Luigi

For other uses, see the Nintendo character.

Luigi
Mario series character
File:Luigi in Mario Party 8.jpg Luigi in his current appearance since Mario Party 4.
First game	Mario Bros. (1983)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto

Luigi (ルイージ, Ruīji) is a video game character created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is portrayed as the taller, younger brother of Nintendo's official mascot Mario. Luigi has appeared in many games throughout the Mario series. Although Luigi was originally created as a character identical to Mario except for being colored green instead of red, he has since developed a personality and style of his own. His voice is performed by Charles Martinet, the same actor who provides the voice for Mario, as well as other characters throughout the franchise. Luigi's name may be a pun on the Japanese word "ruiji" (類似, ruīji?), meaning "analogous", a play on the fact that his sprite was the same as Mario's in his original appearance. Because of the common reference to Mario and him as the "Mario Brothers," it has been speculated his full name is "Luigi Mario," and in certain non-game sources (such as comic books and the Super Mario Bros film), and even on the Nintendo of Europe's Megasite, this is the case. However, Nintendo of America stated in the 1980s that neither Mario nor Luigi have last names.

Mario and Luigi are both Italian plumbers. According to the Super Mario Bros. film and the three animated series created by DiC, Mario and Luigi are from Brooklyn.

Conception

File:MarioLuigi MarioBrosSprites.png

The arcade version of Mario Bros. featured Luigi (right) in his debut appearance as a palette swap of Mario.

The events leading to Luigi's creation began in 1981 during the development of Donkey Kong, where designer Shigeru Miyamoto had created Mario (then known as "Jumpman") hoping that he would be able to recast the character in a variety of different roles in future games. Miyamoto had been inspired by the game Joust to create a game with a simultaneous two-player mode, which lead to his creation of the game Mario Bros. in 1983 with Mario's brother as the second playable character. In accordance with Nintendo's marketing policy of naming and promoting individual characters, the new character was given the name Luigi, which was inspired by a pizza parlor near Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, called "Mario & Luigi's". Because of software constraints of the time, Luigi's first appearance was a simple palette swap of Mario designed to represent the second player. Graphically and in terms of gameplay, the characters were completely identical except for their color schemes: Mario wore blue and red while Luigi wore green and black.

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The console game Super Mario Bros. 2 was the first occasion where Luigi (selected) was featured as a fully distinguishable character.

After the success of Mario Bros., Luigi was introduced to a wider audience in 1985 with the release of the console game Super Mario Bros. Once again he would function as a second-player palette swap of Mario, this time appearing with matching white hat and overalls and a green shirt and green shoes to contrast with Mario's red cap and overalls and brown shirt and brown shoes. It wasn't until the Japan-only sequel Super Mario Bros. 2 was released that Luigi began to become more distinguished from Mario. In that title, Luigi was a better jumper than Mario; he jumped higher and fell more slowly, though he did jump with less accuracy and traction. In 1988, a version of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic with the graphics altered to represent characters from the Mario franchise was released in the United States as Super Mario Bros. 2, after the Japanese sequel was deemed to be too difficult for American audiences. In this version, the "Mama" character was redesigned as Luigi in his new taller, thinner look, marking the introduction of the new design to English-speaking audiences. Luigi's thinner, taller appearance and color scheme were later adopted in Japan as well, and has since remained consistent in most subsequent promotional art and in-game appearances. Also, starting with the GameCube titles, his mustache, along with Mario's, was given a deep dark brown color to go with his hair, rather than a solid black color.

Luigi is a plumber like his brother. Much like his brother, Luigi's outfit colors have gone through changes. In the original Mario Bros., Luigi was given green overalls, a green hat, and a black shirt, to allow the player not to confuse him with Mario while playing a 2-player game. The NES port of the game changed the color of his shirt and his hat to white. When the original Super Mario Bros. was released, he wore white overalls over a green shirt, the opposite of his present fire flower costume; however, when touching a fire flower, he would don a red shirt, using the same palette as Mario, which may make players confuse the two. This was fixed in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe as the Fire Luigi sprites now use the normal Luigi palette of the original and the Super Luigi and normal Luigi sprites were changed to being green overalls over a brown shirt. It was not until Super Mario Bros. 2 that Luigi donned his traditional blue overalls, green shirt/hat combination. The white shirt/green overalls are now used to signify when a fire flower is received (and is an alternate costume for Luigi in Super Smash Bros. Melee). Since Super Mario World, Luigi's overalls have been portrayed as a darker blue (or even purple) than his brother Mario's. Although this trait first started in Super Mario World, numerous games after that depicted him with the same color as Mario's denim overalls.

