When we’re asked to think of the first tall, purple, uncomfortable thing we can think of, the vast majority of us will, unfortunately, think of Barney the Dinosaur. This is understandable considering most of us grew up having that violet monstrosity dance before our eyes day in, day out, before being introduced to Rugrats. But alas, I digress. Back to the thought experiment: if you push your memory a little harder you might recall the purple prankster himself, Waluigi! Tall, purple, uncomfortable. Yep, he hits the mark pretty dead on.
Waluigi is, of course, the equally criminal contemporary of Wario, Mario’s archrival. The star of this list made his debut in 2000s Mario Tennis, whereas Wario has been around since 1992, where he appeared as the main antagonist and final boss in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. But hey now, just because Wario’s been around a longer doesn’t mean Waluigi hasn’t got a few tricks up his sleeve! Waluigi may be the sidekick to Wario, but we’d be remiss to not acknowledge how subtly important our purple pal’s presence has been in the Mario universe.
From sports, to dancing, to straight up creep-factor, we’re exposing Waluigi’s greatest advantages over his angry, stumpy little partner in crime. So let’s get to it, here are 15 things Waluigi can do that Wario CAN’T! If you notice we’re missing something, drop us a line with the comment button after you’ve read the list!
15 Defeat Evil As Hero Of Hyrule!
Finally! Waluigi has his very own 3D open world to explore without his stubby little partner keeping him down. Someone actually took time out of their day(s) to make a mod that allows you to play as our number one bad boy in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U. Breath of the Wah, more like it. Bigger fan of Ocarina of Time? No worries, they took care of that, too.
As if that's not great enough, the mod reskins your shield into Wario's face so he can take all the hits while you "wah" your way to the end of the game. Hang in there, Wario. Maybe someday someone will mod you into a copy of Katamari-Damacy as another object that we can all roll over and forget about.
14 Unofficially Endorsed by Rihanna!
Another super fan of Waluigi has done it again. Boy, oh boy. If you thought the Legend of Zelda mods were entertaining, wait until you see this.
A YouTube genius cut together this masterpiece of a Rihanna music video featuring our beloved Waluigi in all his musical glory. As we'll see further down the list, Waluigi is most definitely familiar with the art of dance, so seeing him grooving in the club with pop superstar Rihanna is somehow not as jarring as we might have imagined. In all honesty, I'd rather see Waluigi creeping around the club singing "wah, wah, wah" all night than having to listen to DJ Khaled yell his name another fifty-million times. This is one musical journey that deserves a nomination for remix of the year!
13 Have One The BEST Tracks In Mario Kart History
Mario Kart 7 hit in early December of 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, and with it came one of the coolest tracks in the history of the Mario Kart franchise: Waluigi Pinball. Anyone who’s kept up with the Mario Kart franchise knows that Waluigi Pinball is easily one of the most entertaining tracks in the entire series. There's plenty to love from firing yourself out of the psychedelic tunnel at the start of the course, to the functioning pinball machine layout near the finish line, complete with bumpers, flippers, and a giant pesky pinball that rolls around the course, flipping racers over when hit.
Interestingly enough, Waluigi isn’t even a playable character in this particular Mario Kart game! Look at that, he doesn’t even need to be in the game to be number one!
12 Annihilate Opponents On The Tennis Court
Though Waluigi wasn't available as a playable character in Mario Kart 7, he was most definitely playable in the 2000 N64 classic Mario Tennis. This was Waluigi's very first appearance in the history of the Mario universe, as he was created specifically to be a doubles partner for Wario.
Labeled a “technique” character, Waluigi has great control over the ball, as well as an insane reach because of his snake-length arms. Appendages like these come in handy when you're working with Wario, whose arms are comparable to that of a boiled hot dog that you chopped in half and superglued to an overstuffed garbage bag. You may think we're being too hard on poor Wario, but let's face it: at the end of the day, both of these guys are massive creeps.
11 Be An Even BIGGER Repulsive Deviant
I don't know if you've taken notice yet, but Waluigi is totally not the type of dude you want to run into in a dark alley, or a bright alley, or really anywhere else for that matter. Not unlike his stubbier counterpart, Waluigi was designed to be a stone cold creeper form the spider-like limbs to those evil eyes. However, it can be argued that Waluigi may very well be an even bigger deviant than Wario.
Believe it or not, this is an actual celebration animation performed by Waluigi when he scores a goal in Mario Strikers Charged on for the Wii. Yes. That is a crotch chop. Sure, this may not be an arrestable offense, but if that move doesn't make you cringe, I don't want to know what does.
10 Secret Twin Brother?!
Long arms and legs, prominent chin, general creepy vibe. The list of similarities could seemingly go on forever when comparing Waluigi to Robbie Rotten, the infamous villain from popular children's show Lazytown (in case you weren't on the internet in the last few years, Lazytown was the subject of arguably one of the most annoying memes of all time). Not that anyone needed an excuse to see Robbie Rotten’s horrifically unsettling mug ever again, it’s no doubt that Waluigi and Robbie may as well be twins. Aesthetically, the two are peas in a pod making them great candidates for cosplaying as one another.
The best Wario could hope for in terms of cosplay choices is an oddly shaped pumpkin or a large chunk of angry, unbaked dough.
9 Do Some Heavy Gardening On The Soccer Field
In Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii, Waluigi has an insanely useful Super-Ability aptly called Wall-Luigi! Activating this power constructs a wall of vines within the soccer pitch, allowing Waluigi to safely charge up his Mega Strike and score mad goals without any pesky interruptions.
