I don’t mean to brag, but Luigi and I go waaay back. Growing up with an older sibling who gamed meant that I was relegated to the Player 2 spot, and asking to be Mario for once was met with, “Luigi will be sad that you don’t want to play as him.” That kind of blackmail was my Kryptonite, but it cemented the bond I had with Mario’s taller, lither kid brother. It wasn’t until later that I learned just how many disturbing facts about Luigi there are.
Today, more than 20 years later, Luigi has a dedicated following of fans who appreciate him for exactly who he is, warts and all. And Luigi needs that kind of appreciation in his life, because, as you’ll see in the list below, the younger Mario brother has plenty of warts on that cute nose of his.
To be fair, not all of Luigi’s disturbing qualities are his fault. He can’t help that he has spent the last 30-plus years in his older brother’s shadow, always getting second billing and frequently thought of as the lesser of the Mario twins. In fact, the blame for most of the facts below lies squarely on Nintendo’s shoulders. Still, it is fun to think of Luigi inventing a whole, dark backstory for himself, in retaliation toward his mistreatment at the hands of his creators and players.
Check out the 15 disturbing facts about Luigi below, and share your favorite Luigi moments with me in the comments below!
15 He Might Have A Doppelgänger
Luigi initially appears as an NPC in Super Mario Galaxy, but after collecting all 120 stars, players get to make their way through the game again as the other Mario brother. Now, you might expect that NPC Luigi would be replaced with NPC Mario on this second go-round, but you would be wrong. Super Mario Galaxy has Luigi rescuing and interacting with an NPC version of himself.
It’s confusing, even though the NPC and playable Luigis don’t look that much alike. The player-controlled Luigi is relatively short, only a few inches taller than his red-suited brother, while the NPC version is a good head taller. What’s more, Rosalina considers the two men to be distinct individuals: brothers, but not the same person. And yes, before you ask, her dialogue does change between Mario and Luigi playthroughs.
14 Luigi Doesn’t Have A Consistent Personality
Maybe this goes along with Luigi being a master of disguise, but his personality changes more often than his appearance does. Ever since the Mario cartoons first appeared in the 1980s, Luigi has always been a bit of a coward, and his fears have only become more pronounced as the years have worn on, but he is also arrogant, talkative, immature, boastful, over-attentive, greedy, and stoic.
There might be any number of reasons for Luigi’s inconsistency, but if one thing’s for sure, it’s that Mario’s baby brother has a dysfunctional personality. Aside from Mario and Yoshi — and, to a certain extent, Daisy and his fan club — Luigi does not form strong attachments to others, and he never seems to be content with who he is as a person.
13 Luigi Was Dracula’s Plumber
Perhaps the reason why Luigi is so fearful of things that go boo in the night is that he was once responsible for the plumbing inside Dracula’s castle. An Easter egg in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow — Mirror of Fate offered players the opportunity to read a scroll left behind by an unfortunate individual, who lamented that even his brother Mario would have trouble fixing the pipes, and wondered what would happen if he ate some of the mushrooms growing on the wet, rusted metal. In case you’re skeptical, remember that Mirror of Fate hit the 3DS during the Year of Luigi: 2013.
It seems that Luigi, or some incarnation thereof, was a plumber hired to repair the pipes at Castle Dracula, only to become lost in the labyrinth and suffer a grisly end. Or did his experience in those sewers somehow transport him to the Mushroom Kingdom?
12 Luigi Doesn’t Really Have His Own Name
You would be forgiven for thinking that Mama and Papa Mario named their second-born son “Luigi,” but you would be wrong, still. Although “Luigi” sounds like an Italian boy’s name in most of Europe and North America, his original name, Ruiji, also means “similar” in Japanese. Get it? Because he is similar to Mario, going all the way back to 1983’s Mario Bros., when he was a mere palette swap of Nintendo’s most famous hero.
Being a twin, Luigi shares the same last name as his older brother. He’s Luigi Mario. For both brothers’ sakes, I really wish I was kidding, but I’m not. Mario’s full name is Mario Mario, which makes his brother Luigi Mario. Talk about living under a shadow you can’t escape.
