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The Year of Luigi
Talking about the legacy of World 1-1 wasn't really much of a celebration for Super mario Bros.'s 30th anniversary. 30 years in the fast changing video game industry is a huge achievement! Nintendo, however, do know how to celebrate a milestone like this when in 2013 Luigi turned 30 years old! Luigi was first seen in the arcade classic Mario Bros on the 14th July 1983, on February 14th 2013 Nintendo announced the Year of Luigi, and what a celebration it was!
First of all Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon on the 3DS, the long, long awaited sequel to the previous Luigi's Mansion released on the Gamecube. As a brief digression the original Luigi's Mansion came with little success at launch, however, over time it grew a cult following and is now considered a favourite among many Nintendo fans. Maybe that's why they seemed to not be making another Luigi's Mansion. After this came a remake of the previous years New Super Mario Bros. U which became New Super Luigi U. New Super Luigi U saw you control Luigi, the two Toads and Nabbit the Rabbit, the levels were much more difficult than in New Super Mario Bros. U but also shorter. Next up Nintendo released the fourth installment in the Mario & Luigi RPG series: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team which sees Mario enter Luigi's dream world. The final game released to celebrate the Year of Luigi was Dr Luigi, based off of the Dr Mario series. Dr Luigi, however, came with more game modes and an L-shaped capsule used to throw at the viruses (the gameplay is somewhat similar to Tetris although you are trying to destroy the viruses on the screen). All of this in one incredible year! But it's not over yet as we move away from Luigi games and take a look at a Mario game released in this time: Super Mario 3D World.
This game saw the return of enemies last seen in Super Mario World on the SNES in 1991! Not only that but it also paid homage to other Mario titles like enemies from the Super Mario Galaxy series as well as Rosalina and Captain Toad! Captain Toad would then go on to start his own game: Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker but we'll llok closer at Super Mario 3D World later on and for now let's focus on Luigi in this game. On every single level in the entire game there is a secret 8-bit Luigi! Every level! Even in the levels across the five bonus worlds! Even on the over-world map Luigi can be found sometimes! He is creatively hid in each level and if you think this still isn't enough to celebrate the eternal player 2 then how about some more?
The arcade classic Mario Bros was remade as Luigi Bros. However, unlike the original both players are Luigi, it's similar to how in Super Mario Galaxy if you play Luig's game you still save Luigi from the Boo Houses. Want more? A special 3DS was made to celebrate the Year of Luigi, it was green and had Luigi plastered all over it. As a promotion for New Super Luigi U a train in Chicago was painted green with Luigi's image all over the train, inside and out! Nintendo really know how to celebrate a 30th anniversary and the release of Super Mario Maker on Friday with the special Mario Amiibos, art book and more depending on where it was purchased may seem less of a celebration but Super Mario Maker is a game that will never end! On the 14th February 2014 the Year of Luigi did end. Happy 30th Mario, Luigi and the rest from Super Mario Bros. and here's to another 30!
