Waluigi

**Waluigi** is a recurring character from numerous spin-offs in the *Mario* series, acting as a "bad" counterpart to Luigi in the same way Wario is to Mario. He was first created by designers at Camelot to act as Wario's doubles partner in *Mario Tennis*. Miyamoto allegedly loved his design, and since his debut in *Mario Tennis* he has gone on to appear in a majority of *Mario* spin-off rosters. Particularly, he's become a regular in *Mario Kart*, *Mario Party*, and essentially every branch of the *Mario* sports titles, having a near perfect attendance record after his debut in each. He's also managed to appear in a few crossovers between *Mario* and other series, including every installment of *Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games* and a duo of *Itadaki Street* (*Fortune Street* in North America and *Boom Street* in PAL regions) games for the Nintendo DS and Wii crossing over with the *Dragon Quest* series. One of his most notable appearances was in *Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix* for the Nintendo Gamecube, where he was featured as the main antagonist for the first part of the story. Waluigi is known for his lanky appearance, his weirdness, his shifty and somewhat flamboyant personality, and his endless desire to be featured in the spotlight. These traits along with his role as the ultimate spin-off "filler" in the *Mario* series has left an impact upon many people, particularly with the exponential growth of online discussion related to Nintendo. On one hand, some loathe him as a pointless and unappealing character. Others, however, absolutely adore the character due to his reception as an oddball and an underdog amongst the *Mario* cast. He is particularly popular in Western regions, with Nintendo's social media in North America using him quite frequently in marketing.

As a very recurring character in Mario spin-offs, it's not too surprising that Waluigi has managed to gather a fair number of Smash supporters over the years. In particular, he has shown massive appeal among casuals, likely due to him starring in massive-selling games like *Mario Kart*. He managed to first cameo as a trophy in *Super Smash Bros. Melee*, but he got a far more notable role as one of the first Assist Trophies featured in its follow-up, *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*. As Wario had only just made his debut in that game, it wasn't too surprising to see Waluigi left in a supporting role. In turn, however, he would end up gaining a lot of momentum going into the next installment of the series, later titled *Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U*. With Wario established as a veteran, debate over which Mario character would be next to join the Smash roster became of the most popular hot topics during speculation for the game. Outside of Waluigi, other popular picks at this time included Toad, Bowser Jr., Paper Mario, and the relative newcomer Rosalina & Luma. To the surprise of a number of people, Rosalina was confirmed to appear alongside her Lumas as the fourth revealed newcomer for the game in December 2013. While some fans held out hope for a second new Mario rep being possible, much of the momentum around these characters died down. In the end, Waluigi was outright deconfirmed by Sakurai in a Miiverse post in February 2014, confirmed he would once again be relegated to an Assist Trophy. Somewhat humorously, he joked about him not being a playable character and made the memorable commment, "Just because you try hard doesn't mean you'll make it into the battle." Funnily enough, the *Mario* series would actually end up receiving a second newcomer in the form of Bowser Jr., with the Koopalings as alternate costumes. Outside of his returning roles as an Assist Trophy and a regular collectible trophy in both versions of the game, Waluigi also had his hat featured as a Mii Fighter customization option. He apparently later managed to gain a decent number of supporters in the Smash Ballot based on online polls, but his status as an NPC alongside lessened momentum definitely seemed to have left a mark against him at this time.

Waluigi supporters would once again push for the character becoming a fighter in the next installment of the series for Nintendo Switch, *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*. While he still had the usual competition for the slot, he actually found his closest competitor in speculation in the form of Geno from *Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars*. While he was mostly a one-off who had previously only been popular during the *Brawl* days, Geno managed to experience a renaissance in support via resurgence from the Smash Ballot and later a Mii Costume that was acknowledged by Sakurai as a consolation for his popular support. Waluigi discussion was quite popular before the game's full reveal at E3 2018, but it was cut short early during this presentation by Waluigi's Assist Trophy role being confirmed to return for a third time. To add insult to injury, not only did this happen right after fellow spin-off regular Daisy was revealed to be appearing as an Echo Fighter, but he was used as the demonstration for Assist Trophies now being able to be KO'd. While most were good sports about the deconfirmation, a number of Waluigi fans expressed loud disappointment at this reveal. A couple of people were even recorded sending death threats to Sakurai, and while these people were very small in number it still put a bad taste in many people's mouths when it came to Waluigi supporters. The then-current Smashboards thread for Waluigi even had to eventually be shut down due to extreme negativity. More positive content from this deconfirmation came in the form of memes, with particuarly popular ones being a series of humorous song parodies written by Matthew Taranto of "Brawl in the Family" fame. That said, some were tired out even more by all of these jokes.

Despite much skepticism, some have considered the possibility of Waluigi having a second shot in *Ultimate* as DLC. A popular thread of belief has been that he could even be the final pick due to the reception his continued absence had garnered. The idea of an Assist Trophy being promoted in the same game is a very contentious one, and one that has a lot of deniers on SmashFAQs in particular. On top of this, many have admitted that they would see him as a waste of a pick, especially as the last one. With the DLC coming to a close soon, Waluigi will either finally luck out or be resigned fully once more to his fate. Probably the former, but miracles can happen, right?

## List of Supporters

* Demariw
* Frothingsloth (troll)
* MysticAbsol