Explain the Waluigi hype to me

Magma

Magma

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Now, first of all, I'd like to make it clear that this is not an anti-Waluigi thread. My reasons for this thread are twofold. One, I think it would make for a more interesting discussion than the usual collective pessimism or optimism that tends to happen on this forum and open things up to a more dynamic exchange of thoughts. My second reasoning being that I genuinely do not understand the Waluigi hype. Now, I certainly would not say that I only like deep, well thought out characters. Certainly, there are plenty of simple characters I like or characters that I like for simplistic reasons. I can certainly understand Waluigi's appeal even if I've never had a particular fondness for Waluigi. Another issue with me is his popularity also irks me in that it almost feels like its a detriment to Wario himself as it makes his association with Waluigi make Wario himself seem more like just a simple Mario clone rather than a more substantial with his two own spin off series.

Now back to my main question, what exactly is the source of Waluigi's popularity? I'll admit he probably has more "character" or "personality" than most other Mario characters without their own spin offs, especially in Camelot's games as well as that bizarre Dance Dance Revolution outing. But I feel like that can't be all of it. It almost feels like a lot of his popularity is derived from stuff that isn't from the games themselves but from this sort of collective imagination fans having imagined and developed for themselves. Stuff like all the memes that go around and Brawl in the Family. Is that it? Am I on the right track? Am I missing something? What else do you guys think?
 
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Waluigi is a dumb and completely superfluous character, but to his credit he still manages to be surprisingly fun, especially in the Camelot games and Strikers, which is more then what can be said about someone like Daisy.

Now as someone who likes him, but much prefers Wario's actual supporting cast I can't claim to know why people are this crazy over him. Maybe it's the meme culture around him, maybe it's because he's kind of a underdog, in the sense that Nintendo never gives him the time of the day or some other reason, could be anything for all I know.
 
I don't know why, but I'm a huge fan of Waluigi since 2008, when I first met him at Mario Party DS, I just choosed him by acident and today I still choose him in any of the games he is in (but not by accident). Maybe was his design, his funny voice, his movement... I don't know but I love Waluigi.
 
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Waluigi isn't a very complex character; he's a one-note personality whose very existence is built around absurdity and stupidity, and that's the whole point. Waluigi is, in essence, a joke character. He's supposed to be poorly-conceived and ridiculous, with little in the way of depth or intrigue. This is the "appeal" of Waluigi for many people, and, as a result, it's easy to slap headcanons or fanon onto the character. Otherwise, he wouldn't have garnered such a following among the meme audience.

Now, I'm not much of a Waluigi fan, myself. I think he's uninteresting and a little too ridiculous to be taken seriously (which is one reason why it'd be difficult to craft a game starring the character without a little more personality/backstory development), but he does have potential. I think that's where most of the "hype" Magma sees is coming from: people who find lots of potential in Waluigi. And, I mean, who wouldn't? There's a lot you could do with a fourth Mario brother... Albeit, there's not much you can do with a character when their entire backstory comprises of "not getting invited to a tennis tournament that one time".
 
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Interesting points, everyone.
IvPolaris said:
Because he is GOD
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Though this sort of reputation is what I would like to focus on. Where exactly did "this" come from? I'm less interested in personal opinions at this point and more on observations as to where this came from to begin with. I can see that the pieces were there to begin with but...was it stuff like Brawl in the Family and all the weird memes that have elevated this to an even further level?
 
I do feel like Waluigi in the games does have some of the randomness and ridiculousness that memes like to apply to him, with things like the glowing eyes in Mario Tennis 64/Tennis Open, the no controller found error message from Tennis 64, where he inexplicably flies away with the N64, with Luigi giving chase or the air swimming in Power Tennis.

I guess I always saw the way the internet portrays him as an extension of those kind of things and it's also why I wouldn't mind if Nintendo played up Waluigi as this completely ridiculous and absurd character, because I do feel like that part of him does exist in the games as well, even if it's much milder.
 
Well, I think it really comes down to three things. In short:

1. Waluigi's constant appearances and status alongside Mario, Luigi and Wario in their group means he's often seen as the next logical step for a game with the others. I mean, you've got the main man, you've his sidekick and you've got their rival, so why not add the sidekick's rival too? Just seems right to have him, and you can see this by how other games with the Mario/Luigi/Wario trio also have loads of people wishing Waluigi was playable alongside them (like in Mario 64 DS, where he replaced Luigi as the rumoured secret character).

