Wart

Wart
Artwork from Super Mario Advance
Species	Toad
First appearance	Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987, overall) Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988, Super Mario franchise)
Latest appearance	Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Player Icon cameo) (2024)
Latest portrayal	Charles Martinet (2001)

“Well, I see you've made it at last. Too bad it was all for nothing. Subcon is mine, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!”

—Wart, Super Mario Advance (book)

Wart, named Mamu in Japan and in The Legend of Zelda series, is the main antagonist of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2. He is the leader of a gang known as the 8 bits, and his major appearance centers around his efforts to conquer Subcon, a land of dreams. Wart's information in the original instruction booklet states, "He is the most mischievous of all in the world of dreams. He created monsters by playing with the dream machine." He created all of the game's monsters, which are also referred to as his "moppets." His name comes from the bumps on toads which are also known as warts.

History

Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic

The monkey Rūsa watches in horror as Mamu reaches his hand through the storybook to grab hold of Piki and Poki.

Mamu's original artwork used for Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic

In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, Mamu's true origins lie in the tale of the dream world, Muu. In the original storyline, Mamu had taken control of the Muu people's Dream Machine, producing monsters and mayhem. However, the Muu people knew of his weakness to vegetables and used them to force a surrender, bringing peace back to the dream world.

In the "real" world, the green-dressed monkey Rūsa gives the storybook to the twins Poki and Piki. Towards the end of the book, the twins quarrel and tear out the final page of the story, thus erasing the book's ending. Freed, Mamu pulls through the pages of the storybook and kidnaps the two children. The two kids pleaded for help, and Rūsa hurries away. The family, which consists of Papa and Mama and their son, Imajin, as well as Imajin's girlfriend Lina, jumps through the storybook and embarks on a journey to save the two children and free Muu from Mamu's reign.

One by one, Mamu engages the family in battle in the dream factory. Mamu can spit five bubbles at once and can destroy the vegetable projectiles produced by the Dream Machine. Conventional attack methods are ineffective against the tyrant. The family has to throw vegetables in his mouth when it is open, defeating him after four hits. After Mamu's final defeat, the inhabitants are saved, completing the story. The two kidnapped children are rescued from their cages (with the key being thrown at the cage while Mamu was being beaten offscreen to a pulp by the Muu people) and return with the family back to their world, where the game ends.

Super Mario series

Super Mario Bros. 2 / Super Mario Advance

Wart is the final boss of Super Mario Bros. 2, and is being fought by Toad.

When Doki Doki Panic was released overseas as Super Mario Bros. 2, Mamu's name was changed to "Wart." When the Western Super Mario Bros. 2 was localized as Super Mario USA in Japan, the original name of "Mamu" was used, but all other plot-related changes remained.

Wart's role is similar as in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Just as before, he used the hijacked Dream Machine and his army (known as the 8 bits) to conquer Subcon. Instead of fighting him, the natives of Subcon make contact with Mario through one of his dreams, pleading for him to save them and telling him about Wart's weakness: vegetables. The next day he, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad discover a door to Subcon and decide to save the dream world from Wart. The battle with Wart is largely the same, except it takes six vegetables to defeat Wart. After his defeat, Wart is seen one last time during the victory celebrations, being crowd-surfed across the screen by the now-freed Subcons. As he disappears off the screen, the Subcons pummel him one last time. During the cast roll, Wart appears laughing at the very end.

In the Game Boy Advance version, Wart is given dialogue, and speaks clear sentences such as, "I am the great Wart!" and "Ah, ribbit!". One minor difference is that after he is defeated, Wart's body becomes intangible to the player, unlike in the original Super Mario Bros. 2 (and its port in Super Mario All-Stars), where the player can still take damage from contact with his defeat animation. The remake expands on Wart by implying he is capable of casting magic. This is shown in cutscenes prior to fighting Fryguy and Clawgrip, bosses that are initially seen in a weaker form before bubbles that resemble Wart's arrive to envelop and transform them into their massive forms.

BS Super Mario USA

Wart is fought very similarly in BS Super Mario USA as in Super Mario Bros. 2, the Super Mario All-Stars version in particular.

Wart once again appears in all four "Power Challenge" installments of BS Super Mario USA, a follow-up to the Western Super Mario Bros. 2. In this game, it is shown that after his defeat, Wart and his crew escaped to another dream and laid low for a while; they eventually return and attack Subcon once more, forcing its king into hiding and moving him to summon Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach once more.

Wart can be found in every jar in Subspace, where his room is actually identical to that of the final room of the factory (World 7-2) from Super Mario Bros. 2. He possesses the same attacks and is defeated the same way as in his earlier appearances. Like all the major characters in this version, he is voiced but his picture does not appear on the top right when he talks. On certain intervals, Wart's harmful bubbles will float up from the bottom of the screen.

