# Waluigi

> Waluigi is a Nintendo character from Mario Tennis (2000) who became an internet meme and symbol of underdog rejection after his exclusion from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018).

Waluigi is a character from Nintendo's Super Mario franchise who became one of the internet's most beloved meme subjects despite being a minor spin-off character with no starring role in any game. First appearing in Mario Tennis in 2000 as a doubles partner for Wario, his exaggerated features, self-pitying personality, and perpetual exclusion from major Nintendo titles turned him into a symbol of the underdog online. The meme culture around Waluigi peaked in 2018 when his exclusion from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's playable roster sparked a massive wave of fan outrage, jokes, and creative content that pushed him from niche Nintendo fandom into mainstream internet fame.

## Origin
Waluigi was created during the development of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, released in 2000[1]. Fumihide Aoki at Camelot Software designed the character because Wario needed a doubles partner and there weren't enough human characters in the Mario roster. Shigeru Miyamoto was consulted on the design[4]. The name comes from a pun on "warui," the Japanese word for "bad," combined with "Luigi," literally making him "Bad Luigi"[1]. His Japanese name (ワルイージ, Waruīji) is also an anagram of "ijiwaru," which means mean-spirited or nasty[4].

The character's visual design drew inspiration from Boyacky and Tonzura of the Doronbo Gang in the Yatterman anime series[1]. His lean physique was intentional, creating a visual contrast with the stocky Wario. Yōichi Kotabe at Nintendo decided the symbol on his hat should be an upside-down "L," mirroring how Wario's "W" inverts Mario's "M"[1].

From the start, reception was mixed. GamesRadar called him a "lame-o villain"[15], and in 2008, Cracked ranked him number three on their list of "The 15 Most Annoying Video Game Characters," criticizing Nintendo for just putting "wa" in front of Luigi and stretching him out[2]. Kotaku editor Mike Fahey piled on, calling Waluigi his most annoying video game character of all time[4].

- **Platform:** Nintendo games (source character), forums / webcomics / DeviantArt (meme spread)
- **Creator:** Fumihide Aoki (character designer), Matthew Taranto (popularized via Brawl in the Family webcomic)
- **Date:** 2000 (character debut), ~2008-2009 (meme emergence)

## Overview
Waluigi is a tall, lanky, purple-clad villain from the Mario universe, designed as Luigi's rival in the same way Wario mirrors Mario. He's recognizable by his thin frame, pointed pink nose, crooked mustache, and the inverted "L" symbol on his purple cap[1]. His personality revolves around self-pity, jealousy, and a desperate need for attention, traits that voice actor Charles Martinet described as the "cornerstone of his character"[3].

As a meme, Waluigi works on multiple levels. His exaggerated facial expressions and physical features make him perfect for image edits and reaction images[5]. His catchphrase "WAH!" and the fan-created "Too bad. Waluigi time" have taken on lives of their own. Most importantly, his status as a character who never gets his own game, never appears in mainline Mario titles, and was repeatedly snubbed from Super Smash Bros. makes him deeply relatable to anyone who's ever felt overlooked[19].

## How It Spread
The earliest organized Waluigi fandom appeared on DeviantArt, where the Walu-club group formed as one of the first dedicated communities, gathering nearly 500 members who shared fan art ranging from action scenes to portraits of the character drinking coffee[2]. Waluigi shipping groups like RosalinaXWaluigiCLUB and Waluigi-Daisy-fans also cropped up on DeviantArt[4].

The first major meme moment came on April 1, 2009, when webcomic artist Matthew Taranto had Waluigi "take over" his Super Smash Bros. webcomic Brawl in the Family, renaming it "Waluigi in the Family" as an April Fool's joke[10]. The takeover featured 17 absurdist comics in Waluigi's voice and introduced the now-iconic catchphrase "Too bad. Waluigi time"[4]. Waluigi became a recurring character in the webcomic after that, appearing in 47 total comics and hijacking every subsequent April Fool's event[4].

Tumblr saw its own wave of Waluigi content starting around 2012. Ask blogs like "Ask Waluigi" and "WAAAAAAAH" impersonated the character, posting artwork, answering fan questions in-character, and sharing memes[4]. The character's over-the-top voice and appearance made him particularly well-suited to the platform's absurdist humor.

