Waluigi's Epilogue (3/5)
Despite everyone's day off on a Sunday, Waluigi was in his office with Mona wanting to hear his honest opinion on Wario. Waluigi invited 5-Volt in a hopeful attempt to improve their teamwork skills with each other as much as possible. Both agreed to listen to Waluigi's story about Wario.
Waluigi starts off with, "Okay, Wario and I have a long history together…".
After Waluigi had explained about his relationship with Wario in the past, Mona and 5-Volt were intrigued by this whole ordeal.
Mona looked a bit disappointed and commented, "Wow...I honestly didn't think that Wario is that kind of a jerk...I don't understand why he would treat them like garbage while treating us as if we were family to him…".
5-Volt looked concerned and questioned, "I wonder if he's okay now compared to the past that he had to deal with...Waluigi, I gotta ask, have you gotten along with him recently? I've heard that you have creative differences with him that gives an impression of a terrible relationship...".
Waluigi looked at them and gave a nod. He turned to Mona and answered, "To be honest with you Mona, in my point of view, it's more of Wario having a perception of being outshined not only by Mario, but everyone else in the Mushroom Kingdom. A lot of Kinopios feared him due to Wario's general unwillingness to adapt their etiquette into his everyday lifestyle, thus Wario became increasingly greedy in exchange for living a better lifestyle that Kinopios often deny him for 'right reasons' according to them.".
Mona looked surprised and thought, "Wow...so the Kinopios don't really like Wario's greediness of their money...yet they're not giving him room for having a different mindset…". Mona gave a nod to Waluigi and said, "I understand...Wario wanted to be who he is...yet the Kinopios aren't giving him the mindset that he wanted…".
5-Volt refuted, "Hmm...While Wario is the one that does mistreat Kinopio that serves for Princess Peach, I think I get why he became increasingly greedy...Wario wanted to fit in to the Mushroom Kingdom with everyday people, but the Kinopios wouldn't have the willingness to accept him fully into society...is that what you mean Waluigi?".
Waluigi answered, "Yeah...I think that if Wario was given the chance to fully fit into society by the Kinopios, not only he wouldn't have been increasingly greedy, but being a jerk to Mario's friends too...I think that's what made him popular in America in the first place…".
Mona and 5-Volt nodded in agreement. 5-Volt asks, "While we're on the subject of Wario, you were often associated with Wario, so have you gotten mistreated by the Kinopios too back when you were 'born' into the Mushroom kingdom?".
Waluigi answered, "I was in a similar boat with him, but I got treated worse. My social skills back then...was a lot less functional compared to today...I'm glad that Wario put me in a better place today. Without him, I don't know where I would be, but I really wouldn't be here today, that's for sure. Speaking of Wario…".
Waluigi turned to 5-Volt and started off with, "Wario is the man that I used to respect back then...often as a father figure of mine. Nowadays, I think of him as a pain-in-the-ass businessman who wanted to have all the control of the IPs that we're making...".
Waluigi then said, "After the release of 'Wario Land Compilations DX', sales were really booming thanks to having remastered, demastered, and the original graphics. Same with the music from every series. Having a bunch of concept artworks, promotional artworks from every series, and paper manuals scanned for every game released in every language, ever. There's re-release of Virtual Boy Wario Land, difficulty modes that can be set for every series, better presentation of the menu system, and having two videos that explains the history of Wario's overall journey from point A to B in the game and the developmental history of the Wario Land series that can be played at 1080p, 60 FPS.".
Mona looked excited and squealed, "Yeah! That game really had a lot of features not just for a compilation, but I loved the addition of having two videos that have the developmental history of Wario land and a history of Wario as a whole! It sure is worth it at the end!".
5-Volt exclaimed, "Yep! It was great to do a lot of de-mastering the graphics on 'Wario Land Shake It!' and 'Wario Land 4'! I remember how tough it was, but it's worth it for fans to buy it at the end…".
Waluigi added, "It even got Super Mario Land 1 & 2 as an unlockable from playing through a very hard difficulty, unlocking WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! from playing the Hard difficulty, and unlocking the DSiWare of Pyoro & Paper Plane from the Normal difficulty. Unlocking Sheriff and Dr. Wario were from the ones that played an easy difficulty of course, has a demo of the New Wario Land game, and it's released at a reasonable and affordable price of $60 on Nintendo Switch!".
