Luigi is a video game character made by Nintendo. The famous game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, made him. Luigi is the younger but taller fraternal twin brother of the Nintendo mascot, Mario. He is in many games all over the Mario series, almost always as an assistant to his brother Mario.

The first game Luigi was in was Mario Bros. (Game and Watch) (1983) as a character seen working in a factory. He later appeared playable in the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros and was played by the second character. It was also done in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and other games. The first game where he was present as the first character was Super Mario Bros. 2. In the Mario series, he is usually not the main character. However, he has his own games where is the main character, like Luigi's Mansion and Mario is Missing!. He also appears in many spin-offs, such as Mario Kart, Mario Party and the Super Smash Bros. series. Luigi has also been in every show of the three DiC TV series based on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System games.

At first he was made as a palette swap of Mario with a green color instead of red. Later in the series, he became his own character with his own personality and abilities. As his part in the Mario series progressed, Luigi became taller and thinner than his brother.

Nintendo called 2013 "The Year of Luigi" to mark the thirty years of the existence of the character. Similarly, games being released in 2013 bring attention to Luigi, such as Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Dr. Luigi, and the level pack New Super Luigi U for New Super Mario Bros. U. In Super Mario 3D World a Luigi version of Mario Bros. called Luigi Bros. can be unlocked.

Concept and creation
The events leading to the creation of Luigi began in 1982, during the making of Donkey Kong. The Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto had created Mario (who used to be "Jumpman") hoping that he would be able to present the character in many different pars in future games. Miyamoto had been given ideas by the game Joust to create a game where two players can play at the same time. This was the cause of his development of the game Mario Bros. in 1983, with Luigi as the brother of Mario and the second playable character. The name Luigi is said to have been inspired by a pizza business near the head office of Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington, called "Mario & Luigi's". Miyamoto noticed that the word ruiji means "similar" in the Japanese language, and that Luigi was designed to have the same size, shape and gameplay of Mario.

At first in Donkey Kong, Mario was a carpenter. In Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi were designed as Italian plumbers by Miyamoto, on the suggestion of a partner. Software limits at the time—almost the same as those that gave Mario his special look in Donkey Kong—meant the first appearance of Luigi was limited to a simple palette swap of Mario designed to be the second player. The characters were in every way the same, other than their colors. The green color for Luigi would last as one of his physical characteristics in future releases.

After the success of Mario Bros., Luigi was presented to a wider market in 1985 with the release of the console game Super Mario Bros. Once again his part was limited to a palette swap of Mario, acting as the second-player in almost the same way as Mario Bros. The Japan-only form of Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1986 (released in the west as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in the future) marked the start of the development of Luigi becoming a separate character. As with his last appearances, Luigi was still a palette swap of Mario. However, his moves were not the same. Luigi could now jump high up and a great distance more than his brother, at the cost of motion reaction and exactness.

While this form of Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan, it was thought to be too hard for the American public at the time. In 1988, as a result, an alternative release was developed to be good enough as Super Mario Bros. 2 for western players (and in the future released in Japan as Super Mario USA). This would play a key part in forming the current look of Luigi. The game was a conversion of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, with the art changed to be characters and places from the Mario series. In this release, the character of "Mama", who could jump the highest, was good enough for the model for Luigi. This caused his taller, thinner look, combined with his Mario-design outfit and green color. There were appearances of Luigi being taller than Mario before - for example, in the 1988 Famicom Disk System game Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally and before that, in a very limited 1986 anime Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! (though in the anime he had a yellow shirt and blue overalls). Licensed art for Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World presents Luigi with this new look. Nintendo of Japan would not change his art differences to his look within the game until the 1992 game Super Mario Kart. The appearance of Luigi from the Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic version of Super Mario Bros. 2 has been used ever since, even for games made again in which he was a palette swap to start with.

Voice 
Much like his appearance, Luigi's has changed over the years. In Mario Kart 64, which voiced many characters for the first time, some characters had two different voices in relation to the region of the game. North American and European forms present a deep voice for Luigi, by Charles Martinet, who also voices Mario, Wario, Waluigi, and Toadsworth. The Japanese form uses a high, falsetto voice, by (then French translator at Nintendo) Julien Bardakoff. All forms of Mario Party present the high-pitched clips of Bardakoff from Mario Kart 64. Luigi kept this higher voice in Mario Party 2. In Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Party 3 his voice returned to normal. Since then, in all games but Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi has always had a medium-pitched voice. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Luigi's voice was the same high voice from the Japanese Mario Kart 64. In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi's voice is based on Mario's voice (with clips taken from Super Mario 64), with a higher pitch. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he has his own voice clips instead of voice clips taken from Mario.

Playable appearances

Playable only in two-player:
 Mario Bros
 Super Mario Bros
 Super Mario Bros 3
 Super Mario World
 New Super Mario Bros Wii
 New Super Mario Bros U

Playable in one-player or two-player:

 Super Mario Bros 2
 Super Mario Kart
 Super Smash Bros. (Hidden character)
 Mario Kart 64
 Mario Kart DS
 Mario Kart Wii
 Mario Kart 7
 Luigi's Mansion
 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
 Luigi's Mansion 3
 Mario Party 1-10
 Super Smash Bros. Melee (Hidden character)
 Mario Kart Double Dash
 Mario Power Tennis
 Super Mario Strikers (Mario Smash Football in Europe)
 Mario Strikers Charged
 Super Mario Galaxy (Hidden character, unlockable, static character in game)
 Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Hidden character)
 Super Mario Galaxy 2
 Super Mario 3D Land
 New Super Mario Bros. (Hidden in one-player)
 New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Hidden character)
 New Super Luigi U
 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
 Super Mario 3D World
 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Hidden character)

References

Fictional characters introduced in 1983
Fictional Italian people
Mario series characters