If you’ve been in or around gaming Twitter or message boards for the past 15 years or so, you’ll have no doubt come across Wario64. Tirelessly compiling deals and news on games for years now, Wario64 has touched many of our lives, but it’s always been strange just how much they look like legendary Japanese game designer Goichi "Suda51" Suda.
Despite having nothing to do with the million-follower account, Suda51 has been the face of gaming deals for over a decade thanks to the mysterious info broker using his image as an avatar. This obviously hasn't gone unnoticed—in 2013 Suda issued a challenge to Wario64 to prove to the world that they weren't a bot. (My theory is they're actually 64 Warios in an office, but the world isn’t ready for that).
Oh shit, the real Suda51 called me out guys http://t.co/s1PIZu5dvKJune 21, 2013
In a recent interview with Suda51 about bringing back Shadows of the Damned, I asked how he feels about being the face of video game deals today. And did Wario64 ever pass a Voight-Kampff test and proved that they aren’t a robot once and for all?
"I probably met him about 10 years ago at E3," Suda51 said. However, despite the potential sighting of this rare gaming cryptid, Suda didn’t manage to verify their identity.
I’m pretty sure it was actually him. Anyway, he came up to me and asked me a question about what I thought about Wario64. I told him, 'Yeah, of course I know about Wario64. Wait a second —are you him?!' and he literally ran away. So I’m pretty sure it was the actual dude."
So we do have direct confirmation Wario64 exists—a fact that's seemingly lost in the mists of internet history every few years, even though Wario64 once wrote for gaming news site GameTrailers. The question persists regardless. Is Wario64 a bot? A collective? Or, as Suda51 describes them, just one person who maybe scurries around game conventions like those little guys in Golden Axe with the bags of riches?
Despite their brief, maybe-authentic encounter years ago, Suda is keen to meet Wario64 again. "E3 is no longer a thing, and recently there have been a lot fewer events for people in the industry to get together, but I hope to have a chance to meet him (I’m not 100% sure I can refer to Wario64 as ‘him’, now that I think about it)," Suda51 said. "[I would] ask how it feels to have over a million followers, so I can go and tell everyone what they said."
