Waluigi

Waluigi in Mario Party 7.
Waluigi
Species	Human
Relatives	Wario (possible brother)
Voiced by	Charles Martinet (2000-2023)
Debut	Mario Tennis

Waluigi is an antagonistic character from the Mario series who was introduced in Mario Tennis 64 and has solely appeared within Mario sports titles and related spin-offs. He is Wario's partner and acts as a rival to Luigi in the same way that Wario does to Mario. He is easily the tallest of all the characters, despite being an extremely wiry fellow. Unlike Wario, he speaks in a whiny, nasally voice.

Personality

As Wario is to Mario, Waluigi takes on many of Luigi's attributes. From what is known of Luigi and Wario, it is possible to discern parts of Waluigi's personality.

From Wario, Waluigi can be expected to be greedy, selfish, and have generally bad hygiene. The intros of the various sports games often characterize Wario and Waluigi as being jealous of the other players, which drives them to attempt to sabotage the other players and win through underhanded tactics. Waluigi also shows rivalry (as well as possible jealousy and hatred) towards Luigi as well, as shown in his Mario Power Tennis description where he is said to train day and night in order to defeat Luigi.

From Luigi, he can be expected to have considerable skills in jumping and technology, but to be a bit clumsy. And while Luigi is constantly portrayed as an unknown character, it is quite likely in the Mushroom Kingdom that Waluigi is a good deal less famous than Wario.

Background

Although Waluigi has only appeared within the sports and party-themed spin-off games, he has often played roles in what stories and cutscenes there are to those games. Within the sports games, Wario and Waluigi commonly appear in cutscenes where they scheme against the other players. In Mario Tennis 64, they watched the others start their tournament and barged in on a match between Mario and Luigi so they could settle their rivalries. However, they were then interrupted by Bowser's sudden arrival, who surprisingly eased their tension as he just wanted to play.

Mario Party 3 featured Waluigi (and Daisy) as new characters to the series. In Story Mode, Waluigi stole the Mischief Star Stamp from the Millennium Star and offered to return it only if he were to be named the Superstar. After defeating Bowser in a fistfight, he then competed with three other players for the stamp on Waluigi's Island, an island that was overrun by Piranha Plants and filled with explosive traps. After losing, Waluigi fled while the winner received the Star Stamp.

In the intro to Toadstool Tour, Wario and Waluigi spied on the Mario Bros. during their match with Princess Peach and Daisy. They then attempt to show them up in a competition with Yoshi and a Koopan Troopa, only to wind up fleeing from an angry Bowser after their ball accidentally gave him a black eye, which ended in the three getting caught in a Bob-omb explosion.

The two brothers made their an expansive appearance in the Power Tennis intro, where they were chased by police robots after being caught vandalizing images of Mario and Luigi on a scoreboard as retaliation for having lost to them in the first round of the tennis tournament. They wound up stumbling into Bowser's secret training facility, but instead of attacking them, he forced them to train hard. Afterwards, they took Donkey Kong and Daisy's place in the last round of the tournament against the Mario Bros., and instead of actually playing, they launched Bob-ombs from a tennis ball launcher-like device while Bowser aided them from his miniature airship. The scheme fell apart when the Mario Bros. and later all of the players in the audience deflected the Bob-ombs with their tennis rackets, and all three wound up being caught in an explosion again.

In Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, Waluigi acted as the main antagonist. He broke into Truffle Towers and scattered the Music Keys, while keeping the blue key for himself. While he had planned to wait for the rhythm of the Mushroom Kingdom to fade and then make himself a dancing star, he was beaten in a dance contest and grudgingly surrendered the key to Mario. At the end of the game, he became the final boss when he stole all the Music Keys from Mario. Mario challenged him to once last dance-off, and Waluigi lost once more.

In the Mario Superstar Baseball intro, Waluigi was on Wario's team with Donkey Kong playing against Mario's team, and despite a strong showing they ultimately lose. In the Challenge Mode of Mario Super Sluggers, Waluigi was found on a rooftop in Wario City guarding a treasure chest that he claimed on his own. If spoken to with Wario, he would challenge this claim and after losing a baseball match he would be recruited into the baseball team. Wario and Waluigi also had a role in the ending movie where they, in the manner of the previous intro movies, attempted to sabotage the fireworks ceremony by replacing one of the bob-ombs Mario was supposed to knock into the sky with his bat with a Bullet Bill (which presumably his bat was too weak to deflect), but Bowser leaped in at the last minute to send it back to the brothers. Instead of being hit by the bullet, Wario and Waluigi were caught on its arms, which carried them into the sky before exploding and dropping them.

