The game that made Luigi Luigi

Post-Damage Invincibility

Post-Damage Invincibility

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Take a look at my signature. We can agree that SMAll-Star+SMW, the first remake of Super Mario World, made Luigi Luigi (in terms of apperance and unique abilities). It made him more than just a green colored sprite of Mario. It gave him life and abilities of his own. But what game do you think made Luigi Luigi in terms of personality? I've heard some say Luigi's Mansion, but I think it was before then probably...what do you guys think?
 
What about SMB2? This game really kicked off Luigi's depiction as the taller and thinner Mario brother (though the redesign of Luigi took a while to be implemented in later games).
SMB2_Luigi.PNG


Both this game and SMB: LL also showed off Luigi's higher jumps as well (a characteristic of the character).
 
How can Dorayaki totally derail the topic in just one post? Anyway, Mario Is Missing spawned the omnipresent "Weegee" meme, so it's no contest.
 
Cap'n Falcon said:
How can Dorayaki totally derail the topic in just one post?
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Sorry did I misread? It's about why Luigi isn't differentiated from Mario in SMB, though I mainly thought about abilities.
 
Dorayaki said:
Cap'n Falcon said:
How can Dorayaki totally derail the topic in just one post?
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Sorry did I misread? It's about why Luigi isn't differentiated from Mario in SMB, though I mainly thought about abilities.
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Nah, it has to do with when and how Luigi was differentiated, not why.

Though you were closer this time than you were in some other threads.
 
You got to realize at the time Luigi was created Miyamoto didn't care to give him a distinct look or personality. In fact Luigi's lean look wasn't even his idea!

It was just a coincidence that when Doki Doki Panic was to be made a Mario game that the character Lina (who was tall and jumped high) was used to be Luigi. Imagine if they used Papa instead? Luigi would have been the shorter stouter brother!
 
Koopaul said:
You got to realize at the time Luigi was created Miyamoto didn't care to give him a distinct look or personality. In fact Luigi's lean look wasn't even his idea!

It was just a coincidence that when Doki Doki Panic was to be made a Mario game that the character Lina (who was tall and jumped high) was used to be Luigi. Imagine if they used Papa instead? Luigi would have been the shorter stouter brother!
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They used Mama for Luigi. Lina was the one who floated.
 
For personality, I daresay that Nintendo borrowed Luigi's personality from the cartoons. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show was the first time Luigi was a self-conscious, hesitant person.
 
Koopaul said:
You got to realize at the time Luigi was created Miyamoto didn't care to give him a distinct look or personality. In fact Luigi's lean look wasn't even his idea!

It was just a coincidence that when Doki Doki Panic was to be made a Mario game that the character Lina (who was tall and jumped high) was used to be Luigi. Imagine if they used Papa instead? Luigi would have been the shorter stouter brother!
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Sometimes we must be thankful when history works out for the best. What you just described would have been horrible.
 
Post-Damage Invincibility said:
Koopaul said:
You got to realize at the time Luigi was created Miyamoto didn't care to give him a distinct look or personality. In fact Luigi's lean look wasn't even his idea!

It was just a coincidence that when Doki Doki Panic was to be made a Mario game that the character Lina (who was tall and jumped high) was used to be Luigi. Imagine if they used Papa instead? Luigi would have been the shorter stouter brother!
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Sometimes we must be thankful when history works out for the best. What you just described would have been horrible.
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Exactly. The other characters are Imajin, Lina and Papa.

Imajin: Luigi would have been the main character (except that Mario is) and would be all around.
Lina: He'd be weak, slow, not good at jumping, and floating everywhere.
Papa: He'd be the fast, strong, bad jumper.

Good thing he was Mama instead. Not that I'm saying Luigi and Toad are married and that their kids are Mario and Peach. That would be weird.
 
A lot of things really.

As stated SMB2 really got the momentem going, later brought back in super mario all stars + world where Luigi design changed.

You also must consider the factor of Super Mario Bros Super Show.

Where Mario was short and chubby, but brave. While Luigi was Tall and thin, but a bit of a coward(design from smb2 yeah), lots of personallity went into that show and really changed opinions on the bros.

I think it later hit off with some spinoffs though, Paper Mario made some impact, and then we got Luigis mansion where it REAAAAAAAAAALY took off.

So yeah a lot of factors.

Plus he's green so instant awesome.

