When left to his own devices, Luigi gets himself into pretty unusual circumstances. Oftentimes, when Luigi ends up in these predicaments, his older brother, unfortunately, isn’t there to rescue him. The green sidekick has had many careers and side-gigs, some more strange than others, making him one of Nintendo’s most eccentric characters. These are some of his more peculiar adventures throughout the years.
10 Teaming Up With Ness And King Dedede
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Luigi appears in The Subspace Emissary, the game’s Adventure Mode. During the story, the roster of Nintendo fighters battle an army of shadow creatures led by the mysterious Tabuu. Luigi briefly appears early on in the story when he’s turned into a trophy by King Dedede and captured.
Later in the story, all the fighters are transformed into trophies by Tabuu. Luckily for them, Luigi and Ness are still captured in Dedede’s castle, where they team up with Dedede to revive all the other characters. This is one of the few instances where Luigi has to step up while Mario is indisposed, making him and his unlikely teammates the heroes of the Adventure Mode.
9 Taking Kart-Racing Way Too Seriously
When Mario Kart 8 first debuted on Wii U, fans were quick to notice the intense facial expressions of Luigi in the game. While the Mario Kart franchise has always been welcome to friendly competition, Luigi’s attitude in this installment made him prone to countless Internet memes depicting his violent rage.
Perhaps Luigi’s anger in Mario Kart 8 stems from the fact that it’s the first Mario Kart game that doesn’t feature any courses based on Luigi. Thankfully, this error was fixed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch, which features the return of the Luigi’s Mansion course from previous games.
8 Rescuing Baby Yoshi And Raising Him
In the Super Mario World cartoon, which aired in 1991, Luigi appears alongside his brother as they adventure through Dinosaur Land. In the final episode of the show, titled “Mama Luigi,”, Luigi recounts the story of how he first encountered Yoshi as a newly hatched egg and rescued him from the clutches of King Koopa.
This episode is another depiction of Luigi’s bravery, which is rarely seen during his adventures. However, it is a bit odd to see Luigi take on the role of a parent, especially one that spawned countless memes in the early days of YouTube with the iconic catchphrase: “That’s Mama Luigi to you!”
7 Hosting A Balloon-Themed Mini-Game Across The World
Luigi did not appear in the much-anticipated Super Mario Odyssey when it was initially released, though he eventually made a big entrance in an early update to the game. Clad in a green bowtie, Luigi will appear in the stages and allow Mario to participate in an online mini-game called Balloon World.
In Balloon World, players can play hide-and-seek with balloons with players all around the world. If players achieve certain levels of ranking compared to other players, they’ll be rewarded with stars that increase the number of balloons tied to Luigi’s back. Why Luigi has such a fascination with balloons this time around, we may never know.
6 Being Brainwashed Into Becoming Evil
Luigi makes an iconic appearance in Super Paper Mario for the Wii, where he’s hypnotized by Count Bleck’s minion Nastasia. This causes Luigi to adopt his evil persona, Mr. L, and puts him at odds with his brother Mario. Mr. L, during boss fights against him, summons a giant robot that resembles Luigi’s head called “Brobot,” who he controls.
However, Mr. L is overthrown in his antagonistic duties by Dimentio, who recreates Mr. L in his own image, becoming a giant puppet for Mario and his friends to battle. Thankfully, Mario is able to defeat Dimentio, rescuing Luigi from this strange hypnotic version of himself.
5 Accepting A Haunted Mansion That He Won In A Contest
Luigi finally got his chance to shine in Luigi’s Mansion for GameCube. In one of Luigi’s strangest decisions, the green plumber visited a spooky mansion that he allegedly won in a contest. There, he discovered the mansion was (obviously) haunted by ghosts, and was rescued from ghosts by the eccentric Professor E. Gadd.
This fan-favorite game finds Luigi donning the Poltergust 3000, a ghostbusting vacuum, to navigate this mysterious mansion and find Mario. Suffice to say, this is probably one of Luigi’s most gullible moments in video game history. Hopefully he doesn’t also respond to scam emails.
4 Rescuing Himself Across The Galaxy
During the main story of Super Mario Galaxy, Luigi can be found at various spots across the universe, waiting to be rescued by his brother Mario in return for a Power Star. After being rescued, Luigi usually hangs out with the Toad Brigade at the Comet Observatory. However, the weird stuff comes after players beat the game.
By collecting 120 Power Stars, players unlock the opportunity to play through the entire game as Luigi. This time around, the rescued Luigi isn’t replaced, which means that Luigi has to rescue himself from various galaxies in exchange for Power Stars. Strangely, nobody seems to notice this as weird, with even Rosalina just assuming that the two Luigis are twins.
3 Giving Mario A Speeding Ticket
Most Nintendo fans probably don’t know about Luigi’s appearances in the German-exclusive magazine Club Nintendo. This magazine, published throughout the 90s and early 2000s, was the German equivalent to what video game fans in the U.S. remember to be Nintendo Power. Club Nintendo, however, was home to many series of comics featuring Nintendo’s greatest mascots.
In one comic released in 1992 titled “Super Mario: Im Rausch der Geschwindigkeit” (roughly translates to “Super Mario: In the Frenzy of Speed”), Luigi appears as a policeman who stops Mario for speeding on Yoshi. Here, Luigi strangely acts very commanding and rude to his brother, giving him a ticket for going 100 dp (dinosaur power), and for spin-jumping.
2 Working As A Card Dealer In A Casino
Many Super Mario fans are aware of Luigi’s strange career turn in Super Mario 64 DS. In a series of casino-themed mini-games, Luigi appears as the dealer, donning a black vest and green tie. It’s peculiar that this game played by children features gambling imagery, especially for a normally goody-two-shoes character like Luigi.
Some of that gambling iconography may be counteracted by the innocence of the games featured here. There are Mario-themed slot machines, memory games, and matching games. While Luigi’s career choice here is very out of character, he does come off as a polite and encouraging card dealer.
1 Traveling To The Real World To Rescue Mario
Perhaps Luigi’s strangest adventure comes in the obscure Mario Is Missing! educational game released for PC, SNES, and NES. In the game, Mario is captured by Bowser, and to stop him, Luigi must return several stolen artifacts from around the world. The only catch is that this world is the real world.
Luigi’s adventure takes him to several real-life locations, such as New York City, Paris, and Cairo. Luigi must go around asking the local people questions that educate him (and the players) on various facts about each destination. This is definitely not Nintendo’s greatest showcase of Luigi’s protagonist potential, but it certainly takes the cake as his weirdest adventure yet.
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