In Dr. Mario World, a doctor version of Waluigi was added to the game as a playable character in August 2019. Known as Dr. Waluigi, he was unlocked through the game's gacha feature.

Other Mario-Related Roles

Sports, Racing and Party Spin-Offs

Waluigi has appeared primarily in sports games and other Mario spin-offs.

Waluigi as a captain in Super Mario Strikers

• Golf: Waluigi was playable in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Golf: Advance Tour (outside of Story Mode, where he is unlocked by transferring 27 Best Badges from Toadstool Tour), Mario Golf: World Tour and Mario Golf: Super Rush.
• Kart Racing: Waluigi was playable in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (where is partnered with Wario), Mario Kart DS (where he is unlocked by completing the Retro Grand Prix in 100cc Mode), Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Tour (starting in late October 2019). In Tour, a variation of Waluigi as a bus driver was also temporarily available during some tours, starting with the London Tour, and a variant of him dressed as a vampire was first made available during the Halloween Tour of 2021.
• Tennis: Waluigi was playable in Mario Tennis 64, Mario Tennis GBC (through the Nintendo 64 transfer pak), Mario Power Tennis, Mario Tennis: Power Tour, Mario Tennis Open, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Mario Tennis Aces.
• Baseball: Waluigi was a playable captain in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers.
• Soccer: Waluigi was also a playable captain in Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Strikers: Battle League.
• The Olympics: Waluigi was 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: Waluigi was playable in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario Sports Mix and Mario Sports Superstars.

Waluigi also appeared in the Mario Party games as a playable character, starting in Mario Party 3. In Mario Party 3, he was originally only playable in Party Mode and appeared as an opponent in Story Mode. Waluigi went on to make fully playable appearances in all following Mario Party games except for Mario Party Advance.

Cameos and Non-Storyline Appearances

• In Game & Watch Gallery 4, he appears in the Modern Version of Boxing as Luigi's third and last opponent before the game loops back to the first opponent.
• Waluigi's clothing has also made appearances in some Mario games. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, equipping both an L and W Emblem at the same time will give Mario's clothes a Waluigi color scheme. A Waluigi costume can also be unlocked for Mario to wear in Super Mario Odyssey.
• In Super Mario Maker, an 8-bit rendition of Waluigi appears as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes that Mario could transform into. His costume could be unlocked as a random prize for clearing a 100 Mario Challenge or by scanning his amiibo. This marked Waluigi's first playable appearance in a platforming game, although this appearance was technically Mario in disguise.
• In Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi design based on Waluigi's appearance could be unlocked by scanning his amiibo.
• In WarioWare Gold, Wario will draw a crude sketch of Waluigi if a Waluigi amiibo was scanned while playing the Wario's amiibo Sketch minigame, marking the only reference to Waluigi in any Wario-related game to date.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Waluigi has appeared as an Assist Trophy in every game from Super Smash Bros. Brawl onwards. He attacks by stomping characters into the ground and then giving a mighty kick or a slap with his tennis racket. In addition to that, his clothing colors also appear as alternate colors for Luigi starting in Brawl and for Mario starting in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U. Waluigi's hat has also been available as headgear for Mii Fighters in the 3DS/Wii U game and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Waluigi has also been represented in the form of a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, a trophy and two stickers (from Super Mario Strikers and Mario Superstar Baseball) in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U game and two Primary Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. One Spirit was an Ace-rank Spirit of his normal self (which enhanced the power of foot attacks), while the other was an Advanced-rank Spirit of him from Super Mario Strikers. Waluigi's Spirit would possess Luigi (wearing Waluigi's colors) in Spirit battles for both Spirits, and Waluigi's Assist Trophy would also appear as an opponent in the battle for the former Spirit. Waluigi is also part of the art used for the Standard Bike Support Spirit.
• Waluigi appeared as a playable character in the board game-themed crossover games Itadaki Street DS and Fortune Street.
• In the Nintendo Land game known as Luigi's Ghost Mansion, a Waluigi outfit would be worn by the Mii of the third out of four players.
• A Waluigi skin is available for the Nintendo releases of Minecraft as part of the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack.
• In Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, a Rabbid version of Waluigi named Bwaluigi appears as a boss, fighting alongside Bwario. A figure of Waluii could also be seen

Trivia

• His name is derived from the Japanese word "warui" (which means "bad") with Luigi. This also matches Wario's name in being a play on the name of the character's rival starting with a "W".
• His original voice actor, Charles Martinet, has stated that while voicing Waluigi, he sees "self-pity" as his cornerstone emotion.
• Mario Tennis: Power Tour marks the only game in which Waluigi has appeared without Wario.