To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., the fun guys (“fungi”s, get it?) and gals over at 4 color rebellion put together “25 Days Of Mario,” a celebration of the portly plumber-turned-adventure game hero consisting of a series of one-a-day, Mario-inspired images.
Josh Mirman contributed two pieces, “Zombie Mario” and “Zombie Wario.” Here’s “Zombie Wario”:
Nicely done, don’t you think?
What I didn’t realize, having never played any of the Wario Land games before, is that Zombie Wario has been around since 1998, well before the current zombie mania struck, appearing in every single game in the series except for the very first!
Here he is from his first appearance in Wario Land II:
Recently turned from the looks of it. That exposed bone looks, "owie!"
And here he is in Wario Land 4:
Only two games later, looking much worse for wear. Note the purple skin color.
Here’s the thing, which surprised me most: Zombie Wario’s a “powered-up” Wario.
Apparently, if Wario gets touched by certain enemies, say, a ghost or zombie, he too becomes undead, rendering him impervious to damage, able to kill enemies simply by touching them, and, also, incredibly slow, with little or no jumping ability.
Zombie Wario's In-Game Sprite From Wario Land 3
Fortunately for Wario, it’s relatively easy for players to reverse the transformation, by leading Zombie Wario into the light or by dropping him in water.
If only it were that easy in “real life,” right?
You can view more of the artist’s work, including more zombie-fied video game characters, at his deviantART page here.
