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Character fact sheetName: Waluigi First Appearance: Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64, 2000) Home: Unspecified (presumed Diamond City / WarioWare Inc. with Wario) Voiced by: Kevin Afghani (2023–present), Charles Martinet (2000–2023) Associates: Wario (partner), Bowser camp (by default), eternal Smash Bros. petitioners |
General profile
Waluigi is Luigi’s tall, lanky, eternally-frustrated anti-hero counterpart and Wario’s sidekick — a character invented in 2000 to give Wario a doubles partner in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. From that purely functional origin he has grown into one of Nintendo’s most strangely beloved characters: an enthusiastic, gangly, melodramatic schemer with a pointy moustache, a pink nose, a yellow-and-purple jumpsuit topped with a purple cap bearing an inverted "L," and a permanent expression of theatrical sourness. Stretched several inches taller than Luigi, with disproportionately long limbs and exaggerated body language, Waluigi is one of the most physically distinctive characters in the Mario roster.
Waluigi’s defining traits across his 25-year career are competitive bitterness, theatrical cheating, ostentatious melodrama, and a deep-seated resentment that he has never been given a mainline platformer to call his own. He is most often paired with Wario as a doubles or duo unit, but unlike Wario — who has two full franchises to his name in Wario Land and WarioWare — Waluigi has appeared exclusively in sports, party, racing, and rhythm spin-offs since his debut. He has never headlined a game, never been playable in mainline Super Mario Bros., and famously never been included as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. — a running fan-campaign that has become one of the most enduring memes in Nintendo fandom.
Waluigi was designed by Fumihide Aoki at Camelot Software Planning specifically for Mario Tennis at the request of Nintendo’s Hitoshi Yamagami, who told the development team that Wario needed a doubles partner. Aoki’s sketch — an inverted Luigi who shared Wario’s evil-counterpart aesthetic but stretched lengthwise rather than widthwise — was approved in a single revision and has remained essentially unchanged since.
Quotes
Enemies
Waluigi’s designated rival is Luigi — his name and design were created specifically as an inverse-Luigi pairing. He has a particular animosity toward Mario by association, and competes against the entire Mushroom Kingdom roster in any sports or party context: Peach, Daisy, Toad, Yoshi, Rosalina, Toadette, Captain Toad, the Toad Brigade. He shares this antagonism with the entire Bowser camp — Bowser, Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, King Boo — by default tournament-roster convention, though there’s no canonical alliance between them.
Friends
Waluigi’s closest associate is Wario, with whom he forms a tall-and-short duo across virtually every spin-off Mario game. Their partnership is officially classified by Nintendo as "rival and partner" rather than "brother" — there is no canonical evidence they are biologically related, despite their visual parallel to Mario and Luigi. Beyond Wario, Waluigi has appeared in WarioWare microgame cameos and Mario Tennis doubles partnerships with various characters, but does not have a settled friend group of his own. The German Club Nintendo of 2000 described them simply as "Wario’s zweiter Gauner" ("Wario’s second crook").
Appearances
Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64, 2000)
Waluigi debuted in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 as Wario’s newly-introduced doubles partner. His introduction cinematic — Waluigi cackles, throws his racket, and points his finger at the camera while his eyes glow purple — became an instant fan-favourite. His N64 stat profile classified him as a "Defensive" player with the longest reach in the game, leveraging his unusually long arms and legs. The Game Boy Color version of Mario Tennis released the same year retained him as a playable character.
Mario Kart series (2003–present)
Waluigi joined the Mario Kart roster in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube, 2003) as Wario’s default partner. He has been a default racer in every subsequent entry: DS, Wii, 7, 8, 8 Deluxe, Tour, and Mario Kart World (Switch 2, 2025). He is consistently classified as a heavyweight or mid-heavyweight. Mario Kart Wii made him a fan favourite by introducing his iconic motorbike pose — a tall, leaning, theatrical riding stance that has been carried into every modern Mario Kart since. Mario Kart Tour (mobile, 2019–2025) gave him multiple alternate costumes including "Bus Driver Waluigi," "Vampire Waluigi" and "Cowboy Waluigi."
Mario Party series (2000–present)
Waluigi was introduced to the Mario Party series in Mario Party 3 (Nintendo 64, 2000) and has been a default character in every subsequent entry up to Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch, 2024). His character role in Party games typically casts him as the "cheating" party member — he runs "Waluigi’s Stadium" in Mario Party 9, gets his own "Waluigi Pinball" map in Mario Party DS, and frequently leads cheating-themed minigames. His Mario Party victory animations are notably more theatrical than any other character’s.
Mario Tennis Aces (2018) and the Mario Tennis Lineage
Waluigi has been a default character in every Mario Tennis game since his 2000 debut: Power Tennis (GameCube, 2004), Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA, 2005), Mario Tennis Open (3DS, 2012), Ultra Smash (Wii U, 2015), and Mario Tennis Aces (Switch, 2018). In Mario Tennis Aces he is classified as a Defensive player with a Trick Shot that uses his long arms to reach impossible returns. He also gets a story-mode boss fight in the game’s adventure mode.
Mario Strikers / Mario Strikers Charged / Battle League (2005–2022)
Waluigi is a playable captain in Super Mario Strikers (GameCube, 2005), Mario Strikers Charged (Wii, 2007), and Mario Strikers: Battle League (Switch, 2022). His Charged appearance is particularly noteworthy: his Super Ability "Wall-Luigi" allows him to summon vines that immobilise opposing players, and his Mega Strike features him crooning into a microphone before scoring. Strikers Charged is widely cited as Waluigi’s most aggressively-characterised game appearance.
