He plays the role of Luigi's arch-rival and accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main Mario series, often for the sake of causing mischief.

He was created by Camelot employee Fumihide Aoki and was voiced from 2000 to 2022 by Charles Martinet, who described Waluigi as someone with a lot of self-pity.

Initially the idea was to change one letter to make him similar to Wario, but Takahashi said that as a bad version of Luigi, he was named Waluigi.

[7] Waluigi's appearance in Super Mario Strikers gained attention for a celebratory taunt that became known as the "Crotch chop".

Inglehart said that when it was presented to Nintendo "nobody batted an eye" so he was surprised that the taunt was allowed to remain in the game without question.

His Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy describes him as hardworking by stating that he spends his time training and perfecting his skills in order to antagonise the Mario brothers.

[11][9] When asked whether Waluigi was a brother to Wario in 2008, Martinet stated that while he did not know, he felt that they were just "two nice, evil guys who found each other".

[12] Despite having appeared in more than 50 video games, Waluigi has been provided with little backstory and has few defining traits other than the need to be liked, an appreciation of Princess Daisy, and his habit of screaming out his signature catchphrase, "Waaah!

[13] His first appearance was in the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color versions of Mario Tennis, establishing himself as Wario's doubles partner.

He and Wario initiate the story events by offering Mario a racket called Lucien that possesses Luigi and threatens to destroy the kingdom.

[45] In the Super Smash Bros. series, starting with Brawl, Waluigi appears as a non-playable Assist Trophy item.

[46] When Waluigi was revealed as an Assist Trophy but not a playable character for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, game director Masahiro Sakurai jokingly stated that "just because you try hard doesn't mean you'll make it into the battle".

[47] He was again excluded as a playable character but instead used as an example for destroying Assist Trophies during the gameplay reveal of Super Smash Bros.

[36] Pedro Hernandez writing for Nintendo World Report commented that Waluigi is a "very structurally basic character", simply Wario transformed into Luigi with a purple colour scheme.

[64] Brett Elston of GamesRadar+ described Waluigi as a "lame-o villain" in an otherwise great game, referencing Mario Tennis.

[65] Matthew Gault of Vice criticised Waluigi for having no defining characteristics other than hating Luigi and described him as a "corporate trash character that's lazy, dumb, and uninteresting".

[66] Destructoid wrote that Waluigi's name and design amounted to "creative bankruptcy" and thought that the Internet had created him as a meme that was outside of the character that Nintendo depicted and then mistakenly treated it as canon.

[67] In Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, Volume 1, S. T. Joshi cites Waluigi and Wario as archetypal examples of alter egos.

Ultimate (confirmed when the character was announced as a non-playable Assist Trophy during E3 2018) was met with negative reception from the gaming press and social media, including a comedic Twitter post by Netflix.

[74] IGN's Joe Skrebels described his non-playable status within the game as "a slap in the face for those who want a playable Waluigi".

[69] Fan reaction to the omission intensified and resulted in series director Masahiro Sakurai being subjected to a harassment campaign on social media.

[10] Ian Walker of Kotaku highlighted that official artwork of the character promoting a blue-purple Switch colorway had gained considerable Internet attention due to his seductive pose and use of a rose as a romantic gesture.

[76] Briana Lawrence of The Mary Sue described Waluigi as "Nintendo's ultimate sex symbol" in reference to his official render and found him to be interesting due to the mysterious nature of his character.

[78] Henry Stockdale writing for TechRadar praised the game's visuals, particularly describing Waluigi's Hyper Strike involving placing a rose in his mouth as "the stuff of many Nintendo fans' dreams".

Elijah Watson of The Daily Dot chronicled his influence as an internet meme from 2008, describing him as "beloved by a part of the web".

"[80] In May 2021, in an episode of Saturday Night Live, host Elon Musk starred as Wario in a sketch in which he was put on trial for murdering Mario in a kart race, while Kate McKinnon dressed as Waluigi.

[81] A phenomenon in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) known as the "Waluigi effect" was inspired by the character in reference to Carl Jung's concept of the dark, repressed side of the human personality, which is based on the theory that AI has the potential to produce chaotic or harmful results.