Is Luigi actually overshadowing Mario now?

[Neweegee]

When I was on the internet, I came to a realization, ALMOST EVERYBODY LIKES LUIGI MORE THAN MARIO. But what I really don't understand why does everyone keep saying Mario is more popular? Clearly like, 80.3% of people like either Luigi, Yoshi, or some/all of the Koopa Kids over Mario and/or whole cast.
I'm one of the very few people who likes Mario over all of the other characters, though that doesn't mean I wouldn't want Luigi in another game, it's just I can go without Luigi showing in a Mario game, but I wouldn't be too happy with Luigi only.

Basically, I'm thinking Luigi is most likely overrated both on the internet and even the mainstream games now, and, I know this is possibly the worst time ever to start this but, I've made a Poll on it. What do you think about this?

[Koopaul]

Hey do you know who Luigi really overshadows? Like a bajillion other Mario characters.

The Mario series has an enormous cast of characters that Nintendo doesn't seem to care much about.

[Phantom Killah]

When Luigi starts getting top billing in several games per year, maybe then he'll overshadow Mario.


Also, there's a good reason people like him more than Mario (Mario is boring). It's sort of Mario's duty as the face of the franchise to not have an overly detailed personality, but since Luigi doesn't have that sort of responsibility he's free to be a goofy coward

[Ark Kuvis]

It's a simple promotion to attempt to sell some more Luigi themed games. I think it's kinda cool! Mario games trickle out annually, it's nice to see a solid theme of Mario games featuring and staring Luigi.

(On the subject, is Luigi's Mansion 2 good? I kind of forgot about it, what with all the other fantastic 3DS games that came out this year.)

[TomGuycott]

I really don't know if the discussion is gonna be fair during the Year of Luigi. I:

[Zero Kirby]

(On the subject, is Luigi's Mansion 2 good? I kind of forgot about it, what with all the other fantastic 3DS games that came out this year.)

Luigi's Mansion 2 is AMAZING. It's better than the original and the multiplayer is surprisingly addicting.

Also eh. I like Luigi more just because he has a personality more often than Mario does. I like that Mario got a bit more beyond "bland superhero" in Dream Team though.

[Omega]

Secondary characters tend to be more favorable over the main one because they're usually the straight man.

For example how many people would consider Winnie the pooh their favorite over say Tigger or Eeyore? How about Mickey over Donald or Goofy?

I like Mario myself, but Luigi, Yoshi and Wario usually get top billing for me.

[Kriven]

I don't think fan popularity has very much to do with whether a character is overshadowed or not in the primary canon... just look at things like Derpy Hooves where fans have latched onto pretty much a non-character and treated them as part of the primary cast. That doesn't mean she is an important character (or even a character anymore) in the official canon, and the same can be said for Luigi, who, despite being a playable character in recent games, is still relegated to an end-game unlock. I mean, he's not even P2 anymore for a lot of games.

[puggsoy]

I think most people prefer Luigi over Mario as a character due to his goofiness, as PK said, and usually has more of a personality, as Zero Kirby said. Mario is cool, but most of the time he's a bit "too perfect", and isn't really able to connect with players. A lot of the time he also merely serves as a "puppet" for the player to control.

On the other hand, most of Luigi's appearances let him show his personality and gives him a character that players can relate to. In Mario Bros. games, he usually is essentially the same as Mario. But in things like Luigi's Mansion (2 at least, haven't played 1), even during gameplay you can see how scared he is. In the M&L RPG games, he also has a sort of "lovable coward" sort of atmosphere, and serves as a bit of comic relief.

I'm not saying Mario is a heartless shell, of course. He's shown his personality a lot and how much he cares for Luigi (recently passed a bit in PiT that really stressed this). The thing is that I think because Mario is so much more perfect than Luigi, people can't really relate to him and he's not as lovable. He's a top-notch hero and deserves as much credit as he gets, but sometimes Luigi seems under-appreciated in the Mushroom Kingdom and that can, ironically, cause players to appreciate him more.