In terms of artwork outside the games, Luigi was at first drawn similarly to Mario. When artwork for Super Mario Bros. 2 was created, Luigi was depicted as he is today, except with blue overalls over a green shirt, and a smooth mustache instead of a bushy one. This change is also present in all of the animated TV shows, even when Luigi's shirt and overalls changed with Super Mario Bros. 3. Since then, Luigi has come up as a form of "sidekick" for Mario, becoming just as recognizeable to the public as his brother.

Appearances

Luigi's first appearance was in the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. as the character controlled by the second player. He retained this role in Wrecking Crew (dressed in purple), Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and other titles. The first game where he was available as player one was in Super Mario Bros. 2, along with Toad and Princess Peach. While Luigi's later appearances have been mainly restricted to spinoffs such as the Mario Party series, he has featured in a starring role on two occasions; first in the 1991 educational game Mario is Missing!, then ten years later in Luigi's Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001. In each of these games, he is called upon to act as the hero because Mario, the hero of the franchise, is the one in need of help. Luigi was one of the four playable protagonists in Super Mario 64 DS, an enhanced remake of the original Nintendo 64 game. He has appeared in both Super Mario Strikers and Mario Strikers Charged as a playable captain. He also appeared in the first two Super Smash Bros. games as an unlockable character.

Luigi's most recent playable appearance is in Super Paper Mario as the fourth playable character, his first major role in a Mario game in quite some time. In the game he also plays double duty as an enemy, becoming Mr. L, a.k.a. the Green Thunder, when being mind controlled by Count Bleck, and becoming the final boss upon being transformed into a giant clown puppet and possessed by Dimentio becoming Super Dimentio. After Mario, Peach, and Bowser defeat Super Dimentio, Luigi returns to normal. Luigi also appears in the newest installment of the Mario Party series, Mario Party 8, as a playable character, and will also appear in the upcoming Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog crossover sports game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

In other media

See also: Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!, Super Mario Bros. (film), and Super Mario Bros. (TV series)

Luigi made his animated debut in the 1986 OVA Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach. In the film, he was voiced by Yū Mizushima and had a different color sceme than he has today, sporting a blue cap, blue overalls, and a yellow shirt. This was because he was not yet given a consistent color sceme. In the OVA, Luigi was very greedy, always thinking of ways to make money, and even left Mario at one point to look for coins. He was also a little more serious than his brother Mario, who constantly would daydream about Princess Peach.

Luigi later made an appearance in the 3rd of a trilogy of OVAs, in which the Mario characters acted out the story of Snow White. He appears at the end of the video to save Mario and Peach from the Wicked Queen, portrayed by Bowser.

File:MamaForker.JPG

Luigi in the Super Mario World cartoon

Luigi regularly appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, airing from 1989-1990, which cast Danny Wells as both his live-action portrayal and voice. Like his brother, Luigi's voice actor changed in later cartoons, in his case to Tony Rosato. Even though he was not the starring character in the show, Luigi managed to appear in every episode of the three DiC Mario cartoons (91 episodes in total), in one of which Mario himself made no appearance. In addition, the final episode to air, "Mama Luigi", which prominently features him in the central role, has become an Internet meme on YouTube.

Luigi played a different role in the Super Mario Bros. film, where he was portrayed by John Leguizamo. He was a more easy-going character in contrast to the cynical Mario (played by Bob Hoskins) in the film. Because he was played by a younger and more relatable actor, as opposed to Bob Hoskins, Luigi was presented as the main character for the movie, gaining the affection of Princess Daisy. Luigi was so much younger that Mario was the one who raised him.

