboys, in which he was once again the rustler. So much for his plans for revenge.
In January 1994, Mario vs. Wario returned for a second installment. This time, both Mario and Wario were invited to Princess Toadstool’s birthday party. They recalled the time when she looked lovingly at a Samus Aran (from Metroid) doll in a toy store window. Each of them decided that they should get the doll as a birthday present. However, when Wario got to the store, the doll had already been sold, and the Koopa clerk who worked there mentioned that someone with a black mustache had purchased it. Assuming that Mario was the culprit, Wario spotted a jack-in-the-box and came up with a wicked idea.
When the day of the birthday party arrived, Wario noticed that Mario’s present was wrapped up exactly like his, and felt that his plan to switch the two of them so that he would be the one to give the princess the Samus doll would work perfectly. He tried to convince Mario to help the Toads with the party decorations, but the princess insisted that Wario help her hang a birthday sign on the wall. Later, when Mario went to invite the party guests, Wario switched his present with Mario’s and presented the latter gift to Toadstool. However, he was in for quite a surprise when the princess opened the gift and found a jack-in-the-box exactly like the one he had bought. When it was Mario’s turn to present his (actually Wario’s) gift, the two men had a fight, with Wario claiming that it was Mario who had pulled the old switcheroo. To their horror, the second present also had a jack-in-the-box, and both of them had scared the poor princess.
Now Wario and Mario were really mad: they fought over which of them had hid the doll until they realized that neither of them had actually bought it. By now, the princess was weeping over the two of them ruining her party. Fortunately, Luigi stepped in to save the day, as it was revealed that it was he who had bought the Samus doll for the princess’ birthday. As a result, he got a kiss from Toadstool, leaving Mario and Wario to realize their mistakes. Indeed, Wario should have known that other people besides Mario had black mustaches. It all goes to show that one should never jump to conclusions.
The two stories lost neither the cartoon-like art nor the humor of Super Mario Adventures, making them as enjoyable to read as the latter series. Making Wario an abused childhood playmate made his desire to get even with Mario more convincing and believable. It is an interesting development that (to my knowledge) never made it into the games, which would place the comics in their own universe and not in Nintendo’s Mario canon. The tales were also on the short side, with the first one being ten pages and the second one just eight pages, but the creators made the most out of them, giving readers two more chances to enjoy Mario’s comic adventures. The first story was later reprinted in the Super Mario Adventures graphic novel as a bonus story, but the second was not as it had been published after the graphic novel was released. However, both stories are widely available on the Internet for everyone to check out.
Following the publication of the two comics, Mario would never again become a comic star in Nintendo Power, and several months later, the magazine would only print comics on an occasional basis. The comics that he did star in, however, were filled with plenty of humor, adventure, excitement, and yes, tons of fun. It is a shame that the idea of Wario as a person with a troubled childhood was not carried over to the games, as it would make him more than a mere greedy cad. Nintendo Power’s comics made the magazine more than just a place for game reviews and strategies: they made it something that helped it stand out of the crowd. Nowadays, Nintendo Power seems to be more of an imitator than an innovator, but with their comics readily available on line, we can still reminisce about the good old days, and see how Mario managed to outwit Wario outside of the games.
