I like Luigi as a character. I’m just coming out and saying it. Not everyone gets their own month on my blog you know. I realize that doesn’t mean a lot right now, but later on it will hopefully mean a lot more. The point is I think that he deserves some attention and so I decided to give him some. Throughout all of the jokes I attempted and the ramblings I gave since nowadays I consider sleep to be optional, I was trying to look out for number two. So I tried to give some thoughts on the man in green to spread some awareness you see. However, there is one thing that I have been trying to avoid when talking about Luigi and that is his relationship with Mario. I am not talking about them being brothers; everybody should already be aware of that fact. I am referring to how that relationship ultimately affects Luigi in his appearances. Typically Mario is the one holding the spotlight and Luigi can hope for second fiddle at best. Heck, sometimes he doesn’t even get a mention at all. Where was he in Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine? Does it matter? Apparently not, so why even mention it? The only green that deserves to be there is the dinosaur that somehow gets even less respect than Luigi. Although even with all Yoshi does have something that Luigi does not have. Yoshi has a standalone game. In fact he has several different standalone games with the most recent being Yoshi’s Crafted World. Now you may be thinking that Luigi does have standalone games and that I should know this considering I spent the last blog post talking about the Luigi’s Mansion series. That’s fair. However what isn’t fair is the fact that Luigi can’t have one standalone title that has nothing to do with Mario.
The main problem with the relationship of the two being brothers is that the relationship doesn’t feel equal. With Mario he gets to do whatever and then someone will say that Luigi is also here. In fact my friend even showed me a meme where a Toad says “…Oh, Luigi came too, Super.” There’s being the butt of a joke and then there is just being insulting. As long as Mario is here the poor guy can’t seem to catch a break. Whereas when Luigi is in charge, things usually end up becoming about Mario. The first game to have Luigi in a starring role is a game called Mario is Missing! And I think that I don’t have to delve any deeper to relay that the main focus wasn’t on Luigi. It could have probably been any other character and the game would not have changed in any way. The only reason Luigi got the role is because he is Mario’s brother. They at least made him have a unique selling point in the Luigi’s Mansion series, but he still ends up having to rescue Mario each time. I’m starting to think that Mario games can’t get cleared for release unless there is at least one kidnapping in it. Maybe Nintendo should have a nice therapy session or something to work out some issues. Although at least it makes sense in Luigi’s Mansion and Luigi’s Mansion 3 since the whereabouts of Mario and the others are the only reason why Luigi doesn’t just peace out and take a better vacation. What boggles my mind is why is Mario captured in the second game? Your main goal for the game is to piece together the dark moon so that the ghosts don’t run rampant and take over the world. That works fine enough on its own as a story. We don’t even find out he was captured until the end of the game so why even bother? If you needed a kidnapping, you already had it with E. Gadd kidnapping Luigi from his house at the beginning of the game. Did King Boo do it as leverage or something? To this day I can’t figure it out. All I know it that it was entirely unnecessary to the overall story.
Look I am not trying to hate on Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. After all that game is really fun and it gives Luigi a dog at the end so you can’t be mad at it. The problem is that Luigi seems to not be able to have a solo adventure without Mario being involved. Well, that’s not entirely true. Back in 2013 during the Year of Luigi, Nintendo released a DLC for their game New Super Mario Bros. U. It was called New Super Luigi U. Basically all they did was replace Mario Bros. with Luigi and called it a new game. Of course there are some differences such as the shorter and more challenging levels and the arrival of Nabbit as a playable character. What is Nabbit you may ask? Truth be told I have no idea. I know he steal items and is good at running but that doesn’t really narrow things down for me. Also he seems to be a purple rabbit, but sometimes I wonder if that is really true. No matter what he is, he is the replacement for Mario as a playable character because Mario is not in the game due to Luigi having the player one spot. I wonder if he just decided not to be in the game because he didn’t get his usual spot. I hope he isn’t actually that petty. More likely he decided to take a vacation from saving Peach from Bowser every other Tuesday. And so we have it where Luigi is able to have a game where Mario is not in it, so long as it takes the same assets and story and shuffles things around a little. So there’s that I guess. I just think he could maybe get a fully-fleshed out game sometimes. And being honest, I don’t really mind Mario being in the Luigi’s Mansion series, so long as it means something. I just want Nintendo to be a little more aware of the cliché that I have noticed. That’s all. Not that they’ll read this, but at least I tried Luigi. I did my best. Now hopefully since I have talked about Luigi so much, then a new Luigi game should be in the works. That’s how it works right? Anyway, we have one more themed month of the year. I’ll see you next month for Metroid month. And for the record, I will only be covering Metroid main series games. Metroid: Other M will be a next year problem.
That Casual Gamer Guy 