The Year of Luigi is one of the strangest periods in Nintendo history. A celebration of all things Luigi, the plumber’s year was ultimately overshadowed by the Wii U’s underperformance. Lasting from March 19, 2013 to March 19, 2014, the Year of Luigi left very little impact on the character, his sub-series, and Nintendo as a company. Its complete lack of legacy could even be argued as doing more harm than good in the grand scheme of things. After all, what is the Year of Luigi but a joke nowadays?
When it comes down to it, though, the Year of Luigi’s fumbles are down to Nintendo’s marketing and not the actual quality of the games released during this period– what few there ultimately were (another major issue.) Although underwhelming in the grand scheme of things, the Year of Luigi did offer Nintendo fans a fair amount of high quality Luigi based games. It’s not often Mario’s brother gets the spotlight all to himself, so the Year of Luigi sticks out as a unique period in Nintendo’s rich history.
5 Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (February, 2013)
The first game released during the Year of Luigi actually predated the March 19 start date. Regardless, it should come as no surprise that Mario & Luigi: Dream Team focuses quite heavily on Luigi himself. Luigi has always played an important role in the Mario & Luigi games, but Dream Team ostensibly makes him the protagonist. This is an RPG about who Luigi is as a character.
Dream Team was also the first game in the series to release after Bowser’s Inside Story, at a time where Nintendo was stifling the creativity of Mario’s spin-offs the hardest. Dream Team’s 2.5 art styles pales in comparison to the sprites of the original trilogy, but the lack of original characters set a precedent that would eventually sap all the franchise’s charm by Paper Jam. For all its faults, however, Dream Team is a well written love letter and a thoughtful start to the Year of Luigi.
4 Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (March, 2013)
The long awaited sequel to the Nintendo GameCube classic, Luigi’s Mansion, Dark Moon released on the 3DS one month after Dream Team and was the title that officially kicked off the Year of Luigi. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is notable for straying from the original game’s formula considerably.
Where the first Luigi’s Mansion was an E-Rated survival horror game in every respect– complete with plenty of exploration and somber set pieces– Dark Moon fashions itself as a mission based action game with a horror coat. Think of the difference between the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 5.
This isn’t to say Dark Moon is a bad game, however. The mission based gameplay is perfectly suited for a handheld, and while straying away from the horror motif is disappointing, the game itself features some great atmosphere that’s only heightened by the 3DS’ stereoscopic 3D.
3 New Super Luigi U (June, 2013)
Despite the worthy flak the New Super Mario Bros. sub-series gets for their samey aesthetic and level design, New Super Mario Bros. and least when out on a high with their Wii U outing. In celebration of the Year of Luigi, New Super Mario Bros. U received DLC which remixed the game with harder levels all based around Luigi & his unique maneuverability.
Every single level in the game starts with the timer already at 100, depending players to race against the clock. New Super Luigi U is a thrilling challenge and a genuinely fantastic way to round out New Super Mario Bros. U. Along with being released as a standalone game on the Wii U, New Super Luigi U was included in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch.
2 Super Mario 3D World (November, 2013)
Although not a Luigi game in the same respect as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon or New Super Luigi U, Super Mario 3D World is arguably the greatest celebration within the Year of Luigi. Not only is 3D World a fantastic blend of 2D and 3D Mario sensibilities, there are countless Luigi references scattered throughout levels.
Luigi plays a key role in most of the game’s secrets and players can even unlock Luigi Bros. in-game if they either complete the main story or have save data from New Super Luigi U on their Wii U. Luigi Bros. is a reskin of the very first Mario Bros. featuring Luigi as the main playable character. It’s not much, but it’s a cute way of honoring Luigi.
1 Dr. Luigi (December, 2013)
Even though the Year of Luigi formally ran until March 19, 2014, no major games featuring Luigi were released after the end of 2013. The last game Nintendo released in celebration of the Year of Luigi was Dr. Luigi, a reskin of Dr. Mario with a Luigi theme. The game itself featured online multiplayer, but never built up much of a player base due to being a mid life Wii U game released digitally. While not a bad way of playing through Dr. Mario– especially since it’s perpetually on sale on My Nintendo– Dr. Luigi marked an underwhelming end to the Year of Luigi.