Luigi

Luigi in as seen in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Luigi
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue
Relatives	Mario (brother)
Voiced by	Julien Bardakoff (1996-2001, Japan) Charles Martinet (1997-2022) Kevin Afghani (2023-Present)
Debut	Mario Bros. (Game & Watch)

Luigi is one of the two Mario Bros. who acts as one of the primary playable characters throughout the Mario series. He initially was introduced to simply act as the designated character for a second player to play as alongside Mario. Over the course of the series, he gained a more distinctive identity over time, including his own occasional spin-off games as well as more attention to his character within Mario's games. Luigi is considered to be the younger of the two twin siblings, and he is also known for his in-universe unpopularity compared to his brother. He is timid and less prone to adventure than his brother. Despite this, has been known to go on adventures himself and is the more skilled jumper out of the two.

Background

Baby Luigi

Luigi as a toddler.

Though often a hero, Luigi started off his career as the kidnapped victim in need of rescue. In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Baby Luigi and Baby Mario were being delivered to their parents by the stork when Kamek attacked them. Kamek kidnapped Baby Luigi and the stork. Baby Mario was then carried by a tribe of Yoshis, who rescued Baby Luigi by defeating Baby Bowser. The stork was then able to complete its delivery. Yoshi's New Island later revealed that they had been sent to the wrong parents, and as the stork set off to correct this, Baby Luigi was captured by Kamek again. After he was saved a second time, the brothers were brought to their true parents. Baby Luigi was kidnapped a third time in Yoshi's Island DS and after being rescued, it was revealed he was one of seven star children.

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi also appeared in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, where they were shown to already know the Baby Princess Peach. The three often played together and foiled Baby Bowser's early attempts to capture the princess. The two babies also teamed up with their adult counterparts on a time-traveling adventure to defeat the alien Shroobs.

Baby Luigi has also appeared as a playable character in several sports games, possibly as a result of further time travel. He has made playable appearances in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart Tour (starting in late October 2019), Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Super Sluggers and Mario Sports Superstars.

Player 2

Later in life, Luigi accompanied Mario in Mario Bros., where the two battled a variety of strange monsters in the sewers. They also worked together as part of a demolition crew in Wrecking Crew, competing with Foreman Spike. In Super Mario Bros., they then embarked their first known adventure in their adult years to stop Bowser and save the princess, repeated again in The Lost Levels. In Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario's 'dream' involved Luigi (As well as Peach and Toad) working together with Mario in order to save the dream world of Sub-con from Wart.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, the duo worked together to save the seven kings of various lands, traveled through Dark Land and saved the princess again. In Super Mario World, the two took a much deserved vacation with the princess, but Bowser's plans once more foiled their good time, and they had to save the yoshis and the princess. Luigi also played a role in Mario & Wario, where he waited at the end of the stage and removed the bucket (or whatever object Wario had dropped) from the head of Mario, Yoshi or Peach. He also showed up at the end of Wrecking Crew '98 and became playable in Multiplayer Mode.

At this point, Luigi seemed to stop actively being involved in adventuring and contented himself with watching the house while Mario was on an adventure. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, he only truly appeared at the end leading the parade. His wish (to be as good a plumber as Mario) was also seen at Star Hill, and he made an appearance hosting instruction manual. This role of staying behind to watch the house was most clearly seen in Paper Mario, when Mario often visited Luigi at their house during his adventure. Luigi also led the parade at the end again.

Return to Adventuring: The Gamecube/GBA/DS Era

Luigi was later forced back into the adventuring scene to face one of his greatest fears, ghosts, in Luigi's Mansion. Luigi had won a mansion in a contest that he did not answer. He enlisted Mario's help to investigate the mansion, only for Mario to go missing. Luigi went alone and found that the mansion was haunted by countless ghosts. Luckily, he met with Professor Elvin Gadd, who entrusted Luigi with ghost-busting technology such as the Poltergust 3000. With this equipment, Luigi explored the mansion and captures all of the ghosts. In the 3DS remake, he could also receive help from Gooigi, a gooey copy of Luigi sent by a future version of E. Gadd. Luigi ultimately discovered that Mario had been captured and turned into a painting by King Boo. Luigi ended his adventure by capturing King Boo, who had tried attacking him from a giant copy of Bowser, and he saved Mario. The mansion, being an illusion made by the ghosts, disappeared afterwards, but Professor E. Gadd used the money Luigi gathered during the adventure to buy him a replacement. According to Dark Moon, it seemed that Luigi received the Rank D 'mansion' (which was a spacious house), although he did not seem to reside in it permanently, as he was still seen living with Mario in other games.

