About

Wawario and Wawaluigi are fan characters created as rivals to Wario and Waluigi, respectively, who are themselves rivals to Mario and Luigi. Wawario is depicted as a large man similar in appearance to Wario, with no eyes, a missing tooth, an orange hat and shirt and green overalls. Wawaluigi is depicted as a lanky, grotesque, ratty version of Waluigi with a blue shirt and black overalls.

A variant of Wario named Wawario first appeared online as early as June 2015 in a YouTube animation, with his more popular design appearing online as early as September 2021. Wawaluigi's most popular design was uploaded to DeviantArt by
savagewaluigi2000 in May 2017.

The characters experienced a surge in virality in late August through September 2026 on sites like X / Twitter and TikTok as the subject of memes, fan art and more.

Origin

On June 23rd, 2015, YouTuber^[1] Theguywhoplaysgames posted an animation that imagines Wario having an encounter with a shadowy rival named Wawario, garnering over 9,200 views in 11 years. This is the earliest known reference to a rival for Wario named Wawario online.

On September 19th, 2016, Fandom^[2] user JoeTheDerp made a page on the "The Amazing Waluigi" fandom site for "Wawaluigi," featuring a piece of art depicting the character Wawaluigi as a more lanky, grotesque version of Waluigi.

Spread

On November 6th, 2017, X^[3] user @kiophen posted a "Mario Brother Cube" chart that maps out several fan-made rival Super Mario Bros. characters, including Wawaluigi and Wawario, garnering over 4,900 likes in nine years.

On September 18th, 2021, Fantendo^[4] wiki user Cutman1987 created a page for "Wawario," uploading an image of a large, orange-and-green outfitted version of the character. This became the most common design associated with the character.

On June 23rd, 2024, YouTuber^[5] RedMario posted a video where a lineup of Mario Bros. fan characters, including Wawario and Wawaluigi, is presented as someone reads each of their names, garnering over 800,000 views in two years.

On December 12th, 2024, DeviantArt^[6] user marioandpvz2021 posted a high-quality image of Wawario and Wawaluigi, as they appear in the RedMario video, garnering over 3,800 views in two years.

On July 9th, 2026, YouTuber^[7] A.J.N. posted a video showing a similar lineup of characters set to a song about all of the characters, garnering over 100,000 views in two months.

On September 2nd, TikToker^[8] @muddyk1pp reuploaded a portion of the video, writing, "Saw this absolute gem of a video on YouTube," garnering over 133,000 views in two weeks.

On September 9th, X^[9] user @Redbassdumb posted fan art that depicts the characters in a traditional Super Mario Bros. style, garnering over 1,600 likes in nine days.

On September 12th, 2026, TikToker^[10] @tabbyarrow13585 posted a meme referencing the characters that gained over 99,000 views in six days.

On September 13th, X^[11] user @V0IDEYEDPANDA posted fan art of the characters that gained over 5,900 likes in five days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References