In 2012, a fourth-grade student from Alberta, Canada named Sam Daly won a national writing contest with "Ode to Waluigi," a 27-line poem praising the villain's cleverness. Judge Sheryl McFarlane liked the poem for "making a hero out of an oft-ignored secondary character, something all of us feel like sometimes"[2]. The win was covered as a novelty story and became another data point in the growing "Waluigi as lovable underdog" narrative[4].

March 2013 brought Waluigi's crotch chop GIF to Reddit. User designty posted an animation from the Mario Strikers series showing Waluigi making an X gesture over his crotch after scoring a goal. The post hit r/gaming and pulled over 14,000 upvotes and 500 comments[2]. The game's director Mike Inglehart later explained the team at Next Level Games wanted to make Waluigi "a bit edgier than Wario," and that when they presented the taunt to Nintendo, "nobody batted an eye"[1].

In August 2014, ROM hacker russmarrs2 released a mod replacing Link with Waluigi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[14]. The mod, which swapped both child and adult Link models with a Waluigi model, was covered by IGN[14], Polygon[13], Kotaku[12], and Dorkly. Young Link as a tiny Waluigi looked "wonderfully ridiculous," as Polygon put it[13].

July 2017 marked Waluigi's biggest pre-Smash viral moment when James Nielssen posted an 18-second mashup of Waluigi and DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" on Twitter[2]. The clip plastered Waluigi's face onto Khaled and Rihanna in the music video and racked up over 95,000 likes and 54,000 retweets. When the Daily Dot asked Nielssen about the video's success, his explanation was simply: "Waluigi thicc af"[2].

## How to Use
Waluigi memes come in several formats:

**Catchphrase memes:** Drop "WAH!" or "Too bad. Waluigi time" into any context where someone gets snubbed, ignored, or shows up uninvited. The phrases work as reaction text or image captions.

**Smash exclusion memes:** Take any "Everyone Is Here" type scenario and point out who's missing. Swap Waluigi into group photos, team rosters, or invitations. The joke typically hinges on a character or person being conspicuously left out.

**Reaction images:** Waluigi's exaggerated expressions from Mario Tennis and Mario Strikers games provide ready-made reactions for jealousy, frustration, scheming, and self-pity[5]. The crotch chop GIF from Mario Strikers works as a victory taunt.

**Crossover edits:** Insert Waluigi into other media. Replace movie characters, album covers, or game protagonists with his model. The more prestigious the source material, the better the joke lands.

**Underdog solidarity:** Use Waluigi as a stand-in for anyone overlooked or passed over. Works for job rejections, social snubs, or being left off a group text.

## Cultural Impact
Waluigi crossed over from gaming niche to mainstream internet culture primarily through the 2018 Smash Bros. controversy. Major outlets including Polygon[6], Mashable[7], and the Daily Dot[2] covered the backlash as a genuine cultural event. Netflix's fake documentary tweet about Waluigi's "tragedy" showed that even major brands recognized his meme status[6].

The character's appeal reached academia adjacent circles when Sam Daly's "Ode to Waluigi" won a Canadian national children's writing contest in 2012, with judges praising the choice of celebrating "an oft-ignored secondary character"[2]. Multiple gaming publications ran lengthy analysis pieces treating Waluigi as a legitimate subject for character study[8][9].

Waluigi's voice actor Charles Martinet became a de facto advocate for the character, repeatedly expressing his desire for a Waluigi-centric game where cheating is the core mechanic[11]. The gap between Martinet's enthusiasm and Nintendo's refusal to give Waluigi a starring role only deepened the character's underdog mythology.

On TV Tropes, Waluigi earned both an Ensemble Darkhorse listing and a self-demonstrating article written entirely in his voice[16], a distinction usually reserved for far more prominent characters. The site's "Hostile Show Takeover" trope page even references him directly[4].

## Fun Facts
- Waluigi's name works as a double pun. In Japanese, it combines "warui" (bad) with "Ruigi" (Luigi), and "Waruīji" is also an anagram of "ijiwaru," meaning cruel or mean-spirited[4].
- The upside-down "L" on Waluigi's cap doubles as the uppercase Greek letter Gamma. Gameranx's analysis connected this to probability theory and maximum entropy, calling it a fitting symbol for a character defined by chaos[9].
- Charles Martinet voiced Waluigi for over two decades (2000-2022) before stepping into a new role as "Mario Ambassador" at Nintendo[1].
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launched with 74 fighters and expanded to 89 through DLC. Waluigi was not among any of them[19].
- An early concept for Waluigi's hat featured a "W" symbol, but since that matched Wario's hat, Yōichi Kotabe changed it to an inverted "L" as a mirror of Luigi[1].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Waluigi?
Waluigi is a villain character from Nintendo's Super Mario franchise, recognizable by his tall, thin frame, purple outfit, and crooked mustache. He debuted in Mario Tennis (2000) as Wario's doubles partner and Luigi's rival[1].

