Waluigi in Super Mario 64 DS

This mystery is considered **solved**.
Similarly to claims of an unlockable Luigi in *Super Mario 64*, rumors surfaced around **unlocking Waluigi** as a playable character in *Super Mario 64 DS*. As Mario, Luigi, and Wario were unlockable, the absence of Waluigi, who would complete their thematic set, seemed suspicious to many fans.

While not as enduring as "L is real", these rumors were still fairly popular for a while, thanks to fake leaks and doctored images. It is unknown whether Waluigi was ever actually planned for *Super Mario 64 DS*.

## Theories

### For Waluigi's presence

#### The blank switching room

In *Super Mario 64 DS*, the princess's room contains four switching rooms, three of which are used to change characters once their respective character has been unlocked. They are themed after Mario, Luigi, and Wario. The player can switch back to Yoshi by reentering their current character's room.

Unlike these, the fourth door is blank. It has a slightly off-white border instead of a colored one, and no character emblem. Many players mistook this extra door as hinting at a secret character. With Yoshi having no dedicated door, they likely took the represented characters as a pattern, and were led to fill Waluigi into the blank. This speculation had symmetry, in that Luigi's and Waluigi's rooms would be farthest from the center.

In reality, the white-bordered door contains a secret Power Star. If it is reentered, Boos' laughs are heard, and the player's current character walks back out with no additional effect. This door can only be unlocked after collecting 50 Power Stars and catching eight glowing rabbits, which grants its key. Glowing rabbits appear twice as often once 80 Power Stars are collected, so it may be some time before a player makes headway into the task. This could have diminished the number of players who unlocked the door, letting them continue to believe it could contain a secret character despite the notion being demonstrably false in-game.

#### Catching the purple rabbit

Beta screenshots of *Super Mario 64 DS* show that a purple rabbit existed in early versions, but was removed for the final game. Some fans assumed that finding and catching this rabbit would give the player a key to Waluigi's door, unlocking him as a playable character.

One of the beta purple rabbits can be found on page 30 of the official *Super Mario 64 DS* Instruction Booklet. This sparked or fueled an assumption that purple rabbits could be found in the retail game. With Yoshi's, Mario's, Luigi's, and Wario's rabbit colors accounted for, Waluigi seemed to be a candidate. Among the supporting *Mario* cast, he has a notable connection to purple, which is reflected in other rumors mentioning the color.

There is no such rabbit color in the final game, and it is not certain what the purple rabbit would have done or why it was replaced. The placement of the Instruction Booklet image implies that it would have simply unlocked minigames like other rabbits. Fans have speculated that the purple rabbit would have been Wario's color, so as to match the color of his overalls.

#### 100% completion

One rumor claimed that *Super Mario 64 DS* would unlock Waluigi upon 100% completion. The player would need to collect every Power Star and unlock every minigame. The rumor then claims that by defeating Bowser and reaching the top of Princess Peach's Castle (where Yoshi could be found in the original *Super Mario 64*), Waluigi could be found; talking to him would unlock him.

This was quickly debunked, as Waluigi does not appear on top of the castle after meeting these conditions.

#### The Black Box

In the image of Princess Peach's Castle on the file select screen, there is a dark gray "box" that doesn't appear in the in-game model of the Castle Grounds. A rumor emerged that the player could reveal and break this perceived box, leading to a fake sequence of events that would purportedly unlock Waluigi and remove the box from the file select screen image.

Though some fans dismissed it as a texture glitch, the so-called "box" is also present in an early build of the game, then called *Super Mario 64 × 4*, that was used at E3 2004. It seems like the file select image was not updated after its removal. Another scrapped element from this build is a floating island above the Castle Grounds.

The purpose behind the "box" is unknown. It may have been an alcove in the outside of the castle, perhaps containing a rabbit or cannon, that was added and removed in development. Other speculation claims that it is the preexisting cannon before being properly initialized, although it's questionable why it would appear to the right side of the map rather than the center; this is also less likely when considering the E3 footage. An editor on The Cutting Room Floor claims to have seen E3 2004 footage of a player character being fired from the box, suggesting that it contained another cannon.

The file select screen's prerender has several other inconsistencies of note. The middle tower is shorter, possibly so that it fits on the screen. The castle's towers are shown without flags. The sandy bank with the cannon is absent. Some objects are missing, such as trees, some of which may have been removed for a clear view of the bridge and entrance. The sky is different, based on the original *Super Mario 64* Shifting Sand Land background, possibly to frame its sunbeam effect against the castle for aesthetic effect.