Super Mario Maker 2

Although Wart does not appear as a usable course element in Super Mario Maker 2, his original sprite appears briefly when the Final Boss sound effect is played while wearing the SMB2 Mushroom, just as Birdo's appears with the Boss Music sound effect.

Nintendo Comics System

Wart as he appears in the Nintendo Comics System comic "Cloud Nine".

Wart and Bowser in "Tanooki Suits Me".

Wart appears in a few Nintendo Comics System stories. He first appears in the issue "Cloud Nine," where he is disguised as a bed salesman, abducts the Mushroom King and also tries to flood the Mushroom Kingdom. Notably in this story, Mario mentions Wart had abducted the king on at least one previous occasion. In "Duh Stoopid Bomb!", where his name is seen on Wooster's list of people who think the Mushroom King is dumb. Wart has his second role in "Tanooki Suits Me," in which Bowser plans to sell Wart pieces of artwork that he had stolen from the Mushroom Castle's Royal Art Gallery for a huge profit. However, a disguised Mario is stolen along with the artwork and, upon discovering Bowser's plot, manages to fool Wart into believing that the artwork is nothing more than worthless droplets of the Apook Corporation. In comparison to Cloud Nine, Wart here bears a closer resemblance to his official artwork appearance.

Nintendo Adventure Books

“Right here in the Land of Outrageous Dreams. It's a most excellent dream, Dude. Far superior to that conquer-the-world stuff. Now I dream of skating the most radical inclines possible. That short fungus doctor dude helped me turn Subcon into this raucous skate park. Gnarly, don't you agree?”

—Wart, Doors to Doom

Wart's first appearance in a Nintendo Adventure Books book is Doors to Doom. Dr. Sporis von Fungenstein had convinced him to convert the denizens of Subcon into surfers, and when the Mario Brothers meet Wart, he is friendly and welcoming, munching on a corn dog and playing a Game Boy. He tries to trade a garage door opener, which is a required item for the book's good ending, for one of the brothers' hats. However, Wart is still a potentially dangerous figure; making the wrong choices when trying to enter his lair results in Game Overs, either by being assaulted by Wart on his skateboard or being exposed to dangerously loud rock music. Also, when trading with him, offering him Luigi's hat (which is too small for him) ends up with Wart ripping the hat and a furious Luigi insulting him in response. If Luigi follows up on his anger by attacking Wart with vegetables, Wart counters by spitting them back and running the brothers down with his skateboard, also resulting in a Game Over.

In Dinosaur Dilemma, Wart has a cameo as one of the guests invited to the party Bowser is holding at his Dinosaur Island Castle, in honor of being chosen as the recipient of that year's Snowbell Prize. The text introduces Wart as "the king of the Land of Nightmares".

Super Mario-kun

Wart's appearance in volume 8 of Super Mario-kun

Wart is the main villain of volume 8's first storyline in Super Mario-kun, though he was previously mentioned in chapter 6 as the one that sold to Bowser some of his minions (like Mouser, Phanto and Shy Guys).

While Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Birdo are adventuring to Bowser's Castle to save Peach, they receive nightmares from the Subcons, telling them that they have been kidnapped by Wart. The next morning, the four are kidnapped by a Pidgit, who takes them to Subcon and Wart via a giant moving cardboard and explains that he was so impressed that they managed to defeat his minions (in volume 8) that now he wants to test them against his entire army, challenging them to save Subcon and its people.

During the trip to Wart's castle, the group loses Birdo to Mouser's bombs, and they are later reached by Toad and Birdo's twin, all while Wart watches them from hidden cameras, sending his army's generals against them. In chapter 5, the heroes face Wart and, even though they learn from the booklet that Warts should die to the vegetables they collected, Wart gladly eats the greens without getting harmed, since he made a spell to prevent that. Trapped in his bubbles, Birdo manages to escape and calls her other sister, who brings the Bonus Chance roulette, finally hurting Wart by crushing him.

In the next chapter, Wart molts himself into a nightmarish beast, which is a mix of his body and his generals': Wart's head, Tryclyde as hairs, Clawgrip's body and claws, Mouser's infinite bomb ammunition and Fryguy's flammable aura. With his friends each falling to a different part of Wart's new body, Toad summons a door with a magic potion, but it does not lead to a Subspace, but to a Super Mario Bros. 3 Toad House from which he takes a treasure chest full of every Super Mario Bros. 3 power-up (as well as a Poison Mushroom from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels that is taken by Luigi). With the Anchor, Mario freezes Wart and the heroes attacks him with all their might, but Wart laughs: since they are in the realm of dreams, he can wish for anything he thinks of. In a matter of seconds, the power-ups disappear and the heroes are all trapped in glue.