Characteristics

Although Luigi is as kindhearted as his heroic brother, he is portrayed in the games as timid, especially when forced to do tasks that seemingly are impossible. Luigi is clumsier than Mario, although he is a better jumper, which is odd considering Mario's "claim to fame" being his jumping ability. He tends to be self-conscious whereas Mario is carefree and headstrong. Luigi compliments Mario on a lot of things. He is described as being smarter than Mario in the Mario Party instruction manual, despite being portrayed as dense in other Nintendo games, such as the Mario and Luigi series. He is constantly under Mario's shadow.

Luigi has been depicted as being less recognizable than his brother, and perhaps underappreciated. A running gag in the Mario and Luigi series has most of the supporting characters (especially Bowser and his minions) having difficulty remembering Luigi's name (with the notable exception of Princess Peach and Toadsworth), referring to him instead as "green guy", "Green 'Stache", "other guy", "Mr. Green", "That Green whimp", "Greeny", or even just "Mario's brother". Once he was called "the guy who is always left behind." This joke was continued into Super Mario 64 DS, where a few of the Toads in the castle and the boss Goomboss do not immediately recognize Luigi, mistaking him for Mario, and Super Princess Peach, where he is jokingly referred to as "The Green Man" when Peach rescues him from the clutches of Kamek. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Luigi garnered fame after a series of best-selling novels entitled Super Luigi were written about him, which tells the true (albeit exaggerated) story of his quest to save Princess Eclair of the Waffle Kingdom, which Mario can hear at various points on his adventure to find the Crystal Stars. In Paper Mario, the player is able to read Luigi's diary, which is both for comedy, and helpful in the game. In Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time at one point he is said to have one or several deep, dark and embarrassing secrets that he wishes no one to know. However this is not a major plot point, and is done for comedy rather than the intent of being taken seriously as character development.

In many games and game manuals, Luigi is said to be the younger of the Mario Brothers. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and more recently in Super Paper Mario, he refers to Mario as "big brother". However, in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, it is stated that he is Mario's twin. It includes a scene where the infant brothers are delivered by the stork to their parents. From this scene, it is possible to infer that Luigi is actually the younger twin, as Mario is the first to emerge from his sling. This is backed up by the European version of the port, which has selectable languages, all of which use a term meaning "twins" or "twin brothers". The Official European Mario Megastar website states that Luigi is a slightly younger twin in his profile, while numerous Japanese info states that Mario and Luigi are twins. Also, for the first time stateside since the original release of Yoshi's Island, Super Paper Mario recently implies that they may be twins (Luvbi refers to Mario and Luigi as twins despite Luigi calling Mario "big bro"). Despite this, Mario acts like a traditional older brother towards Luigi.

Powers and abilities

In most of his video game appearances, Luigi's abilities are either identical to those of Mario or with slight variations. Beginning with Mario Bros. and throughout the Super Mario Bros. series, Luigi's most commonly-seen abilities have revolved around jumping, stomping, and knocking over small enemies, as well as using his fist to either disrupt or break bricks above him. Since Super Mario Bros., Luigi and Mario have made extensive use of items to extend their abilities, the most notable of which being the Super Mushroom, which allows the player's character to grow larger, the Fire Flower, which allows him to throw fireballs until damaged, and the Starman, which grants Mario or Luigi temporary invulnerability. For the most part, Luigi's abilities are comparable to those of Mario.

In Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2), Luigi is distinguished as being a better jumper than Mario, but has lower traction, making the character more difficult to control. In Super Mario Bros. 2 (later released in Japan as Super Mario USA), Luigi is again the best jumper, better than Peach (or Princess Toadstool, as she was known as in North America at the time the game was released), Mario or Toad, although he is not as fast as Mario. The traction characteristic appears in Super Mario 64 DS, where Luigi can run across a small amount of water with a running start using this power. However, he is the same speed as Mario and is surprisingly more agile than the other characters. Unlike Mario, however, he cannot perform a wall-kick.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Luigi appears as an unlockable character. In general, his moves are similar to Mario's, but in defiance of the usual assumption that Mario is stronger, Luigi’s attacks tend to be more powerful. He is better at jumping and running than Mario, but lacks coordination and traction. His special moves are similar to Mario's, the main difference being that his fireballs are green and are not affected by gravity. His low traction makes him a difficult character to maneuver; however, his strong smash attacks, balanced moveset, speed, and nearly limitless horizontal recovery capacity (i.e. the ability to charge himself up like a rocket can be used as an attack or repeatedly to recover back on stage) makes him a powerful opponent under the experienced player.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi is given the ability to harness and release electricity with the technique known as the "Thunderhand". Mario, on the other hand, attains control of fire with the "Firebrand" technique. Electricity may in fact be Luigi's "element" with which he attacks (similar to Mario's fire). Signs of this are that he gets the Thunderhand in Superstar Saga, his team symbol in Super Mario Strikers is a lightning bolt, and he adopts the name "Green Thunder" and the motto "The Green Thunder strikes like lightning!" in Super Paper Mario. He also has the ability to shrink Mario with his hammer and be hit underground, and the ability to be turned into a surfboard and do a hi-jump on top of Mario. Luigi's stats are slightly different from those of his brother's, with Mario being the stronger and faster of the pair, while Luigi has higher defense and stache points (as is the case throughout the Mario & Luigi series); the latter implying that he is extremely charming (also of note is that, unlike Mario, Luigi's artwork portrays him wearing red-white-striped socks under his overalls, which are unique to the Mario & Luigi games). This applies to the sequel, Partners in Time, as well.

Like his brother and most other Mario series characters, Luigi is shown to be quite skilled at various sports such as baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis, golf and go-kart racing.

Luigi's speed and agility differ in many games. While it is true that he is often depicted as being slower and less agile than Mario in many games, in the Mario Kart games he is faster, in Super Mario 64 DS he is as fast as Mario and Yoshi and is the most agile of all the characters, and in Luigi's Mansion, if you examine the treadmill in the gym, Luigi comments that he always was a runner. It would seem that Nintendo is slowly developing Luigi to form a more balanced counterpart to Mario. While the earlier incarnations of Luigi usually featured a character of comparable strength with better jumping but lacking in overall control, Luigi is now usually attributed with superior speed, jumping, and overall maneuverability, but with hindered strength and other physical disadvantages such as being too light to perform a task, as seen most prominently in Super Mario 64 DS.

In New Super Mario Bros., Luigi, along with Mario, gets three new abilities. The first is the blue Koopa shell. This power-up transforms him into Shell Luigi. When running fast enough, he curls into the shell. He can also duck into the shell, allowing enemies to pass by without harming him. The shell also increases maneuverability underwater. The second is the Mini Mushroom. Its effect is the opposite of the Super Mushroom, in that it shrinks Luigi to half-size. This allows him to jump higher and slow his falls. He can also run on water. The third is the Mega Mushroom. This power-up allows Luigi to crush things like enemies, pipes, even the end-of-level flag. He also gains the ability to do a wall-kick like Mario.

In Super Paper Mario, Luigi has the highest jump ability of all the characters, similar to how he was in Super Mario Bros. 2. His abilities include an extreme jump that shoots him off the screen, enabling him to reach high areas that the other three playable characters (Mario, Bowser and Peach) could never otherwise reach, also delivering a devastating uppercut to any enemy above him. However, as is the case in the Lost Levels, Luigi has lower traction than the other playable characters. He also has a mysterious connection to the dark powers of the Chaos Heart, which Dimentio manipulates to his advantage.

In Super Mario 64 DS, after obtaining the power flower, Luigi is able to turn invisible. This would seem to further the meek and timid personality of Luigi portrayed in several games, such as the Mario and Luigi series. Upon becoming invisible, he is now able to walk through mirrors and confuse enemies.

Relations

With the debut of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, Luigi gained a rival character, Waluigi, who has the same relationship to Luigi as Wario does to Mario. Waluigi has since appeared in the Mario Party and Mario Kart series, Mario Power Tennis, and other games featuring Mario's supporting cast. While the two have a tendency to hate each other, Luigi has the greater chance of brushing off the squabbles and moving on, leaving Waluigi to revel in his frustration and anger. Waluigi wears purple, a color Luigi once wore in the game Wrecking Crew. In an advertisement of Nintendo Power Magazine, it states that Wario is Mario's Cousin. If this is true, then Wario is Luigi's cousin as well (as Mario and Luigi are brothers) and it could be implied that Waluigi is possibly Luigi's cousin, though in Super Smash Bros. Melee, it states on Waluigi's trophy that Waluigi's relation to Wario is uncertain. However, an issue of Nintendo Power stated that Waluigi is Wario's Brother.

