Nintendo considered “drastic costume change” for Luigi in Super Mario Odyssey

Luigi doesn’t have a traditional role in Super Mario Odyssey. Unfortunately, you can’t take direct control of the character. Instead, a few months after the game’s launch, Luigi was added as part of a minigame.

Although Luigi isn’t playable, Nintendo still gave the character’s design a lot of thought. In fact, character art lead Sho Murata said in the recently-translated version of The Art of Super Mario Odyssey that the team “considered a drastic costume change” before ultimately settling on “a simple look”.

Murata said:

“Luigi hosts the Balloon World minigame. We wanted players to feel welcome in this minigame, so we gave him a cheerful and casual attitude, like a performer passing out balloons on the street. We wanted to make it seem like he came directly from the Mushroom Kingdom, so in contrast to the sticker-laden Odyssey, his satchel sports only stickers from the Mushroom Kingdom. One of the stickers is actually out of circulation…

We considered a drastic costume change for Luigi at first, but we ultimately went with a simple look, since it would work well against the background of this game’s world. I wonder… including the Luigi green, did you notice his balloons are the same colors as Super Famicom controller buttons? To the many fans who were looking to his appearance in the game, know that the designer in charge put a lot of effort into Luigi’s development.”

You can purchase The Art of Super Mario Odyssey from Amazon here.