Mona then commented, "Yeah, having to unlock those games by playing a tough difficulty might be worth it, but I did hear criticism from players that they dislike having to play through a very tough difficulty in order to unlock Super Mario Land 1 & Super Mario Land 2.".
5-Volt then added, "We also got criticism that Super Mario Land 1 & 2 didn't receive the same features when comparing it to the Wario Land series. I know for the fact that Wario didn't want to have Mario games be overshadowed by his games, but Wario did add it in for the sake of history and that Nintendo wanted the game to be included…".
Waluigi confirmed, "Yep. Nintendo wanted us to add it in and they have advertise it that way for the sake of more sales in Japan, but we really didn't want to advertise that feature at all...and that where I've started to dislike the video game journalists covering that feature when it's supposed to be Wario's history…I'm just glad that video makers in the online world were able to talk more about this game than just Super Mario Land 1 & 2.".
Mona nodded and added, "Yeah, I just don't like them either. Their articles...only cared more about Mario than Wario...and that their view of life is a very unhealthy obsession of diversities. While I do like diversity, their articles seem to cover too much of it that it got to the point where it isn't about games anymore. I'd rather give early copies to YouTubers who review games rather than the 'reviewers' from the gaming journalist industry who only cares to cover it if it has 'diversity' in it at all…".
5-Volt agreed and noted, "Yeah, the history of that attitude seems to come from the aftermath of the 2014 gaming incident...and they STILL cover that from time to time. I really hated those gaming journalists...their articles of 'diversity' are more annoying to read that it turned me off supporting them than the articles that you've just mentioned earlier Waluigi.".
Waluigi then said, "Whoa now...I know we really didn't like game journalists, but let's get back to the conversation of Wario and how I lost respect for him to a certain degree…". 5-Volt and Mona nodded and they continued to listen.
Waluigi continued, "Okay, after that release of the game, it had a booming sales to the point that we have a much stronger foothold in the gaming market. It was much better than 'WarioWare Gold' that was released to the public on the Nintendo 3DS...in 2018, where the Nintendo Switch is new and is still selling.".
Waluigi stopped for a moment, thinking where Waluigi had lost respect with Wario began. He remembers where it happened and starts off with, "Okay, during the development of New Super Wario Land, I might have something to do that comes off as a loss of respect to Wario…".
Waluigi explained, "Back then, I was reading an article about best selling video-games in America for the 2010s. I thought it'll be a good idea to add some first-person shooters to our library of games. I've discussed this to Wario about this and he agreed due to the fact that Wario wanted to attract more American audiences to the Wario series. So we started coming up with ideas on how to make a first person shooter…".
5-Volt then added, "I remember how hard it is to pitch that idea to Nintendo of Japan. Nintendo didn't want to have any more first person shooters in their library. They said they had 2 Splatoon games as their third-person shooter game due to design choices that they worked with before. While it's true that the series has sold well, I remember that Wario tried to argue with the Nintendo CEO about if the first game of Splatoon sells well, why didn't it sell more Wii U units? Or something like that…".
Mona commented, "Yeah, you have a pretty good point Waluigi and Nintendo thought that they'll be having a business discussion with all of us about the necessity of having a first-person shooter game in their library and why Splatoon doesn't cover shooter games that well.".
Waluigi did reminisce at the time and said, "Mm-hmm. I remember the time that we were inside the office of Nintendo HQ…".
Waluigi starts off, "Okay, when we're inside Nintendo HQ in Japan, I remember the time that Wario explained how the etiquette works differently over there and I thought to myself,'Why? Why are there no global standards on etiquette?'. He also said that he'll take over if something went wrong and I agree to allow him to do that just in case.".
5-Volt commented, "I do remember a lot of things that went wrong down there...first, you've drunk the tea before Wario and the Nintendo CEO do. As a result, Kat and Ana scolded at you for doing that.".
Waluigi nodded unhappily and remembered, "I also have breached some manners for the Japanese businessmen by randomly sitting down in the business room. I didn't know that it was assigned back then and I got scolded by some of the Japanese businessmen around…".
