The History of Waluigi: From Loathed To Loved -- Designing For Appreciation
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ค. 2024
- Designing For is a series which looks at one specific level, character, or idea in gaming and breaks down the central theme to that element to figure out what it's, well, designing for! In this episode, we take a deep dive into the creation, history, and reception of the king of cheaters, Waluigi. We delve into the character's initial frosty reception, how Camelot, Namco, Square, Hudson, and Nintendo themselves stuck with him to flesh him out, how memes and fan works rose Waluigi's star to unbelievable heights, and how we can all come around - ironically or no - on anything with real passion and love behind it.
Please check out Matthew Taranto's works here! Including:
Matthew's illustrated guide to gaming, GAMEMASTER CLASSIFIED featuring the thoughts of Nintendo's original Game Master, Howard Phillips: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
Matthew's rhythm-adventure game, Tadpole Treble Encore, available for Nintendo Switch: www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...
Matthew's TH-cam channel, @BitFinityGames , including the BitMusical series of gaming-themed original musical animatics!
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Patreon: / designingfor
Twitter: / designing4games
Discord: / discord
Director/Writer/Voice Over/Main Vocalist: Tommy Eyler/Pyrrhickong ( / pyrrhickong )
Editor: @Skyehoppers
Komm Susser Waa Mixing & Additional Vocals: @AuthorMx
Intro Animation By: / @tarvouldsquest
Intro Theme By: / tracks
0:00 An Intro To Waluigi
2:30 The Creation of Wah
5:15 The Reception of Wah: Why He Was Hated
8:55 Waluigi Endures - Early Spin-Offs
12:54 The King of Spin-Offs - Waluigi Through the 2000's
18:16 Waaaa In The Family
24:03 Happy Birthday, Waluigi - How He's Grown
28:28 Appreciating Waluigi Now
32:07 End of the Waa - เกม
![[TH] VCT Pacific - Playoffs Grand Final // PRX vs GEN](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/G345ud5yRGA/mqdefault.jpg)
Awesome work on this video and I was happy to be a part of it! And the Waluigi song at the end can hang with the best of 'em, quite lovely.
I regret not mentioning this in the interview but given the attention that Happy Birthday Waluigi got in this video, I'd be remiss to mention the artist behind that one, my buddy Chris Seward who helped me run BitF. I handled most of the Waluigi comics, but during the first couple sets of them, he'd occasionally make one himself, and if you look closely you can probably figure out which ones based off his distinctive art style ("tender yet sticky," "Sometimes Waluigi thinks," the western one and the Star Trek one were some of them). I remember we were discussing having the final comic of that set being a complete tonal shift but most of the idea and presentation etc of Happy Birthday Waluigi was him.
I digress. Excellent rundown of Waluigi history and how the character's trajectory in the eyes of Nintendo fans is almost as bizarre and unpredictable as he is. WAA!!
The brawl in the family comic was amazing and you did the great job at it (i wasn't born but i can just read haft of the webcomic and i saw your video about the recent adding of Mega man in smash bros for wii u/3ds and well it was amazing and the comic gives Waluigi a new life like never before, you made me funny and that deserve a thanks and thank you for creating the comic and i know this isn't about Mr Waluigi but thanks for also having Adeleine into the comic, she was really enjoyable and funny and the endless "WAA!!" by Waluigi is funny. I hope that i can make stuff like Brawl in the family one day, I really want to create big and small stories, Like a Kirby and Sonic crossover and small ones like Brawl in the family where the characters just relax and talk to one in other or wacky stuff happens. But yeah you and your team did an amazing job with Waluigi.
I first found your webcomic in 2009 when I started highschool and kept coming back to it even after it ended when I graduated in 2014, and even still listen to the songs you've made. Thanks for laughs and memories
I came in late to Brawl in the Family, but good lord, when I did find it, it was wonderful. Thanks so much for brightening my days, man.
I have long suspected that much of Waluigi's current popularity can be credited to Brawl In the Family.
The greatest joke about Waluigi is that out all the silly villains of the Mario universe, Waluigi is the one villain that Luigi, the definitive cowardly lion, ISN’T afraid of.
This also stuck out to me. Even in Mario Tennis, before Luigi's cowardice was a thing, having a character outright say "not afraid" to a Mario villain was pretty shcoking to me. Even Bowser wasn't given taht despite the games starting to downplay him.
Through out the game.. Luigi gets slightly annoyed at Waluigi on a rare occassion. But it is described Waluigi sees himself as Luigi's ultimate nemesis, but Luigi doesn't care or know who is.
It's hilarious XD
We all know King Boo is his real nemesis. But we love Waluigi all the same.
I hate you but lore accurate
Luigi isn't a coward. Cowards do not act. Luigi acts. Luigi is brave.
You know, I just realized, Toadette and Waluigi were both created from scratch for the exact same reason. Just to be a partner for another character. The difference is that Nintendo clearly cared about one of them more than the other. With one even appearing in a mainline Mario game, and with the other being the closest is the joke villain in a fucking dancing game
Even daisy just escaped the spinoff purgatory
Ive never thought of that totally forgot she was made for Double Dash
The thing is, Toadette is a lot easier to use than Waluigi. Waluigi has always been around Wario so it only makes sense to include Waluigi if you’re also including Wario-another character that doesn’t get a chance to shine to often. Meanwhile Toads are as common as grass in the Mario series, so including their female counterpart would be easy as well. That isn’t to say that SHOULD be the situation, Wario and Waluigi deserve to be in more Mario media because they’re fun and wacky characters, but that’s how it is.
