Supper Mario Broth: Special Zone, Issue 32: Super Luigi Odyssey

Welcome, everyone, to the 32nd issue of Supper Mario Broth: Special Zone. 

Today, I will discuss what unique outfits Luigi could wear in a potential Super Mario Odyssey sequel, provided he is playable and the same outfit customization exists there.

Super Luigi Odyssey

One of the features that differentiates Super Mario Odyssey from all previous Mario platformers is the introduction of cosmetic outfits Mario can wear. While Mario has been seen in more than one outfit per game ever since Super Mario Bros., where picking up a Fire Flower changed the color of his overalls, and starting in Super Mario Bros. 3, wearing completely different animal-inspired costumes as power-ups - these were always relevant to the gameplay. Until the release of Super Mario Odyssey, if Mario's clothes changed, it meant that he obtained new abilities, or changed his existing ones.

Super Mario Odyssey introduced the Crazy Cap store chain, which appears in 13 out of its 17 locations (13 out of 15 only counting locations that are kingdoms); at each of the stores, outfits and souvenirs can be bought for that kingdom's local purple currency. In addition, more outfits are available to buy for large amounts of regular gold coins - for a total of 109 pieces of clothing (though 27 of them were not available at release and were added through free updates later).

Many of the clothes and hats Mario can wear are original designs made specifically for this game; however, what makes the selection stand out is an immense amount of clothes based on previous entries in the series, ads and commercials, and even places like the Nintendo of Japan employee manuals (such as the Hakama outfit that first appeared there). Over the more than 2 years since the game's release, a multitude of videos and articles have been made by both professional journalism outlets and amateur creators explaining the origins of all those outfits; thus, instead of making yet another article about this topic, I will instead turn toward the future, and consider a potential sequel to the game.

Luigi has not appeared in Super Mario Odyssey until an update in February 2018 added a mode called Balloon World, where players could indirectly interact by hiding and finding balloons in the game's stages. Although the mode was received positively, one complaint remained: why couldn't Luigi have been playable? The Super Mario 64 DS remake showed that it was possible to design levels that would support both Mario's physics and Luigi's more slippery footing and higher jumps. 

Although there is no evidence one way or the other, let us assume for the purposes of this article that a Super Mario Odyssey sequel will ever be released, that it will feature Luigi as a playable character due to feedback calling for him in the original, and that the Crazy Cap stores will stock separate clothing for Mario and Luigi (the last point is not unlikely if the first two come true due to Mario and Luigi having different proportions; if the designers need to make two models of each outfit, they may as well make two different outfits).

For this thought experiment, I will go through some outfits Luigi has worn in the past with the following restriction: it cannot be just a version of an outfit Mario has worn with the color red being replaced with the color green, as that constitutes the majority of Luigi's outfits and is not original enough to talk about in-depth.

Let us begin at Luigi's very first appearance: Mario Bros. Just as Mario can obtain the Classic Cap and Classic Suit, homages to his coloration in his first appearance in Donkey Kong, Luigi should be able to dress like this:

Particularly, the hat can be an original model, translating the pointed square ends into 3D. This would elevate the outfit from a simple recolor. Those who are well versed in the timeline of Mario games may remark that the Mario Bros. Game & Watch came out two months earlier than the arcade; there is also the possibility of using its official art instead:

It is nearly identical except for having a red shirt instead of a brown one. And since Mario's outfits are also heavily inspired by commercials, there is also the first live-action appearance of Luigi in the Mario Bros. commercial:

The combination of the high-detail flannel shirt and the cap spelling out "LUIGI" would make for a truly unique outfit.

While Wrecking Crew did not add much to Luigi's design except for a helmet, there is one instance of Luigi having a semi-unique outfit in one of the game's Japanese print ads:

Note that Luigi's colors here are those he would have from Super Mario Bros. 2 to the color swap to the current blue overalls and green shirt in Super Mario Bros. 3 - but before Super Mario Bros. even released. This could work as a full outfit by taking advantage of both the helmet with the loose ties and the rolled-up sleeves.

Speaking of Super Mario Bros., few outfits are as iconic to Luigi's history as his appearance in his Super Mario Bros. sprite:

If the game I am talking about is ever released, this outfits is nearly guaranteed to be available for Luigi due to how many players would remember it - not just from the original game, but also from its appearance in the Super Mario Maker series.

Interestingly, no official art of Luigi exists for Super Mario Bros. Despite it being available for every single enemy and other NPC in the game, Luigi did not receive his own artwork until the release of the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, known internationally as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.

During this time, various manga were produced, some of them having truly inventive outfits for Mario and Luigi, like this one called "Mario Corps Sortie":

Since the Cowboy outfit in Super Mario Odyssey features a holstered gun, Luigi could do the same with his futuristic gun here and carry it on his hip.

In 1986, a retool of Super Mario Bros. was released for the Famicom Disk System, called "All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.", which replaced some of the sprites with those of Japanese comedians in a promotion for a radio show. On the cover of the game, Luigi has another unique coloration:

This appears very similar to the modern Ice Luigi, with the difference being that Ice Luigi has green overalls and a blue shirt. I also believe that if the hypothetical sequel to Super Mario Odyssey releases, there will be outfits based on power-ups that involve only the swapping of colors, as none were present for Mario in Super Mario Odyssey - likely to not confuse players into thinking the outfit granted Mario the powers usually associated with that power-up.

