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?
Waluigi Snap! Like Pokemon Snap! , but more of a stealth game where Waluigi creeps around taking candid photos of other characters. Bonuses I’d they successfully steal small trophies from the characters and sneak back to the white Waluigi Van undetected.
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.
I admire the effort you put into these posts. Thanks for the info about the discount, I played the pirated copy and am fine with paying $3 for this now.
I remember having been disappointed about the game as a terrible Lovecraft adaptation, but an ok game.
If you didn’t like it and want something I considered a good Lovecraft adaptation try Conarium.
I apparently have Conarium in my library already! I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Yeah, Call of Cthulhu is not really a Lovecraftian game. You could easily substitute any other creature and it would still play out the same. The only element of the old RPG game that really carried over is the sanity level. The tabletop game would have you roll for sanity checks every now and then and basically track your gain or loss of sanity, which could alter your character as the game progressed.
That, and the eldritch creatures, are about all these games share in common with each other, and both are very loosely based on the Lovecraft short story. So it’s about as far removed from an H.P. Lovecraft work as you can get.
Conarium is an interesting one. It’s a bit more walking sim than RPG, but there are different endings. I went through a Lovecraft video game kick a couple years ago too, lol.
I do want to try Old Gods Rising, but I just haven’t yet for whatever reason.
Same. I played it on Game Pass a couple years ago and actually got really into it. I had to make myself hunker down for the first encounter with the other, though.
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