KMC Forums - Respect L-u-i-g-i

In most of his video game appearances, Luigi's abilities are either identical to those of Mario or with slight variations. Beginning with Mario Bros. and throughout the Super Mario Bros. series, Luigi's most commonly-seen abilities have revolved around jumping, stomping, and knocking over small enemies, as well as using his fist to either disrupt or break bricks above him. Since Super Mario Bros., Luigi and Mario have made extensive use of items to extend their abilities, the most notable of which being the Super Mushroom, which allows the player's character to grow larger, the Fire Flower, which allows him to become Fire Luigi and throw fireballs until damaged, and the Starman, which grants Mario or Luigi temporary invulnerability. For the most part, Luigi's abilities are comparable to those of Mario.

In Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2), Luigi is distinguished as being a better jumper than Mario, but has lower traction, making the character more difficult to control. In Super Mario Bros. 2 (later released in Japan as Super Mario USA), Luigi is again the best jumper, better than Peach (or Princess Toadstool, as she was known as in North America at the time the game was released), Mario or Toad, although he is not as fast as Mario.[8] The traction characteristic appears in Super Mario 64 DS, where Luigi can run across a small amount of water with a running start using this power. However, he is the same speed as Mario and is surprisingly more agile than the other characters. Unlike Mario, however, he cannot perform a wall-kick.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Luigi appears as an unlockable character. In general, his moves are similar to Mario's, but in defiance of the usual assumption that Mario is stronger, Luigi�s attacks tend to be more powerful. He is better at jumping and running than Mario, but lacks coordination and traction. His special moves are similar to Mario's, the main difference being that his fireballs are green and are not affected by gravity. His low traction makes him a difficult character to maneuver; however, his strong smash attacks, balanced moveset, speed, and nearly limitless horizontal recovery capacity (i.e. the ability to charge himself up like a rocket can be used as an attack or repeatedly to recover back on stage) makes him a powerful opponent under the experienced player. An enhanced form of Luigi, Metal Luigi, appears in the Adventure Mode of Super Smash Bros. Melee (as long as Luigi is unlocked) as Metal Mario's partner. He has more attack power than the regular Luigi and is harder to knock out. Comparing both Metal Bros., Metal Luigi is a bit stronger than Metal Mario.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi is given the ability to harness and release electricity with the technique known as the "Thunderhand". Mario, on the other hand, attains control of fire with the "Firebrand" technique. Electricity may in fact be Luigi's "element" with which he attacks (similar to Mario's fire). Signs of this are that he gets the Thunderhand in Superstar Saga, his team symbol in Super Mario Strikers is a lightning bolt, and he adopts the name "Green Thunder" and the motto "The Green Thunder strikes like lightning!" in Super Paper Mario. He also has the ability to shrink Mario with his hammer and be hit underground, and the ability to be turned into a surfboard and do a hi-jump on top of Mario. Luigi's stats are slightly different from those of his brother's, with Mario being the stronger and faster of the pair, while Luigi has higher defense and stache points (as is the case throughout the Mario & Luigi series); the latter implying that he is extremely charming (also of note is that, unlike Mario, Luigi's artwork portrays him wearing red-white-striped socks under his overalls, which are unique to the Mario & Luigi games). This applies to the sequel, Partners in Time, as well.

Like his brother and most other Mario series characters, Luigi is shown to be quite skilled at various sports such as baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis, golf and go-kart racing.

Luigi's speed and agility differ in many games. While it is true that he is often depicted as being slower and less agile than Mario in many games, in the Mario Kart games he is faster, in Super Mario 64 DS he is as fast as Mario and Yoshi and is the most agile of all the characters, and in Luigi's Mansion, if you examine the treadmill in the gym, Luigi comments that he always was a runner. It would seem that Nintendo is slowly developing Luigi to form a more balanced counterpart to Mario. While the earlier incarnations of Luigi usually featured a character of comparable strength with better jumping but lacking in overall control, Luigi is now usually attributed with superior speed, jumping, and overall maneuverability, but with hindered strength and other physical disadvantages such as being too light to perform a task, as seen most prominently in Super Mario 64 DS.

In New Super Mario Bros., Luigi, along with Mario, gets three new abilities. The first is the blue Koopa shell. This power-up transforms him into Shell Luigi. When running fast enough, he curls into the shell. He can also duck into the shell, allowing enemies to pass by without harming him. The shell also increases maneuverability underwater. The second is the Mini Mushroom. Its effect is the opposite of the Super Mushroom, in that it shrinks Luigi to half-size. This allows him to jump higher and slow his falls. He can also run on water. The third is the Mega Mushroom. This power-up allows Luigi to crush things like enemies, pipes, even the end-of-level flag. He also gains the ability to do a wall-kick like Mario.

In Super Paper Mario, Luigi has the highest jump ability of all the characters, similar to how he was in Super Mario Bros. 2. His abilities include an extreme jump that shoots him off the screen, enabling him to reach high areas that the other three playable characters (Mario, Bowser and Peach) could never otherwise reach, also delivering a devastating uppercut to any enemy above him. However, as is the case in the Lost Levels, Luigi has lower traction than the other playable characters. He also has a mysterious connection to the dark powers of the Chaos Heart, which Dimentio manipulates to his advantage.

In Super Mario 64 DS, after obtaining the power flower, Luigi is able to turn into Vanish Luigi. In this form he is pratically invisible and can walk through certain enemies and obstacles (similar to Vanish Mario in Super Mario 64). This would seem to further the meek and timid personality of Luigi portrayed in several games, such as the Mario and Luigi series.

Sorry if this has nothing to do with Luigi and if it's too long or something. I admire both Luigi and Mario.