Mario, Mario, Mario. He’s everywhere. Mario, the “logo” of Nintendo. Mario, the amazing, heroic plumber everyone scrambles to be in MARIOkart. Mario, who has a whole SHOW named after him (The Super Mario Bros. Show). Nobody ever pays attention to the little green hero in the bottom left of the screen. He’s just another stupid character—an underdog. Right? Yes and no. He’s another character, but he’s not stupid. In fact, he is better than Mario in quite a few ways. Simply put, Mario is overrated.

 Before you start screaming at me and throwing insults out onto your computer screen, think about it for a second. First of all, Luigi is a good role model and an example of a selfless person. How would you feel if your sibling always got the spotlight, and you were always just a “Player 2”, never getting any recognition for anything? And what if your last name was your brother’s first name? You’d feel really jealous, right? Well, welcome to Sir Luigi Mario’s life. But he doesn’t try to take the spotlight away from his brother! In fact, he is GENUINELY HAPPY for him! All he wants is to see his brother happy! Luigi never really wants to be in the centre of attention ALL THE TIME. “Well, Mario is brave and strong, and he inspires people to go out and be respectful—” yes, we know. But really though? In Mario Power Tennis, when Luigi wins and basks in his joy of winning for once, Mario comes up from off of stage, WHACKS LUIG HARD IN THE BACK, TWICE, AND STEPS ON HIS FOOT. Mario? A role model? I think not. Mario is never happy whenever Luigi wins or when he takes the spotlight away, even for a minute. And it isn’t just that he’s a better “human,” he’s actually quite strong and has more physical and mental advantages than Mario does in the video games themselves.

Mario needs power ups to function the way he’s supposed to. Without them, he is powerless. An orange feather! A flower that shoots fire! An empty tortoise shell! A pressure washer! However, do you ever see Luigi use power ups to complete main quests? Yes, he might have the Poltergust 3000 (a super-robot-vacuum-cleaner) in Luigi’s Mansion, but did he ever need a dead turtle to help him defeat his enemies? No! And it isn’t just that he doesn’t need power ups. In the original Mario “platformer,” when Luigi FINALLY came out as an option (emphasis on the OPTION) for Player 1, he was visibly TALLER and could jump higher than all the other characters! There were easter eggs in the game that could only be found with Luigi because he was the ONLY one who could reach them! Starting with Super Mario Galaxy and in Super Mario 64, and onwards in later games, Luigi could visibly run faster than Mario ever could! Also, Luigi is the brain behind Mario’s “brawn.” Luigi is portrayed as the smarty-pants who is an amazing mechanic (he invented his balloon glider, modified Mario’s house, etc.) and as someone who can find out where exactly on the globe Mario is by solving riddles like in Mario’s Missing, the first game where Luigi is the non-optional player, meaning you HAD to play as Luigi. These advantages topple Mario’s abilities, with power ups or not.

And it’s not just his physical and mental abilities. Luigi has a better taste in women. I know, it seems really far-fetched, but seriously. Think about it. Mario has to save Peach every single time she gets kidnapped by Bowser, which is almost every time a new game comes out. More than 26 times, to be exact. Daisy, however, was only kidnapped once, that being in Super Mario Land. At that time, however, Luigi and Daisy were not “officially” together. While Peach is always the damsel in distress and needs to be saved 24/7, Daisy can ACTUALLY run a kingdom alongside her partner, Luigi. Furthermore, Daisy has genuine love for Luigi. But, on the contrary, Peach already had a previous boyfriend, as seen in Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! animated film, in which Peach was in a relationship with the Flower Prince. It is assumed that they broke up, but nobody knows for sure. The Flower Prince disappeared within a few episodes. Princess Peach is a snobbish creature. She ALWAYS wants Mario’s attention—ALL THE TIME. She wears her jealousy on her sleeve. In Super Mario Odyssey, we see how little Peach really cares about Mario. When Mario proposes to Peach, she REJECTS HIM, goes to the Odyssey without Mario, and lifts off without him! He is then forced to jump off of a heartbroken Bowser’s head in order to reach the spaceship. IS THAT A GOOD GIRLFRIEND? IS THAT A GOOD PARTNER TO HAVE?!? SOMEONE WHO LEAVES YOU IN THE DUST AFTER SAVING THEM COUNTLESS TIMES? Now who has better taste? Luigi, I surmise. He doesn’t have to worry about his feelings getting trampled by a careless princess.