@@jeremyrossi2716fun fact:neither toad nor toadette actually have gender(or maybe they do but it's not about they being toads or toadettes I don't really remember that well)[okay I was wrong this is not a fun fact this is a fun wrong or maybe a boring wrong Idk]
I’m completely ambivalent to waluigi
Daisy wasn't from a spin off though
What I love about Waluigi is that according to Mario "canon," he's one of the extremely few Mario humans(?) WITHOUT natural superpowers. Mario, Peach, even Wario are all "star children" blessed with great power.
Waluigi meanwhile is just some regular guy who craves the spotlight. Multiple games specifically state he trains hard to match the others' raw power with honed skill. They also specify his rivalry with Luigi is one-sided. This is because Waluigi wants fame, and the only way to be famous in the Mushroom Kingdom is to associate yourself with Mario & co. Recent(ish) HD renders of Waluigi show the emblem on his hat is a peeling sticker, despite the other hat-emblems all being custom-tailored, implying Waluigi's outfit is homemade.
Charles Martinet has stated Waluigi's driving motive is self-pity; he cheats because he believes everyone else has cheated him. And considering his genuine talent and charisma, you can understand his bitterness. Nobody cared who he was until he put on the overalls.
Oh my god, it is a sticker. That's fantastic. But actually yeah, its interesting to think that Waluigi and I guess Daisy are the odd ones out of literally being birthed special so it's like they both have to make up for it, Daisy being super athletic and Waluigi either finding ways to make use of his lankiness or cheating. The only difference is that Daisy is a Princess and gets more recognition by default. Waluigi for all intents and purposes is just some dude. I don't even think he's really all that close with Wario since he's never been in Wario Ware. He just gets to be in the spin offs barely because everyone's just like "eh, Wario knows him I guess. It would be rude not to invite him".
That’s actually a really interesting way to contrast him against Wario instead of just Luigi. Wario doesn’t train, as far as we know, he’s a star child and a capable treasure hunter as we’ve seen, but Waluigi, born without those natural advantages trains to keep pace. He could be the hardest worker in the Mushroom Kingdom, but since he caps out at a lower level than the Star Children, he tries to cheat his way to victory when skill isn’t enough.
The Star Children stuff is pretty overblown in the fandom. Yoshi's Island DS never really explained what the star children were about. Kamek just said that the stars hold a lot of power, and with that power, Bowser would be able to rule the world.
We don't ever see any indication that the children with the stars have been "blessed with great power" or anything. And in fact, tons of stuff implies the opposite. Toad, Toadette, Captain Toad, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, Daisy, Waluigi, Bowser Jr, Diddy Kong, etc. None of them are star children, yet they are perfectly capable or doing pretty much everything that Mario can.
One of Mario's biggest draws is that he's... just a guy. He doesn't have any innate super powers or anything. He just stepped up to everything that faced him, and his confidence pulled him through. He's an inspiration to everything in his world, because _anyone_ could be a Mario.
With that being said, Waluigi does indeed spend all of his time training to beat Mario & Luigi at sports. The only reason he was in Mario Tennis to begin with is because he trained day and night to be good enough. And while he started out kinda bad at some of the sports, nowadays he's clearly very skilled, and definitely a great competitive rival.
Well he still is a homo Nintendois, not a normal human like the metro kingdom humans.
Waluigi's superpower is cartoon slapstick it's what lets him swim through the air
I think Waluigi's way of thinking is interesting; he doesn't cheat because he wants an advantage. He cheats because he believes the reason he loses is that everyone else is cheating; therefore, he cheats to even the playing field
An excuse for a perceived lack of skill on his part.
"It's not possible for me to lose, therefore everyone else MUST be cheating."
It's equal parts sad and hilarious.
@@lightninstriker10Exactly what I was thinking. It's this unwarranted self confidence in everything he does to where he's the best and its okay to not play fair since nobody else does. After all, that's obviously why he loses.
@@castform7 to be fair to Waluigi, I think we'd all love to have that sort of level of self-confidence. Misguided or no, the guy doesn't know when to quit.
@lightninstriker10 yeah, it's a level of arrogance that's admirable in a way
I mean technically everyone else is cheating, or at least seven specific individuals he actively competes with are. due to them all being Chosen Ones, blessed with incredible power at birth.
I'm sure they're not intentionally using this privilege to cheat lesser beings out of victory- or at least no one but Bowser or Wario are- but the advantage is there.
Waluigi is basically the Rock Lee in a room full of Narutos and Sasukes.
It's sad that even if Waluigi were to get his own game, it is too late for him to be voiced by the actor who created his iconic voice, one of the main reasons people love him.
I think about this daily lol. Such a shame.
I mean they could hire Mathew to do it and it might just even out.
@@Fanatic_ForememYeah, that could work!
@@alexanderjackson9239 not if Afghani beats him to it
The way this guy straight MOONWALKS on people in tennis never fails to make me happy
Waluigi will have his time. The year of Waluigi will come.
I guess Waluigi's motto is "If you don't succeed the first time, keep coming back until they feel they have no choice but to love you."
I imagine Waluigi as Wario’s jock friends who likes playing sports and parties, but they don’t share many interests outside of that.
That headcanon tracks and is one I share. Wario has 2 whole series (even if one of them is pretty dormant) and Waluigi hasn't appeared once in either. They're like coworkers who whenever they're around one another in this specific setting, they can bond with each other but once they both clock out, they don't really keep in touch because they don't really want to. Or at least Wario probably doesn't. Outside of the sports events he seems to mostly like his own company the most.
Waluigi and Wario have different core motivations in the games. Wario craves money, Waluigi craves adoration. He competes in the tournaments because it's one of his only chances to be in the spotlight, but he has no interest in being a business mogul or treasure hunter.
