Wario: Master of Disguise review

There are seven costumes our cackling hero wears in this curious, stylus-controlled, spiritual successor to the Wario Land series, and being the thief he is, has stolen all the costumes. It’s impossible to hate Wario as a villain, largely thanks to his starring roles in a host of top-notch adventures. A Wario platformer tends to be an excuse for Nintendo’s developers to really poke fun at one of their characters while experimenting with the kind of off-the-wall gameplay they wouldn’t dare inflict on Mario.

So the poor guy has been blessed with invincibility while simultaneously suffering injuries that might make a lesser sprite yearn for the Game Over screen. He’s been ridiculed as a greedy fool with questionable personal hygiene and his successes are often depicted as accidental (for example falling into a treasure-filled cave while picking his nose) but he’s firmly established as one of Nintendo’s most important characters. We love him. Everybody loves him. What’s not to love? This game, unfortunately.