11 He Has No Official Romantic Interest
But, but, I hear you protest, what about Daisy? Well, what about her? Although fans have long speculated that Daisy was Luigi’s love interest — the Peach to his Mario, if you will — and they have even been shown dancing together, Nintendo has never given the green bro an official girlfriend.
In fact, Luigi’s “relationship” with Daisy seems to be entirely one-sided. Nintendo has included plenty of references to his interest in Daisy, including the entire plot of the ill-fated Super Mario Bros. live-action movie, but there’s little evidence to suggest that the princess of Sarasaland returns Luigi’s feelings. Aside from a rating of “Steady Sweeties” in the Mario Party games, Luigi and Daisy appear to be just friends, at least as far as she’s concerned, which makes Luigi’s continued interest a little bit . . . disturbing.
10 He Is The Only One Who Knows What A Shy Guy Really Looks Like
Ever since Super Mario Bros. 2 — also known as Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic in Japan — Nintendo fans have been wondering: Just what is underneath the Shy Guys’ masks? As it turns out, Luigi might just be the only non-Shy Guy to know what those little baddies’ faces really look like.
Back in 2000, Mario Tennis played host to the Shy Guys’ first playable appearance in a video game. Winning a Singles Tournament with the Shy Guy would trigger a cutscene in which the little enemy trips and falls in front of an applauding Luigi, losing his mask in the process. When the Shy Guy stands, Luigi gets a full-on look at the horror of his face, a secret not even the player is privy to. Who knows what that’s done to the poor Mario brother’s psyche…
9 Luigi Can Win Without Moving
Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that Luigi has a fantastic superpower. In multiple entries from the Smash Bros. and Mario Party series, Luigi can win against pretty much any opponent — by doing absolutely nothing.
You read that correctly. Luigi can win in a large portion of the Mario franchise by simply existing. He doesn’t have to jump, sidestep, or launch an attack in order to take home top honors in Smash and Party competitions.
It seems that Luigi’s very presence unnerves his A.I. opponents into making rookie mistakes. This, combined with the green meanie’s lucky “timing,” makes Luigi a force to be reckoned with in every Mario Party game, and in most Smash Bros. titles as well. Just be glad he’s on our side.
8 He’s A Master Of Disguise
So we’ve already established that Luigi’s name isn’t really his own, but what if I told you that we can’t be sure what he looks like, either? Time and again, Luigi has proven himself to be a master of disguise, which gives me serious doubts about how Mario’s kid brother is supposed to look.
In the short-lived cartoon titled The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Luigi disguised himself to woo Kootie Pie, the Koopaling better known to gamers as Wendy O. Koopa. He donned a convincing Princess Peach disguise several times in the 1992 comic Super Mario Adventures, a tactic recycled in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. When Nastasia brainwashed him in Super Paper Mario, his former allies didn't recognize him with his new “Mr. L” identity. And in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Luigi turns into a variety of useful objects, including a drill and a clock.
7 Luigi Is Never Truly Happy
Growing up in Mario’s shadow would be enough to give anyone a complex, and poor Luigi is no exception. The overlooked twin is never truly happy in any game, largely because of his dependence on Mario. When his brother is not around, Luigi can’t function without him. In Mario’s presence, however, Luigi finds himself forgotten or ignored by enemies and allies alike, which breeds his resentment toward everyone’s favorite plumber.
More often than not, Luigi appears to be ruled by purely negative emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness. He exhibits nothing but negativity in his standalone adventures, which makes him come across as quite insufferable. Although Luigi is a sad little man, and beloved by many in the Mario fandom, his overall attitude makes it difficult to sympathize with him.
6 His Rival Is One Of The Weakest Characters In The Games
It might seem as if Waluigi has always been around, but Luigi didn’t get a rival like Mario’s until Waluigi made his first appearance as Wario’s doubles partner in Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64. The tall, purple villain’s relatively late showing doesn’t excuse what happened in 2006, when Waluigi was unceremoniously excluded from the star children in Yoshi’s Island DS.
