The Year of Luigi: A Travesty in Gaming

The Year of Luigi: A travesty in gaming

The year was 2013, Nintendo had just released the Wii U, they were in need of a leader. They found one in an unlikely place, Luigi. Of course the true leader of Nintendo, Satora Iwata was directing the company, arguably incorrectly. This caused the Year of Luigi, a period of 365 days in which Nintendo put a large amount of focus on Luigi in games, merchandising, and marketing. Luigi Mario (that's his full name) first appeared in the game, Mario Bros in 1983. He was a re-skin of Mario and was a sidekick and brother. And him being a sidekick is Wikipedia, "Often as a sidekick to his brother." The year of Luigi was timed around the 30th anniversary of the character. But, being a sidekick, all the hero, Mario got for the same occasion was a special Amiibo figure. The saddest part, though of the year of Luigi was truly the passing of Luigi's TV voice actor, Danny Wells. Overall, I believe that the year was very negative for Nintendo and gaming in general just because of how silly it is to put the focus on Luigi and how miserably it failed.

Games & Full Expanse of Luigi's Year
Beginning in 2013, the year of Luigi featured 6 "games" most of them being dlc or eshop titles. The year outside of Luigi, featured games like Super Mario 3D World, Pokemon X & Y, and Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. The biggest games of the year were on the 3DS were on the year after the Wii U was released. Nintendo was already having a crisis with their newly released console. The biggest problem with the year of Luigi was not that the games were made, but how relentlessly it was marketed and that there was nothing else. The game that was everywhere, being pushed the most was New Super Luigi for Wii U, an expanded DLC type game for the game of the same name if you substitute in Mario. The company made tons of merchandise around this as well as such things as Luigi's Mansion. The budget for this crusade of Luigi was crazy. Even an entire subway was painted and rented as a promotion.

Meme
As further promotion for the year of Luigi, Nintendo wanted to cash in on some popular internet crazes and "memes." So official videos were made of someone in a Luigi suit doing parkour and the Harlem Shake. Of course they are fully harmless, but if I worked at Nintendo I would be embarrassed. These weren't the only memes to come from the year of Luigi, oh no the people outside of Nintendo had to have their fun. And they did, the Know Your Meme (a sort of wikipedia for memes) page for the year of Luigi is the most absurd piece of writing I have ever seen. You have to check it out for yourself, but here is a good piece,
"Luigi is a major character in too many Mario shames. Many people believe that he is you and Mario’s long-lost brothers, but this is not true. In reality, Luigi got in a car crash with Mario one day, and Luigi said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we turned out to be long-lost twins?' And Mario said, “Holy Cheese Lovers!!! We’re long-lost twins?!' The rumor evolved from there. Luigi is known to use ’shrooms... He is a member of the Fantastic Four."
 There are also horrendously strange fan-arts featuring such catchphrases as, "The Year of Luigi never ends."

Conclusion
The time between March 19, 2013 and March 19, 2014 was the scheduled year of Luigi, it also happened to almost exactly time with Nintendo's financial year in which they lost 456 billion dollars.
Luigi's Mansion is coming back to the 3DS for a reboot of the Gamecube original, which will hopefully be fine if it isn't year-of-luigied. What else remains for the future of the character is uncertain, while I do not think Nintendo will fully place their faith in him again.
I do believe that the year of Luigi was terrible, but I don't hate Luigi. I just think it very interesting to document the year and wonder why Nintendo would dedicate so much time, money, and resources into the anniversary of Mario's sidekick at a time when the company was already losing. And until the year of Wario, 2022, stay connected.

     Year of Luigi Games

• Dr. Luigi
• Luigi Bros
• Super Luigi Bros
• New Super Luigi U
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team