### Where did the Waluigi meme come from?
The character was created by Fumihide Aoki at Camelot for the Nintendo 64 game Mario Tennis in 2000[1]. His meme status grew from a combination of fan art communities, the Brawl in the Family webcomic's 2009 "Waluigi in the Family" event[10], and his repeated exclusion from Super Smash Bros. as a playable fighter[6].

### What does the Waluigi meme mean?
Waluigi represents the underdog. His perpetual status as a character who exists only in spin-offs and never gets his own game makes him a symbol for anyone who feels overlooked or snubbed[5]. His "WAH!" cry is used to express frustration, injustice, or tongue-in-cheek self-pity[19].

### How do you use the Waluigi meme?
Common uses include dropping "WAH!" or "Too bad. Waluigi time" as reactions to being excluded, editing Waluigi into other media for absurdist humor, or using his exaggerated facial expressions from Mario Tennis games as reaction images[5][2].

### Is Waluigi still popular?
Waluigi peaked as a meme subject during the 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate controversy but his status as a beloved internet character persists. His catchphrases, fan art communities, and "underdog" identity keep him relevant in gaming and meme circles[6][19].

### What does "Too bad. Waluigi time" come from?
The phrase originated in Matthew Taranto's Brawl in the Family webcomic during the April 1, 2009 "Waluigi in the Family" takeover event. Despite becoming Waluigi's most famous catchphrase online, it has never appeared in any official Nintendo game[4].

### Why isn't Waluigi in Super Smash Bros.?
Nintendo and Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai have never given a definitive reason. Waluigi appears as an Assist Trophy in Brawl, Smash for Wii U, and Ultimate. Sakurai commented on Miiverse: "Just because you try hard doesn't mean you'll make it into the battle"[18].

### What does Waluigi's name mean?
His name is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "warui" (bad) and "Luigi," literally meaning "Bad Luigi." In Japanese, his name Waruīji is also an anagram of "ijiwaru," meaning mean-spirited[4].

### Why do people love Waluigi so much?
His exaggerated features make him visually memorable, his self-pitying personality is both funny and relatable, and his perpetual status as an outsider in Nintendo's universe gives fans something to rally behind[8]. As the Daily Dot documented, he crossed over to reach people who had never played a Mario game[2].

### Did Charles Martinet want a Waluigi game?
Yes. Martinet, who voiced Waluigi from 2000 to 2022, publicly stated: "I'd love to see a Waluigi game where you have to cheat to win, ya know. That would be funny"[11]. Nintendo never produced such a game.

### What is the Waluigi crotch chop?
A goal celebration animation from Super Mario Strikers where Waluigi thrusts his hips while making an X gesture over his crotch. The move was intended to represent the W in his name. Game director Mike Inglehart said that when they showed it to Nintendo, "nobody batted an eye"[1]. The GIF became one of the most shared Waluigi images after hitting Reddit in 2013[2].

### What is Psycho Waluigi?
A fan-made platformer on Mario Fan Games Galaxy that gives Waluigi telekinetic powers across 30+ kingdoms. The fan community praised it extensively, with one reviewer claiming "if Nintendo made this game, they would make millions"[20].