#### In-game color schemes

Some players pointed to color schemes in the game that included all of the playable characters' colors and an extra color, supposedly representing Waluigi.

For example, in the game's logo, some players believed that each letter in the word "Mario" represented a playable character. There was one red and one yellow letter, purportedly each for Mario and Wario; two green letters, for Yoshi and Luigi; and a blue letter, which was seen as close enough to purple to represent Waluigi. It is easy to miss that the coloration of the letters is carried over from the Nintendo 64 game, and has been used in logos for other games without Waluigi, such as *Super Mario Galaxy*.

The buttons on the title screen are red, yellow, green, and purple, with the latter being the smallest. This supposedly also hinted at Waluigi's inclusion alongside the advertised playable characters.

Similarly, the floor of the Rec Room, which was new to the Nintendo DS remake, is polka-dotted red, yellow, green, and purple.

#### "Purple Prizes"

This subject is considered a **hoax**.

In 2005, deviantART user King-Bowser-Koopa posted an image scan of an article titled "Purple Prizes", and named the submission "Waluigi in Super Mario 64 DS." The article suggests that Waluigi could be unlocked in the game, and provides hints toward unlocking him, ultimately sending the player on a wild goose chase.

> Find all the stars and be the fastest footracer in the land. Afterwards, a secret switch will reveal my door. All that remains is a challenge from the Rabbit King for its key!
>
>

Many sources claim that this article was featured on IGN or an issue of Nintendo Power.

The article featured a custom 3D model of Waluigi placed in various game locations such as Bob-omb Battlefield, Cool, Cool Mountain, and the castle grounds. According to this article, Waluigi had springy jumps that were "leaps ahead of the competition," and his Power Flower transformation would be the fast-moving Warpspeed Waluigi. Players interpreted the article's vague hints in various ways to try to unlock Waluigi, to no avail.

Two days after posting the image, King-Bowser-Koopa revealed that the image was an April Fools' joke. However, it seems that the article was still circulated as legitimate afterwards.

#### Arceus2401 hoax

This subject is considered a **hoax**.
In 2010, Arceus2401 created a hoax with alleged proof of a playable Waluigi in *Super Mario 64 DS*. It included low-quality photos of a character model, cap icon, and boss arena minimap, and instructions on how to unlock Waluigi by completing a sequence of actions surrounding the Chief Chilly battle. The process was interrupted by a several-hour gap, alleged to contain additional, unknown steps, to explain why the process would inevitably not work for other players.

The hoax integrates a seldom-known feature: Repeatedly damaging certain bosses will spawn coins and, eventually, a Mushroom. This detail sounded like many other false rumors, yet was verifiable, lending the hoax more credence to fans who tested it.

### For Waluigi's absence

#### Daughter series representation

The set of playable characters may have been meant to represent and cross over daughter series of the *Mario* franchise.

Yoshi and Wario each take after their titular franchises. While Luigi's playstyle bears little resemblance to the gameplay of *Luigi's Mansion*, the Big Boo Battle course references this game's premise. In contrast, Waluigi has no series that is associated with him over other characters.

This reasoning predicts that if *Super Mario 64 DS* had more playable characters, Donkey Kong, for example, would be a more likely inclusion than Waluigi.

## References

1. ↑ *Super Mario 64 DS* Instruction Booklet, page 30 (PDF page 17). Nintendo. Accessed on Mario Mayhem.
2. ↑ Mario 64X4 - Gameplay E3 2004, 00:43. Internet Video Dump. YouTube. February 2, 2016.
3. ↑ The infamous 2D black box in SM64 DS had more to it than many think! In footage from E3 2004 it can briefly be seen. An island can also be seen above the castle. It is said that it was really a cannon that you’d shoot out of. However, the footage backing up this claim seems lost. Forest of Illusion (@forestillusion). Twitter. September 15, 2021.
4. ↑ Super Mario 64 DS/Oddities § Castle's Outdoor Garden - The Cutting Room Floor. "**To do:** I remember seeing E3 2004 demo footage in which you can see one of the players being fired out of the square/alcove, suggesting it used to contain a cannon"
5. ↑ Waluigi (Maybe) Found In Super Mario 64 DS By Arceus2401!! [Part 1] [GAME SPECULATION]. WwwWario. YouTube. March 22, 2010.
6. ↑ Waluigi (Maybe) Found In Super Mario 64 DS By Arceus2401 [Part 2] [GAME SPECULATION]. WwwWario. YouTube. March 23, 2010.
7. ↑ My Favourite Video Game Hoax of All Time. Big Yellow. YouTube. May 10, 2022.