Also in 1986, the anime Super Mario Bros.; The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach was released. In the movie, Mario has his standard coloration from games at the time, while Luigi has a unique blue and yellow scheme:

In 1988, a Famicom Disk System-exclusive racing game called Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally was released. Despite Mario and Luigi not being seen during gameplay, there are many pieces of official art of them in racing gear. This was already referenced in Super Mario Odyssey with the Mechanic Outfit, directly based on Mario's appearance in some of the artwork where he wears a snapback cap. However, there is another version of the outfit, one that Luigi is also seen wearing:

On the left is the outfit Mario can wear in Super Mario Odyssey. I propose that in the sequel, Luigi could wear his version with the helmet instead of the backwards cap. Note that there already is a racing helmet in Super Mario Odyssey, but that one is based on a different design and features a vizor.

In 1989, the Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon began airing in the United States. If the developers of the hypothetical game were to decide to add references to non-Japanese material, they could add Luigi's outfit as worn by Danny Wells in the live-action segments:

While the cartoon, and its two sequel series, the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Super Mario World cartoon, featured many outfits worn by Mario and Luigi, the chances of any of them making it into the game even in the most hypothetical scenarios are near zero due to the unfamiliarity of the content to the developers, the brevity of each outfit's appearance, and the general below-average opinion of the series by critics.

Still, as an example, here is Luigi's rock band outfit as seen in the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Kootie Pie Rocks":

On the topic of rock band outfits, here is one much more likely to be included due to actually appearing in Japanese-only promotional material:

This pixel art of Luigi in a white suit with a blue tie was used to promote a 2017 Nintendo Switch official rock concert in Japan.

In 1991, Super Mario Bros. Print World, another US exclusive, was released for MS-DOS. In this software, coloring pages of Mario and friends doing different jobs can be found. Unfortunately, the only unique outfit for Luigi can be found on the "Teacher" page:

Despite Mario is Missing, released in 1992, being Luigi's first (and only, until 2001) own game, it features neither a new coloration for his regular outfit nor any new outfits.

However, in Japan, during this time an official Christmas plush of Luigi as a reindeer was released:

Note that this was unique to Luigi; in the same set, Mario's costume is that of Santa Claus. Since there already is a Santa outfit for Mario in Super Mario Odyssey, this would make the perfect counterpart for Luigi in the sequel.

Looking to the manga of that time, one series had Luigi dress up as a detective, alongside Mario as an officer:

A traditional detective outfit is something the original Super Mario Odyssey lacked, so even if Luigi does not make it into the sequel, it is not unlikely that Mario would be able to wear something very similar.

The 1995 Mario's Tennis for Virtual Boy has the first instance of Luigi wearing a unique tennis outfit:

Interestingly, the N monogram would later appear on the suit of the blue Referee Mario model in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64.

The rest of the decade went by rather uneventfully for Luigi until the release of the Game Boy Color version of Mario Golf, where he has this unique outfit, complete with cap:

While technically, this is not the first time Luigi has had a golf outfit - NES Open Golf Championship being the first - the one used there is just a palette-swapped version of Mario's stars-and-stripes costume that is already represented in Super Mario Odyssey.

In 2000, Luigi appeared in Paper Mario; mostly as the target of jokes about how he does not get to go with Mario on an adventure. However, at the very end of the game, he dons this outfit to lead a parade:

I believe this could be spruced up by adding details like medals (possibly with references, like the various patches on the Mechanic Outfit in Super Mario Odyssey, which are references to Mario Kart 8), but the basic idea of it is definitely something that can be used.

Around this time, the Game Boy Camera was released in Europe. The German Club Nintendo comic had an issue revolving around it that had Luigi assume the role of a fortune-teller, wearing a hood:

Super Mario Odyssey did not have any clothing with hoods except for the Snow Suit, which has a completely different aesthetic, so it would not be surprising to see Luigi (or Mario) wear a hooded outfit in the sequel purely because that was missing from the original.

In 2001, Luigi's Mansion was released, and again, despite it being Luigi's own adventure, he keeps his standard outfit throughout. It would be possible to have him carry the Poltergust on his back as part of an outfit (as Mario has outfits with backpacks in Super Mario Odyssey), but this would present the same problems as a power-up themed outfit as it would raise the question of why Luigi cannot use it.

In Game & Watch Gallery 4, released in 2002, Luigi stars in the Boxing minigame:

While only giving him boxing gloves and calling that a new outfit would be truly scraping the bottom of the barrel, I can imagine taking the boxing gloves as inspiration for an entire boxing-themed outfit instead, perhaps similar to the boxing outfit seen in Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games:

Another iconic Luigi outfit was introduced in 2003 with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga:

Luigi would continue wearing the short overalls with the socks showing until Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Interestingly, not only did Luigi change to his default outfit starting with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, but the Nintendo 3DS remakes of the first two games retroactively made him wear it during those two adventures, as well. Since Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is the only game where he wore the old outfit that was never remade, it remains the only game where he "canonically" wore them (as far as canon can be said to exist in the Mario franchise).

