Luigi

Luigi's current appearance. He's taller and slimmer than Mario, and his overalls are a darker color.

Luigi (Japanese: ルイージ, ruīji) is Mario's younger brother from Nintendo video games. He first appeared in Mario Bros. as the character controlled by the second player, and his role as the second player's character continued in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. Fanon accepts his full name as Luigi Mario. Luigi's name was inspired by a pizza parlor near Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, called Mario & Luigi's. His name also serves as a pun on the Japanese word 類似 (ruiji), meaning "similar" (based on his original role as a copy of Mario).

Game history

Template:Spoiler Because of software constraints of the time, Luigi initially appeared as a palette swap of Mario, identical except in terms of color. As technology improved, Luigi evolved into a physically distinct character, taller and thinner than his brother. This is at least in part due to the conversion of the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic to the American Super Mario Bros. 2, where Luigi's character replaced the thin, high-jumping Mama. Although Luigi is taller than his brother, he is actually the younger of the two.

Luigi's personality has also been developed over the years: he is depicted as being more nervous and panicky than his brother (a trait that spills over into gameplay; in some platform games Luigi is considerably harder to control). Other information states that Luigi is simply the smarter, more careful sibling. Other writers have sometimes suggested this is a complex related to being less famous than his brother. The part about not being as famous as his brother is at least in canon; one of the running jokes in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is that almost none of the characters, not even Bowser knows who Luigi is.

Super Mario Bros. 2 (America)

In America's Super Mario Bros. 2 (not to be confused with Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2), Luigi was one of the four characters that players could choose to play as. He was characterized in the game as having the highest jump of all four playable characters. This particular feature made him quite popular among fans of the series. He also co-starred with his brother in a 2003 game called Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga (a Mario RPG along the lines of Paper Mario) in which the player controls both Mario and Luigi to save Princess Peach.

In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Baby Luigi was kidnapped by Kamek the Magikoopa. He was freed due to the efforts of many Yoshis who helped defeat Baby Bowser.

Luigi in Super Mario World (GBA)

In the remake of Super Mario World for Game Boy Advance, Luigi can jump higher, but runs slower than Mario.

These distinctions are also present in Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World for the Super NES.

Luigi's solo appearances

Luigi was originally featured in two games, the first of which was the edutainment title Mario Is Missing!, released for the NES, SNES, and PC. It was a fairly lackluster game, involving Luigi traveling throughout the world and answering questions related to well-known lands he was visiting (e.g., Japan and Russia). Mario Is Missing! was not produced by Nintendo and remains one of the few Mario games created and developed entirely by an American third-party developer. His second starring role was in Luigi's Mansion, the launch title for the Nintendo GameCube, in which Luigi must brave a ghost-filled mansion that he supposedly won (in a contest that he didn't enter) to save Mario.

Waluigi and Daisy

With the debut of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, Luigi also gained his own rival, Waluigi. (Waluigi is a counterpart to Wario). Waluigi has since appeared in the Mario Party series, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Power Tennis, and just about every other game featuring Mario's all-star supporting cast. Mario Tennis also saw the return of the long-unused character Daisy, who is now believed by some to be Luigi's counterpart to Mario's Princess Peach. There has, however, been speculation that Luigi, like Mario, is in love with Princess Peach. A cutscene in Mario Power Tennis when players win any tournament with Princess Peach, shows her blowing kisses to both Mario and Luigi, who both hover a little and swoon.

Luigi in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee

Luigi is also a hidden character in the N64 hit Super Smash Bros. and in the GameCube sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee. His style of fighting is separate from Mario's due to his one-hit powershots instead of Mario's combo-friendly attacks. Luigi also jumps significantly higher and has a larger hangtime, at the expense of his traction and speed. His fireballs are green, have shorter range, and hover.

Although he was very similar to Mario in the original Super Smash Bros., he was given a completely different set of physical attacks in the sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee, including some extremely powerful aerial attacks.

Luigi in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Luigi makes an appearance in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, released for the Nintendo Gamecube. He appears in the audience a couple of times, and he has his own adventures that mostly hinge on his making poor choices. Though Luigi claims to be venturing to rescue Princess Eclair of Waffle Kingdom from the evil Chestnut King, the player never actually sees any of these events or characters, so the truthfulness of Luigi's stories is a matter of debate.

Luigi in Super Mario 64 DS

Luigi makes another appearance in Super Mario 64 DS for the new handheld Nintendo DS. He has high triple-jumping abilities (which is no surprise considering his reputation for high jumps) and a backflip that's nearly as high as his triple jump, but allows him to cover great horizontal distances by spinning with his arms outstretched. Luigi also has a scuttle jump ability that slows his descent. This makes him one of the more useful characters in the game. In this game, Luigi can obtain a Power Flower, with which he becomes invisible, allowing him to walk through enemies, as well as some walls.

Luigi on the big (and small) screens

Luigi is voiced by many talented actors both on and off the big screen:

In the 1993 feature film Super Mario Bros., Luigi was played by John Leguizamo
In cartoons, he was voiced by both Danny Wells and Tony Rosato
In the video games, he, like Mario, is voiced by Charles Martinet
In the 1986 animated film, he was voiced by Mizushima Yuu.

Luigi on the web

Luigi also regularly appears in the web comic series Neglected Mario Characters. In the earlier comics, he was portrayed as fed up with having to play second fiddle to Mario all the time and often defected to the Koopas. When he did this, he assumed his alter ego Darth Butch. In this form he has mastered the power of the Worse and represented the "Slightly-Black Side." In modern comics, he is portrayed as the "unsung hero," often has weird dreams, and is very gullible. He is also quite taken with Celes and Daisy. He was one of the Mario Busters along with Toad, Stanley the Bugman, Dr. Donez, and Lemmy the Lemming. He is also one of the few characters to appear in multiple Deathmatches and remain undefeated. Another running gag with Luigi is to not put him in comics and then have him complain about it at the end.

Non-game apparences

There have also been some Mario games Luigi has been absent from. The game Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64 dosen't feature Luigi as a playable character like most other Mario platform games. He is also absent from the Gamecube game Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2 for the Game Boy, and some Mario PC games such as Mario Hotel.

Baby Luigi

File:Toadiesluigismall.jpg

Kamek's minions, called Toadies, carry Baby Luigi off to their master.

Baby Luigi is a character in Nintendo's Mario series, similar to Baby Mario. He is the infant version of Luigi, although he has appeared in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! alongside his older self. It is generally accepted that these games do not have storylines and merely offer extra playable characters for greater variety. Baby Luigi first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island where he got kidnapped by Kamek, only to be rescued by his brother Mario and Yoshi later on.

Baby Luigi more recently 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 rides along with Baby Mario in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! in a converted baby carriage and appears in Mario Superstar Baseball as unlockable character with speed ability.

Baby Luigi also stars in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time Baby Mario, his older self, and Mario. His abilities in battle appear to be identical to those of his older self. 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 to a period when they were still babies. Baby Luigi is voiced by Debi Derrryberry in Yoshi's Island, Rob Paulsen in Mario Superstar Baseball, Ian James Corlet in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and Charles Martinet in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

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