There is evidence that Luigi, like Mario, is in love with Princess Peach. A cutscene in Mario Power Tennis features Princess Peach blowing kisses to Mario and Luigi, who hover a little and swoon. In games where the player rescues Princess Peach as Luigi, Luigi's emotions are identical to Mario's: showing signs of infatuation with Princess Peach. This belief is reinforced by older forms of media involving the Mario Brothers and Peach. In Super Paper Mario, Princess Peach is mocked by Mimi, a shapeshifting adversary, saying she couldn't do anything herself and describing Mario and Luigi as her "boyfriends".

One of the more notable relationships regarding Luigi is with Princess Daisy of Sarasaland, whose debut role was as resident damsel-in-distress to be rescued by Mario in Super Mario Land for the Game Boy. The possible concept of a relationship between Luigi and Daisy began with NES Open Tournament Golf; in it, she served as Luigi's caddie, just as Peach was Mario's caddie. This is the first possible implication of a relationship between the two, spawning the rumors that are mentioned in Daisy's trophy biography in Super Smash Bros. Melee: "After her appearance in Mario Golf, some gossips started portraying her as Luigi's answer to Mario's Peach." Nintendo has not explicitly said anything regarding their supposed relationship. As a result, the relationship between Daisy and Luigi, if any exists, is widely debated by fans.

Baby Luigi is the infant form of Luigi, similar to Baby Mario. However, he appeared in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! alongside his older self. It is generally accepted that this game does not have a story line and merely offers extra playable characters for greater variety. Baby Luigi first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where he was kidnapped by Kamek, then rescued by Baby Mario and Yoshi. Like his older self, Baby Luigi is voiced by Charles Martinet.

Baby Luigi appeared in Yoshi Touch & Go, where Yoshi must rescue Luigi by throwing eggs in order to hit the Toadies carrying him. In the multiplayer mode, the second player's Yoshi will be carrying Baby Luigi instead of Baby Mario.

Baby Luigi's kart of choice in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a converted baby carriage. He also appears in Mario Superstar Baseball as an unlockable character.

Baby Luigi stars in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time with his older self, along with Baby Mario and his older self. Baby Luigi's abilities in battle appear to be identical to those of Baby Mario. The game explains the co-existence of the two sets of brothers in this game by saying that Mario and Luigi are sent back in time after Princess Peach travels to the past Mushroom Kingdom and the travel goes terribly wrong. They must battle the evil Princess Shroob to restore order to the shattered past of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Like Baby Mario, Baby Luigi will have a playable appearance in Mario Kart Wii.

Actor portrayal

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John Leguizamo plays Luigi in the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. feature film

Luigi is voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices Mario, Wario, Waluigi, and Toadsworth. Unlike Mario, whose voice has remained the same since its debut in Mario's Game Gallery , Luigi's voice has fluctuated between high- and low-pitched varieties throughout games. When his voice was first introduced in Mario Kart 64, it was considerably lower in pitch than Mario's (although it was high pitched in the Japanese version); however, in Mario Party, he possessed a much higher pitched voice which was similar to Mario's (the same voice from the Japanese Mario Kart 64). It is a theory that the Japanese voice actor gave Luigi a higher-pitched voice, and it was simply carried over. He retained this higher voice in Mario Party 2. In Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Party 3, his voice returned to a lower state. Since then, with the exceptions of Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Super Smash Bros. Melee, games have consistently given Luigi a medium-pitched voice. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Luigi's voice was the same high voice from the Japanese Mario Kart 64 like the words "Here we Go!", "Bingo!" and "Wow, whoah, wow, wow, whoah!". In Super Smash Brothers Melee, Luigi's voice is made up of clips from Mario's voice taken from Super Mario 64. In Super Mario Strikers, the beginning credits randomly have different characters say "Nintendo" or "Next Level Games". In the Super Smash Bros. series, Luigi's voice is simply Mario's voice, with pitch raised electronically.

External links

• Official Nintendo Website
• Mario Bros. at the Killer List of Videogames