Mona also commented, "Yeah, it's quite difficult to learn Japanese manners isn't it Waluigi? It's not just you, it's also for some of the American game developers who were never exposed to the Japanese business culture before. I do remember that you put the Nintendo CEO's business card in your pocket when you're supposed to leave the card on the table until business is almost over which THEN you can put it away…".
Waluigi took a deep sigh, looking quite sad, and then said, "Yep, I have a long way to go about learning matters back then, even in the Real World...as a result, I had a difficult time working out with Nintendo as a whole in Japan to the point where Wario has to take over for me…".
Mona took a deep sigh, contrasting Waluigi's feelings, and then expressed, "Yeah, Wario has to 'save your face' by taking over the whole business conversation…", and she smiled at that while grasping her hands together. Waluigi and 5-Volt looked at each other and shook their heads in confusion together.
Waluigi then continued, "Yeah, so Wario did 'save my face' to the point where he conducted business with the CEO of Nintendo in Japanese...not only that, he brought what was meant to be my point of interests…", and Waluigi looked disappointed in the process.
5-Volt added, "Yep, I remembered that Nintendo brought up their points of not needing first-person shooter games in their library: Having Splatoon as a shooter genre thanks to the younger development team having experience with shooters, were able to sell 4.95 million copies of Splatoon on Wii U, and were able to retain fanbase thanks to an accidental meme from a commercial that the fans at least liked.".
Mona agreed with 5-Volt about that. However, Mona brought up, "Splatoon is a successful new IP back then and fans still love it as of today. But here's the thing though, Wario has made a big deal that Splatoon really isn't enough of their whole shooter genre to be considered adequate and so, he brought up this point: By developing Splatoon as a third-person shooter, they've completely missed the opportunity of re-revolutionizing the first-person shooter that would really resonate the Western audiences to the point that it would've sold a lot more Wii U's in the Western market back then.".
Waluigi's eyes widened and commented, "Yeah! I remember that Wario had ended up arguing with the Nintendo CEO via Powerpoints about fans wanting the missing features hoping to end up being updated in Splatoon 1 & 2 that Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark has in that game. That includes: more of the split-screen local multiplayer modes, killing enemies in different dying animations depending on what weapons were used, boots on the ground, etc.".
5-Volt agreed and said, "Yep, long story short, not only Wario was able to get Nintendo's approval of the idea of a first-person shooter game, but able to agree on getting the Goldeneye license in order to make Nintendo have more confidence on not just Splatoon, but the shooter genre as a whole. And so...we tried to get the license of remaking Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo Switch…but in the end...".
The three looked sad and Mona finished off with, "We didn't get the license due to disagreements between the original license holders, Rare, Microsoft, Nintendo, and all of us. Not only we weren't able to come to a licensing agreement, but we all have creative differences as well as a lot of developers on how they came up with ideas on remakes.".
Waluigi said, "Yeah...we didn't have the license to remake Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo Switch, but at the end of the day, I still look up to Wario to a certain degree back then...it's not the breaking point between us yet, but Nintendo of Japan refused to work with us nowadays due to my manners, and Wario has to deal with that afterwards…".
5-Volt agreed and said, "Yeah, it honestly DOES suck that we won't be collaborating with Nintendo to the same degree with other developers anymore just because you weren't aware of the etiquette that the Japanese have…".
Mona commented, "Mm-hmm. I've heard that the Japanese people have taken notes to the point where they'll record an incident that could impact the relationship years later between us...I wish they could just let us admit our mistakes and move on from there at the very least...it'd be a good way to build trust with each other when dealing with multiculturalism.".
5-Volt rebuked, "I doubt it. While I do agree with you about learning mistakes from the past, I don't see Nintendo of Japan wanting to become multicultural anytime soon...the fact that there's still cultural differences makes somewhat of a challenge to being a successful business around the world at least.".
Waluigi nodded and said, "Yeah, it's one thing when working with Nintendo of Japan which is already tough enough, but it's another when we weren't able to develop with Wario that much nowadays...I think most, if not all of us remembered what happened to that day that made me not trust Wario as much...". 5-Volt and Mona agreed with Waluigi about that statement.
What did Wario do to cause Waluigi to lose so much respect for him? Will Waluigi's story help his case? Find out next time in this fanfiction!
Thanks for reading!