Newer renders of Waluigi depict his emblem as a peeling sticker, implying his outfit is a homemade costume. Feels like you could do a very fun game starring Waluigi as he tries various ways to find the recognition he yearns for.
my headcanon is that their real names aren't actually waluigi and wario they just change their names to make people confuse them with the mario brothers kinda like ripoff kids movies (ie ratatoing). wario just hired some random tall guy to be his luigi. waluigi thinks they're best friends while to wario waluigi is the due he invited over to play tenis with
@@cassioppenny i could imagine that for Waluigi but Wario was always Wario. He would totally get someone to play Waluigi though to share in his mockery of the Mario Bros.
No need to imagine, that's pretty much the status quo on their relationship, you hit the nail on the head.
Waluigi is just like another initially maligned big purple character, Big the Cat. Both have had a huge turnaround in the public eye, mainly through memes, but nonetheless gaining good favor and is always great to see them show up.
And then SEGA pulled the greatest prank of all time with the Final Horizon Frontiers update and told everyone that the Big in that game was a digital hallucination and thus wasn't actually in the game.
@@lightninstriker10 "Don't worry, little buddy. The crash wasn't your fault. You need to let go."
Waluigi always coming back despite many people hating him during his introduction makes sense for his character. He lives off of the hate.
I met Charles Martinet at a con. He was pretty cool! I asked him who was his favorite character he voices, and he said Waluigi, but he relates most to Luigi
Considering Toadette and Daisy have escaped spinoff purgatory to be playable in mainline games, there's still hope for everyone's favorite pitiable purple punk.
Still a missed opportunity for him to not be playable in Super Mario Bros WAAnder.
Perfect name opportunity there.
Nintendo better release a separate version called Super Waluigi Wahnder like they did for Super Luigi U.
@@opalanderif they don't some people are gonna get REALLY hurt/jk
DLC for Wonder starring Wario and Waluigi would be so cool
@@geothepolyagreed
there is a sincerity to liking waluigi beyond the meme, sometimes when you see a sad sack of a character destined to fail- sometimes you just wanna give them a singular dub you know?
Like Glass Joe? (Punch-Out series)
@@kurtmatteson4914YES
The funny thing about the purple man is, since they don't know what to do with him, he's always bringing something weird and new to the table. In Power Tennis he had this random "swim up a river" special move, he had a weird connection to Wrecking Crew for a few years (DDR gave him the game's theme as his main song, and in Mario Kart DS his default kart was a forklift), then that rose/thorns theme also came out of nowhere. In a way, being so undefined makes him more memorable.
Ive veen thinking this for a whike but couldnt quite put it to words
Happy to see Matthew Taranto still getting the attention he deserves. I was around on BITF's forums during its hayday. One thing that I remember though is that someone posted a followup to Happy Birthday Waluigi that Matt liked so much that he provided a link to it on the page; it has Waluigi's door suddenly ring. He answers it and sees... Luigi. Luigi of all people has a Wii and a spare controller... so it ends off with the two playing together. Waluigi had a happy birthday after all!
Ironic. The person who Waluigi thinks of himself as their ultimate rival, was not only one who showed up at his party, but one of the few people who would want to spend time with him willingly.
@@Jedi-ge6lr Luigi not afraid. But Luigi also knows what it's like to be passed up for someone else. So perhaps he understands Waluigi's pain here and was willing to help. ^^
@@SwerveStarEx The only difference is that Luigi has accepted and is now content with being in Mario's shadow as long as he gets to be with his bro.
Aaaaawwww ❤ That actually made me tear up a little 😢 Luigi is the best boy! That totally fits his character and his relationship with Waluigi. Since Luigi doesn't see Waluigi as a rival, it would make complete sense for him to try and be his friend. Waluigi is a straight up tsundere, and would reluctantly agree to play games, but would eventually start to actually enjoy and appreciate Luigi's company. How sweet! 💜💚
Waluigi is this Deapool-esque underdog, my favorite Mario character, and I'm holding out for him getting the spotlight he deserves.
Oh my god a Waluigi game *needs* to be so meta it hurts. Please, Nintendo. Make a Waluigi game *about* Waluigi being annoyed with not having his own game yet and questing to get one.
And accidentally causes a serious problem for the world. But still tries to set it right since...He is the best. No one is about to take that spotlight of him. @@MrLegendofLP
@@MrLegendofLP Unironically the plot of the Deadpool game basically.
there's this great non-canon excerpt from nintendo power explaining Waluigi's origins, saying he is "Jimmy Poppadopolous" an actor Wario hired to be his tennis partner, this would actually explain why his relationship to Wario is never elaborated on in games. in Warioware inc. there's a character named Jimmy P., a clone of Wario's "best friend" Jimmy T., both are humanoids heavily disguised as disco dancers whose personalities are enjoying dancing and sports, much like a certain someone we all know and love.
My mind is destroyed knowing this information
Waluigi being an actor as a profession makes a lot of sense given how being overly-dramatic is one of his calling cards. I think he genuinely loves being the bad guy though, which is why he keeps coming back.
my favorite idea for a Waluigi special movie in Smash Bros
is him pulling out a Mario Kart item box, and breaking it by throwing it on the ground
giving him a random item
what better way to cheat, than give him a move that gives him an item in a non-item match
Oh my god that's brilliant
Practically banning him from most tournaments, nice
I had a similar idea to this. He would hit a dice block just like in Mario Party. The higher the number, the better the item. For example, a 1 could get you a food item, but a 10 could get you a golden hammer or one of the "destroy everything in your wake" items that are in three parts or a Smash Ball
@@Josuh That would be hilariously fitting for Waluigi as a character: he finally gets into Smash, only to be banned from ever showing up in tournaments due to him constantly 'cheating' and breaking the rules.