In the next and last Super Mario Bros. 2 chapter, Wart puts the glued heroes outside his castle, so that they form the word "STUPID(S)". Later, the entirety of Bowser's Castle falls on top of Wart's and breaks the heroes out of the glue: having disappeared from the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach forced the Koopa Troop to find Mario. Bowser and Mario join forces and attack Wart, but he is no match for them and tries to send his army against him, but they are too tired. Mario tries to do something by taking the Subspace Mushroom to the army in order to make them stronger, but Wart zaps him. This does not help him, however, since he just fuses Mario with a Thwomp, a Koopa Troopa, a Paragoomba, a Bullet Bill. With the powers of all the Koopa Troop with which he has combined, Mario finally kills Wart and turns back to normal. Wart, though, is not finished, and his ghost possesses his castle's crumbles, creating a giant Wart face made of stone, but Yoshi summons with the dream power an army of hungry Baby Yoshis that eat the stone face, finally defeating Wart.

Wart later appears briefly in volume 10, in a chapter based on Super Mario All-Stars, where he allies with Bowser and Wario to beat Mario via mazes.

The Legend of Zelda series

Zelda Wiki article: Mamu

Mamu in the Nintendo Switch remake

“Everybody knows me!”

—Mamu, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Mamu in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (left) and its DX enhanced port (right)

Wart, under his Japanese name Mamu, makes an appearance in the Game Boy game The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, its Game Boy Color version, and the Nintendo Switch remake, the latter being the first game to give Mamu, or Wart, a 3D model. He lives in a pond beneath the Signpost Maze on Koholint Island, which, like Subcon, is a dream land. However, unlike in the Super Mario game, Wart is not an antagonist in Link's Awakening, and actually helps the hero, Link. In exchange for 300 Rupees, Wart teaches Link a song on the ocarina, the "Frog's Song of Soul", which is required to revive the Flying Rooster and to access the final main dungeon. After teaching Link the song, Mamu is not seen again.

Although Mamu himself does not actually appear in Hyrule Warriors Legends, he is referenced as a costume for Ganondorf in the Link's Awakening DLC Pack.

Super Smash Bros. series

Wart was referenced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in that "WART" was one of the randomly generated names offered to players. Additionally, Wart appears as an Advanced-class Grab-type primary spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When equipped, it simply increases the fighter's power. In World of Light, the spirit can be encountered on the Light Realm map. The spirit's puppet fighters are King K. Rool and Peach, and the battle takes place on the Battlefield form of the Skyworld stage. "WART" also returns as a randomly selected name.

Other appearances

Wart Jr. as seen in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Wart right to Mario on the world six castle in Super Mario Bros. pinball machine.

Jeff Pillars played a part in the Super Mario Bros. film as a de-evolution technician; in earlier cuts of the film, he would have been named Wart as a reference to the character.

In the Club Nintendo story "Wart steht unter Strom," Bowser is incorrectly referred to as "Wart".

Wart never appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, though many of his characteristics were given to King Koopa instead. Of further note, an early promotional posterMedia:SMBSSHotdogPoster.jpg featuring several highly off-model enemies features a large frog monster wearing a necklace among them, possibly intended to represent Wart; however, it also is purple, has large lips, no clothes other than the necklace, and wields a spear. In addition, Wart, mislabeled as "King Koopa," appears in reels B and C in a Master-view toy released during the run of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.

In the artwork for the Super Mario Bros. pinball machine, Wart is shown on the castle in world 6, presumably holding Luigi captive despite the former not appearing in Super Mario World, the game that the pinball machine is based on, as well as the fact that Luigi is never at any point held captive during said game.

Wart is briefly mentioned in Shy Guy's biography in Mario Superstar Baseball.

In Super Paper Mario, Francis owns and wants more of a comic named Cyborg Wart, which is named for its protagonist.

A frog villager named Wart Jr. appears in Animal Crossing games, a possible nod to Wart in name and species.

In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Wart is mentioned by a yellow Toad at Sunglow Ridge. Said Toad states that he saw Wart in a dream, only to ponder whether it really was a dream, referencing the events of Super Mario Bros. 2.

General information

Physical description

Wart is a large, green toad with a big white round belly, a general body shape resembling most toads, a vaguely crocodilian snout filled with large blunt white teeth, and large claws on his two-toed feet and four-fingered hands. The Nintendo Comics System depicts him with scales and even a spiked tail (similar to Bowser), giving him a closer resemblance to a crocodile or alligator, rather than a toad. He is typically depicted as wearing a blue cape (white in-game, and light brown in remakes). He also wears a crown with an emerald on it, a large diamond-shaped ruby set in a gold pendant on a gold necklace, and gold bracelets.