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi also wears Peach's dress in one story sequence:

While Mario is able to wear Peach's dress in Super Mario Odyssey, it is only the bridal version of it, not the regular one, which could go to Luigi as a counterpart.

In the 2004 remake of Super Mario 64, Super Mario 64 DS, there are two things that present potential for Luigi outfits. First, Luigi has his own exclusive power-up, the Vanish Cap. While in the original, Mario could wear it, here, only Luigi can, and it turns him into Vanish Luigi:

Note that Vanish Luigi is not fully covered with the transparency effect; his eyes are still solid - this is different from Mario in Super Mario 64 who did not have solid areas while under this effect. Normally, power-ups would not be a good idea to use as costumes; however, since Super Mario Odyssey does use Mario's Metal Cap transformation from Super Mario 64 as a costume, I believe this would be a fitting counterpart to it.

The other costume is the one most people would associate with this game (or New Super Mario Bros. if they have played that game instead): Croupier Luigi.

This is a post I had made about Croupier Luigi on the Supper Mario Broth Twitter account, showing him from all sides, which is not normally possible during the casino minigames he hosts. If the hypothetical game does release and Luigi is playable, Croupier Luigi simply must be included as a costume due to this being a) extremely popular and b) a reference to his, to date, only playable role in a collection-based 3D platformer.

In 2005's Super Mario Strikers, Luigi has a unique soccer outfit:

However, what is even more interesting is that inside the game's files, there are unused versions of all playable characters that have yet another unique outfit, each. Here is Luigi's:

Note that if this outfit were used instead of the finished one, it would have a unique cap, as well, whereas the regular one uses the standard cap. The models for the prototype outfits each have only one facial expression; Luigi's, for unknown reasons, is very angry, unlike the other characters.

In 2007, Super Paper Mario introduced the last of what I would consider to be the most iconic alternate outfits for Luigi, with his role as Mr. L:

While many of the outfits I suggest in this article are simply more involved counterparts to something Mario wore at some point, Mr. L is truly special in that it symbolizes something Mario has not been since his formative years as a character in Donkey Kong Jr. in 1982: an antagonist. To have a villainous costume would really make Luigi stand out from Mario.

2011's Super Mario 3D Land, 2012's New Super Mario Bros. 2 and 2013's Super Mario 3D World all established a pattern of making Luigi's power-up forms not just palette swaps of Mario's, but giving them some other difference as well:

Super Mario 3D Land replaced Tanooki Luigi with Kitsune Luigi, New Super Mario Bros. 2 had Luigi turn into Silver Luigi instead of Gold Luigi when picking up a Gold Flower, and Cat Luigi from Super Mario 3D World had spots on his fur and a dark tip on his tail as opposed to the other characters, who had white tips.

Unfortunately, from these three, I could see only Silver Luigi being a costume due to the others being too easily confused for power-ups; since Gold Mario was already a costume in Super Mario Odyssey, Silver Luigi would work as a counterpart. Curiously, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, released in 2015, features Gold Luigi instead of Silver Luigi.

In Super Mario Odyssey, Mario can buy the Fashionable Outfit, which originates from a 2014 commercial for New Nintendo 3DS cover plates. At the end of that commercial, Luigi can be seen on the right edge of the screen, also with his own unique outfit:

It is in fact this particular outfit that made me think about Luigi receiving different options from Mario in a possible sequel, as I thought that it would be extremely unlikely for the designers to let both of them wear the same outfit if the source for it showed them wearing radically different ones.

We have arrived in our timeline at Super Mario Odyssey itself. If the sequel has Luigi playable, it could reference his unplayable outfit from the first game:

By removing the balloons, the backpack can be made purely cosmetic; or, for humorous effect, the outfit's cap can have nonfunctional balloons attached directly to it.

Mario Tennis Aces, released in 2018, features a new and more elaborate tennis outfit for Luigi compared to the Mario's Tennis one seen above:

This one also has a unique vizor cap, making it more likely to be chosen.

In 2019, Luigi's Mansion 3 was released. While Luigi yet again does not wear anything original in that game, it serves as the story introduction of Gooigi (who technically already appeared in the remake of Luigi's Mansion for 3DS, but only in multiplayer mode):

A Gooigi outfit could work as a simple material swap like the Gold Mario outfit in Super Mario Odyssey, and would not even need the Poltergust G-00 on its back to be recognizable as Gooigi.

Finally, I would like to end with a very obscure, but nevertheless official place the game could take a hat for Luigi from: a LINE sticker. Nintendo publishes sets of stickers on their official LINE account, and one of them, "Mario's Relaxing Life", has Luigi go to sleep wearing a unique nightcap model:

This could help alleviate the problem of many of the abovementioned outfits not having their own unique caps to go with them; although, Luigi seems to also be wearing almost completely unseen pajamas in this sticker that are likely fully modeled and exist in Nintendo's archives somewhere, so this could be a full outfit on its own.

I hope this trip through the history of Luigi's outfits could be informative.

Thank you very much for reading.