It took a little longer than expected, but here we are at the second part of this series, all about Wario’s perfect co-star: Mona!
More than any other character, Mona sparks a lot of discussion on how she is portrayed and I have some things to say about that discussion, which we’ll get to soon.
Mega Microgames:
We are introduced to Mona in this game and it’s still a portrayel people heavily latch onto, myself included.
In her own story, Mona is late for work and get’s in trouble with the police due to driving over the speed limit. She ends up evading the cops thanks to her pet monkey and makes it to work just in time. She later stands out as the only one during the ending who chases after Wario, when he tries to make off with everyone’s earnings.
Her microgames are centered around strange things or everyday things with a strange twist. On top of that the official diaries on the japanese website further go into how she loves noses (especially Wario’s) and considers moth larvaes her favorite animals.
Right off the bat, Mona is established as adventerous, spunky, being willing to call Wario out despite her admiration for him and having both a love for the strange and a bit of a rebellious streak.
Mona being in high-school is also established as early as the diaries. I have choice words on why I think it undermines Mona’s character, but it is part of a point I will get into later.
Both manuals and the official diary also establish her own love for money and that Wario has taken her on some treasure hunts before. She is also shown to very much be a cool big sis for Kat, Ana and 9-Volt in the diary entries.
In addition, her intermission involves her showing off different outfits and the diaries establish her mother as a super model. Keep that in mind for later.
More than anyone else introduced in this game, I feel Mona is pretty well established early on, lots of little and bigger things to note, which we will come back to later.
Mega Party Games:
While Mona is largely not part of the story, she does appear during the Cast Roll, seemingly working as a waitress now, establishing her job hopping tendencies. This is also the first game where Mona takes over manual narration for Wario for a while, a trend that would continue into the next three games.
Twisted:
Mona is first seen coming to Crygor’s lab with 9-Volt and later, along with 9-Volt, 18-Volt, Kat and Ana, joins Orbulon on a cruise with his ship. It’s subtle, but seeing her hang out with the kid characters so much is a first in-game indicator of her sisterly relationship with them.
In her own story, Mona now works as a pizza delivery girl and get’s into a fight on the streets with Pizza Dinosaur, which she manages to come out on top of, thanks to her pets and Joe.
Not too much to add. Another new job, another road rage adventure. Classic Mona.
Touched:
This time, Mona works as a rock-star and get’s into conflict on the streets with Vanessa and her mooks, which she manages to come out on top of. She does bail during her concert though, since she still has pizzas to deliver.
In many ways a repeat of Twisted, but the ending does show off nicely just how many jobs she juggles.
Also, her intermission is her showing off outfits again. Keep that in mind.
Smooth Moves:
Mona cheers on a football player in her high-school team. That’s it, she’s not even really the focus of her own story. We do get to see her at another new job though, in Young Cricket’s story, which is also the final time we’ll see her bandmates and the last apperance of her pets for quite some time.
More notably is the japanese Smooth Moves website, where a in-character blog entry by Mona has her voice how she empathizes with Ashley’s loneliness due to her own parents being busy. Big Sis Mona back at it.
This is also the first game to give Mona new voice lines and while it still seems to be Leslie Swan voicing her, she is voiced in a distinctly younger, higher pitched fashion, in contrast to her very mature sounding original clips. Keep that in mind.
Snapped:
The only thing to really talk about is the intro. Mona helps out Wario and clearly admires him. Nothing new.
DIY:
Mona is among the WarioWare Inc. employees to have left the company for this game, to work for Diamond Software, which is implied to be run by Joe.
In her own story, Mona is now treasure hunting on her own with Joe as a cameraman, exploring ancient temples and selling the treasure for profit. This is very in-line with what we heard before.
Additionally, with themes being back, her microgames are back to the original Strange theme.
Game & Wario:
Mona is now working as a photojournalist, taking photos of criminals at the scene of crime and getting them arrested. She also hosts the Mona Superscoop extra, a series of her talking about Diamond City residents, linked to the different games available in G&W.
Mona also recieves the most notable redesign of the cast, a move that also marks a trend of her design being made to look more distinctly youthful. Some of that may also be a result of the Rhythm Heaven artstyle, but with the later games in mind, it feels deliberate.
WarioWare Gold:
In this game, Mona is introduced during the intro, asking Wario what her doing something for him will pay. A nice little reminder of her own love for money and willingness to push Wario for her due payment.
In her own story, she goes to Joe’s new clothing shop, to get herself a new dress for a party and all her animations during the stage are her showing off outfits (sound familiar?). She also get’s a chance to gush over Wario again.
She also shows up for the first remix stage, helping to make Joe’s club a success and wishing Wario was there.
In her character cards, we learn she admires Wario for his treasure hunting skills and is an aspiring adventurer herself, something DIY and past statements very much support.
Mona has been redesigned again for the new style, now looking a lot like her original look, but with a more modest one-piece dress and without her helmet. Once more, she looks more youthful than before.
In addition, she has a new VA Stephanie Sheh, who makes her sound youthful, but more mature than Leslie’s 2006-2013 performance, as I see it.
WarioWare Get It Together:
Mona’s own story revolves around her pets making a mess in her room. She gives them a very savage order to clean up (boomerang toss and a VERY angry face), only to have the same thing happen again next day.
If anything, GiT really brings back Mona’s temper, we also see it when Wario says he is starting to find the corrupted game world not that bad or when everyone get’s mad at Wario when it turns out he created the bugs by accident.
Her prezzie preferences pretty much play into everything we know about Mona. Weird things, fashion, Wario and anything that relates to her past jobs. We also see that she has a plush of the Rhythm Tweezers veggie in her room, on top of photos of Wario, Kat, Ana, 9-Volt and 18-Volt, once more affirming her affection for Wario and her younger friends.
This is also the first time we see her home, which not only is styled after her past jobs and love for the strange, but also the first time the games have ever shown her being wealthy. Past supplementary materials alluded to it, but as with here, it’s not made a big deal of. Given how it’s styled after her, the house also seems to belong to her, meaning she likely lives on her own.
So. The question is: Has Mona Changed?
One thing that has indeed changed a bit is her job hopping being downplayed, it’s certainly still referenced, but neither Gold nor GiT give her a new occupation.
Beyond that though, to be honest, Mona has stayed largely the same.
A big argument I tend to hear is that GiT and Gold girly-fy and cuti-fy her too much, but I gotta be real, all of that was always there.
Even prior to Gold, her appearance and voice have been made to be more youthful and while I could write an entire essay on why the angle of her being in high-school sucks, it was always there and blatantly there to appeal to popular cute girl tropes in Japan.
You got that, her being in a maid outfit in Mega Party Games’ cast roll, her being a cheerleader in Smooth Moves, her sparkly anime girl eyes in Snapped, WARIO HIMSELF calling her cute in his final Mega Microgames intermission and the list goes on and on. Being cute was always a aspect of her character that was strongly emphasized.
The focus on fashion in her Gold story get’s heat from people unhappy with current Mona, but bluntly put, this was always a trait of her’s, there is a reason I asked anyone reading to keep her Mega Microgames and Touched intermissions in mind. I’ll also add that one of her intermission outfits in the first game is a school girl uniform:
Her cuteness and girlyness was alwaysthere.
As far as everything else is concerned, Mona has remained the same. She is still very active, nice, but has her limits, is good with the kids, likes money, Wario and weird things. GiT even emphasizes her temper more than any other game, even the original.
The way some traits have been portrayed may have shifted a tad and I have my own preferences, but on the whole I really don’t agree that Mona has changed much or been watered down.