Speaking of feelings, you can actually EMPATHISE with Luigi! He has ACTUAL human emotions, whereas Mario is only happy or sad. Luigi, on the other hand, has a wide VARIETY of emotions! From happy to sad to scared to depressed to ecstatic, Luigi is probably even more HUMAN than Mario! Mario never shows fear when he has to stand up against a giant fire-breathing turtle monster that is nine feet tall. He just puts this silly smile on his face and jumps into battle. However, in Luigi’s Mansion 1, 2, and 3, we can see that Luigi has a wide range of emotions. He jumps up in fear when he hears a loud noise. He grins as big as the moon when he saves his brother and defeats King Boo. He cries and cries when he cannot find his beloved friends. He is a truly dynamic character! Based upon most of the official character profiles for both Mario and Luigi, they are clearly foils for one another. This character’s “dynamicness” makes Luigi more of a human character than his brother.

So, why is Luigi the better brother? Luigi is a much more loving sibling to Mario than Mario is to him. As pointed out before, he saves Mario countless times in Mario is Missing (1993), Luigi’s Mansion (1, 2, and 3), Paper Mario (2020), Superstar Saga, and Mario and Luigi Dream Team. However, Mario only saves Luigi in Super Mario Galaxy, and it is OPTIONAL! Luigi doesn’t make it an option to save his brother. He loves him wholeheartedly and will face any of his fears. In this case, it is a creepy mansion filled with ghouls and monsters. Luigi looks up to his brother like a god, even though he gets the worst out of almost every situation…(since Mario always has to be the centre of attention…). In Super Mario Legend of the Seven Stars, if you go to the fallen star patch, you can find Luigi’s wish. When clicked on, his star says “I want to be a great plumber like my brother Mario.” He loves his brother and wants to be just like him! He wants to be famous like him too! He wants to be as happy as he is! But he doesn’t say it openly. He just wants his brother to be happy, so he stays behind.

In Paper Mario, you can read Luigi’s diary! On entry 7, it says: 

“I heard a rumour that I actually have lots of fans. Wow! What great news! To live up to their expectations, I want to play the lead in an adventure! Of course, my name would have to be in the title. That’d be sweet… But I know it’ll never happen..”

On entry 12, we can really see Luigi’s love for his brother:

“I heard that my brother finally saved Princess Peach! Bowser increased his power with the Star Rod but my brilliant brother beat him anyway! I guess he’ll be coming back home pretty soon. I’m looking forward to listening to the story of his adventure. Anyway, I’m going to finish this diary for now. I have to seal this room off before he notices that I remodelled without telling him. Now I’m going to prepare a dinner to celebrate Mario’s return!”

So, why not Luigi? Why not replace that lumpy red thing with a shining, green hero? Luigi deserves to be noticed as well. Yes, he may not always be the most courageous person, but for every time he’s scared, he makes up for it with his perseverance. Luigi doesn’t back down. He faces his fears to keep everyone else safe. He will always put others first. Luigi will always be there. Unless, of course, it’s time for his favourite dinner, spaghetti.

Works Cited

TheGamer, director. 10 Ways Luigi Is Secretly Better Than Mario. YouTube, YouTube, 3 May 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=501Ex_XfLro

Super Mario Wiki, Multiple Authors. “Luigi’s Diary.” Super Mario Wiki, Super Mario Wiki, 10 Aug. 2020, www.mariowiki.com/Luigi%27s_Diary

“Luigi.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 May 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi

Gramuglia, Anthony, and Anthony Gramuglia (1390 Articles Published) Earned my MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Written for The Mary Sue. “Mario: Why Luigi Is Significantly Better Than His Brother.” CBR, 12 Mar. 2020, www.cbr.com/mario-why-luigi-is-significantly-better-than-his-brother/