2. Waluigi's a meme, likely because of his 'random' personality (or the one ascribed to him by the internet).

3. Brawl in the Family. This webcomic gave Waluigi far more of a 'personality' than he really had prior to it, and cemented him as the 'wacky random guy' in the minds of a lot of Nintendo fans, turning him from a random rival into someone that often literally stole the show from the other regulars. Like in the comics here:

151 – WitF – Brawl in the Family

So yeah, it's part pop culture osmosis, part him becoming the Mario equivalent to Shrek or the Bee Movie.
 
I'm personally OK with Waluigi and his fans, but I don't understand why people want him in main Wario games. Almost everytime someone mentions that Waluigi needs to be a main character in a game, there're suggestions to include him in Land/Ware games or even something like "Super Wario Bros." Excuse me? They only team up in sport games when they go against Mario brothers. Why would Wario take Waluigi for a tresure hunt? Or make him an employee? That would mean sharing the profit, and surely it's not what Wario would do. Again, it's not even confirmed if they are related. What would Waluigi do in an established franchise? Why not suggest a completely new game to let him show himself first?
I'm sorry if this doesn't follow the theme.
 
CM30 said:
So yeah, it's part pop culture osmosis, part him becoming the Mario equivalent to Shrek or the Bee Movie.
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That's what I was starting to think and it seems I was right then.

Shoonsh said:
I'm personally OK with Waluigi and his fans, but I don't understand why people want him in main Wario games. Almost everytime someone mentions that Waluigi needs to be a main character in a game, there're suggestions to include him in Land/Ware games or even something like "Super Wario Bros." Excuse me? They only team up in sport games when they go against Mario brothers. Why would Wario take Waluigi for a tresure hunt? Or make him an employee? That would mean sharing the profit, and surely it's not what Wario would do. Again, it's not even confirmed if they are related. What would Waluigi do in an established franchise? Why not suggest a completely new game to let him show himself first?
I'm sorry if this doesn't follow the theme.
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Yeah, that's where my issue with Waluigi's popularity comes into play. Along with how dormant Wario Land has been for a while, you see a lot more people demanding a game with Waluigi rather than Wario or if Wario is even called into question it's something like Super Wario Bros as you said and it just makes me roll my eyes. It's like people aren't even aware has his own series of great platformers that are distinct from Mario.
 
Shoonsh said:
I'm personally OK with Waluigi and his fans, but I don't understand why people want him in main Wario games. Almost everytime someone mentions that Waluigi needs to be a main character in a game, there're suggestions to include him in Land/Ware games or even something like "Super Wario Bros." Excuse me? They only team up in sport games when they go against Mario brothers. Why would Wario take Waluigi for a tresure hunt? Or make him an employee? That would mean sharing the profit, and surely it's not what Wario would do. Again, it's not even confirmed if they are related. What would Waluigi do in an established franchise? Why not suggest a completely new game to let him show himself first?
I'm sorry if this doesn't follow the theme.
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I'd rather have Waluigi star in Waluigi Land rather rather than be a sidekick in Wario Land, but I don't see why working with a partner is out of character for Wario. Wario works with an entire cast of characters in WarioWare, and worked with his own nemesis (Captain Syrup) in Wario Land: Shake It. Wario is plenty willing to work with others. He just does so with the expectation that he'll take all the profits for himself at the end.
 
Waluigi said:
I'd rather have Waluigi star in Waluigi Land rather rather than be a sidekick in Wario Land, but I don't see why working with a partner is out of character for Wario. Wario works with an entire cast of characters in WarioWare, and worked with his own nemesis (Captain Syrup) in Wario Land: Shake It. Wario is plenty willing to work with others. He just does so with the expectation that he'll take all the profits for himself at the end.
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You surely have a point. I just personally don't like how people try to fit Waluigi in franchises he never was associated with, especially on that insane meme wave and an abcense of new Land/Ware games. I agree that he needs his own games or any main roles.
 
KingDragonWario said:
Waluigi had potential at first and I used to play as him a lot in the Party/Kart games when I was younger. His wackiness, obscurity, design all really drew me to him.

Fast forward to today, he's an annoying meme revered by the same people who ironically like Bee Movie and Shrek, and he'll unfortunately never get out of that rut.
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