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Luigi
Luigi's symbol
symbol of Luigi
Game series Mario
First game Mario Bros. (1983)
Created by Shigeru Miyamoto
Voiced by (English) Video games
Mark Graue (1994)
Charles Martinet (1997–present)
Julien Bardakoff (1998-2001)
Television
Danny Wells (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!)
Tony Rosato (The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World)
Voiced by (Japanese) Video games
Charles Martinet (1995–present)
Ichirōta Miyagawa (1996-1998)
Anime
Yū Mizushima (Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!)
Naoki Tatsuta (Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros.)
Live action actor(s) Danny Wells (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!)
John Leguizamo (Super Mario Bros.)

Luigi is a video game character made by Nintendo. The famous game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, made him. Luigi is the little bit younger but taller fraternal twin brother of the Nintendo mascot, Mario. He is in many games all over the Mario series, almost always as an assistant to his brother Mario.

Luigi first popped up in the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. as the character ran by the second player, it was also done in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and other games. The first game where he was present as the first character was Super Mario Bros. 2. In current games, the role of Luigi became small. He is only in spinoffs such as the Mario Party and Mario Kart series, though he was the top character three times before. First in the education game Mario Is Missing! in 1991, in Luigi's Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001, and in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS. In all of these games, he is called upon to be the brave person to save Mario. Luigi has also popped up in every show of the three DiC TV series based on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System games.

At first he was made as a palette swap of Mario with a green color instead of red. Luigi has since gottena character and manner of his own. As his part in the Mario series progressed, Luigi became taller and thinner than his brother. Nintendo called 2013 "The Year of Luigi" to mark the thirty years of the existence of the character. Similarly, games being released in 2013 bring attention to Luigi, such as Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Dr. Luigi, and the level pack New Super Luigi U for New Super Mario Bros. U. In Super Mario 3D World a Luigi take of Mario Bros. called Luigi Bros. is able to be unlocked.

Concept and creation

The events leading to the creation of Luigi began in 1982, during the making of Donkey Kong. The Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto had created Mario (who used to be "Jumpman") hoping that he would be able to present the character in many different pars in future games. Miyamoto had been given ideas by the game Joust to create a game where two players can play at the same time. This was the cause of his development of the game Mario Bros. in 1983, with Luigi as the brother of Mario and the second playable character. The name Luigi is said to have been inspired by a pizza business near the head office of Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington, called "Mario & Luigi's". Miyamoto noticed that the word ruiji means "similar" in the Japanese language, and that Luigi was designed to have the same size, shape and gameplay of Mario.

At first in Donkey Kong, Mario was a carpenter. In Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi were designed as Italian plumbers by Miyamoto, on the suggestion of a partner. Software limits at the time—almost the same as those that gave Mario his special look in Donkey Kong—meant the first appearance of Luigi was limited to a simple palette swap of Mario designed to be the second player. The characters were in every way the same, other than their colors. The green color for Luigi would last as one of his physical characteristics in future releases.

After the success of Mario Bros., Luigi was presented to a wider market in 1985 with the release of the console game Super Mario Bros. Once again his part was limited to a palette swap of Mario, acting as the second-player in almost the same way as Mario Bros. The Japan-only form of Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1986 (released in the west as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in the future) marked the start of the development of Luigi becoming a separate character. As with his last appearances, Luigi was still a palette swap of Mario. However, his moves were not the same. Luigi could now jump high up and a great distance more than his brother, at the cost of motion reaction and exactness.

While this form of Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan, it was thought to be too hard for the American public at the time. In 1988, as a result, an alternative release was developed to be good enough as Super Mario Bros. 2 for western players (and in the future released in Japan as Super Mario USA). This would play a key part in forming the current look of Luigi. The game was a conversion of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, with the art changed to be characters and places from the Mario series. In this release, the character of "Mama", who had the high jump among the first cast, was good enough for the model for Luigi, resulting in his taller, thinner look, combined with his Mario-design outfit and green color. There were appearances of Luigi being taller than Mario before. In the 1988 Famicom Disk System game Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally and before that, in a very limited 1986 anime Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! (though in the anime he put on a yellow shirt and the color of his hat and overalls were blue). Licensed art for Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World presents Luigi with this new look. Nintendo of Japan would not change his art differences to his look within the game until the 1992 game Super Mario Kart. The appearance of Luigi from the Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic version of Super Mario Bros. 2 has been used ever since, even for games made again in which he was a palette swap to start with.

Actor portrayal

Much like his appearance, the voice portrayal of Luigi has changed over the years. In Mario Kart 64, which voiced many characters for the first time, some characters had two different voices in relation to the region of the game. North American and European forms present a deep voice for Luigi, by Charles Martinet, who also voices Mario, Wario, Waluigi, and Toadsworth. The Japanese form uses a high, falsetto voice, by (then French translator at Nintendo) Julien Bardakoff. All forms of Mario Party present the high-pitched clips of Bardakoff from Mario Kart 64. Luigi kept this higher voice in Mario Party 2. In Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Party 3 his voice returned to normal. Since then, in all games but Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi has always had a medium-pitched voice. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Luigi's voice was the same high voice from the Japanese Mario Kart 64. In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, the voice of Luigi is made up of clips from the voice of Mario taken from Super Mario 64, with raised pitches. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he has his own voice (which is medium-pitched) instead of the Mario pitched-up form.

Characteristics

Luigi is portrayed as the taller, younger brother of Mario, and he is usually seen dressed in green with overalls.

  • He's happy, and gets sad easily.
  • Owns a haunted mansion, but is scared of ghosts.

More Comparisons to Mario

Playable appearances

Playable only in two-player:

Playable in one-player or two-player:

Images for kids

  • MarioLuigi MarioBrosSprites

    The arcade version of Mario Bros., released in 1983, featured Luigi (right) in his debut appearance as a palette swap of Mario (left).

  • Luigi vacuum

    Luigi as seen in Luigi's Mansion. The vacuum was listed as one of the best Nintendo gimmicks by GameDaily.

  • Mario and Luigi Paper Jam Luigi

    Luigi as he appears in the Mario and Luigi series

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Luigi para niños

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