

After spending years as a palette swap of his brother, Luigi has consistently been given his own graphics since Super Mario Kart in 1992 to match his official appearance as Mario's taller, younger brother though the American release of Super Mario Bros. Gameplay differences between him and Mario were first seen in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which have been carried over into future games and have become standard for the character. Since his debut in 1983, Luigi has been constantly developing. With the 2-player mode in mind, Nintendo and publishing companies such as Atari gave Luigi immediate publicity, making him the star and center of attention in many advertisements for the game. Coincidentally, his name was also noted to be similar to the Japanese word 「類似」 ( ruiji), meaning "similar", possibly a reference to how Luigi was originally a simple palette swap of Mario. Like Mario, Luigi received his name from Nintendo of America. Their answer to Joust's stork-riding player 2 was Luigi, a younger twin brother to Mario, with whom he could compete or cooperate. After observing the two-player competitive and cooperative gameplay of the arcade game Joust, he and Shigeru Miyamoto wished to incorporate a similar style of gameplay into their game. Luigi was created when Gunpei Yokoi set out to produce Mario Bros. However, as Luigi established himself throughout the Super Mario franchise, he gained his own identity as a character. He went on to gain a different color and be used to facilitate a second-player option. for the Game & Watch marks his first appearance, in which he is an exact copy of Mario. Despite this, Luigi has helped and fought alongside his brother on many occasions. Throughout his life, he has lived in Mario's shadow, developing both cowardly and heroic tendencies. Luigi is Mario's younger but taller twin brother, the secondary protagonist of the Super Mario franchise, and the main protagonist of the Luigi's Mansion series. “Eek! No one told me there would be gh-gh-ghosts here! I wish I'd brought my Poltergust 3000 with me.” - Luigi, Fortune Street For his infant counterpart, see Baby Luigi. For the portrayal of Luigi in the Super Mario Bros. This article is about Mario's younger brother from the Super Mario franchise.
