On Tuesday for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo announced new details on the much-anticipated Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for its
Switch console. The
25-minute presentation was long on details. For one thing, the latest game includes every
single playable character in the fighting-game franchise’
s 19-year history. It seemed to exceed fan expectations, except for fans of the meme-ready Waluigi.
His origin story is unimpressive. Waluigi is simply a bizarro version of
Mario’s less famous but more charming brother Luigi. In his 18-year existence as a minor character, he’s had virtually no backstory. But that blank canvas ended up becoming Waluigi’s greatest gift. Since he stood for nothing, supporters could project their wildest hopes unto him, like Barack Obama in 2008 but actually good at
golf. He can be described in a
single website as anyone from a “true nowhere man” to “the logical end point of
capitalism” and the “triumph of capital over creativity.” In other words, Waluigi became the perfect meme fodder.
Even children know that there’s something about Waluigi, something more than Nintendo seems fit to acknowledge.
Take “Ode to Waluigi,” a poem written by a Canadian fourth-grader in
2012. Sam Daly of Leo Nickerson Elementary, outside Edmonton,
beat hundreds of other children to win first place in the national writing contest.
Maybe, just maybe, Waluigi’s fandom had memed so
hard that Nintendo would have no choice but to recognize his true power.