### Unfolding Luigi's Epic: The Time is Ripe for a PAPER LUIGI Adventure

Nintendo has played with our fantasy potential, brought it to life in its colourful characters, and woven its stories into charming plotlines with years of fanfare and countless video instructions. Currently, we are going bonkers for the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door life-size remake on the Nintendo Switch – which says everything you need to know about corporate incentives in the dressed in h breathing anew into Mario’s paper-thin quest, it’s about time that Luigi stole the limelight.

#### The Whisperings of Rogueport: Why Luigi’s Time has Come

Completely aware of this, Nintendo planted the seeds for a Luigi-centric narrative through a comic subplot in The Thousand-Year Door. The shy but loveable Luigi regales anyone who will listen to tales of his quest for the Marvelous Compass and his time in the Waffle Kingdom. The subplot wasn’t just a humorous aside but a brilliantly-laid foundation for the adventure to come.

#### A Story Awaiting its Hero

The weird characters and absurd plot contortions of Luigi’s story are already there. Jerry the Bob-omb, Blooey, the self-styled ‘White Torpedo’, aren’t just bizarre sidekicks: they’re ready-made heroes for a Paper Luigi odyssey. Nintendo has a unique talent for constructing worlds that are fascinating in a ‘serious’ way and at the same time effortlessly, delightfully goofy. A fully-fledged game based around Luigi’s tapped-out tall tales could be the perfect blend of heroics and farce.

#### The Comedy of Luigi

Since its inception, the Paper Mario series has been an absolute high‑water mark for the company in terms of its comic content, and a Luigi-starring game promises only for much more ribald expansion of this tradition. To implicitly make Luigi the titular hero and unreliable narrator of his own towering adventures is to create a platform for all kinds of novel gameplay mechanics centred on his super-sized, stumbling, heroism and his otherworldly, if touching, attempts at valor. There’s something very appealing about living in Luigi’s shoes, of sorting the strange from the sublime in equal measure.

#### Luigi: The Hero in Green

Outside of the Luigi’s Mansion series, where Nintendo has given the shy brother his own adventures (and showcased the way that he’s only endearingly brave), the concept of a quest for Luigi to go on that will allow him to save, say, Princess Eclair, shows off his potential for a new kind of heroism. There’s a case to be made for a paper Luigi game that would allow Nintendo to wink at us again as it does in the teaser, but also to delve into the character further and suggest that Luigi might not simply be the perfectly quirky underdog, but actually the hero he’s so eager to be.

#### A Dream Fostered by Fans

As Nintendo ponders their path, fan-made projects represent the increasingly creative output of the community – comics, films, even games – that attempt to tell Luigi’s story. There is a real hunger for Luigi’s story to be told, and this grassroots enthusiasm and creativity might just be the impetus that Nintendo needs to make this dream a reality.

#### Waiting on the Wings of Hope

Still, *Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door* is available to play again right now on the Switch, and Nintendo continues to demonstrate a dedication to its old ways and its old fans. Meanwhile, in the dark of a dimly lit hotel closet, Luigi sits and pines, eager to share his story. The fans wait to hear what the green-coated brother has to say, and where he plans to go once he finds his own voice, setting out on the long and twisty road that is Nintendo's speciality.

### Understanding Nintendo

Nintendo is a storytelling company. It is a team of innovators, creatives and dreamers all wrapped up in a bow – complete with a golden symbol – of inclusivity and exploration. Across a plethora of characters and worlds, the experiences woven into Nintendo’s games invite players of all ages to live through the gamut of human expression, emotion and experience. From the innovation of the console itself to today’s forays into game-changing stardom, Nintendo remains a leader in the games industry for good reason. Each Nintendo game is an experience, the opening of an invite, and a brave willingness to explore, laugh, and dream. With *Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door* coming to the Switch, one thing is made clear: Nintendo is not built on the histories of its games, but on the inexhaustible possibilities of what is to come.