Luigi's Contest History

Who is Luigi?
Believe it or not, Luigi has been around since the original Super Mario Brothers. Unfortunately for him, he was little more than the character that gave Player 2 something to do when Player 1 had died. Luigi had more of a front line role in Mario 2, but he went back to being the understudy in Mario 3, arguably the most popular Mario title ever made in Mario's illustrious career.

But it would get even worse for Luigi. He was once again reduced to the role of understudy in Super Mario World, and the only appearance he made in Super Mario RPG was as an unseen sprite hidden behind a house in Rose Town. If that weren't bad enough, Luigi didn't even make an appearance in the massively hyped Super Mario 64. Even Yoshi was in the game, but there was no Luigi to be found. Luigi had done next to nothing for himself under the Nintendo spotlight until Luigi's Mansion, which was a launch title for the Gamecube. The game was decent, but it portrayed Luigi as the cowardly brother to Mario. Meanwhile, Mario was busy setting up his next smash hit, Super Mario Sunshine. Once again, Luigi was nowhere to be seen in the game.

Luigi was Mario's shadow from the start, and he has yet to make any real strides to break that image. He hasn't appeared in two of Mario's most popular games, and in other games, he has been little more than the sideshow. In games where Nintendo tried to give Luigi a personality, he is portrayed as the coward of the Nintendo series. While this gives him some personality, it doesn't exactly give him the type of personality that appeals to people. Luigi is a mainstay in the Nintendo franchise, but until he gets rid of the cowardly image and starts appearing in good games by himself, he may never be able to get rid of the stigma that he has built up over the last 20 years.

"...the eternal understudy..." -Super Smash Brothers

Luigi's Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 8-5

Summer 2003 Contest - North Division - 3 Seed
 * Northern Round 1 --- Defeated (14) Ratchet, 70550 [74.54%] - 24099 [25.46%]
 * Northern Quarterfinal --- Lost to (6) Squall, 46232 [39.79%] - 69958 [60.21%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 30th Place [24.43%]

Summer 2004 Contest - Hyrule Division - 4 Seed
 * Hyrule Round 1 --- Defeated (13) Pac-Man, 51008 [67.73%] - 24299 [32.27%]
 * Hyrule Quarterfinal --- Lost to (5) Yoshi, 34382 [45.52%] - 41151 [54.48%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 30th Place [22.96%]

Luigi was one of the single most hyped characters in 2003. Not only was he expected to break the 3 seed curse, but he was also expected to be a threat to not only Samus, but possibly even Link as well. That all changed after two matches. Against Ratchet, Luigi managed to go from being up 85-15 to not even getting 75% of the vote by the end of the poll.

But if that weren't enough, one of the single greatest collapses ever took place in the next round. After Luigi took the initial lead, Squall came back to not only beat him, but he came back and beat the hell out of him in a 60-40 rout. It was one of the single biggest embarassments ever seen in the contest spectrum, partly because Luigi was so hyped, and partly because he allowed Squall to do this to him.

In 2004, Luigi proved that his choke act was no fluke in 2003. In the Nintendo stacked Hyrule division, Luigi was placed in a very winnable four pack with the likes of Pac Man, Yoshi, and Ryo Hazuki. Yoahi and Luigi handled their business, but in a match specifically designed to give Luigi a free pass to the Sweet 16, Luigi choked once again, this time losing to Yoshi in a match that was never in question after the first few minutes. Luigi has gone from being massively hyped to being an absolute laughingstock, and he has proved that he may not get into the Sweet 16 unless he is placed in a fourpack with three fruitcakes.

Summer 2005 Contest - Chaos Division - 2 Seed
 * Chaos Round 1 --- Defeated (7) KOS-MOS, 70232 [66.00%] - 36187 [34.00%]
 * Chaos Semifinals --- Lost to (3) Tifa, 47705 [46.64%] - 54588 [52.26%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 21st Place [28.70%]

For the third year in a row, Luigi scored a first round blowout before losing in the second round. However, this year was vastly different than the Luigi of years past. In the two contests prior to this, Luigi was expected to win his second round match. We all know what happened in those.

However in this contest, Luigi was left for dead after Tifa's killing of Vyse. Hardly anyone gave Luigi a shot at doing well, yet he came out and gave Tifa quite the fight before finally going under. Yes it was another second round loss for the eternal understudy, but it was arguably the finest example of strength we've ever seen from him and was concrete proof that he had increased in strength somewhere between his 2003 loss to Squall and his loss against Tifa.

Summer 2006 Contest - Blast Division - 2 Seed
 * Blast Round 1 --- Defeated (7) Zero, 69851 [53.71%] - 60207 [46.29%]
 * Blast Semifinal --- Defeated (3) Kirby, 55812 [52.31%] - 50890 [47.69%]
 * Blast Final --- Lost to (1) Sonic the Hedgehog, 52760 [39.81%] - 79761 [60.19%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 21st Place [33.61%]

After many disappointments, Luigi *finally* managed to break through and get out of the second round. Oddly enough, it was in the first contest in which people expected him not to even get out of the first round. Zero was a huge favorite going into that match, and Luigi completely dispatched him before following it up with a hard-fought SFF win over Kirby. His run finally came to an end in failing to break 40% against Sonic, but his fans were happy enough with Luigi making it that far.

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 5 - First Group Contest Quarterfinals --- 3rd place, 32179 [23.07%] - Master Chief, 44799 [32.12%] - Dante, 37086 [26.59%] - Pikachu, 25420 [18.22%]
 * Division 5 Round 1 --- 1st place, 62987 [45.96%] - Mudkip, 37971 [27.71%] - Pit, 25650 [18.72%] - Tingle, 10436 [7.62%]
 * Division 5 Round 2 --- 2nd place, 39230 [28.11%] - Ganondorf, 43349 [31.06%] - Mudkip, 34851 [24.97%] - Vergil Sparda, 22130 [15.86%]
 * Division 5 Finals --- 2nd place, 33242 [23.48%] - Master Chief, 50156 [35.42%] - Ganondorf, 31809 [22.47%] - Yuna, 26384 [18.63%]

Luigi just keeps taking it one step further in every contest. He was given a joke of a fourpack in the first round, though Mudkip turned out to be a bit more troublesome than we thought. It took Weegi a while to get past the Pokemon in the second round, and he stayed within striking distance of Ganon for the third round. When the time came, he took full advantage of it. He scored a monumental upset of supposed Noble Nine breaker Ganondorf. Sprite round or not, Luigi was considered to be a level below, but he managed to win. If it hadn't been for Pikachu getting in the way, he might have made the semifinals of the entire contest, but one step at a time. At least this time, he lasted just as long as big brother Mario.