Waluigi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Waluigi |
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| Mario character | |
Waluigi, as depicted in promotional artwork for Super Mario Party
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| First appearance | Mario Tennis (2000) |
| Created by | Fumihide Aoki |
| Voiced by | Charles Martinet (2000–present) |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
Waluigi is a fictional character in the Mario franchise. He plays the role of Luigi's arch-rival and accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main Mario series, often for the sake of causing mischief and problems. He was created by Camelot employee Fumihide Aoki and is voiced by Charles Martinet, who described Waluigi as someone who has a lot of self-pity and would "cheat to win."
First debuting in the 2000 Nintendo 64 game Mario Tennis to polarized reception from the media, Waluigi has since attained a cult following, especially helped through his use as an Internet meme.
Creation and characteristics
Waluigi was created during the development of the game Mario Tennis, to serve as the bitter rival to Luigi and as a doubles partner for Wario. He was created by Fumihide Aoki and is voiced by Charles Martinet. His name is a portmanteau of Luigi's name and the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Luigi".
He is said to be a mischievous, cunning man. Martinet stated that the cornerstone of Waluigi's personality is one of self-pity, a character who feels that everything goes right for everyone but himself. As displayed in Mario Power Tennis and Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Waluigi features the ability to summon a body of water and swim towards each game's respective ball, which IGN editor Rob Burman described as "baffling".
Waluigi borrows Wario's design principle as an evil, twisted version of his counterpart, pushing Luigi's leaner body type to the extreme, which renders him particularly skinny and angular, with a pointy chin and thin mustache. While these features contrast strongly with Wario's, the two still share a lot of physical attributes: a large pink nose, pointy shoes, a W-shaped mustache, a wide permanent grin with blocky teeth, and bags under their eyes. He has a high-pitched, nasal voice.
He is the same age as Luigi and wears black overalls, a purple long-sleeved shirt, a purple hat with a yellow "Γ" symbol (an inverted L, paralleling Wario's W as an upside-down M), orange shoes, and white gloves with a yellow "Γ" symbol as well. When asked whether Waluigi was a brother to Wario, Martinet stated that while he did not know, he felt that they were just "two nice, evil guys who found each other".
Appearances
Waluigi's first two appearances were in the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color versions of Mario Tennis, establishing himself as Luigi's supposedly long time rival and Wario's doubles partner, whom he would remain partners with for most future installments, the one exception being Mario Tennis: Power Tour, the only time that he appeared in-game without Wario. Since his introduction, Waluigi has appeared as a playable character in every Mario sports game. Notably, in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis, he holds up the sign for Camelot Software Planning to signify the game developers in the opening movies.
Alongside Princess Daisy, Waluigi joined the Mario Party series starting with Mario Party 3, where he owns an island filled with traps and explosives. In the game's story mode, he is faced as the penultimate foe after defeating Bowser.
Waluigi appears in the Mario Kart series, first appearing in Mario Kart: Double Dash. He would go on to be featured in all future console installments with the exception of Mario Kart 7, where he was cut due to time constraints despite his course, Waluigi Pinball, being selectable.
Waluigi's most significant role to date was as the main antagonist of Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, in which he wreaks havoc in the Mushroom Kingdom by pilfering special objects called the Music Keys to hypnotize the world with his dancing, hoping to conquer it and spread chaos. The rest of the keys are held by a Blooper, Wario, and Bowser, respectively.
In the Super Smash Bros. series, starting with Brawl, Waluigi appears as a non-playable Assist Trophy item, while his purple color palette appears as one of Luigi's alternate costumes and in later installments, for Mario and Wario as well. During Waluigi's reveal for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, game director Masahiro Sakurai jokingly stated that "just because you try hard doesn't mean you'll make it into the battle." He was also used as an example for K.O.ing assist trophies during the gameplay reveal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
As for minor appearances, Waluigi graces in Super Mario Maker as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume for Mario to wear in the Super Mario Bros. style. Although he does not make an appearance in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, if the player has both the Wario emblem and the Luigi emblem equipped at the same time, Mario will be dressed in the colors of Waluigi. In Super Mario Odyssey, an outfit modeled after Waluigi's own can be purchased in-game and worn by Mario after the player has either scanned the Waluigi amiibo or collected enough Power Moons; the description mentions his desire for the spotlight. Waluigi makes a very brief appearance in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle as a figurine in the opening, however, a Rabbid version, named Bwaluigi, appears as a boss alongside Wario's Rabbid counterpart, Bwario.
See also
In Spanish: Waluigi para niños
