Guys, Waluigi is just Awful

(Image Credit: Nintendo)

At E3 2018, the annual event where video game studios subject themselves to immediate fan backlash and deliver awkward presentations to investors and shareholders that likely haven’t picked up a video game controller since skipping classes in favor of a house Goldeneye tournament, Nintendo announced the upcoming release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a brand new game in the long running series rather than a port from the less than successful version for the Nintendo Wii U. One of the biggest points of emphasis was the fact that every character from a previous version would be available on the new game. Characters like Mewtwo and Roy which were DLC characters in the Wii U and 3DS version, fan favorite Solid Snake (censored for the innocent among us), and even characters no one particularly wanted back like Ice Climbers and Pichu will be available in the new game, along with new characters like the Inklings from Splatoon, Princess Daisy from the Mario franchise, and Ridley from the Metroid series.

After the initial hype for the game died down, people of the internet took to their keyboards and gathered to complain about a character that was not announced for the new entry in the Smash series. While numerous characters from the Super Mario series, a collection of video games that has grossed more than the GDP of numerous countries, one character was left off the roster for the time being. This, of course, is the purple, altitudinous Waluigi.

First appearing in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, Waluigi was to Luigi what Wario was to Mario, an evil twin alter ego. Waluigi has since reappeared in other Mario games and was even a non-playable ally (assist trophy) in preceding Super Smash Bros games. But, the decision not to include Waluigi as a playable character (again for the time being) sparked internet outrage, some protesting ironically (MEMES) while others seriously wish for the ill-tempered irritant to enter the fray in the new game.

(Look at him, he just wants to hit his companions repeatedly until they fly off a stage to their death. Credit to a Facebook friend for sharing this meme)

Guys…Waluigi is awful.

I mean…really, he’s really awful.

“Sir, we know that, we just like him for the memes.”

Doesn’t matter. The creation and celebration of Waluigi represents the same kind of “edgy” thinking that prevailed throughout the 1990s and 2000s to create other awful ideas like Venom, The Death of Superman, Spawn, and even Wario (Wario is also awful). Clamoring for a terrible character representing a terrible idea and terrible thinking, even sarcastically, rewards said terrible ideas and terrible thinking and encourages video game creators to continue terrible ideas and terrible thinking until all we are left with is anti-versions of the characters we actually like.

(I hate one-note “dark” and “edgy” villains Kif, it sickens me)

So Nintendo, don’t do it. Don’t put Waluigi in the new Smash game regardless of internet outrage or reducing stock prices due to a lackluster showing at E3. Waluigi is not a good character regardless of what the internet thinks. Ironic cult following or not, “Luigi but evil” represents the worst form of thinking rather than a creative character, a product of 1990s and early 2000s media trends rather than a true representation of Nintendo’s creativity.