Other Sports and Spin-offs (2001–present)
Waluigi appears in every Mario Golf game since Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GameCube, 2003), every Mario Sports series entry, every Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games from the 2014 Sochi Winter edition onward, and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (DS, 2006). He stars in his own arcade pinball game Waluigi’s Taco Stand within Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (GameCube, 2005), and gets a notable side-role in Super Mario Strikers: Battle League’s tournament mode.
Super Smash Bros. Assist Trophy (2008–present)
Waluigi first appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, 2008) as an Assist Trophy — a temporary battle helper rather than a playable fighter. He attacks opponents by stomping on them with his enormous purple shoes. He retained the Assist Trophy status in Smash for Wii U/3DS (2014) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018). Series creator Masahiro Sakurai has publicly addressed the "Waluigi for Smash" fan campaign multiple times — including a notable 2018 statement in which he acknowledged the request but noted that adding Waluigi as a fighter would require "reinventing his fighting style entirely from scratch, since he’s never had any platformer moveset to reference."
Other Cameo Roles and the "Waluigi Wherever" Phenomenon
Waluigi appears in Super Mario Maker as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume (2015), in Super Mario Run as a guest racer in the My Nintendo rewards programme, in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope as a cameo poster in the Tower of Doooom, and in Super Mario Bros. Wonder — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition as an unlockable amiibo-summoned camp decoration. He has yet to appear in any mainline 2D or 3D Super Mario platformer as a playable or non-playable character.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
Waluigi was confirmed by Illumination’s Aaron Horvath in a late-2024 press junket to appear in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April 2026) alongside Wario as a comedic supporting pair. The actor cast as Waluigi had not been publicly announced as of the film’s pre-release marketing in late 2025.
Trivia & Official Sources
- Waluigi was designed by Fumihide Aoki at Camelot Software Planning for Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64, 2000). Aoki has confirmed in interviews that he had "less than a week" to design the character from scratch, on the directive that Wario needed a doubles partner.
- Waluigi’s name is a portmanteau of the Japanese word ruiji (類似, "similar" — a play on Luigi’s own name origin) and the prefix waru (悪, "bad"). His "Г" logo is a reversed/upside-down "L" — mirroring how Wario’s "W" is an inverted "M."
- Charles Martinet voiced Waluigi continuously from his 2000 debut through 2023 — a 23-year tenure. Kevin Afghani took over the role in 2023 starting with Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario Party Jamboree.
- The "Waluigi for Smash" fan campaign has been one of the longest-running and most-cited fan petitions in video game history — active since Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s 2008 release. Sakurai has addressed the campaign at multiple Nintendo Directs and press events.
- Waluigi’s in-game height is officially given by Nintendo (in 2018 promotional materials for Mario Tennis Aces) as "approximately 198 cm" (6´6") — making him the tallest playable character in any mainline Mario game, slightly taller even than Donkey Kong’s upright stance.
- The infamous "leg-day Waluigi" meme — in which Waluigi’s motorbike stance from Mario Kart Wii shows him crouched with disproportionately tiny legs — was acknowledged by Nintendo in a 2019 social media post that read simply "He’s working on it."
- Waluigi has never appeared in any official Nintendo platformer game, despite over twenty-five years in the franchise. He is the longest-tenured Mario series character to have never received a mainline platforming role.
- The Pix’n Love Encyclopedia Super Mario Bros. (2018) lists Waluigi’s personality as "melodramatically competitive and theatrically vengeful" — the only entry in the encyclopedia to use the word "melodramatic."
- Waluigi’s appearance in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (2005) is the only game where he serves as the major antagonist of the story mode — he attempts to ruin the Music Keys with a series of dance-themed sabotages.
- Camelot Software Planning, who designed Waluigi, has retained close design oversight of his appearances in every Mario Tennis and Mario Golf entry. His character model is updated by Camelot rather than Nintendo EPD even when he appears in non-Camelot games.
- In Mario Kart Tour (2019–2025), Waluigi has more alternate costumes than any other Mario character — over 14 unique outfits including the Mariachi Waluigi, Vampire Waluigi ("Wampire"), Bus Driver Waluigi, Hiker Waluigi, and Cowboy Waluigi. The original concept artwork for the Wampire skin became one of the most-shared Mario images on social media in 2020.
- Waluigi’s eternal Smash Bros. exclusion has been referenced by Nintendo themselves as a joke — in the trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Assist Trophy reveal, Waluigi briefly appears with a thought bubble reading "maybe next time" before being demoted back to Assist status.
- The Japanese name for Waluigi (ワルイージ, "Waruīji") was officially registered as a trademark by Nintendo on 21 March 2000 — four months before Mario Tennis released. The registration cited "tennis," "board games" and "party games" as the relevant categories, presciently confirming that Waluigi would always be a spin-off character.
- Waluigi’s "Wah!" exclamation, his signature vocalisation since his 2000 debut, was improvised by Charles Martinet during his audition. Martinet has said in retrospective interviews that he based Waluigi’s vocal performance on "an Italian opera singer who had just been told he wasn’t getting a solo."
- In Super Mario Strikers Charged (Wii, 2007), Waluigi’s Super Ability "Wall-Luigi" is the only Super Ability in the game that affects multiple opposing players simultaneously — a deliberate design choice by Next Level Games to make him the most disruptive captain.
- Waluigi has been the subject of more academic and journalistic essays than any other secondary Mario character. Notable examples include a 2018 Polygon long-form essay ("Waluigi, a Theology") and a 2021 Vice piece on his role as "the patron saint of being left out."