Mario and Luigi working together again.

Though he had been left out of Mario's key adventures, he was reluctantly pulled into a new adventure with his brother in the Beanbean Kingdom in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, when Bowser initiated Luigi into the Koopa Troop. Mario and Luigi worked together on their quest to defeat Cackletta and her minion Fawful, and Luigi started to face the stigma of not being recognized as much as his more popular brother. Luigi also dressed as Princess Peach at one point in order to fool Cackletta and Fawful. In the end, they succeeded in defeating them. Luigi also appeared in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, where could be selected instead of Mario as the main player character would would embark with Toad on an adventure to recover the four Music Keys.

Luigi also appeared in Super Mario 64 DS (despite being infamously left out of the original) where he was invited to Peach's Castle for cake with Mario and Wario. However, it was a trap by Bowser with all three being captured. Luigi was held within an area guarded by King Boo, and after Mario rescued him he became a playable character. Luigi then could rescue Wario in turn as the four went on their quest to defeat Bowser. In Super Princess Peach, the Mario Bros. were both captured by Bowser after being made vulnerable and emotional by his Vibe Scepter and were held prisoner at Vibe Island. Luigi was held at the Giddy Sky (the second-to-last world) and protected by a Giant Kamek until Peach defeated him and rescued Luigi. At the end of the game, he was comically knocked to the side in classic Luigi fashion by Peach when she ran to hug to newly-freed Mario. The group then returned home together.

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Luigi was content to stay at home until he received an urgent letter from the Waffle Kingdom. Leaving home at that moment, he set out to rescue the Princess Eclair by reuniting the lost pieces of a magical compass. He was anxious to tell Mario of his travels, though his many companions seemed to paint a different version of his story. In fact, his adventures became so popular that a smash hit book 'Super Luigi' was released in several volumes and becomes a best seller. Despite rescuing the Princess Eclair, he wasted no time to leave her behind and return to Rogueport and tell Mario the rest of his story. This is because he had actually been fooled by the minister, Crepe, into defeating the Chestnut King (whom had actually been turned into a monster by Crepe) so Crepe could take over the kingdom. Luigi did not realize the truth until after he defeated the Chestnut King, at which point he battled Crepe, and left Eclair to live happily ever after with the Chestnut King, who was her fiancee.

The brothers teamed up with their younger counterparts after they traveled back in time to save the Mushroom Kingdom from the Shroob invasion in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. However, when they attempted to access the Star Shrine in their campaign against the Shroobs, they were stopped by the talking gate which judged Luigi unworthy to pass through do to their cowardliness. Instead of leaving him behind, Mario and the babies helped Luigi to prove himself worthy by finding and striking the rare Aurora Block. After passing the test, the door continued to grill Luigi and bar his passage by saying he would be alone forever, but then the door revealed that that was just another part of the test, to test Mario and Luigi's support of each other. They had passed, so the door allowed them to pass through. The door also asked for Luigi's forgiveness and assured him that he was actually like a multi-faceted and beautiful gemstone, who just needed some polishing. Luigi, Mario and their baby counter parts went on to eventually be successful in destroying the Shroob menace.

Luigi also appeared in New Super Mario Bros., in which he went on an old-fashioned adventure with Mario to save Princess Peach. Luigi could be played by a second player in the multiplayer Mario vs. Luigi mode, or he could be played instead of Mario in the single-player adventure by pressing L and R together when selecting a file. In this appearance, Luigi controlled exactly the same as Mario.

Further Wii/DS Adventures

Super Paper Mario

Luigi as Mr. L.

Luigi was accidentally whisked away by Count Bleck along with Bowser, Princess Peach and the Koopa Troop at the beginning of Super Paper Mario. After waking up, Luigi attacked Bowser and the Chaos Heart out of confusion, causing everyone to be teleported away. Luigi wound up elsewhere in Bleck's castle. Luigi attempted to escape with a pair of Goombas, but he was eventually ambushed. Nastasia used her hypnotic powers to brainwash Luigi. With no memory of his former life, Luigi became a masked bad guy called Mr. L. As Mr. L, he battled his brother (neither recognized the other) in Chapter 4-4: The Mysterious Mr. L. After being defeated in one-on-one combat, Mr. L boarded his own special robot, dubbed the "Brobot". The Brobot was still defeated. After returning to Count Bleck's lair, Mr. L claimed superiority to all of Bleck's other minions, and said that his defeat was only because he was scouting Mario's strength. Mr. L battled Mario again at the end of Chapter 6 in his modified Brobot L-Type. Once more Mr. L was defeated. He was ashamed to show his face before the count again, so Dimentio decided to literally grant his wish and sent Mr. L to the Underwhere.

