Wario Isn't Evil, He's Honest Mike Sholars Image: Nintendo Mario was back for another adventure. But this time, it was personal. Hiroji Kiyotake, the director of 1992’s Game Boy hit Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, wanted to pursue the idea that this time Mario wouldn’t be fighting to help or save someone else. Hence: Wario, Mario’s greed-and-crime-focused rival. Advertisement Super Mario’s World is a look at the characters that turned the Mario franchise into a household name for 35 years. While Mario was off doing Mario Things, Wario steals his house and all of his shit. That’s it. No royal kidnappings or turtle armies. Just a pretty basic scenario where a man takes another man’s castle. Yet Wario couldn’t fully become the loveable asshole I like so much until he was fenced off from the rest of the Mario franchise.