[Keychain]

Hey do you know who Luigi really overshadows? Like a bajillion other Mario characters.

The Mario series has an enormous cast of characters that Nintendo doesn't seem to care much about.

You mean like Sega and the enormous cast of Sonic characters that they don't care about either? Where's my Mighty the Armadillo comeback, Sonic team!

[Kriven]

As far as Sonic goes, I think they have enough characters to branch out into spin-offs that don't utilize the traditional game style. A Chaotix detective game featuring Marvel: Ultimate Alliance type gameplay and a few other old characters (Fang, Mighty, Ray) would be beyond nifty.

Actually, I've always thought this about Mario as well and have been secretly hoping for a "Mushroom Kingdom" franchise devoted to depicting the adventures of Mario's side characters, like Goombario.

[Neweegee]

Actually, I think Nintendo doesn't usually reuse their old characters because they can(probably should) make new characters instead. Imagine if Super Mario 3D World used the kings from Mario 3 instead of the Sprixies, the Koopa Kids instead of the new bosses, and even brought back some Paper Mario characters for it, it wouldn't work well because those characters were made for one game(the Koopa Kids would've just been horrible overused if they added them again) and it would mostly likely cause Nintendo to have to adjust the game to fit them in and limit what they can do to them, rather than adjust new characters to do anything the game requires and create an overall new feeling as well as less confusion for newer players, this is also another reason why Mario doesn't have much of a personality or anything, so Nintendo can keep using him in many games while making them very different(which is what Miyamoto intended from the start), Luigi on the other hand, has been somewhat limited to Ghost, Mansions and being scared all of the time, so if Luigi did anything really different, people would say "This is not Luigi!", while Mario is not truly attached to anything so he can change to do almost anything they need him to do and still be correct.

I think most of this applies to Sonic's series as well.

[Zero Kirby]

They made Luigi a super-confident goofball in the Paper Mario series which I really liked. Luigi's had a lot of interpretations over the years, and in Luigi's Mansion 2 it's implied he's gotten over his fear of ghosts by the end. I don't think anyone complained about his more confident portrayal in Dream Team, which may have been limited to Dreamy Luigi most of the time, but you can't deny that as goofy as Luigi is in that game, he's much less cowardly than in other interpretations.

UNLIKE Mario though, the Sonic cast have very distinct personalities. Sonic's a very laid-back but justice-driven gotta-go-fast character, Tails is his buddy who looks up to him but at the same time knows he has skills that Sonic needs him for, Knuckles has just become a bumbler (which I hate compared to his gullible but stern and immovable version from the Adventure games), Amy's the tag-along who's overbearing but at least tries to help. That's just the main four heroes, mind. While Mario can be seen doing just about anything because he is SUCH a blank slate, Sonic not nearly so much - honestly, Tails fills a blank role better than Sonic at times. He still has a personality but it's much more muted than Sonic's "gotta be cool" attitude.

And of course as both series continue they'll be continually introducing new characters, but it's always nice to see old favorites make a return as long as they aren't overused (see the Koopalings before New Super Mario Bros. Wii and then after New Super Mario Bros. 2).

[Ton]

Needs more Year of Waluigi.

[Neweegee]

I guess you can see Mario and Luigi's personalities as either a positive or negative aspect, but most people see Luigi's as positive and Mario's as negative, but I like Mario's because he's always just going right in to do things, always having fun when he does it and with nothing stopping him, that's what makes him so different from other characters, Wario is kinda like that but in a different way, and Waluigi is...um...Hey! What are you-a trying to say? I have-a no personality? I don't-a do anything!? Well look here buster, I've got-a more style than all three of-a those losers combined! NOW, I want you to rethink-a everything you just said and...no, no! Wario I didn't mean it when I said lose-GAAAK!!