The Year of Luigi! Remembering Nintendo's Celebration of All Things Green in 2013

In 2013, Nintendo gave its most famous player 2 first billing. How did it all turn out?
(Chapter markers and more below...)

0:00 Coming Up Next!!
0:14 GTV ID: Second to None!
0:26 Act 1: Ready Player Two
7:04 CM 1: The Year of Luigi (Japan, 2013)
7:32 Act 2: How Green Was My L Cap
18:11 CM 2: Mario & Luigi RPG 4 (Japan 2013)
18:43 Act 3: Finding Luigi
25:03 CM 3: New Super Luigi U (Japan, 2013)
25:34 Epilogue: The Game Remained the Same
29:25 NG Scene!

Episode Information
GTV 146 "Everything's Gone Green" Season 8 Episode 3
Original Airdate: April 21, 2023
Produced March 1-15, April 5-10, 2023
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Topaz AI. All paid for with Gainful Employment™

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Partial transcript

Back in 1983, Nintendo created one of their longest running characters: Luigi! A few others were created around that time but have faded away. Stanley? Mr. Stevenson? Gone! You could argue that, other than his brother Mario and Donkey Kong Jr., there is no other playable character that is still around after 40 years, at least in the Nintendo Universe.

Speaking of Donkey Kong Jr., this is where I always thought that Luigi got his start. No, its not official, not canon, but there are 2 Marios that haul away Donkey Kong at the beginning of the arcade version of Donkey Kong Jr. Who is this supposed to be? Luigi? Which of these two Marios is the real one? I guess the idea of having a second Mario is what sparked the creation of Luigi.

Not long after donkey Kong Jr., Luigi first appeared with his brother Mario in Mario Bros., a Game & Watch first released on March 14th, 1983. Here, Mario and Luigi work at a bottling plant, loading orders onto delivery trucks. Luigi, as well as Mario don’t look anything like you’d expect. Just simple black outlines, like Mr. Game & Watch. However one illustration of the brothers was printed on the box. With Mario in his standard red, and Luigi in green! They don’t look too far off from the version of Mario Bros. We all remember better, first released in arcades in the summer of 1983.

It was here that the brothers’ career track was set in stone. For always and ever afterwards, Mario and Luigi were plumbers. I guess carpentry was too competitive.
Mario Bros. came home to the Family Computer in September 1983. The TV Game version is a decent rendition and considering it was a fairly new arcade game, pretty amazing!

At the start of 2013, Nintendo had a lot to look forward to. The Wii U debuted just a few months beforehand. With the Wii U Gamepad, it was possible to replicate the experience of the DS at home on your TV! The machine also used the same classic Wii Rimokon, and had Wii backwards compatibility, while new Wii U games played in high-vision! The marquee game was New Super Mario Bros. U, released on day one, which varied depending on your region. For Japan, that date was December 8th, 2012.

In February 2013, Nintendo declared 2013 to be “The Year of Luigi.” Where Mario’s brother would lead the way, all year long! Nintendo placed Luigi center stage, replacing Mario in all branding and promotion, in addition to releasing several games for the Wii U and 3DS that had the Green Guy as the star!

Club Nintendo’s traditional red coloring scheme would change to green. The offerings would be Luigi focused, such as a CD soundtrack of Luigi music in Japan, pins, bag and posters elsewhere in the world.

Luigi would make public appearances around the world. The whole year was planned out in stages, month by month with promotion and release, of Luigi games and events. It gave a feeling of excitement and that you might just kick yourself if you missed out on it by not paying attention.

Some images were taken from Nintendo's website on promotional videos. Help on the hidden Luigis courtesy of YTsunny.　Cms furnisged by Gmmmcm.