As if that wasn't powerful enough, his deke maneuver is the teleport ability, allowing him greater opportunity for breakaways or to teleport right into the goal if positioned well enough. And just to add insult to injury, Waluigi comes with an even more powerful ability: self-passing! Waluigi and Boo are the only characters in the game capable of pulling this tricky technique off. Basically, self-passing allows you to forgo the risk of a teammate missing a pass. You just chip the ball up, run under it, and kick it before your opponent knows what even happened. Alas, no self-passes for Wario.
8 Death Stare Like The Grim Reaper
If you were asked who you find more frightening, Wario or Waluigi, who would you choose? Let’s do some comparisons to make it easy for you. What does Wario remind you of? That’s right, a tree stump. What does Waluigi remind you of? Correct. Slenderman. And just like Slenderman, looking too deep into Waluigi’s eyes will make you want to die.
As we know, Waluigi is the antithesis of Luigi, from his mustache to his general demeanor. No one could look into Luigi’s eyes and see anything but an excited plumber, ready to help defend the Mushroom Kingdom whenever his brother is too busy to do it himself. Look into Waluigi’s eyes, and you’ll see a greedy, soulless, cheating individual. Waluigi looks like a classic black and white film villain, the type that kidnaps damsels and ties them to a train track for fun!
7 Absolute FIRE On The Dance Floor
Waluigi was one of the prominently featured villains in 2005's Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix, a Mario franchise spin-off of the Dance Dance Revolution series. At the start of the game, Waluigi attempts to steal four magical music keys, and loses them in the process, and for some reason, the player then needs to require the keys by way of dance-offs. I mean hey, whatever you've got to do to get us gamers off the couch, right? As mentioned before, Waluigi’s known for his long arms and legs, which make themselves wildly useful when it comes to bustin’ a move on the dance floor. It's just nice to have seen our guy front and center, even if it had to be in the format of a dancing adventure and not, you know, a regular adventure.
6 Keepin' A Low Profile
Knowing Waluigi hasn’t got his own official game to his name, it’s no surprise that he’s simply not as well known as Wario. According to Google Trends, it’s clear that Waluigi flies way under the radar when compared to Wario. But as a criminal, isn’t keeping a low profile the smartest thing you can do?
It’s also important to note that Waluigi doesn’t even have a proper backstory! As mentioned, he was created for the sole purpose of playing tennis with Wario. There is zero official information regarding his past. We just know he’s a greedy, selfish criminal like his partner in crime. Without there being much information to find, Waluigi remains a shadowy man of mystery.
5 Lesser Known, But Adored By Many
At this point, it’s safe to say that we’ve established that Waluigi is simply not as popular as other most other major Mario universe characters, but as we all know, fan’s love what they love. Lack of mass popularity doesn’t stop Waluigi’s true fans from flying his purple flag with pride.
One quick YouTube search will garner an unbelievable amount of song remixes, funny moment compilations, tricks, tips, and plenty of other content dedicated to Waluigi and his wacky antics. The amount of image and video parodies featuring Waluigi's face superimposed onto other people's bodies is enough to think he’s far more prominent in the Mario universe as he actually is. Though to be fair, at this point he’s now been featured in over 40 titles, not including the fan-made titles and mods.
4 He Has His Own SECRET Game!
Ever since he first hit the screen fans have been patiently waiting for the day when Waluigi will get the opportunity to shine like the star he is as a protagonist in his very own title. There’s Wario Land, Luigi’s Mansion, but where’s Waluigi’s solo adventure? Well, wait no further. Turns out a fan named Thunder Dragon put together his very own Waluigi side-scroller called Psycho Waluigi!
The game has been downloaded over 100,000 times on Mario Fan Games Galaxy and site user’s reviews average up to an astonishing 9.8/10! Another point for Waluigi!
3 Reach For Stuff On The Top Shelf
In terms of height, Waluigi definitely has a leg up (sorry) on the competition. Waluigi may very well be the tallest character in the Mushroom Kingdom, rivaled only by King Koopa himself. Not to say that short people are inferior to tall people, but having that kind of height can absolutely come in handy. It is definitely undeniable that those long, spaghetti legs of his come in handy in the Super Mario Strikers series.
Need something blown up? Looking to insult someone? Want to stink up the place and make everyone in the room very uncomfortable? Great! Call Wario. But wait… what's that? You need someone grab that red mushroom from the top shelf? Sorry, short stuff. This is a job for the lankiest of them all, Waluigi!
2 Sword Fight With His Mustache
It's incredibly clear that Waluigi's mustache was designed to be the polar opposite of Luigi's puffy, comfy mustache: thin, crooked, and dangerously pointy. I mean just look at how needle-like that thing is and tell me you’d be comfortable standing anywhere near it, so that I could call you a liar. Waluigi's facial hair is so sharp it puts the Master Sword to shame! You could win a fencing competition with a face-sword like that! One can only assume he takes great care of it, using a fine grade turtle (or Koopa) wax.
Now, let's take a moment and create a mini-list of things that Wario’s pathetic excuse for a mustache resembles: the scene of a lightning strike accident, a cat's broken tail, or a couple of burnt french fries.
1 Face It, He's Number Wah-ne!
It’s a common thread for villains to be overconfident and sure of themselves when facing off against their heroic rivals, but you’re in a whole other ballpark when this is one of the first things you say when introduced to the world:
If someone in an all purple outfit, wooden clogs, and a pointy mustache came up and yelled that in your face, you’d probably think you’ve gone insane. On the flip side, one of Luigi’s catchphrases is of course “I’m-a Luigi, Number One,” so it makes sense for his arch-rival Waluigi to take things to the next level of wildness. When compared to Wario’s catchphrase, “I’m-a Wario, I’m-a gonna win,” we see that Waluigi is definitely a cut above on the creep scale.