Luigi, the taller and smarter brother, never seems to get the treatment he deserves. People usually forget that Luigi is younger than Mario because he's taller, but then his cowardly nature quickly causes them to remember. But that doesn't mean that Luigi hasn't had his own adventures and triumphs!
Luigi is a relatable human character who many fans find themselves rooting for, especially considering how Mario treats him at times. So, in honor of him, let's take a look back on all his solo games over the years and rank them all from worst to best.
Updated on April 18, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Luigi is a beloved character in the world of video games, known for his tall and lanky appearance and his timid but endearing personality. As the younger brother of Mario, he has been a staple of the Super Mario Bros. franchise since its inception. He is often portrayed as being more cautious and nervous than his brother, but he is still a capable hero in his own right. His popularity is evidenced by his inclusion in many spin-off games and merchandise, as well as his own fanbase who appreciate his unique charm and personality.
Luigi has been featured in a wealth of games throughout his career, often taking on a prominent role alongside his brother. Along with his appearance in the Super Mario Bros. series, he has also appeared in many of the Mario Party and Mario Kart games. That being said, all these roles were not as the protagonist, but Nintendo has slowly but surely released a bunch of titles that place this green plumber front and center. We've updated this list to include some more of the best Luigi games.
10 Luigi's Hammer Toss
The Game Watch was a pretty unique novelty in the 80s that fans loved to own as a great piece of Nintendo memorabilia, even if most people agreed that the act of playing games on such a small screen was nothing short of a complete nightmare. Such was the case with Luigi's Hammer Toss, which was essentially a novelty game that lacked any form of the satisfying game feel that Nintendo is so renowned for.
This game's premise is as simple as they come — Hammer Bros are throwing their patented weapons on the ground, and it's up to Luigi with a shield to deflect these attacks. There's really nothing more to it, and the only reason why this game would be notable in any way is that it's the very first game made by Nintendo that features Luigi in a lead role, as muted and disappointing as it may be.
9 Mario Is Missing!
Many people think that Luigi's first role as the "star" of a game was with Luigi's Mansion in 2001. Those people are wrong, though, as in actuality, the plumber appeared as the main character much earlier in an educational SNES game called "Mario Is Missing!" back in 1993. This game was part of an initiative at the time to use Mario characters for educational-based games.
All it takes is one look at the cover of the box to get a feel for just how "great" this game was. It featured Luigi traveling all over the world to find clues that would point him to Mario's location, but it's not worth anyone's time in this day and age.
8 Super Luigi Bros.
The compilations are great games that allow players to check out Nintendo's classic library with a unique twist to make them replayable for long-time fans of these games. NES Remix 2 flips the script in such a manner... quite literally! It features the game Super Luigi Bros., a mirrored version of the legendary Super Mario Bros. that puts Luigi front-and-center in this iconic platformer.
The most notable thing about this game is that players have to move to the left instead of the right. This is already a tough adjustment in its own right, with the other feature being that Luigi's jump is significantly higher, as is the norm in his appearance across Nintendo's other platforming titles. This adds a unique spin to the classic platforming of Super Mario Bros., and players have to ensure that they don't overshoot their jumps.
7 Luigi's Mansion: Arcade Version
People may not even know this exists, but new arcade games do actually come out every once in a while. Arcades might be pretty close to dead in the US, but they're still thriving in Japan. And Nintendo apparently pushed forward an arcade version of the 2001 ghost-based plumber adventure into our barebones arcades.
The game itself is pretty basic, but it has all the gameplay elements that one would expect from the vacuum-centric adventure and even most of the locations from Dark Moon. The main difference is this time, 1-2 players take control of multiple Luigis in first-person as they roam around hunting ghosts to compete for the highest score. The physical vacuum players use is nifty but at the end of the day, it's still an arcade game with little to no actual depth.
6 Dr. Luigi
The classic Dr. Mario game isn't exactly what the plumber is known for nowadays, but for a time, it was his biggest game. This classic formula was obviously Nintendo's own attempt at Tetris, but rather than random blocks, the antagonists are viruses Mario fights in the form of pills. Dr. Luigi is exactly that and was released on the Wii U in 2013.
It's not a bad game, but it is also not an amazing game; it's just Dr. Mario with much higher graphical fidelity and a slight twist on the main character. The new virus designs for Luigi are charming in their own way, and the game does have a few modes... but all in all, it's a pretty shallow game that quickly faded from the memory of many players.
5 New Super Luigi U
New Super Luigi U technically wasn't a full game but rather a DLC expansion/add-on for New Super Mario Bros U for the Wii U. This 80+ stage DLC revamps most of the stages from the game to tailor to Luigi's specific jump arc and slip-and-slide running style.
It's fun in its own right, and it was pretty neat that Nintendo released the DLC as its own standalone game later on, but for the most part, New Super Luigi U just felt like a tacked-on addition to the Year of Luigi that really encapsulated why that year didn't quite work out as Nintendo had probably planned.
4 Super Mario Galaxy NG+
This is probably the most unique example on this list, especially since it's only really available in the post-game of the base game. After collecting all 120 stars in Super Mario Galaxy, players then unlock a new "mode" called Super Luigi Galaxy which is basically just the main game slightly tailored for Luigi. Still, Galaxy was a fantastic game and playing it as Luigi added a lot more than many thought it would to the overall game.
Plus, Nintendo reincorporated the option in Galaxy 2 and even gave players a taste of playing as the mansion-owner Luigi himself earlier on in the game.
3 Luigi's Mansion
Did anyone else expect these three games not to make the top three? It was pretty obvious from minute one that all three Luigi's Mansions are absolutely the best standalone Luigi titles. They give Luigi his own lore! It's likely no surprise that they follow their chronology in their respective rankings.
The first game is the most dated and archaic, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon improves upon the original but has plenty of flaws of its own, and Luigi's Mansion 3 is the most streamlined and creative of the sequels, having nailed everything it set out to achieve. That said, the speedruns for Luigi's Mansion are some of the best out there simply because of how easily the game is to break and how it was put together.
2 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is the "middle child" of the trilogy in every sense of the world. Yes, it's literally the game in the middle, but it also fills the stereotypical role of a middle child where it's not the worst but also not the best.
The perfect example of how it fits this role is the fact that both the original and the third game have a number in their name, while this second game only gets a "subtitle name." It's still a B+ to A- title, but once after playing the superior Luigi's Mansion 3, there's no going back to Dark Moon.
1 Luigi's Mansion 3
As mentioned before, Luigi's Mansion 3 is absolutely Luigi's best adventure. It takes everything people loved about the other two games and improves upon them by adding new mid-fight ghost mechanics, new types of vacuum tools, tons of detail work, and plenty of things to destroy and suck up in each room.
The original game dragged on for a bit and really fell flat after players were tasked with finding all the boos; the second game was just more of the first with some pretty great new characters, but the third is just everything players wanted and more. Plus, that art style! It might be the best-looking Switch game so far. All that combined makes this new title by far Luigi's shining example, affirming that he can indeed be the hero. Not to mention he looks good doing it!