Sometimes we must be thankful when history works out for the best. What you just described would have been horrible.
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Very true, doki doki panic really hit some spots in design. Kinda... random too.
 
Luigi's look was established in Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES. Of course, Super Mario Bros. 3 and the first Super Mario World ignored his look in that game in favor of making him a continued Mario clone, but like you said, it wasn't until Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World that they started incorporating Luigi's tall look and better jumping capabilities into the game, probably because the compelation game included Super Mario Bros. 2 and they wanted to be consistent.

As for personality, first glimpses at who he might be were noticed in Paper Mario, although the character here (and in every subsequent Paper Mario game, for that matter) is pretty different from his ultimate characterization. Here, in Luigi's diary, it established that he was afraid of ghosts. Even though this seems like a generic fear that many other characters in the game share, this sort of stuck when it came to Luigi's Mansion which, as you said, pretty much solidified Luigi's personality as a lovable coward. But even though this is the first game to really nail that aspect of his personality, I think it's the Mario & Luigi series that really took that part of him and ran with it, usually for the sake of comedy. Luigi was ALWAYS reluctant to go anywhere he perceived as dangerous, which is understandable if you're a normal person, but just kind of makes you look back next to the more couorageous Mario...

This game also contradicts Luigi's personality in the Paper Mario games. In those games, Luigi was kind of obsessed with joining Mario on his journeys, and being as well-known as his brother, whereas in the Mario & Luigi games, Luigi's perfectly fine with just sticking around at home while Mario goes out adventuring, though he IS resentful of not getting any credit when he DOES go out adventuring (I'm looking at you Peach, Mario and the babies my ass, Luigi's helped out too, you ungrateful bitch).

Oh, and then there's the whole "accepting death/he's in the Underwhere" in Super Paper Mario, which is so calm and out-of-character for someone as panicy as Luigi, I'm almost CONVINCED that it's not the same person.

I'm also reminded of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! , where Luigi's portrayal was kind of a more reserved version of the Luigi we know today, a bit cowardly, reluctant to take part in anything dangerous and, something that isn't brought up often enough in the game, a guy with a bit more common sense. Yeah, courage is one thing, but Mario has a tendency to jump head-first into dangerous situations, usually without a plan or strategy other than "jump on anything that moves". Luigi, at the very least, has some survival instincts and uses caution, even if it only serves to make him look bad next to his brother.

So... Yeah, that's how I see Luigi's character. Basically, he's whatever the game needs him to be, but the lovable coward seems to be the most common interation, and I like that. :)
 
Technically, (though no one else has ever seen it this way), you can see Luigi as starting out not only as an identical sprite with different colors, but even as a 100% identical (including color) clone in Donkey Kong Jr. If anyone remembers; TWO Marios hoist up DK Sr. and begin moving the cage across the screen, and then the one pulling disappears off the left edge of the screen, so that only the one that was pushing remains, who becomes the antagonist of the game.

This should really be considered the first incarnation of a Mario "brother" in the canon.
So then in Mario Bros. the brother begins taking on his own identity with his own colors, and then in SMB2 (both versions) takes on differing jumping ability, and in the cartoon takes on a different body profile and personality (which is basically what has come down to us in the present).
 
Eric B said:
Technically, (though no one else has ever seen it this way), you can see Luigi as starting out not only as an identical sprite with different colors, but even as a 100% identical (including color) clone in Donkey Kong Jr. If anyone remembers; TWO Marios hoist up DK Sr. and begin moving the cage across the screen, and then the one pulling disappears off the left edge of the screen, so that only the one that was pushing remains, who becomes the antagonist of the game.

This should really be considered the first incarnation of a Mario "brother" in the canon.
So then in Mario Bros. the brother begins taking on his own identity with his own colors, and then in SMB2 (both versions) takes on differing jumping ability, and in the cartoon takes on a different body profile and personality (which is basically what has come down to us in the present).
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That's... I dunno about that. But I disagree with the opinion stated that earlier RPG's contradicted Luigi's later-established personality. The Luigi in Paper Mario could be considered just as cowardly (scared of ghosts when he had already faced Boos), but still wanted to go adventuring with Mario. Perhaps while still a coward, he did not see his brother's adventure in Paper Mario as being as dangerous as the one he saw he would face in MaLSuperStarSaga.
 