The Yoshi’s Island sequel begins when Kamek steals every baby in the Mushroom Kingdom in search of the star children, who “each possess an extraordinary amount of power.” They are: Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Yoshi, Baby Bowser, Baby Wario, and Baby Donkey Kong. Waluigi’s exclusion from the star children’s hallowed ranks makes him one of the weakest figures in the Mario lineup. No wonder Luigi feels so inferior.
5 He Probably Doesn’t Like The Color Green
Luigi? Not like the color green? Say it ain’t so, bro!
Unfortunately, it probably is so. The only reason Luigi dresses in green is because Mario Bros. creators could not fit an extra color into their palette, and thus were forced to paint his clothes the same shade as a Shellcreeper. Luigi has changed colors briefly a few times over the years, but Nintendo always inevitably forces him back into his green uniform. It’s possible that Luigi might secretly prefer any color over green, but if his Final Smash, Negative Zone, is any indication, the green man would actually like to dress in — RED?!
Surprising absolutely no one, Luigi’s Negative Zone turns his green hat and shirt red, the color worn by his more famous brother, Mario. Does that mean Luigi secretly wants to be the big plumber on campus? Seems like a plausible theory to me.
4 Luigi Couldn’t Save Nintendo From Financial Losses
Thirty years after Mario Bros. first appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo declared 2013 to be “The Year of Luigi" — great idea, considering what we know of Luigi and his inferiority complex. That year, the gaming giant released the long-awaited sequel to Luigi’s Mansion, a Luigi-only expansion for New Super Mario Bros. U, a Luigi-reskinned version of Dr. Mario, and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.
Things did not turn out well for Luigi and his creators in 2013, however. Already suffering from dwindling Wii U sales when The Year of Luigi began, Nintendo posted a loss of more than $450 million that year. That spelled bad news for Luigi fans, who haven’t seen a green-game bonanza from Nintendo since 2013 turned out to be a bad year for the Mario creators.
3 He’s A Compulsive Liar
Not only is Luigi more than willing to deceive others with the use of his myriad disguises, Mario’s brother is also a compulsive liar. While Mario tries to collect the Crystal Stars in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Luigi is on a mission to rescue the Waffle Kingdom’s Princess Eclair. Whenever the player, controlling Mario, meets up with Luigi, they are treated to a recap of the green guy’s adventures thus far. Luigi stretches the truth beyond belief, forcing his begrudging accomplices to tell Mario the truth when their boss steps out of earshot. It seems as if, when faced with his older brother’s achievements, Luigi just can’t help but lie about his own accomplishments in order to feel better about his shortcomings. Between this, his disguises, and his chameleon-like personality, Luigi is a hard man to trust.
2 Luigi’s Entire Life Revolves Around Mario
Luigi is at his most sympathetic when one considers that his entire life, from birth, has revolved around Mario. In his initial video-game appearances, he was nothing more than a recolored version of his red brother, and his solo adventures only happen because Mario goes missing. As a baby, Luigi came close to being fridged by Nintendo, just to provoke Baby Mario and Yoshi into mounting a rescue mission to save him. His sole wish, as revealed in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, is to “be a great plumber like [his] brother.”
Mario goes on plenty of adventures without Luigi, but Luigi cannot appear by himself unless Mario’s recovery is the focus of his mission. As his Final Smash shows, Luigi exists only to be the color-swapped sidekick and foil to his courageous older brother. It’s pretty sad, once you think about it.
1 Luigi Might Be Dead
When Luigi first enters the titular haunted house in Luigi’s Mansion, a flash of lightning throws an odd-looking shadow on the wall, one that makes it appear as if Luigi’s body is . . . hanging. That single moment has led to a far-reaching video-game theory in which Luigi’s Mansion is the final Mario game, chronologically, in which Luigi appears, because it features the suicide of Mario’s overlooked younger twin.
The Luigi Is Dead theory even goes so far as to reference the infamous Eternal Star statue in Super Mario 64, which, according to a late-90s conspiracy among gamers, referenced Luigi’s secret inclusion in the N64 title. The Eternal Star statue is surrounded by ghosts, and Super Mario 64 is the first game in the franchise not to include the word “Bros.” in its title. Coincidence? The Luigi Is Dead community thinks not.