Luigi regained his memory after being sent to the Underwhere and remained there, huddled in fear until Mario found him. Together the two brothers were able to get their lives restored by Queen Jaydes. Luigi joined Mario's party for most of the remainder of the game and became the fourth of the four warriors of prophecy destined to stop Count Bleck's Chaos Heart from destroying all worlds. In "Chapter 8-3: Countdown to Destruction", Luigi stayed behind to battle Dimentio. Luigi won, but was knocked out afterwards, and Dimentio planted a special seed in his head. Luigi later regained consciousness and caught up with Mario to help him fight Bleck. After Bleck's defeat, Dimentio caused the seed to grow and took control of Luigi's mind. He forced Luigi to fuse with the Chaos Heart and become the new vessel for "Super Dimentio". Mario, Bowser and Peach were able to defeat Super Dimentio and restore Luigi to normal.

Super Mario Galaxy

In Super Mario Galaxy, Luigi headed into space to help Mario collect Power Stars and saved the princess, only to end up himself imprisoned in the Ghostly Galaxy after obtaining only one Star. After being rescued by Mario, he handed over the star and went to the Comet Observatory. From there, Luigi set out to collect stars three more times over the course of the game, each time finding one and then getting himself stuck in a "perilous" situation. He would proceed to send letters to Mario via the Mailtoad with pictures of his current location; Mario could then go save him and earn the star.

Once Mario has completed the game with all 120 stars in tow, Luigi became available to play in an alternate version of the game where the took Mario's place. His controls were the same as Mario's, though he jumped higher and retained his momentum when running, sliding around even after he has stopped. Luigi does not replace Mario for the opening cutscene, instead jumping straight to the Gateway Galaxy; Rosalina still referred to Peach as his "special one" however, the same as she did with Mario, and some of the Toads confuse him with Mario as well. Collecting all 120 stars with Luigi as well unlocked the Grand Finale Galaxy, where both brothers could go to earn a 121st star.

In an odd sort of paradox, Luigi will still have to rescue himself during the Luigi in the Haunted Mansion mission of the Ghostly Galaxy. Neither seemed too concerned by their simultaneous existence, and the rescued Luigi passed it off as coincidence, saying that in a galaxy so full of people, at least one person had to look the same as himself. No definite reason for the two Luigis was given otherwise, although Rosalina did refer to them as twins.

Later Games

The brothers explore Bowser's body with Starlow's guidance.

In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Mario and Luigi were trapped in Bowser's body after he inhaled them while under the influence of Fawful's Vacuum Mushroom. Guided by Starlow, the brothers explored Bowser's body and helped Bowser with various situations from within his body in order to progress further into his body and find Princess Peach. They found her just as Fawful swiped her for use in reviving the Dark Star. Mario and Luigi then set out to find the Star Cures, which Dr. Toadley used to form the Miracle Cure that destroyed Fawful's blockade of Peach's Castle. They then hunted down and battled the Dark Star after Bowser swallowed it, and during the final battle between Bowser and Dark Bower, Mario and Luigi destroyed the Dark Star Core (which had bonded with Dark Fawful's remains) after Bowser swallowed it. They were then regurgitated from Bowser as a result of Dark Fawful's self-destruction, and they proceeded to beat an enraged Bowser again over the end credits, although they later helped the princess to send Bowser a cake out of gratitude.

Mario and Luigi (as well as a pair of Toads) set off on another adventure after the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. captured Peach for Bowser on her birthday in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. They traveled across eight lands, defeating all seven of the Koopalings as well as Bowser Jr. and Kamek along the way, before they finally defeated Bowser to rescue Peach. Afterwards, Luigi and the Toads stole a pair of Bowser's hot-air balloons, and Luigi allowed Mario and Peach to ride one. He also played a role in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Despite being left behind when Mario set off on his latest intergalactic adventure, Luigi eventually made his way to the Starship Mario and began helping Mario in his quest while he explored the galaxy. Luigi appeared at the starting points of various galaxies, offering to find the Star for Mario in his place.

3DS/Wii U Adventures

In Super Mario 3D Land, Luigi was captured by Bowser (as Dry Bowser) shortly after Mario had saved Princess Peach. He was held captive in the first castle of the Special Worlds. Mario was able to save him after defeating Dry Bowser. Luigi then became available as a playable character, and the two brothers could be freely switched between on the map screen. He proceeded to team up with Mario on further adventures to rescue Peach in New Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U. There was also an alternate version the latter adventure available as DLC and called New Super Luigi U, where Luigi went on the adventure without Mario. Luigi also made a number of literal background appearances in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and he ran away whenever the player attempted to pull him out. He still led the parade at the ending. In Super Mario 3D World, Luigi went on an adventure in the Sprixie Kingdom with Mario, Peach and Toad, in order to rescue the Seven Sprixie Princesses from Bowser's clutches.

