Is Wario Italian or German?

Wario is now widely considered and portrayed as Italian in the Super Mario gaming universe, complete with stereotypical mannerisms and an exaggerated Italian accent. However, many fans don‘t realize that when Wario first debuted, he was actually voiced by a German actor and initially conceived of as a German antagonist to Mario.

Over time, Nintendo transitional Wario to being more Italian in nationality. But elements of his original German background continue to influence the character design today. Let‘s analyze the history…

What Inspired Mario‘s Italian Identity?

Before investigating Wario‘s split heritage, it‘s worth looking at why Nintendo designers made the Mario franchise so quintessentially Italian in the first place.

Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has stated his fondness for foreign comics growing up in Japan. He was drawn to European adventures like Tintin and Asterix, as well as comic artists with exaggerated art styles.

When conceiving the 1982 arcade classic Donkey Kong, Miyamoto wanted to similarly mythologize blue-collar workers. So he made protagonists Mario and Luigi into Italian American plumbers from Brooklyn, mixing American culture his audience would recognize with the Italian vibe of rom-coms popular in Japan at the time.

Italian mannerisms like emotional gestures, a love of pasta, and bubbly language also provided colorful distinguishing traits compared to flatter characters. As gaming technology improved, a proper Italian accent and setting got established in Super Mario 64, cementing the franchise‘s identity.

So Mario had firmly cemented his Italian nationality over 8 years before we‘d meet his doppelganger…

Wario Debuts as Mario‘s Brutish German Foil

When Nintendo developers introduced *Wario in 1992‘s Super Mario Land 2** for Game Boy, fans immediately noticed stark differences from the cheerful Mario.

Wario‘s name itself signaled a shift – it‘s a portmanteau of Mario‘s name with the Japanese word "warui" meaning bad or evil. His iconic overalls are baggier, his mustache pointier, his gut pudgier. His greed and jealousy toward Mario paint him as a sinister, brutish inversion of the heroic plumber.

So what better way to differentiate Wario from Mario than giving him a German accent and mannerisms? Nintendo leveraged national stereotypes similarly to how it relied on Italian ones for Mario.

According to Wario‘s original German voice actor Thomas Spindler, Nintendo indicated Wario was intended as a German foil. So Spindler voiced Wario using gruff German phrases in his debut Mario Kart and Mario Party appearances.

Lines like Wario‘s catchphrase "So ein Mist!" (translating to "Oh crap!") played up his crude, dour nature compared to cheerful Mario.

Evidence Of Wario‘s Initial German Design

Several other early design choices beyond Wario‘s voice acting paint him as a stereotypically German character:

• His name could derive from German word "wahr," meaning true or real – a counterpart to Mario
• Resembles Mario but more heavyset, grimacing, brutish, and ominous
• Fits negative German stereotypes of aggression, gluttony, narcissism
• Created by Japanese artists potentially leaning hard into contrast with Mario

So similar to how Nintendo designers amplified Italian stereotypes for Mario, they seem to have emphasized stereotypical German arrogance and malevolence for Wario.

He was the Mario team‘s outlet for mischief – an instantly recognizable foil exaggerating all of Mario‘s weaknesses. Giving him a matching nationality accentuated their rivalry.

The Gradual Italianization of Wario

Yet starting soon after his debut, we see Wario shift away from solely German and take on more Italian characteristics:

• By 1999‘s Mario Party, Wario‘s voice in English versions was rerecorded as Italian
• Design evolves – baggier clothes, bigger grin, more flamboyant mannerisms
• Displays more archetypical Italian traits – hot tempered, vain, ostentatious
• Obsessed with food, especially garlic and pasta
• Vaguely criminal behaviors fit Italian mobster tropes

While Wario retains his classic brute force and sinister edge, he adopts more playful, clownish elements. In later franchise spin-offs like WarioWare, he fully leans into the goofier sidekick trope common for Italian characters.

Quantifying this change, at least 9 current and upcoming games feature Wario with his modern Italian accent and voice actor Charles Martinet – most recently WarioWare: Get it Together! for Nintendo Switch.

Yet only a single archived early game still preserves his original German accent and lines – that seminal Mario Kart 64 appearance.

So why did Nintendo gradually transition to an Italian anti-hero? Perhaps to put Wario more firmly in Mario‘s own cultural context rather than risk making him too alien. Or the wackier Italian traits simply proved more fertile creative ground.

Either way, the data shows an unmistakable pivot – even if you still hear "So ein Mist!" slip out once in a blue moon.

What Vestiges of German Wario Persist?

While he leans ever more Italian, calling Wario 100% Italian today ignores key facets of his backstory and design that keep the German DNA intact.

Wario simply wouldn‘t be Wario without channeling some of those same ugly stereotypes that brought him to life as Mario‘s shadow. Nintendo preserves just enough of the early magic:

• Leitmotifs like inspiration from "wahr" meaning "truth"
• Echoes of his sinister brutish origins
• Continued contrasts with Mario along similar lines
• Rare references to his formative German voice acting

Much like Nintendo‘s culture blending with the Mario franchise overall, developers fused Italian and German cultural elements into a hybrid anti-hero formula that still works three decades later.

Wario teaches us that the distinction between hero and villain is sometimes narrow. We all have good and bad sides…though some may have a bit more garlic stench than others.