The Year of Luigi

The Year of Luigi was a special event that was held from February 14, 2013, to March 18, 2014, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Luigi's debut in Mario Bros., which was first released in 1983. Therefore, released during the event were several games, collectibles, and downloadable content with Luigi as the main focus. The Year of Luigi was originally announced during the February 2013 Nintendo Direct, and in early December, Reggie Fils-Aime stated that it would continue into 2014, which was confirmed by Satoru Iwata in the Nintendo Direct on December 18, 2013.

## Games

### Nintendo 3DS

* *Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon*
* *Mario & Luigi: Dream Team*

### Wii U

* *New Super Luigi U*
* *Luigi Bros.* in *Super Mario 3D World*
* *Dr. Luigi*
* *Super Luigi Bros.* in *NES Remix 2* and *NES Remix Pack*

## Timeline

### February 2013

February 14: Year of Luigi was announced in the Nintendo Direct.

### March 2013

March 24: *Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon* was released in North America. While it's unknown if it happened on this date, Nintendo World held a party celebrating its release.

### May 2013

May 26: From then until June 23, Nintendo held a Wii U tour promoting *New Super Luigi U* in Disneyland.

### June 2013

June 20: *New Super Luigi U* was released as DLC for *New Super Mario Bros. U* in North America.

### July 2013

A Year of Luigi poster was released as part of a three-poster set as an optional Platinum reward for Club Nintendo members who ranked the status by this month.

### August 2013

August 1: US and Canada Club Nintendo members who purchased the New Super Luigi U DLC from the Nintendo eShop by this date and completed the surveys within four weeks after downloading had a chance to win 1 of 980 Luigi pins.

August 11: *Mario and Luigi Dream Team* was released in North America. While it's unknown if it happened on this date, Nintendo World held a pajama party to celebrate its release.

August 12: From then until September 8, the L line in Chicago was re-painted to promote *New Super Luigi U* and was temporarily re-named, The Luigi Line. On this day only from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Luigi was there as a meet-and-greet character. Also, Luigi temporarily took over Nintendo's Twitter page to talk about his adventure on the train.

August 25: *New Super Luigi U* was released as its standalone game. Nintendo World held a party celebrating its release.

### November 2013

November 22: *Super Mario 3D World* was released on the Wii U with *Luigi Bros.* as an unlockable bonus game.

November 28: Sadly, Luigi's actor from *The Super Mario Bros. Super Show*, Danny Wells died in Toronto, Ontario at age 72.

### December 2013

December 18: *Dr. Luigi* was announced for the Wii U in the Nintendo Direct.

December 31: *Dr. Luigi* was released in the Wii U's eShop.

### Post-Year of Luigi events

May 7, 2014: 2013 was reported to be a financial failure for Nintendo, losing $457 million in total, primarily due to the poor reception of the Wii U and its games; however, an Internet meme spread in the end of the year that declared Luigi the cause of Nintendo's financial loss (despite *Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon* and *Mario & Luigi: Dream Team* selling well enough to earn Nintendo Selects labels.)

July 2014: A Luigi Nendoroid tying into the event was released.