Post-Damage Invincibility said:
Eric B said:
Technically, (though no one else has ever seen it this way), you can see Luigi as starting out not only as an identical sprite with different colors, but even as a 100% identical (including color) clone in Donkey Kong Jr. If anyone remembers; TWO Marios hoist up DK Sr. and begin moving the cage across the screen, and then the one pulling disappears off the left edge of the screen, so that only the one that was pushing remains, who becomes the antagonist of the game.

This should really be considered the first incarnation of a Mario "brother" in the canon.
So then in Mario Bros. the brother begins taking on his own identity with his own colors, and then in SMB2 (both versions) takes on differing jumping ability, and in the cartoon takes on a different body profile and personality (which is basically what has come down to us in the present).
Click to expand...
That's... I dunno about that. But I disagree with the opinion stated that earlier RPG's contradicted Luigi's later-established personality. The Luigi in Paper Mario could be considered just as cowardly (scared of ghosts when he had already faced Boos), but still wanted to go adventuring with Mario. Perhaps while still a coward, he did not see his brother's adventure in Paper Mario as being as dangerous as the one he saw he would face in MaLSuperStarSaga.
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I don't know, I still see Paper Luigi and M&L Luigi as two different Luigi's. Paper Luigi seems to be a braggard and wants glory for himself, and his fear of ghosts is only touched on in what can only be called an Easter Egg. As I've said before, the key moment that proves this is in Super Paper Mario, where Luigi, while characteristically cowering about not knowing where he is is told he's in the Underwhere, namely, the place people go where their "games are over", in other words, HELL! ...And Luigi's all like "Okay."

Seriously, his reaction is so calm and nonchalant that I can NOT see him as the same Luigi that cowers and runs away at the sign of any giant monster that turns up, and gets so freaking emotional whenever he's seperated from Mario, or inside the belly of a giant alien Yoshi.
 
After all, to most characters I think only actual stories (RPG, etc) can make one's personality. What the topic mentioned like abilities is another thing, because Luigi is restricted to be the second multiplayer, not a choosable character with different abilities.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
Post-Damage Invincibility said:
Eric B said:
Technically, (though no one else has ever seen it this way), you can see Luigi as starting out not only as an identical sprite with different colors, but even as a 100% identical (including color) clone in Donkey Kong Jr. If anyone remembers; TWO Marios hoist up DK Sr. and begin moving the cage across the screen, and then the one pulling disappears off the left edge of the screen, so that only the one that was pushing remains, who becomes the antagonist of the game.

This should really be considered the first incarnation of a Mario "brother" in the canon.
So then in Mario Bros. the brother begins taking on his own identity with his own colors, and then in SMB2 (both versions) takes on differing jumping ability, and in the cartoon takes on a different body profile and personality (which is basically what has come down to us in the present).
Click to expand...
That's... I dunno about that. But I disagree with the opinion stated that earlier RPG's contradicted Luigi's later-established personality. The Luigi in Paper Mario could be considered just as cowardly (scared of ghosts when he had already faced Boos), but still wanted to go adventuring with Mario. Perhaps while still a coward, he did not see his brother's adventure in Paper Mario as being as dangerous as the one he saw he would face in MaLSuperStarSaga.
Click to expand...
I don't know, I still see Paper Luigi and M&L Luigi as two different Luigi's. Paper Luigi seems to be a braggard and wants glory for himself, and his fear of ghosts is only touched on in what can only be called an Easter Egg. As I've said before, the key moment that proves this is in Super Paper Mario, where Luigi, while characteristically cowering about not knowing where he is is told he's in the Underwhere, namely, the place people go where their "games are over", in other words, HELL! ...And Luigi's all like "Okay."

Seriously, his reaction is so calm and nonchalant that I can NOT see him as the same Luigi that cowers and runs away at the sign of any giant monster that turns up, and gets so freaking emotional whenever he's seperated from Mario, or inside the belly of a giant alien Yoshi.
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When Mario found him he was hiding in a corner
 
I know, I mentioned that, that STILL doesn't change the fact that his reaction to where he is is WAY too calm for someone like him!

Cowering because you don't know where you are is one thing, but acting fine when you find out YOU MIGHT HAVE DIED is something else all together.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
I know, I mentioned that, that STILL doesn't change the fact that his reaction to where he is is WAY too calm for someone like him!

Cowering because you don't know where you are is one thing, but acting fine when you find out YOU MIGHT HAVE DIED is something else all together.
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Perhaps he's finally used to that sort of thing after all of these years.
 
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