In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the brothers accompanied Peach and Toadsworth on a trip to Pi'illo Island, and while there they discovered that Luigi had the ability to open portals to the dream world when sleeping on any of the Pi'illo people. When Mario entered the dream world, he could be joined by Luigi's subconsious self, known as Dreamy Luigi, who could perform a number of unique 'Luiginary' actions within the dream world, which even included making many doubles of himself known as Luiginoids. Many Luiginoids could also combine together to form a giant version of Dreamy Luigi, to take part in giant boss fights. They initially used the dream world to free Prince Dreambert, but then Peach was captured by Antasma, the foe of the Pi'illo people. The brothers worked together to find her in the dream world, only for Bowser to intervene and team up with Antasma. After Bowser obtained the Dream Stone and used its power to make himself a powerful flying castle, Mario and Luigi traveled to gather the pieces of the Ultibed and a bedsmith who could fashion it. Once it was made, Luigi slept in it at the Somnom Woods, which allowed them to meet the Zeekeeper and convince him to help them. With the Zeekeeper's aid, they were able to enter Bowser's Castle. There, they eventually entered Bowser's dream world to try and force him awake, in order to prevent Antasma from feeding on his dreams. Dreamy Luigi became a giant in order to fight and defeat the giant dream version of Bowser. With their task successful, they returned to the real world, where they proceeded to fight and defeat Antasma. Finally, they defeated Bowser, despite his absorbing the power of the dream stone, and they rescued Peach. They returned to the island, where they enjoyed the rest of their vacation.

Luigi was later called upon for another supernatural adventure in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. E. Gadd had been conducting his research in an area known as Evershade Valley, where the ghosts were peaceful thanks to the power of the Dark Moon. However, the moon had been shattered, causing the ghosts to turn hostile and chase E. Gadd into his bunker. E. Gadd enlisted Luigi to help him, using a new device called the Pixelator to teleport him to his bunker, particle by particle. Luigi was first sent to retrieve E. Gadd's newest model of Poltergust, the Poltergust 5000. Once he received it and his new upgrades, he was ready to battle ghosts again. Afterwards, Gadd used the Pixelator to send Luigi on missions to different areas of the valley, which consisted of exploring the areas in search of shards of the Dark Moon. Eventually, there was only one piece left to find, which was kept at the Treacherous Mansion. It was soon discovered that King Boo was behind this scheme as well, and he had also turned Mario into a portrait again. Luigi ultimately defeated King Boo again, freed Mario and retrieved the last piece of the Dark Moon. With the Dark Moon reunited, Luigi, Mario, E. Gadd and Gadd's Toad assistants celebrated with the now-friendly ghosts. One of the ghosts, the polterpup, ultimately followed Luigi home. Luigi was also featured in Luigi's Mansion Arcade, which followed a truncated version of the story of Dark Moon.

In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Luigi accidentally knocked over a book stored in the attic of Princess Peach's Castle containing the Paper Mario versions of all of the characters, unleashing them into the three-dimensional world. Luigi proceeded to work with Mario and Paper Mario to defeat the alliance between Bowser and Paper Bowser. They ended up using a giant Papercraft Luigi at one point, to battle against Pokeys and a Papercraft Kamek at Doop Doop Dunes. As for Paper Luigi, he only made a cameo appearance sleeping by a gramophone at the Twinsy Tropics during Music Player mode. Luigi also appeared in Paper Mario: Color Splash. As in Sticker Star, he was found in the background of various areas. In addition to that, he also helped Mario and Huey to reach and later escape from Black Bowser's Castle with his kart.

Luigi also appeared in Super Mario Run as a playable character. He could be unlocked by either buying the full game during a limited time period or by acquiring Luigi's House, which could only be made by recruiting 150 Green Toads and 150 Purple Toads and paying 1,000 coins. He was also temporarily playable in several individual courses of Remix 10, regardless of whether or not he was officially unlocked at the time.

The Nintendo Switch Adventures

Luigi was only added to Super Mario Odyssey in a February 2018 update. Appearing at every kingdom following the main story's completion, he congratulated Mario for saving Peach and hosted the online Balloon World minigame that he had invented. Mario could also obtain Luigi's costume within the game, and Luigi would be confused if Mario talked him while wearing it. In Super Mario Maker 2, Luigi was playable in multiplayer mode and also appeared during Story Mode after a player failed a course twice. There, as Builder Luigi, he would offer to complete the course for Mario or let him use parts to make the stage easier.

