Luigi


 * For fighter info, see Luigi (SSB), Luigi (SSBM), and Luigi (SSBB).

Luigi (ルイージ) is a character in the Mario series. He is the younger brother of the more-famous Mario, but is still a prominent character (and second only to his older brother) in the series of the same name. He has featured as a playable character in Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Interestingly, Luigi is only one of two characters (alongside Jigglypuff) to appear in all three Smash Bros. games as an unlockable character. The criteria to unlock him often has a relation to the number 2, in reference to his status relative to Mario.

Character description
Two years after his older brother, Mario made his first appearance in the Arcade classic "Donkey Kong". Luigi would make his first appearance in Mario Bros. for the arcade as the character the second player would control. His appearance is a palette swap of Mario, except colored with green instead of red. He was named after a pizza parlor which was near Nintendo of America's headquarters called "Mario & Luigi's".

Luigi would then once again be featured in the world-famous Super Mario Bros. for the NES, which saw the two brothers traveling through the Mushroom Kingdom for the first to rescue Princess Peach (then called "Princess Toadstool") from the evil Koopa King, Bowser. Here Luigi was clad in white overalls and hat compared to his usual green color scheme. In Super Mario Bros. 2 (both the U.S. and Japanese versions) he would be established as actually having a superior jumping ability to Mario, but having worse traction. However, the U.S. Version did establish that Luigi was both taller and thinner than his older brother. In "Super Mario Bros. 3", Luigi once again looked no different than Mario.

Over the years, while Mario appeared in more and more games, Luigi started taking a backseat to his older brother, even being left out of some games entirely. While he appeared as the solo playable character in Mario is Missing, this was not a "true" Mario title. The most notable of these was Luigi's complete absence in the world-famous Super Mario 64 which garnered some controversy.

However, he would soon make his first appearance in a fighting game in Super Smash Bros. and following that, garnered the spotlight in his own game Luigi's Mansion which launched the GameCube. Since then, Nintendo has made a more conscious effort to include Luigi in more games, playable or otherwise, he starred alongside Mario in the Mario and Luigi games for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS and was a playable character in Super Paper Mario (after appearing as a non-playable character in the first two Paper Mario games). He has even been made into a playable character in Super Mario Galaxy after the game is beaten as Mario. Things have since been looking up for Luigi, and while he is less famous than Mario, he is a popular character among gamers.

As a playable character

 * Main article: Luigi (SSB)

Luigi's first appearance in a fighting game is the original Super Smash Bros. as one of the four secret playable characters. He can be unlocked after completing the Target Test with all of the original 8 playable characters. Luigi's abilities are almost identical to Mario's, but with a few differences. His B-move is also a Fireball except colored green rather than red, and is not affected by gravity like Mario's, so it floats in the air. His B-Up is also an uppercut third jump called the Super Jump Punch, but it does only 1% damage if the hit is indirect. If the hit is direct, it can do up to 25% damage. His B-Down move is called the Luigi Cyclone which is similar to the Mario Tornado, but it sends the opponent flying away from Luigi almost straight up and is often used as a combo finisher. Luigi's taunt is also the only one that does damage.

Luigi's in-game character description reads:
 * Luigi
 * Though often hidden in his older brother Mario's shadow, Luigi, is in reality, very popular. Taller than Mario, Luigi also jumps higher. Although he didn't appear in Super Mario 64, in Mario Kart 64 he performed to the best of his ability. For one who always seems to be in the background, he has many fans who eagerly await his appearance.
 * Works: Mario Bros. (NES), Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES), Mario Kart 64 (N64)

As a playable character

 * Main article: Luigi (SSBM)

Luigi returns in Melee as a secret character. He can be unlocked in the adventure game by finishing the first stage with the number "two" in the timer, which will cause Luigi to take Mario's place in the subsequent battle, or by playing 800 VS. matches. Luigi's new B-Forward move gives him a unique ability, the Green Missile. Luigi charges up, and when this is finished, launches himself forward as though he were a missile. (Hence the title) This can be used as a recovery move along with his Super Jump Punch. He also has many all-new Normal Moves.

Trophies
By tradition, Luigi as a playable character is featured on his personal 3 trophies. His normal trophy is acquired by beating the Classic mode with Luigi on any difficulty, and his Smash Red and Smash Blue trophies are acquired the same way by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively.

His normal trophy reads as follows:

Luigi
''Although Mario's younger brother has always played second fiddle, Luigi finally garnered the spotlight with his very own game, Luigi's Mansion. Things are looking up for the eternal understudy; he's even picked up his own rival in Waluigi. The day he's referred to as the "lean, mean, green machine" may not be too far off.''
 * Mario Bros., Arcade 1983

Another trophy that features Luigi is Vacuum Luigi.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

 * Main article: Luigi (SSBB)

Luigi is once again an unlockable character and can be unlocked by playing twenty-two vs matches, completing Classic Mode, or by getting Luigi to join your party in The Subspace Emissary. Luigi also features his own unique voice acting, rather than just Mario's voice clips sped up. The main difference between Luigi now and his previous Melee appearance is his Final Smash, the unorthodox Negative Zone.

Trophies
Luigi has a trophy that is awarded each time the Classic mode is completed with Luigi on any difficulty. See Negative Zone for the trophy description of Luigi's Final Smash

Luigi
''Mario's younger twin brother. He's shy and quiet and overshadowed by his sibling, but he's actually quite talented. His jumping ability surpasses Mario's, and his all-around skills let him overcome any problem. He's a bit cowardly and really afraid of ghosts. Even so, in Luigi's Mansion, he was charged with cleaning up a whole house full of spirits.''
 * Mario Bros.
 * Luigi's Mansion (2001)