Luigi

Luigi In Mario Is Missing!

**Luigi** is Mario's younger, taller twin brother and is a major protagonist of the *Mario* franchise, being second only to Mario. Throughout his life, he has lived in Mario's shadow, developing both cowardly and heroic

tendencies. Despite this, Luigi has helped and fought alongside his brother on many occasions.*Mario Bros.* marks his first appearance in the *Mario* franchise and his debut in general. Originally an exact copy, then palette swap of Mario, Luigi was created to facilitate a second player option. Since the two-player mode was dropped from most main *Super Mario* games beginning with *Super Mario Land*, Luigi has gained his own identity and personality, and he has effectively become the deuteragonist of the *Mario*franchise. This is especially noticeable in installments for the *Luigi's Mansion* and the *Mario & Luigi* series of games.

## Creation and development

Luigi was created when Shigeru Miyamoto set out to create *Mario Bros.*[2] after being told that Mario resembled a plumber, a notion he wanted to officially establish.[3] After observing the two-player competitive and cooperative gameplay of the arcade game *Joust*, Miyamoto wished to incorporate a similar style of gameplay into his own game.[3][4] Miyamoto's answer to *Joust*'s stork-riding player 2 was Luigi, a younger twin brother to Mario, with whom he could compete or cooperate. While Mario's name was based on Mario Segale, Luigi's name is said to have been based on a popular pizzeria near Nintendo of America's headquarters, named *Mario & Luigi's*[5]; coincidentally, his name was also noted to be similar to the Japanese word 「類似」 (*ruiji*), meaning "similar"[6], which was one of the reasons why Luigi was a simple palette swap of Mario in the older games. With the 2-player mode in mind, Nintendo and publishing companies such as Atari gave Luigi immediate publicity, making him the star and center of attention in many advertisements for the game.[7][8]

Since his debut in 1983, Luigi has been constantly developing. Gameplay differences between him and Mario were first seen in *Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels*, which have been carried over into future games and have become standard for the character. After spending years as a palette swap of his brother, Luigi has consistently been given his own graphics since *Super Mario Kart* in 1992 to match his official appearance as Mario's taller, younger brother; though the American release of *Super Mario Bros. 2* portrayed him in this way six years earlier. As he developed, Luigi gained more of a personality; it was as early as the DiC cartoons that Luigi was shown to be the more cautious of the two brothers, though it was not until *Luigi's Mansion* that this was truly and officially established.

In 2013, Luigi was the focus of the Year of Luigi, where in Nintendo released a number of themed games and merchandise and held events to honor the thirtieth anniversary of Luigi's first appearance in *Mario Bros.*

## History

### *Mario Bros.* (Game & Watch)

Luigi first appeared in *Mario Bros.* for the Game & Watch, where he loads cases of bottles in a bottling plant[9] onto trucks with Mario. Luigi is placed on the left,[10] while Mario is on the right. Luigi is the one who loads the truck, as well. Other than position, Luigi is identical to Mario in this game.

### *Mario Bros.* (arcade)

Luigi next appears in *Mario Bros.*, where he is simply a palette swap of Mario, having the same actions and abilities as Mario. This appearance is often incorrectly attributed as his first. Aside from his green and black color scheme, there are no other differences in physical appearance. In the game, Luigi and Mario are portrayed as plumbers, who are trying to rid the sewers where they are working from Shellcreepers, Slipices, and many other monstrous creatures. In the remakes of this game, such as the one in *Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga*, Luigi's color scheme changes to his current color scheme, which is based on the game, though his attributes remain unchanged. Luigi was played by an unknown actor in a live-action commercial for the Atari 2600 version of *Mario Bros.* The commercial portrays Luigi as a coward, though it is unknown if this had any influence on Luigi's current personality or not.

### *VS Wrecking Crew*/*Wrecking Crew*

Luigi is once again the second player in *VS. Wrecking Crew* and its successor, *Wrecking Crew*. Luigi's sprite is a palette swap of Mario's, having him dressed in bright red and having dark blue eyes and hair with a dark blue hammer, and paler skin than Mario's. Luigi has the same controls and role as Mario. However, in the former game's single-player mode, the computer-controlled Luigi will act as an opponent to Mario, reminiscent of Foreman Spike in the latter game.

### *Super Mario* series

#### *Super Mario Bros.*

In *Super Mario Bros.*, Luigi has the same jumping powers, same traction, and the same running speed as Mario. He is only playable in 2-player mode and is controlled by the second player only. Luigi's color scheme in this game shows him in a green shirt with white overalls and cap, while remakes of the game show him in his modern colors established since *Super Mario World*.

#### *Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels*

Luigi also appears in the Japan-only sequel of *Super Mario Bros.*, *Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels*, known as *Super Mario Bros. 2* in Japan. For the first time, Luigi could now jump higher and further than Mario, though he has less traction, causing Luigi to slide slightly after moving. Instead of being strictly available only in 2-player mode, players could select him as their character in the single player adventure. His sprites from this game are reused from*Super Mario Bros.*

#### *Super Mario Bros. 2*

In the Western *Super Mario Bros. 2*, Luigi is one of four playable characters, where, like in *The Lost Levels*, he could jump higher than anyone else, though he is the second weakest in the group behind Princess Toadstool. This is the first game where Luigi isn't a recolor of Mario's sprite; instead, he is portrayed as taller than his brother. As *Super Mario Bros. 2* was a Western version of the Japanese game *Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic*, this was done so Luigi could fit the proportions of the character Mama.

#### *Super Mario Bros. 3*

In *Super Mario Bros. 3*, Luigi is once again a palette swap of Mario; none of the original skills he had in the versions of *Super Mario Bros. 2* were carried over. Luigi has all of Mario's additional abilities, which includes carrying objects and the several power-up transformations, but his high jumps and low traction were removed. The only discernible differences are his green overalls and cap. Also, like in *Super Mario Bros.*, Luigi can only be controlled by the second player in a 2-player game.

#### *Super Mario World*

Luigi appears in *Super Mario World* again as a palette swap of Mario, having his brother's abilities and properties, and can only be played by the second player in a 2-player game. While his appearance was updated in the SNES port, *Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World*, his attributes stayed the same, though his actions differed from Mario's. In the GBA port, *Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World*, Luigi regained his high jump and low traction attributes and can be switched out with Mario during the single player adventure.