Waluigi

"It's Waluigi Time!"

Waluigi is a recurring character in Nintendo's Super Mario franchise, debuting with 2000's Mario Tennis and appearing in several spin-off games following it.

He is also a playable character in Nexed.

Real-World History
During the development of Mario Tennis, it was realized that Wario did not have a character that could serve as a reasonable doubles partner due to a lack of human characters outside of the Mario brothers themselves. Designer Fumihide Aoki figured that Wario's partner should be a rival to Luigi, much as Wario rivals Mario, consulting Shigeru Miyamoto. Boasting an exaggerated form of Luigi's tall and skinny frame (again, similar to Wario's proportions in comparison to Mario's), the character would be dubbed "Waluigi", owing to the combination of the Japanese words "Warui" and "Ruiji", both forming "bad Luigi".

After Mario Tennis' launch in 2000, Waluigi would continue to appear in Mario spinoff games, as well as the Super Smash Bros. series as an Assist Trophy starting with Brawl. In the 2010's, however, Waluigi would suddenly gain a popularity spike through internet culture, with various memes surrounding the character. This zeitgeist would peak in 2018 as a response to Waluigi not being playable in that year's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Gameplay Information
"That purple hat, that twisted moustache, that spiteful grin - Who else could it be than Waluigi? Wario's partner-in-crime (brother? cousin? Nobody's quite sure) showed up to a tennis tournament one day, instantly adopting a one-sided rivalry with Luigi. Ever since, he's shown up for any get-together Mario hosts, yearning to cheat his way to the top in any competition!

It looks like Waluigi's snuck his way into another competition - The Nexus Tournament! Packing a bag full of nefarious tricks and tools, he's ready to show everyone the true meaning of Waluigi Time! ...or get his behind served to him yet again. Probably the former."

Waluigi is a chaotic, unpredictable fighter with many tricks up his sleeve. Many of his moves have strange properties, such as a reflector Back Air and spiking Up Air, with his specials providing various mix-up options and tools to use to catch opponents off-guard. This, combined with his surprisingly high mobility, can lead to Waluigi being able to easily decieve opponents and control the match.

However, despite his height, Waluigi is actually on the lighter side, making him easier to KO than expected. In addition, Waluigi's hefty lag on his stronger attacks can lead to easy punishes if whiffed.

Moveset

 * Wall Jump: Waluigi can jump off of walls.

Grounded Attacks

 * Jab: Waluigi jabs both his index and middle fingers forward, as if attempting to poke the opponent in the eyes.
 * Dash Attack: Waluigi performs a baseball slide kick.
 * Forward Light: Waluigi throws a roundhouse kick.
 * Up Light: Waluigi performs a handstand. His legs have a sweetspot when his silhouette forms his Γ symbol.
 * Down Light: Waluigi performs a shin kick, having a 50% chance to trip opponents.
 * Forward Strong: Waluigi swings his tennis racket, being able to reflect projectiles.
 * Up Strong: Waluigi's head grows larger as he spins in place, dealing multiple hits of damage. This is inspired by Wario's Up Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * Down Strong: Waluigi performs a headspin kick. This is his best kill move.
 * Counter: Waluigi performs a giant swing with the opponent, falling over as they are launched forward.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Air: Waluigi sticks his leg out, spinning once to deal a single hit of damage. Waluigi's pose resembles one of his tricks from the Mario Kart series.
 * Forward Air: Waluigi throws a spinning dropkick, dealing multiple hits of daamge.
 * Back Air: Waluigi performs a backhand serve behind himself with his tennis racket, being able to reflect projectiles.
 * Up Air: Waluigi throws a backflip kick. Near the end of the move, his shoe has a spiking hitbox.
 * Down Air: Waluigi throws a double-footed stall-and-fall stomp inspired by the Drop Rocket from Mario Strikers Charged. This move can spike, but also cannot be canceled until Waluigi touches the stage or is hit.

Grabs / Throws

 * Grab: Waluigi grabs the opponent with both hands.
 * Pummel: Waluigi shakes the opponent.
 * Forward Throw: Waluigi launches the opponent forward with a swing from his tennis racket. This is his best kill throw.
 * Back Throw: After spinning them around, Waluigi launches the opponent backwards with a swing from a golf club.
 * Up Throw: Waluigi tosses the opponent into the air before uppercutting them, mirroring how he hits Dice Blocks in the Mario Party series.
 * Down Throw: Waluigi throws the opponent onto the ground with both hands, resembling a basketball dunk. This is his best combo throw.

Stage Intro
A purple Warp Pipe sprouts out of the ground, with Waluigi leaping out of it with gusto only to faceplant into the ground. Grumbling, he stands up and enters his battle stance.

Taunts

 * Waluigi points at the opponent with his index finger before pointing to himself with his thumb, saying a random taunting quote.
 * Waluigi moonwalks in place before spinning and posing.
 * Waluigi sniffs a rose before tossing it over his shoulder. The rose can deal 1% to opponents hit by the rose after Waluigi throws it.
 * Waluigi performs a crotch chop while saying "Waluigi, yeah yeah yeah!" in reference to Mario Strikers Charged.

Victory Animations
Waluigi's victory theme is a remix of his trophy ceremony theme from Mario Tennis and Mario Power Tennis.
 * Waluigi strikes a few poses before spinning in place and posing with a rose, mirroring two of his animations from Mario Golf: World Tour.
 * Waluigi moonwalks onto the screen before doing a stylish pose.
 * Waluigi happily brandishes a trophy, jumping around with it and bragging nonstop until he accidentally drops the trophy, shattering it. This replaces Waluigi’s elation with a grimace.

Colors / Costumes
  Waluigi's Tennis outfit is derived from his default costume in Mario Tennis Aces, where the majority of the playable cast was given new tennis outfits. Unlike most alternate costumes, this is a simple model swap and does not change any of Waluigi's animations.

Trivia

 * Waluigi's release coincided with an April Fool's mini-event on the Nexed Discord server, in which the server temporarily became Waluigi-themed.
 * Waluigi's moveset was adapted from a Super Smash Bros. concept Faz made for Make Your Move, an event on the SmashBoards website. The original moveset can be read here.