What if instead of just throwing it on the ground, Waluigi could throw it as a projectile like Peach/Daisy's vegetable pull, and then the box breaks to reveal an item after impact (meaning that if you use the item in the wrong situation, it might actually allow the opponent to claim an item, going along with Waluigi's character trait of whiffing when the pressure is on)
"Waaaaa, my robot's my mom and my girlfriend turned everyone into orange juice" made me laugh harder than it probably should have.
I dressed as Waluigi for my son's birthday party. He had an eye operation the day before. Understandably, he was tired and felt very low. He thought his birthday party was going to be a sad failure, nobody could possibly enjoy...
The thrilled look on his bruised, little face when he saw me in full gangly costume, whilst holding out a Wario costume for him, was... priceless ☺️ Thank you, Waluigi.
I just want you to know that you are an awesome parent. That's so sweet!
Luigi: in lore (and partially irl), is comedically overlooked by most of the public compared to his brother, but he’s okay with it enough to still help his brother to do what’s right and still gets rewarded in the end
Waluigi: in lore (and partially irl), is comedically overlooked by most of the public compared to his…brother?, and he clearly hates it and tries to cheat and complain for more of a spotlight that only the shoot fanbase will give him (see the whole “Waluigi in Smash” thing, which is basically the VG equivalent to the YES Movement)
Waluigi's definitely one of those anomolies of characters where everything about him seems to be pushing you to hate him but he's just too weirdly likable
I instantly liked him when I first saw him. 😂
One of the first things that pops into my head when thinking about Waluigi is the fangame "Psycho Waluigi" by Thunder Dragon, which is not only a great platformer on its own, but captures Waluigi's offbeat charm and self-centred nature, and I would highly recommend to anyone whose a fan of the character (or a fan of platformers in general).
Aaah, a man of culture.
I'm happy to know that if I hadn't been a part of the Mario Fan Game Galaxy community from which Thunder Dragon released Psycho Waluigi, I would have eventually discovered it by reading your comment (well, you know, so long as my interest in fangames remained the same, in this AU XD)
But for real, Psycho Waluigi does so much right. Music, gameplay system, level design, références to Wario games, it's so good.
Was wondering if that game would get a shout out the whole time this video was going
@@metalsonic8888I'm convinced bro making the video just wasn't aware of it, tragic
Daisy is now in Smash Bros, and is a playable character in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a mainline Mario game... Now we just need Waluigi. If they released DLC for Wonder that adds Waluigi I would buy it in an instant.
I still see no incentive for them to actually do that
@@Josuh or maybe they SHOULD do it?
@@Doracake Absolutely, but WHY would they? I just can't see any other reason than western fan outcry
@@Josuh
I think the point is if they don't care about this character, try to add other characters they care about more instead. But if they insist on keeping Waluigi because of fancry, then they should complete their obliged fanservice. Don't just do things in halfway to irritate everybody.
@@Doracake Fair enough, but i don't think they're obliged to fanservice, not really
Honestly as someone who grew up in the N64 era I just assumed Waluigi as always part of the gang, and I liked him because he was the tallest wearing purple and black. I didn't even know that he was a late slapdash edition.
24:15 It’s strange how this did a better job at portraying a tonal shift than Loss.
So glad to see this video come up. It's always been so unfortunate but also somewhat fitting that Waluigi gets disregarded for being a "meme character", when he was also disregarded so early in his history for being a "nothing character". Seems like Waluigi can't impress everyone no matter what he's doing.
I was pretty young but also very invested in Mario back when Mario Tennis had first come out, and you're pretty on the nose overall with his immediate debut; there wasn't much to him and he existed solely to be a doubles partner. There wasn't enough _to_ hate yet, other than the mindset you had brought up in the video of "okay this is getting ridiculous, we don't need an evil version of every character" (And yes, that Waluigi toenail clipping game did exist. I played it. It was literally just "click the toenails to make them go away". Flash games in the 2000s were not much to write home about and it basically existed to make him gross and weird). It feels like every game that came out after that just gave us one or two more little details that would eventually fit together into a full puzzle (oh, he's mischievous and arrogant, oh he cheats to win but also degrades other people for cheating when THEY win, oh he has a rose he pulls out to make himself look fancier, oh he straight up tells you to suck his dick). But now, Waluigi embodies the classic cartoon villain, just like Snidley Whiplash and Dick Dastardly which Matthew Taranto said; that snickering, moustache-twirling, "evil for the sake of evil" sort of character who keeps having their plans and plots blown up in their face due to their short-sighted and arrogant ignorance. Watching that Mario Power Tennis opening with Wario and Waluigi causing trouble together legitimately feels like watching a classic Looney Tunes cartoon; the sort of story where the appeal is taking a couple of characters with just enough defined traits to fit into most any scenario, and to put them in a scenario where they can cause the most trouble.