In Luigi's Mansion 3, Luigi received a letter telling him that he had won a free stay at a hotel called The Last Resort, which was run by Hellen Gravely. He could invite any friends or family with him, so he brought Mario, Peach and three Toads, as well as the Polterpup. The hotel quickly turned out to be a trap. Hellen revealed that she was a ghost who admired King Boo and freed him so that he could get revenge on Luigi. Mario, Peach and the Toads had all been trapped in paintings, and Luigi just narrowly escaped the same fate, with help from the Polterpup. He found the newest model of the Poltergust, the Poltergust G-00, and he used to start fighting back against the ghosts. Luigi later found and freed E. Gadd, who set up a portable lab in the hotel's basement level. With Gadd's one of Gadd's new inventions, a goo doppleganger of Luigi known as Gooigi could be formed to help Luigi solve problems. With help from Gooigi and the Polterpup, Luigi made his way through every floor of the hotel and captured numerous ghosts, while saving the captured Toads along the way. After capturing Hellen on the top floor of the hotel, Luigi freed Mario and Peach. However, King Boo proceeded to ambush Luigi on the hotel's roof. He trapped everyone else in one large painting, and Luigi was only saved from being trapped by the Polterpup's intervention. Luigi defeated King Boo in the following battle and released everyone from the portrait. The hotel collapsed, and Luigi nearly fell to his doom until the Polterpup saved him. The local ghosts also stopped being hostile once King Boo's gem dissipated. Everyone proceeded to work together to build a new hotel in the old one's ruins, with its quality varying depending on how much money Luigi had amassed throughout the game. Afterwards, Luigi and his friends departed on the bus they had arrived in.

In Paper Mario: The Origami King, the brothers were invited to attend an Origami Festival at Toad Town. Luigi drove Mario there in his kart, but they arrived to find the area unusually bereft of life. They went to Peach's Castle to investigate, only to end up locked inside. Luigi then went off to find the key for the door, but he ended up being captured by a Folded Soldier and was stuck in a wall, which Luigi (similar to Olivia) saw as being trapped between dimensions. The wall was left on the ground after the rest of the castle was lifted into the sky, and it was there that Mario and Olivia later rescued Luigi. Luigi was intent on making himself useful by setting off in his kart and continuing to seek out the key in Princess Peach's Castle. He then appeared in several more areas of the game, where his appearances followed a pattern: he took a key which he believed to be the key to Peach's Castle, then got stuck somewhere and needed to be helped by Mario. It would turn out that he had instead taken a key that Mario needed to progress in the area, but not the one that unlocked Peach's Castle. Once Mario and Olivia reached Peach's Castle, Luigi drove up in his kart to apologize for his failure in locating the key. It was then that they realized that the key to Peach's Castle had been stuck in Luigi's kart all along (ever since the castle lifted into the sky). Luigi accompanied them inside Peach's Castle, only to quickly end up falling through a trap door. During the ending, he was seen attending the Origami Festival and chatting while sitting in a Boot Car.

Luigi also appeared as a playable character in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. He was among the group who was invited to visit the Flower Kingdom and ended up working together to save it from Bowser.

In Other Mario-Related Games

Sports, Racing and Party Spin-Offs

Luigi is playable in the following racing and sports games:

• Golf: Luigi first competed in NES Open Tournament Golf and went on to be playable in Mario Golf 64, Mario Golf GBC, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Golf: Advance Tour (where he is unlockable by transferring experience from Toadstool Tour), Mario Golf: World Tour and Mario Golf: Super Rush.
• Kart Racing: Luigi was playable in Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (as Mario's partner), Mario Kart Arcade GP, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR and Mario Kart Tour (in which he was available through the game's gacha feature or in-game shop starting in late October 2019) and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.
  • In Tour, several variants of Luigi were also made temporarily available during certain tours as High End characters: Penguin Luigi (starting in the Ice Tour, later made regularly available in the Bowser vs. DK Tour), Classic (which swapped the colors of his shirt and overalls, first available in Mario Bros. Tour), Builder Luigi (Mario vs. Luigi Tour), Lederhosen (Berlin Tour), Painter (Paris Tour 2021), Vacation (Singapore Tour), Golf (Los Angeles Tour 2022), Dr. Luigi (Doctor Tour), Cat Luigi (Cat Tour 2022), Knight (Mario vs. Luigi Tour 2022), Chef (Battle Tour), Kitsune Luigi (Animal Tour) and Gold Knight (Mario vs. Luigi Tour 2023).
• Tennis: Luigi was playable in Mario's Tennis, Mario Tennis 64, Mario Tennis GBC, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Tennis: Power Tour, Mario Tennis Open and Mario Tennis Aces.
• Baseball: Luigi was playable in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers.
• Soccer: Luigi appeared as a playable captain in Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Strikers: Battle League.
• The Olympics: Luigi is playable in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
• Other Sports: Luigi is playable in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario Sports Mix and Mario Sports Superstars.

