Editorial: Mario or Luigi?

Upon filling out a bulletin on MySpace, I got the question "Who's better: Luigi or Mario?" I decided to say, "Screw it!" to the survey and just post my response to this question. Let's get in to why Mario is the clear winner.

In Super Mario Bros., the original Mario that came out on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in the '80s, whenever you played as Luigi, there was no difference in playing him or Mario. Why? Because technology was very limited back then and no one really cared if there was a difference. Luigi was just a palette-swap, or color change, of Mario, with slight alterations in coloring to his clothes. That's all Luigi began as --- a green Mario. (And, for those who don't know, before this, Nintendo released Mario Bros. in the arcades. It also featured the palette-swap Mario.) Luigi was changed in the next game, Super Mario Bros. 2, but due to many technicalities I don't want to get into with this editorial, let's just say the changes made for Luigi never caught on until later games in the series.

Why is this such a big deal? It's not, really. I only liked playing as Luigi because I prefer green over red. Then later in the early '90s, Super Mario World was released on the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System --- It's suuuupperrr!!!!). Again, Luigi appeared in this game, but he still looked like Mario, except with green clothes. He played the same way as Mario; the only thing that was different was red to green.

This would change when Super Mario World was ported to the Game Boy Advance in the early 2000's. Notable differences between Mario and Luigi became evident. For one, Luigi was taller, but the changes weren't only cosmetic. Luigi now jumped higher than Mario and stayed in the air longer. However, for some reason, Luigi was made to be a very clumsy character, so it's hard to control him when he's falling back down to the ground. That makes getting that tough jump even harder. And who wants that? There were also some changes when he rode Yoshi, such as whenever an enemy is swallowed, Yoshi keeps it in his mouth and swallows it after a short time; when playing with Mario, Yoshi immediately swallows the enemy.

Luigi wasn't always overshadowed by his younger brother. In a few games, Luigi is the main character with the spotlight completely on him. A couple of examples would be Mario's Missing! for the NES and SNES, and more recently, Luigi's Mansion GameCube. The usual stipulations for Luigi don't apply to these games, however. For the former, these were before the physical changes were implemented, and for the latter, this game is explored in a 3D world.

Luigi has proven to be just a half-assed character, created because Nintendo needed another character for multiplayer modes in their games. He began as a palette-swap and only transformed into an annoying, cowardly, clumsy Italian plumber who needs work on his jumping skills. This is why Mario is better and why he will always live on, unlike his stupid older brother. Now, here's a REAL question that requires a REAL, thought-provoking answer: Mario or Donkey Kong?

P.S. It's Donkey Kong.