Personality

Very little of his personality has been revealed beyond the fact that he is willing to cause mayhem and destruction in order to achieve his goal of ruling Subcon. However, BS Super Mario USA does suggest that he is cunning and patient enough to bide his time between attacks, and the fact that he stole all the Mario statues may indicate a spiteful side to his personality.

Profiles and statistics

Super Mario Bros. 2 / Super Mario Advance

• Instruction booklet description:
  • English:
    He is the most mischievous of all in the world of dreams. He created monsters by playing with the dream machine.

Game Boy Advance version

• Instruction booklet description:
  • English:
    Wart is the most uncontrollable mischief maker in all of the land of dreams. He uses the Dream Machine to create a myriad of monsters.

Mario Mania

The evil ruler of the world of dreams is a big green nightmare with an appetite for flies and heroes. Lucky for Mario, Wart is not very keen on vegetables. After the big guy gets a stomach-full of radishes, onions, carrots and tomatoes, he'll have his own nightmares to contend with.

Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten

マムー (JP) / Mamu (EN)
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	Original text (Japanese)		Translation
	出身しゅっしん	夢の国サブコン	Place of origin	Dream Land Subcon
	性格せいかく	わがまま	Disposition	Self-centered
	登場とうじょうゲーム	USA	Game appearances	USA
	USA生まれの夢の魔王 「ワタシ、マムー言います。アメリカでは、ワートと呼ばれてました。マリオUSAで夢の世界を支配しようとしたけど、マリオさんにやられてしまいました。残念ね」		USA-born Dream Demon King "My name is Mamu. In America, they called me Wart. I tried to rule the dream world in Mario USA, but Mario defeated me. What a shame."

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Spirit #47 Wart
	Series/game	Super Mario Series
	Type	Primary
	Slots	2
	Class	Advanced
	Strength / effect(s)	Grab
	How to obtain	World of Light (The Light Realm); Spirit Board
Spirit battle	Opponent(s)	King K. Rool, Peach
	Conditions	Hazard: Slumber Floor Defeat the main fighter to win The floor is sleep-inducing
	Stage	Skyworld (Battlefield)
	Song	Boss Theme - Super Mario Bros. 2

List of appearances

Title	Description	Release date	System/format
Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic	Boss	1987	Family Computer Disk System
Super Mario Bros. 2	Boss	1988	Nintendo Entertainment System
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	Non-playable character (uses Japanese name Mamu)	1993	Game Boy
Super Mario All-Stars	Boss in Super Mario Bros. 2 remake	1993	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World	Boss in Super Mario Bros. 2 remake	1994	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
BS Super Mario USA	Boss	1996	Super Famicom (Satellaview)
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX	Non-playable character (uses Japanese name Mamu)	1998	Game Boy Color
Super Mario Advance	Boss	2001	Game Boy Advance
Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition	Boss in Super Mario Bros 2. remake	2010	Wii
NES Remix 2	Boss in Super Mario Bros. 2	2014	Wii U
NES Remix Pack	Boss in Super Mario Bros. 2	2014	Wii U
Ultimate NES Remix	Boss in Super Mario Bros. 2	2014	Nintendo 3DS
Paper Mario: Color Splash	Mentioned	2016	Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Spirit	2018	Nintendo Switch
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	Non-playable character (uses Japanese name Mamu)	2019	Nintendo Switch
Super Mario Maker 2 (version 3.0.0)	Cameo	2020	Nintendo Switch
Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda	Non-playable character (uses Japanese name Mamu)	2021	Game & Watch
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition	Player Icon cameo	2024	Nintendo Switch

Voice samples

Super Mario Advance - "I am the great Wart! Ha-haha!"

File infoMedia:SMA Wart I am the great Wart.oga ​

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Wart.

• 

  Super Mario Bros. 2

• 

  Nintendo Power

• 

  BS Super Mario USA

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  Super Mario Advance

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  The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo Switch)

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	マムー[?] Mamū	Anagram of「夢魔」(muma, nightmare), with「ム」elongated
	ワート Wāto	Transliteration of the Super Mario Bros. 2 name
Chinese (simplified)	沃特[?] Wòtè	Transliteration of English name	Super Mario Advance and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
	玛穆[?] Mǎmù	Transliteration of Japanese name	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo Switch)
Chinese (traditional)	瑪穆[?] Mǎmù	Transliteration of Japanese name	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo Switch)
Dutch	Wart[?]	-
French	Wart[?]	-
German	Wart[?]	-
	Willi[?]		Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Italian	Wart[?]	-
	Mamu		Link's Awakening only
Russian	Крокожабер[?] Krokozhaber	From крокодил (krokodil, "crocodile") and жаба (zhaba, "toad")
Spanish	Wart[?]	-

External links

• Mamu on Zelda Dungeon Wiki
• Mamu on Triforce Wiki