You mean the cardboard character that’s the counterpart to another cardboard character and that only exists because Wario needed a doubles partner in Mario Tennis? Even his name is an afterthought, why would Nintendo suddenly start caring enough to give him a game?
I, We, Waluigi: a Post-Modern analysis of Waluigi by Franck Ribery
Waluigi is the ultimate example of the individual shaped by the signifier. Waluigi is a man seen only in mirror images; lost in a hall of mirrors he is a reflection of a reflection of a reflection. You start with Mario – the wholesome all Italian plumbing superman, you reflect him to create Luigi – the same thing but slightly less. You invert Mario to create Wario – Mario turned septic and libertarian – then you reflect the inversion in the reflection: you create a being who can only exist in reference to others. Waluigi is the true nowhere man, without the other characters he reflects, inverts and parodies he has no reason to exist. Waluigi’s identity only comes from what and who he isn’t – without a wider frame of reference he is nothing. He is not his own man. In a world where our identities are shaped by our warped relationships to brands and commerce we are all Waluigi.
I remembered about that post while writing my comment but couldn’t find it. I didn’t know the sequel but both explain the problem of Waluigi as a character, Nintendo sees him as filler and he’s more useful for them as such. If they start fleshing him out he’ll be less useful in other contexts… Which is also a apt metaphor for why conservative societies want people to fit faceless molds
I figured you might have read it, as your comment had evoked it for me.
I really like the reading of Waluigi as a kind of perfect symbol for our post-modern times. I don’t think the article goes quite far enough. Mario is already a simulacra: a stereotype that doesn’t really exist, certainly not anymore and never really did. So Waluigi is the reflection of an inverse of a simulation without a base reality.
It’s very relatable, as you say, an apt metaphor for how our cultures treat the common person. Maybe the right Waluigi game isn’t one that fleshes him out and brings him closer to the audience. Maybe something like Krusty’s Fun House or Lemmings: burning through legions of Waluigis (1up mushroom clones? robots? one person somehow split into a multitude?) to accomplish trivial goals for Wario, the stand-in for the corporate overlords?
Thank you for putting so much effort into these posts. I rarely comment but I always read them. It feels like reading an informal short review of a random game every day, like having a friend telling me what they played the day before. Sometimes I even add the game to my wishlist.
I’m glad you like my posts! My goal was to introduce people to a new game every day. I have way too many games in my Steam library and I’ve barely played a quarter of them, so this forces me to try something new every day and share it with others.
You’re grossly overestimating what mobile tech was capable of in 1998. The dreamcast had enough power to play an mp3 but the VMU definitely did not. On top of that, the VMU only has enough storage space for a little over 6 seconds of music at 128kbps. Even if the Dreamcast could (very very slowly) rip CDs to MP3 , you still had no where to save the data.
No shit the VMU as it was isn’t capable of MP3 capabilities. Not sure how crazy tech advanced you think mp3 players were in the beginning, the simplest mp3 players didn’t even have a screen, they were plug n play with direct drop file library- no software required and ran on a single AA battery. Also not sure why you think the disc reader wasn’t fast enough. Most people were happy to spend 2-3 hours ripping and burning a music disc. I think you’re comparing it to modern day expectations.
The Dreamcast came out in time where people were happy with any tech that was dual purpose and any that was cable of multiple functions received huge attention.
Here’s Sega’s VMU Mp3 player prototype: not saying this specific one would have been the one, just saying it’s capable.
If the Dreamcast didn’t get discontinued in early 2001 then sure, it’s possible they could have released an mp3 player vmu. We don’t even know if the TGS prototype was a functional unit or just conceptual mockup. Either way, it would still be a case of too little too late.
When I said it would rip CDs very slowly I was referring to the processing speed, not the drive speed. Comparable processors of the time would encode at about 0.6-0.8x speed depending on the encoder used and I doubt the average consumer would want to spend 2 hours to encode a single CD worth of music on their dreamcast.
The truth was a burning green crack through my brain.
Credits scrolling by, a reminder of the talent behind a just-finished journey. The feeling of triumph, slowly replaced by the creeping grayness of ordinary life.
I had finished a computer game. Funny as hell, it was the most horrible thing I could think of.
It depends on life. Right now I’m going through some of Remedy’s games (mostly to get to Alan Wake II). Most of my picks though come from if they fit into my schedule, so if they let me save wherever or pretty periodically they’ll probably be what I go to next.
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