Luigi also appeared as a playable character in every Mario Party game. In the Story Mode of Mario Party 3, he would be associated with whatever Star Stamp was originally associated with the character chosen by the player character.

Dr. Luigi

Like Mario, Luigi has had his own medical persona, known as Dr. Luigi. Dr. Luigi was first introduced in his own eShop game for the Wii U, titled Dr. Luigi, and he was also included in a mode of Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure known as Operation L. He reappeared in Dr. Mario World as one of the doctor characters who could be unlocked at random through the Staffing feature. In World, his skill in Stage Mode was to eliminate random objects in an L shape, while in Versus Mode, his skill was to prevent opponents' capsules from spinning for 5 seconds. Dr. Luigi wore his normal green hat during his original appearance, and he only wore the head mirror instead during his later appearances.

Baby Luigi was also introduced in Dr. Mario World in September 2019 as Dr. Baby Luigi. Like Dr. Luigi, he was available at random through the Staffing feature. A Fire Luigi variant of Dr. Luigi was also made available through the Staffing feature starting in March 2020.

Cameos and Non-Storyline Appearances

• Luigi was featured in Mario Bros. for the Game & Watch. In this game, Luigi and Mario worked together to catch cases of bottles before they fell off of conveyor belts and moved them into a truck. This game was released prior to the arcade game of the same name, making it Luigi's first actual appearance.
• In Mario Clash, Luigi appeared in the bleachers during the Bonus Chance, and he was featured in two congratulatory images: one that appeared at 400,000 points and one of him with Mario and Peach that appeared at 900,000 points.
• In Game & Watch Gallery and its sequels, Luigi appeared in Modern versions of various Game & Watch games alongside other Mario characters.
• In addition to his respective in-game appearances, Mario could wear costumes with Luigi's color scheme in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Mario Odyssey.
• Baby Luigi appeared in the opening of Yoshi Touch & Go, where Kamek knocked both of the baby brothers out from the Stork's hold as in Yoshi's Island, and he appeared in several of the game's modes. He had to be saved from Toadies in Time Attack mode and could be seen riding the Stork at the end of Score Attack mode or upon Yoshi's defeat in Marathon mode. Baby Luigi would also ride the second player's Yoshi in the game's Vs. Battle mode.
• Luigi has appeared in some of the microgames within the WarioWare series starting in WarioWare: Twisted!. He has primarily appeared in some of 9-Volt's retro-themed microgames based on the classic side-scrolling games. One microgame in WarioWare: Get it Together! was based on Luigi's Mansion.
• In Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, 8-bit sprites of Luigi could be seen hidden in some of the levels.
• In Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi design based on Luigi could be unlocked by scanning his amiibo.
• In Super Mario Maker, Luigi's original Super Mario Bros. sprite appeared as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes that Mario could transform into. It was unlocked by scanning Luigi's amiibo or by clearing a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or harder. There was also a costume of the Mario Trio, which depicted Luigi with Mario and Paper Mario from Paper Jam. This was unlocked through a special event course based on Paper Jam.
• Mini Luigi toys have appeared in Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Festival.

Character Information

Personality

Luigi's personality is much more defined than his brother's. A coward at heart, he is deathly afraid of ghosts. Although it is hinted at that he and Daisy are an item, there has been no significant development in this relationship. He is often used to dejection as so often he is referred to 'that green guy' to people who only recognize Mario. Despite this, he still admires his brother. He even secretly wishes to be as good a plumber as his brother. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, when his brother needs rescuing, Luigi has himself hypnotized to think he is Mario, so he'll be brave enough to rescue him. Although he may seem to have a habit of over exaggerating and cowardice, he's still a reliable hero who will come to the aid of his friends if Mario is not there to do it first.

Abilities

Although in the original game Mario and Luigi are interchangeable, later games give Luigi unique abilities to separate him from Mario. Luigi can usually jump higher than Mario, but is slower (or sometimes faster to the point of being unwieldy) and less powerful. He is also often shown with a type of skidding run in his jump due to lesser traction, and he is sometimes more agile than Mario. In Super Mario 64 DS, he is agile enough to temporarily walk on water. Like Mario, he can also utilize a variety of power-ups that change his form and give him new abilities.