One thing about Waluigi that I don't see a lot of people talk about is that there is a very specific sweet spot when it comes to a character between "has no character" and "has so much character that everyone knows their personality" in regards to fanworks. If a character has NO character, then anything you depict them doing feels a little out of left field, like "well you could've just made an original character for this". If a character has a TON of character, you have to follow what people expect from them because if they step out of line, they feel out of character. But Waluigi doesn't have enough character to be the latter but has too much character to be the latter. He's got a disparate little list of bullet points that make up his traits, and fans can use that to develop headcanons and fanworks that still feel natural if you just stretch the limits a bit. One of my favorite examples I heard ages ago, and I wish I could remember who left this comment, was that sometimes it feels like Waluigi is Wario's "get-together friend"; he'll happily join Wario for a party night, a day out playing sports, or anything that doesn't take too much attachment, but doing a whole adventure where Wario's jumping on platforms and beating enemies? Nah, that seems like too much trouble. Waluigi would rather stay home for that, but Wario can have fun with it. Call Waluigi next time you want to go go-karting again, that's really more his jam. It puts forth this charming idea of Waluigi as an average domestic guy with specific hobbies and interests being invited to things just like everyone's other friends, and every friend has that level of commitment that makes them go "ehh, I don't think I'll do that, sorry". It also makes me wonder what the FUCK Waluigi was doing during Mario Kart 7 that he didn't take the invite. You know those moments where you're doing a thing with your friends and you all suddenly realize [Specific Friend] didn't show up, even tho they LOVE doing [Thing You're Doing]? I think it's so funny to imagine all the Mario cast hanging out on their go-karts just idly talking like "where's Waluigi? You remembered to invite Waluigi, right? Waluigi loves go-karting, was he busy with something or did something happen? _Is Waluigi okay?"_ Stuff like that is just so endlessly charming to me.
I ain’t reading all that
@@jonathanwells223Your point?
Wait a minute, Wait a minute. It's canon that Waluigi was inspired by Boyacky?! That's awesome! It makes so much sense! If Wa-Peach was fully conceptualized, then it would make sense to do a Doronjo too...but at that point, I guess it would be too obvious.
They actually considered that at one point too with sketches which were quickly rejected.
Waluigi is very special to me.
I was born after Mario Tennis. I grew up with Waluigi already being an established character. He was so cool to me and I loved the duo of Wario & Waluigi. I, like many others, thought they were brothers, and would come up with loads of game ideas about the Mario Bros and the Wario Bros teaming up. I eventually got SM64DS and I spent hours and hours trying to find Waluigi. Some of my favorite childhood memories are spending long hours on phone calls with my friend, talking about our theories on how to get closer to unlocking Waluigi.
I never saw him as a meme, but instead as an awesome character. Then I got Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games on DS, and found out Waluigi and Wario weren't even brothers! It made me even more interesting in who this purple mystery even is.
I grew up and enjoyed the memes, sure, but Waluigi never needed to be a meme to be interesting to me. So when the mid 2010's rolled around and Waluigi was mostly just liked for being a meme, it made me upset. All these people liked Waluigi, but they didn't _really_ like him. They liked him because of the memes. Eventually, the memes started dying down, and there are much more genuine Waluigi fans nowadays. Because of that, the memes much easier to enjoy than they were before.
I feel like if I was an adult at the time Waluigi was created, and as big of a Mario fan as I am today, I might not like his existence very much!
I can definitely see why a lot of people disliked him. I would've loved his design and wacky personality, but the premise would've ticked me off. Introducing a brother for Wario? That's really stupid. But.... I probably would've loved him if I knew the *truth.*
You see, in the west, Waluigi was depicted as Wario's brother. But this was NEVER the case in Japan. In development, Waluigi was designed as Wario's brother, but that was dropped before he was introduced to the world. On the Japanese Mario Tennis website, they even explained Waluigi's backstory. He was just some guy who got jealous watching Mario & Luigi's rise to stardom. He said "I can do that too, just watch me!" and began to train day and night to be better than them. His training got him accepted into the Mario Tennis tournament, and the rest is history. This paints Waluigi as a weird nobody. It implies that his name might not even be Waluigi, but rather a persona he created to fit in. This makes Waluigi one of the most interesting and unique Mario characters. He doesn't have any history with anyone else. He made his own history, and he's still around for it. Him and Wario aren't even friends. They're just sports partners! He has his own identity and his own goals. And it makes me love him all the more.
The point here is NIntendo didn't love him as much as fans do, and I think they should reward fans who've been supporting Waluigi so long with an actual feature game for him.
I think this video explains why Waluigi is typically my Mario Party Main. (And I don’t really avoid him either in Sports Games either.) This guy has always been the schemer of the Mario crew, and while he’s typically seen as an anti-hero for obvious reasons, when he’s useful, he’s real useful.
HOLY SHIT-
I can't believe you actually got THE Matthew Taranto! I remember reading BitF when I was a kid. It feels so cool seeing him nowadays.
He's still making amazing works now! Baby it's Cold Outside is a hilarious take on the... Uh, classic
After that ending.. I totally want to hear Matthew sing a straight-up Waluigi cover of Komm Susser Todd.
As a fun fact within Mario Superstar Baseball's code, Waluigi IS capable of hitting a home run.
There are very specific set ups to make happen. You either need to have Star Swings Off, OR, be out of Stars within your star gauge. If you charge your swing while still holding the R button to Star Swing, make Perfect Contact with the swing. That ball will go SKY HIGH.
Even when Mario, Luigi, and even Wario still have normal coding when it comes to their charge swings, Waluigi still has tricks up his sleeves.
(Granted, this code also implies to all of the Speed Characters, and Most of the Technique Characters, but this originally was discovered with Waluigi within the MSSB Community)
We've gone so many years with game, only for someone named Duckydonne to really put this behavior into the light of the community only recently.
I swear his “let’s go already” line from mkds will live in my head until my grave. That line is so iconic to me.
Same
@@alexanderjackson9239 👍
Now that Charles Martinet has retired, we must petition for Matthew Taronto to become the new voice of Waluigi.
I love the use of roses Waluigi does. It provides this, swav air to him and might as well be a good luck charm since whenever he has it in his mouth, he's in control and does his coolest stuff.
