Garlic

Garlic
First appearance	Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994)
Latest appearance	Mario Strikers: Battle League (2022)
Effect	Turns Wario into Wario-Man. (WarioWare: Touched!) Restores health. (Wario Land: Shake It!, Wario World)

“I lose some life every time I take damage and gain some back when I pick up a piece of my favorite snack, garlic.”

—Wario, Wario Land: Shake It! manual

Garlic is a recurring item in the Wario franchise, as well as sometimes being associated with Wario in his other appearances. It is Wario's favorite food, often functioning as a beneficial item that heals Wario or gives him strength. Wario is said to eat whole cloves of garlic constantly, making him smell bad as a result.

History

Wario franchise

Wario Land series

In Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, a type of garlic power-up called the Garlic Pot appears. It turns Small Wario into normal Wario, and normal Wario into Bull Wario. It returns in Virtual Boy Wario Land as the garlic bottle.

In Wario Land 3, garlic represents the Super Smash treasure that Wario has to collect. Once found in the Tower of Revival, after Wario opens the blue snake door, it will confer him the ability to break solid blocks. Also in Wario Land 3, several heads of garlic can be seen hanging from some platforms in Forest of Fear; if Wario is transformed into a vampire and touches a garlic head, he instantly reverts to his regular form.

In the pre-release versions of Wario Land 4, the Heart Gauge was shorter and had a garlic icon next to it, implying that Wario originally had to collect garlic rather than little hearts to recover his Heart Meter.

In Wario Land: Shake It!, garlic restores hearts in Wario's life meter. Shaking an enemy will occasionally cause it to drop a head of garlic, which will start bouncing on the ground until collected. Most enemies' garlic only restores one heart, while some enemies (such as the white Bandinero) release a bigger type which restores three hearts.

Wario World

In Wario World, garlic heals Wario, and Garlic Dispensers vend heads of it to him in exchange for coins. They are also sometimes found in wooden chests.

WarioWare: Touched!

The "Nasty Garlic" from WarioWare: Touched!

In WarioWare: Touched!, Wario eats a "Nasty Garlic" in Wario-Man's intro cutscene and transforms into Wario-Man. After the microgames are beaten for the first time, it will then appear on the main selection screen so that Wario can turn back into Wario-Man at any time.

Wario: Master of Disguise

In Wario: Master of Disguise, garlic is one of the five kinds of falling objects that appear in the minigame Trash It. When garlic appears, it must be dropped into the mouth to score. Garlic also appears as one of the possible images shown during Trick Slider and one of the shapes the blue dot needs to be traced through in Zappy Path.

WarioWare: Get It Together!

In WarioWare: Get It Together!, garlic appears in the microgames Flee the Flashlight and Garlic Catch. In Flee the Flashlight, the player has to steal garlic from Wario without being caught. In Garlic Catch, the player has to tilt a basket to collect some garlic heads that are constantly falling from the sky.

Mario Superstar Baseball

The Wario Garlics is the common team name in Mario Superstar Baseball. Wario's bio also mentions how garlic is his favorite food and may be responsible for his high stamina. A clove of garlic also appears for Wario's Phony Ball star swing, where it appears from the fake ball that appears from the swing.

Mario Kart series

Mario Kart Arcade GP / Mario Kart Arcade GP 2

In Mario Kart Arcade GP and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, Garlic is a special item for Wario. The Garlic is a recovery item. Upon being used, it will remove all bad conditions from the user's kart, such as square tires, burst tires, or Thunder Cloud. In addition, the Garlic provides a shield for approximately half a second upon being used. With good timing, this can be used to block incoming items or be immune to the explosion of a Time Bomb. In Mario Kart Arcade GP, a variant of the Garlic known as the Garlic+ can be unlocked. This variant greatly increases the duration of the shield the item provides.

Mario Kart Tour / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

In Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, garlic motifs can be seen on banners and fences in the Wario-centric course Ninja Hideaway, and the Ninja Mansion's windows are shaped like heads of garlic as well.

Super Smash Bros. series

Wario eating garlic as his Final Smash is first activated

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Wario eats a head of garlic (called "Nasty Garlic" in the English version of Palutena's Guidance for Wario in Wii U/3DS) to transform into Wario-Man for his Final Smash.

Mario Party 10

A head of garlic can be seen on the Wario Board in Mario Party 10, lying on a table-like platform at the right side of the board.

Mario Tennis Aces

Wario eating a head of garlic in preparation for his Special Shot in Mario Tennis Aces

In Mario Tennis Aces, Wario eats a head of garlic to strengthen himself as part of his Special Shot, the Glorious Garlic Bomber.

Mario Strikers: Battle League

In Mario Strikers: Battle League, the cutscene that plays when Wario scores a goal shows him celebrating by eating a head of garlic.

Profiles

WarioWare Gold

• Play Nintendo: Wario’s micro-tip: Is garlic gross and smelly? Wrong! It’s perfect.

Gallery

• 

  Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

• 

  Vancouver Tour launch artwork for Mario Kart Tour depicting Wario roasting cloves of garlic

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  WarioWare, Inc. Official Site

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ニンニク[?] Ninniku	Garlic
Chinese	大蒜 Dàsuàn	Garlic
French	Ail[?]	Garlic
German	Knoblauch[?]	Garlic
Italian	Aglio[?]	Garlic
Spanish	Ajo[?]	Garlic