Luigi also has particular abilities from game to game. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi learns the Thunderhand, in which he generates electricity. This is later echoed in Luigi's Mega Strike in Mario Strikers Charged, which involves electrical control and is known as Thunder Luigi. In Super Mario 64 DS, his Power Flower ability echoes the Vanish Cap to make him invisible, so he can become Vanish Luigi. In Super Paper Mario, his special ability is the Spring Jump, where he winds himself up and shoots upward into the air, which sends him offscreen while allowing him to bypass obstacles and hit enemies in midair.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the NES version of Tetris, Luigi made a cameo appearance on a special congratulatory screen that appeared upon completion of the Type B mode. He was seen dancing near Mario, while most of the other characters played musical instruments.
• Mario and Luigi were featured as playable characters in Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally.
• Luigi starred in the edutainment title Mario is Missing!, which was his first starring role (preceding Luigi's Mansion by years). In this game, he traveled across various real world locales and learned about them in order to search for and rescue Mario from Bowser's clutches, with the aid of Yoshi. In the PC version of Mario's Time Machine, Luigi made cameo appearances being depicted on a hint coin and a doodle in Mario's notebook.
• He also appeared as the second player in Hotel Mario, which had animated cutscenes in which his voice was provided by Marc Graue.
• He appeared as a playable character in Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium. However, he was replaced by Yoshi for the game's fourth and final episode.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a picture of Luigi can be seen hanging on a wall seen through a window in Hyrule Castle's courtyard, along with pictures of other Mario characters.
• Luigi was included as a Gamecube exclusive character in the Electronic Arts games NBA Streets V3 and SSX On Tour.
• He was included as a playable character in Itadaki Street DS (where he was unlocked by playing through Tour Mode) and Fortune Street.
• He was featured as one of the main characters of Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition.
• In Nintendo editions of Minecraft, several variations of Luigi are available as playable skins through the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack. These include Luigi's normal self, Luigi with the Poltergust 5000 and Kitsune Luigi.
• He was one of the main playable characters of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and its sequel, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. These games also included a Rabbid dressed like him, known as Rabbid Luigi, as a playable character.

Super Smash Bros.

Luigi is has appeared a playable fighter in every game of the Super Smash Bros. series, appearing in Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was a hidden character in every appearance except for the 3DS/Wii U game. In the first game, his moveset was identical to Mario's, but it was tweaked in later games in order to become more distinct.

In Super Smash Bros., Luigi was unlocked by completing Bonus Practice I with all of the original eight characters. In Melee, he was unlocked by completing 800 Vs. Mode matches or by meeting and defeating him in Adventure Mode. Luigi only appeared in Adventure Mode if the first stage was cleared with a 2 in the seconds digit; if those conditions were met, then Luigi would suddenly appear and bounce off of Mario's head, taking Mario's place in the ensuing battle against him and Peach. In Brawl, Luigi was unlocked by completing 22 brawls, beating Classic Mode without using any continues or by recruiting him in "The Subspace Emissary". In Ultimate, he could be unlocked through the game's variable-based system of unlocking characters or by finding and awakening him in Adventure Mode (where he was found in the Mysterious Dimension area).

In Ultimate, Luigi's personal Classic Mode route was called "Luigi's Nightmare". It was themed around Luigi facing opponents associated with darkness or horror, with the boss of the route being Count Dracula.

Luigi's hat was also available as headgear for Mii Fighters in the 3DS/Wii U game and Ultimate.

Abilities

Luigi is unique in that his taunt (in which he lightly kicks at the ground) can do one percent damage as well as acting as a Meteor Smash if it connects correctly. Within the series, he uses the following special moves:

• Standard Special Move: Fireball- Luigi fires green fireballs. Unlike Mario's fireballs, they are not affected by gravity and will travel in a straight line.
• Side Special Move: Luigi Missile- Introduced in Melee. Luigi charges up and then launches himself to the side in the manner of a missile. It has a chance of misfiring, and Luigi may also get temporarily stuck in a wall.
• Up Special Move: Super Jump Punch- Luigi jumps up into the air to punch at opponents. If used correctly it becomes a more powerful fire jump punch, with green fire surrounding Luigi's fist as he strikes. In Brawl, he will then flip upside down and fall to the ground.
• Down Special Move: Luigi Cyclone- Luigi spins around with his fists extended, performing a spinning punch.
• Final Smash: Negative Zone- Luigi's bizarre Final Smash used when Luigi activates a Smash Ball in Brawl. The area is entrapped in a bizarre void with a variety of random effects such as slowing time, decreasing power, dizziness and trapping players in endless taunts.
• Final Smash: Poltergust 5000- This replaces Negative Zone as Luigi's Final Smash in the 3DS/Wii U Smash Bros.. This move involves using the Poltergust 5000 to suck in nearby enemies and then shoot them back out.