I never thought I'd be crying at a Waluigi video but here I am. Waaaaaaaah
I remember first seeing Waluigi in the demo for Mario Tennis and I loved him immediately. I thought his concept was brilliant and his design was inspired. I was also 10.
Great video. Getting Matthew Taranto to talk about his own contribution to Waluigi's legacy is a major W
W FOR WALUIGI
My first major exposure to Waluigi, what really made me love him for his character, was SMG4's interpretation of him, specifically in the Waluigi Arc.
He was portrayed as the meer assist trophy he was labeled as, but wanted to become a main fighter in the Smash roster. He was told that he couldn't get in due to not having any special abilities that set him apart as a noteworthy character. He was nothing.
But, he found his noteworthy trait: rejection. He was rejected not just by Master Hand (Sakurai), but by the world itself (Nintendo) due to not having any powers. All he had was his rejected self, an empty character with no powers in this world full trait-given characters. However, he was able to harness that rejection and spread that feeling to others.
Unfortunately, when he was accepted as a fighter in Smash, he lost his power of rejection and was kicked out of the fighters role so Batman Joker, funni Block Man, *K A Z U Y A M I S H I M A,* and 'dun dun Dun dun' skeleton can get in instead.
This truly does bring up a question:
Will Waluigi still have his extremely strong cult-following on the Internet if he was ever accepted on Nintendo and given a role in a major Mario game, side character or main?
If Waluigi was no longer Rejected by Nintendo?
TL;DR:
Read the question paragraph section.
Duh, people love all main characters from Mario series. If people ignored Mario ever since he was playable in early games, Mario series would not had got the success.
Oh I loved Waluigi from the start as a kid. I was born in 98, so his slew of appearances came about when I was just getting into video games. As I explored the internet, I saw equal parts praise and disdain for the lanky son of a bitch, and always felt bad that so many people had a negative opinion on him.
Brawl in the Family definitely had a role to play in his popularity rise. Also super cool that Matthew made a cameo! I loved those comics so much and it helped me really gravitate towards Kirby over the years.
Waluigi is a delightful plague upon Nintendo. He’s won so many people over throughout the years with his crazy antics and poor sportsmanship. What was once wanted to leave forever, is now welcomed with open arms.
Let’s just hope his journey doesn’t end here.
Luigi is cowardly. He always feels like something's gonna get him.
Waluigi is paranoid. He thinks EVERYBODY is out to get him.
It's so cool to hear Matthew Taranto provide his insights for this video, did not expect that at all.
Also, now that End of Evangelion shout-out makes sense given the note it ends on.
My brother Waluigi deserves more respect.
I've always cared for this goofball. Compared to Wario who's consumed by greed, Waluigi is motivated by envy. And honestly I don't blame him. Both in the Mushroom Kingdom and IRL he's been looked down upon and never given a chance in the spotlight. And yet his silly antics and inner sadness captivated me. I've played Waluigi since I was a child and he'll always have a special place in my heart. I wanna see him succeed; achieve what everyone thought was impossible. If characters like Luigi, Toadette & (my other favourite Mario character) Daisy could make it so can Waluigi.
Unironically I'll always be a Waluigi fan. Keep going big guy, we got your back.
I was not expecting a Waluigi video to make me tear up this morning. Thank you.
Honestly this video of waluigi reminds me of Big the cat from sonic. Another purple character who was extremely hated in the beginning, then became a meme and had people ironically liking him, and then slowly turned to people legitimately like him. To the point people were actually happy to see him in Frontiers and fish with him.
Uh, people want to to see Big actually having a major role so I don't think NPC role is a sufficient proof.
@@Doracake If Frontiers came out in the early 2000's people would be complaining that Big was there at all. People happy to see him is a definite improvement.
When it comes to Big, big is ok. Hes not as charming to me as Waluigi, but i definitely get the idea.
I think different people are drawn to different characters for all kinds of reasons and that's fine. Sometimes people won't like a character that you do and you shouldn't take it personally or try to change their mind. Just be glad that you can both enjoy something like that in your own way. The exception of course being Waluigi. If you don't like Waluigi you're wrong.
I like the color purple.
that was the entire reason I started liking this character, because what other Nintendo character non-female would be purple?
Nintendo may not appreciate he, but our passion for he is eternal
I'll be pissed if Wario and Waluigi aren't the antagonists of the next Mario movie.
Wario needs to be voiced by danny divito
@@exceedcharge1with Glenn Howerton as Waluigi, Rob McElhenney as Yoshi, and Kaitlin Olsen as Daisy
To be fair, in Mario mainline Bowser Jr has a higher priority than both. I do want to see more main cast covered in next movie but Illumination might not try to do original stories that the games don't want to do.
what a coincidence that this video came out a few days before wapeach was finally shown finally completing that villain trio the Wario Brothers were setting up
Waluigi is so well received nowadays that I genuinely did NOT know he used to be hated until seeing this video
Seeing the thumbnail i was hoping you'd talk about brawl in the family and man im glad you did Matthew is a major reason i love the lanky purple dude
I think the thing that genuinely made me start liking Waluigi as more than the funny meme character was the comic where he gives his own Smash invitation to Daisy, if you know it you know it, but something about it rewired my brain about Waluigi.
Back when annotations were still a thing on this site, I was inspired by someone's usage of the feature to create my own somewhat snarky "co-host" for my LPs. Couldn't just call that character "Anno" though, that's what said inspiration did. So eventually, I settled on "Anthony Orville Tate" as his actual name.