## References
1. [Video Game Blog - Ten Reasons Waluigi is Awesome - Gamervision - How Gamers See the World](<https://web.archive.org/web/20100420030759/https://www.gamervision.com/users/coop/articles/ten_reasons_waluigi_is_awesome>)
2. [Mario: 10 Waluigi Memes That Will Leave You Cry Laughing](<https://gamerant.com/nintendo-mario-waluigi-memes-hilarious/>)
3. [Waluigi Memes: How the Evil Luigi Became an Internet Favorite](<https://dailydot.com/waluigi-memes>)
4. [Waluigi - Know Your Meme](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/waluigi>)
5. [Waluigi](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waluigi>)
6. [Waluigi - Urban Dictionary](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Waluigi>)
7. [The Waluigi Meme Manifesto: A Definitive Guide to Smash Bros Ultimate's Greatest Omission - Ricky Spears](<https://www.rickyspears.com/technology/the-waluigi-meme-manifesto-a-definitive-guide-to-smash-bros-ultimates-greatest-omission/>)
8. [191 – Waluigi Triloigi – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/triloigi/>)
9. [SelfDemonstrating / Waluigi - TV Tropes](<https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SelfDemonstrating/Waluigi>)
10. [The Top 7... Mario spin-offs: Page 3 - Page 3 | GamesRadar+](<https://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-mario-spin-offs/?page=3>)
11. [190 – Where’s Waluigi? – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/smallbreak/>)
12. [Games - MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy](<https://www.mfgg.net/?act=resdb&param=02&c=2&id=25698>)
13. [Updates - MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy](<https://www.mfgg.net/>)
14. [Hostile Show Takeover - TV Tropes](<https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HostileShowTakeover>)
15. [The 15 Most Annoying Video Game Characters (From Otherwise Great Games) | Cracked.com](<https://www.cracked.com/article_15902_the-15-most-annoying-video-game-characters-from-otherwise-great-games.html>)
16. [Waa! In Defense of Waluigi - Unwinnable | Unwinnable](<https://unwinnable.com/2012/05/25/waa-in-defense-of-waluigi/#.U-uoAPl_tCj>)
17. [Waluigi: Unwrapping the Enigma - Gameranx](<https://gameranx.com/features/id/11353/article/waluigi-unwrapping-the-enigma/>)
18. [Ask Waluigi](<https://waluigianswers.tumblr.com/>)
19. [Charles Martinet Shares Your Pain, Waluigi | Nintendo Life](<https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/05/charles_martinet_shares_your_pain_waluigi>)
20. [EnsembleDarkHorse / Video Games - TV Tropes](<https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/EnsembleDarkHorse/VideoGames>)
21. [Waluigi-Daisy-fans | DeviantArt](<https://www.deviantart.com/waluigi-daisy-fans>)
22. [WAAAAAAAAAH](<https://web.archive.org/web/20131007060636/http://askwaluigi.tumblr.com/>)
23. [323 – Philips’ Box – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/323-philipsbox/>)
24. [Waluigi Is The Real Hero Hyrule Deserves - Kotaku](<https://kotaku.com/waluigi-is-the-real-hero-hyrule-deserves-1619740202>)
25. [Play as Waluigi in Ocarina of Time](<https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/11/5991543/zelda-ocarina-of-time-waluigi-mario>)
26. [Waluigi Replaces Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Mod - IGN](<https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/12/waluigi-replaces-link-in-the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-mod>)
27. [151 – WitF – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/151-witf/>)
28. [556 – Wario and Waluigi – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/556-warioandwaluigi/>)
29. [477 – Broyale in the Family – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/477-broyaleinthefamily-2/>)
30. [Waluigi – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/characters/rwaluigi/>)
31. [Walu-club | DeviantArt](<https://www.deviantart.com/walu-club>)
32. [555 – Waluigi Finaluigi – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/finaluigi/>)
33. [232 – Shutting Down the Comic – Brawl in the Family](<http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/waluigipaper/>)
34. [Play Ocarina of Time as Waluigi With This ROM Hack - Dorkly Post](<https://web.archive.org/web/20140814000033/http://www.dorkly.com/post/66426/play-as-waluigi-in-ocarina-of-time-with-this-rom-hack>)
35. [Everyone’s in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ... except Waluigi](<https://www.polygon.com/e3/2018/6/12/17454820/everyones-in-super-smash-bros-ultimate-except-waluigi>)
36. [Waluigi in Super Mario 64 DS by King-Bowser-Koopa on DeviantArt](<https://www.deviantart.com/king-bowser-koopa/art/Waluigi-in-Super-Mario-64-DS-16743711>)
37. [RosalinaXWaluigiCLUB | DeviantArt](<https://www.deviantart.com/rosalinaxwaluigiclub>)
38. [Smash Bros. DOJO!!](<https://www.smashbros.com/wii/en_us/items/assist/assist14.html>)
39. [Miiverse - Sakurai's post | Nintendo](<https://web.archive.org/web/20171017180843/https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAAYUKlLqsgn_Q>)
40. ['Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' snubs Waluigi, and fans aren't happy | Mashable](<https://mashable.com/2018/06/12/waluigi-super-smash-bros/#_kqG0lz7VkqC>)

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