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

In Melee, he had three unlockable trophies along with a fourth "Vacuum Luigi" trophy that was unlocked by having Luigi's Mansion data on the same memory card as Melee. In Brawl, he had two unlockable trophies (a normal one and one of his Final Smash) along with a Paper Luigi trophy and stickers of him from Luigi's Mansion, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Super Paper Mario, with Mario from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, with Baby Luigi from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and in a special Super Mario Bros. sticker. In the 3DS/Wii U Smash, he had two standard trophies available in both games. The 3DS version also had trophies for Tanooki Mario & Kitsune Luigi (sharing the same trophy), Paper Luigi and Luigi with the Poltergust 3000. The Wii U game had trophies for Luigi's new Final Smash, Baby Luigi and Mr. L. In Ultimate, Luigi had a Fighter Spirit of himself that could be unlocked by completing Classic Mode. There were also separate Spirits for Fox Luigi, Mr. L and Luigi as seen in Mario Tennis Aces. Luigi and Mario also appear together in the art used for the Spirit of the Monster from Famicom Grand Prix II.

Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

Within "The Subspace Emissary", Luigi was first seen at the side of a road cowering at the Waddle Dees that passed by. He was then attacked by King Dedede, who turned him into a trophy and left him out in the open to lure Wario away from his hovering carrier, which contained more trophies. Dedede stole Wario's carrier with the trophies and had the Waddle Dees retrieve Luigi then bring him to his castle. King Dedede placed a special badge on Luigi which was set to revive him from trophy form at a later time. Luigi and Ness were ultimately revived by the badges after the rest of the heroes were trapped in trophy form within Subspace. Luigi and Ness then revived Dedede (whom had been turned into a trophy himself after his castle collapsed on him), and together they traveled into Subspace, forming a bond as they found most of the heroes and revived them (while Kirby found the rest). After being mocked by Wario, they proceeded towards the final battle with Tabuu.

Other Media

• Luigi has made multiple animated appearances. His first was in the OVA Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach. In this movie, he was portrayed as being a greedy moneymaker who was constantly distracted by searching for coins. He was portrayed wearing a blue cap and overalls with a yellow shirt, as this was produced before Luigi's color scheme was finalized.
• In the three-part anime OVA based on Super Mario Bros. 3, Luigi makes a brief appearance at the end of the Snow White segment, appearing from nowhere to defeat Bowser.
• He had a starring role in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, where he was portrayed by Danny Wells for both the animated and live-action sessions of the episode. He managed to appear in all 91 episode of the three DiC Mario cartoons, a feat not even Mario managed to accomplish.
• Luigi has appeared throughout the Super Mario-kun manga.
• He was featured in the Super Mario Adventures comic. This depiction of Luigi showed him to often be driven by hunger, and food was sometimes used to lure him into traps. He also disguised himself as Princess Peach at one point.
• In the 1993 live action film Super Mario Bros., Luigi was portrayed by John Leguizamo. The movie is notable for being the first time Luigi and Daisy are portrayed as a couple, although Daisy's role in the movie is partly based on Peach. In this version of continuity, Luigi is notably younger than Mario and is said to have been practically raised by him.
• In the 2023 CGI film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Luigi was voiced by Charlie Day. This version was much closer to the depiction in the games, as he was shown to be more timid and less adventure-prone. He also spent much of the film captured by Bowser, similar to his baby self in the Yoshi's Island games. The movie also used the background from the earlier Western media, in which Mario and Luigi started off as plumbers in Brookyn before discovering the Mushroom Kingdom.

Trivia

• Like Mario, his original outfit was different. He used to wear green overalls with a white shirt.
• Luigi's name origins are unclear, although Miyamoto has stated that Nintendo of America named him; it is believed that he is either named after a Mario & Luigi's Pizza, or the name was simply chosen due to being a popular Italian name.
• 2013 was dubbed the Year of Luigi by Nintendo and saw the release of various games starring Luigi, such as Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the alternate DLC version of New Super Mario Bros. U known as Super Luigi U, Super Mario 3D World, a version of Mario Bros. known as Luigi Bros. which was unlockable within 3D World and a version of Dr. Mario called Dr. Luigi.