Why does this matter at all? Because unlike the inspiration, I was going to _voice_ this miscreant... and the very first thing I tried sounded _so much_ like Waluigi that I decided "yeah, this is totally Waluigi now". Still kept my initial idea as his "real name" (which I would always insist on calling him, with him always insisting on "Waluigi" instead (yeah, he's such a sad sack that this obvious lame name was his attempt at _improving_ his moniker, and somehow coming up with it _before_ learning of Luigi's existence (hence the hatred))), made his motivation for being on my LPs that he wanted to increase his own popularity, made him initially so _bad_ at singing that (in order to show up the utter _embarrassment_ of his attempt at singing my own theme song) he actually went to get singing lessons in order to come back with him singing his _own_ theme song (sadly never got to show that, though I still remember and can sing all the lyrics), made him the _sole_ victim of an April Fool's video by pretending to actually treat him with kindness...
I even had the idea of him literally trying to take over my channel, only every video would be him singing some self-aggrandizing song... and have that plot be foiled by beating him at the end of Mario Party 3 (with that music _also_ having lyrics)... Never got around to that either sadly...
_sigh_
Suffice it to say, I liked the guy. If I take up LPing again, it'll probably start with the fangame Psycho Waluigi. It's a legitimately good fangame, and fits _far_ too well.
Honestly the next big selling point of the next smash game could just literally be: “WALUIGI IS INCLUDED”, and it would become the best selling smash game within a couple months.
No it wouldn't.
@@DarkOverlord96 haters gonna hate
@@DarkOverlord96 nuh uh
Mario has got quite many characters. We know all Mario main cast will make it in Smash at some point, but Waluigi himself doesn't really mean the main point since he has no difference from Bowser, Rosalina, Birdo or Toadette.
Fans of other game series just want their favorite characters to make it. Waluigi does'nt bring anything else to the purpose of crossover.
This is the biggest W Waluigi has ever gained in his entire life.
One of my favorite types of characters are ones with a flair for the theatrics and Waluigi really fills that role
The lesson I actually take from all this is that game journalism has barely improved in over two decades. lol
I think a lot of people forget that well made characters don't always emerge straight off the bat, they usually take time to estabish both their personality and design.
For those looking for music, all songs, in order of appearance, can be found in this pastebin link:
pastebin.com/F0KaAXfc
You should have mentioned the shockingly good and high effort fan game about waluigi.
Great game.
The Psycho-Waluigi one, or is there another?
"When the world cheats you... cheat them back." -The Great Waa-lospher Waluigi
I was introduced to Waluigi and Wario and other characters in Mario Kart Wii and other games. Mario kart Wii also introduced me to other characters like Donkeykong,Daisy,King Boo,ect.
How Ironic that 6 days later concept art for a WaPeach show up and she got almost universally loved right from the get-go while some people were weirded out with her cute appearance they managed to roll with the punches
Its really fun to see Waluigi's growing popularity. I was a little kid in the early 00s and, for some reason, I really liked him. To the point that when my friends and I in grade school tried to make our own Mario cardgame, I immediately started making Waluigi and other Wa-characters.
For the longest time, I didn't really get all the Waluigi love (I never really played the spinoff games much). I never really cared enough about him to do anything other than make a snide remark about how I hope he never makes it into Smash.
This video has given me a new perspective on this purple freak, and has really made me appreciate him. I hope he gets his own game, or a major appearance in a new Wario or Mario game.
Fantastic video as always. Personally, I've always never minded Waluigi all that much, but Smash Bros and main-line Mario games aren't where he should be... YET! I think he'll get there eventually, but until that time comes, there's one other place outside of sports, parties and karts where he can shine... WARIO'S GAMES! I feel like he should be added to Wario Land and Warioware. The fact that he's still not in either series is surprising since we've never had a Wario Land game with multiplayer, and there's got to be plenty of good ideas for micro-games for him to host. (Plus, that fancy Mario Golf Super Rush golf outfit he had would be a great carry-over for him to join the cast of Diamond City.) I have NEVER understood why Nintendo hasn't thought to add Waluigi to either of Wario's two main series, especially since he's the character who is most associated to Wario! (It would also strengthen his connection to Wario's other friends, which is good since it's been said that everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom hates him, and aside from that, by putting him into Wario's games, this would be a chance for Nintendo to actually do something with him!) If a new Wario Land game ever got made, Waluigi joining the adventure would be a huge deal cause so many people would lose their minds getting to play a game with Waluigi in it that isn’t a Sports/Kart/Party title.
I'm even going to argue that Waluigi still not making it in Smash is very much helping that "everybody is being happy but not me, it's so unfair" mindset. Not only he was never in his own game serie or outside of the mainline games, but on top of that, he's only an Assist Trophy when there's clearly potential for him to join the casting all by himself. Waluigi is getting the shorter end of the stick by Nintendo as well as by the world he takes shape in, and I love that.
The only thing I believe is outrageous is that we still don't see Waluigi trying to cheat his way into a game or anything like that, which will make me upset for a long time.
I'm so happy to see Taranto is alive and well, I remember he had a major health scare.
My first game with Waluigi was through Mario Party 4, but I liked him before that just from character design alone. I hadn't played Mario Tennis, but just looking at him I thought he was hilarious. I already loved Luigi and Daisy, so of course I loved Waluigi! Nintendo caring so little about him let the 3rd party developers come together to keep building him better and better, never getting stuck in place like the others or slowly smoothed out. As much as I want to see him in main games, I'm kinda glad he is where he is. He feels like the Nintendo character that's of the fans and for the fans, in a way, and I don't want that removed.
Yes, but now NIntendo really need to reward Waluigi fans some actual treats, like Waluigi's actual feature games.
Smash fans: waluigi is only wanted for a meme
Also smash fans: can we have goku plz
One must imagine Waluigi happy.
Holy crap, you have taste for using brawl-in- the-family’s Waluigi
Edit: never have I expected for the creator of the webcomic to pop up
Great video! This also kinda makes me want to see a character analysis of Wario, especially after hearing your thoughts on how his portrayal in smash has influenced his public perception
Honestly, I'll be fine if he never appears in a proper game. He's our superstar.
OG Waluigi fans before brawl in the Family were so rare I thought I was the only one.
I always loved how awkward looking Waluigi was in mario kart DS, the guy was so lanky he could barely fit in any kart, his legs folded awkwardly and jutting out to the side just so he could see where he was going. This extends even to his own karts! This goofiness just made it all the more fun to play as him in grand Prix or versus because he was an insult to everyone he beat as all other characters have a clear view of the track but Waluigi has to bend his legs just to see where he is going, so it's like racing someone wearing a blindfold, plus him practically dabbing every time he hits an opponent with an item is funny too. He flexes to turn and drift exerting more effort into basic tasks there purely because of his height which just made him a lovable goofball to me.(I know he's not the one technically driving in game but these extra exertions are still funny to me)
This video makes me wanna listen Matthew’s videos again
Also can we have the outro song as a video please? 👀
I love the song parodies. Pretty much the most Waluigi I've gotten.
I would always pair Waluigi with Luigi in whatever pair thing I could. They were both always my favorite of the duos they were in.
I love how Waluigi managed to fall ass-backwards into becoming a sort of Bugs Bunny in an entire world of Elmers and Daffys: Lanky, goofy, cartoon physics manipulating, just taking the raw confidence of Bugs and replacing it with an inversion of just... Oddly tragic self-doubt.
Waluigi is my go to character alongside Rosalina for Mario spin-off games. He's geniunely peak.
I first saw waluigi in Mario party 3, I didnt know who he was or where he came from, but I immediately fell in love with the weirdo!
great video, the dissection of the birthday strip was genuinely beautifu l. hope to see more
Waluigi was my main in Mario Kart DS, also my introduction to him. His three wheeled motorbike, his odd medium/heavy kart weight, Waluigi pinball being one of the best tracks in the game, as well as best soundtrack. All the love for the lanky purple guy.
I love my boy. Unironically. Always have. There's much I could say about him but you've already said most of it.
Great video man!
_Wah!_
Bravo! I loved Waluigi in the GC Mario Tennis game. I didn't know what to think of him then, but he's grown on me as a Wario foil. They need to include him in a main line game! #YearofWaluigi when?!
“Aigis crushing on Luigi” is not something I expected today, but I guess that’s on me
Also, if they ever give us a Waluigi game, my hope would be for gameplay that hinges on “cheating” at what it first SEEMS like the games wants you to do, and creating a more fun game challenge because of it
For example, a maze with countless dead ends? Just use Bob-Bombs to blast holes in the wall.
I won't lie, I just heard myself say the phrase "I guess" and thought it vaguely sounded like "Aigis". So I looked for a vocal line of Aigis saying something like "I'm flattered" or something similar. Instead I stumbled on that, and I knew I had to commit on the incredibly low chance I would create Aigis/Luigi art out of it.
@@DesigningFortruly, an agent of Chaos Waluigi himself would approve of
I really hope that Waluigi escapes being a spin-off only character and starts getting involved with Wario's business whether it be through WarioWare or a new Wario Land game.
Maybe a pseudo puzzle adventure where he CHEATS puzzles to win.
“That’s a nice maze you’ve got there. Would be a shame if someone used Bob-bombs to blow holes in the walls to get thru instead”
@@RivLabs
Sort of, yeah. Just making it a bit more obvious to players that they’re supposed to find ways to NOT solve the puzzle, since the target audience will include more kids that take things at face value
Nah, make him appear in an actual Mario platformer he has no reason to stick around with Wario they aren't friends.
Waluigi is the video game equivalent of dr doofenshmirtz
No, he's literally the videogame equivalent of Yatterman's Boyakki, didn't you see this video?
Dr. Doofenshmirtz is the ironic, post-modernist view of Waluigi and is disappointing as that description entails. Doofenshmirtz is not anything and can never be anything because he was specifically created to be nothing. Waluigi was only just ahead of his time and became an icon in his own right through his sheer bravado and the sheer fucking force of will of his fans.
@@jonathanwells223 ahead of his time? We literally had a waluigi since 1975
Imagine the universe where we got captain syrup from wario land instead of waluigi. If they brought back daisy they could’ve done the same with captain syrup.
Maybe, except why would Wario have been doubling up with his enemy at that time. That'd be liek Mario willingly choosing Bowser as his partner.
@@ShyRanger you keep your friends close and your enemies closer, plus it could be explained that they came to a truce over money and fame
I was completely unaware that Waluigi was ever hated. Even as a kid who had Mario Tennis when it came out, I didn't really have any problems with him.
He was my main in Mario Party DS, I thought he was _cool._
Appreciate the video bro and bringing light to a character that definitely needs it
I've always loved Waluigi from the start, he's my personal favorite Mario character and it's a pleasure to see him get so much appreciation! I still hope one of these days he'll appear in some main title but I'm still very grateful he manage to make so many appearances, practically making him a staple to the franchise as a whole.
I'm old enough to remember when Waluigi was introduced, I was one of those who at first didn't like him, I thought he was too gimmicky and the name made zero sense. I was a really little kid at the time, like 4 or 5 years old, but I remember saying "that's a backwards 7, it doesn't look like a wall to me", over time I warmed up to him. He's gimmicky and goofy, a complete ineffectual sap, and that's what makes him so endearing! The very things that made him look bad early on became his charm later on.
Waluigi never bothered me. He was just another character to me