According to Polygon and GameSpot interviews in March with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo "never really had much in the way of games that have Luigi in the starring role".

He cited Luigi's global fan base and that many staff members at Nintendo had wanted to develop games focused exclusively on him because he is more timid than Mario.

[3] In March 2013, Nintendo made three Miiverse forums—two about the Year of Luigi and one specifically for Dark Moon—for posts and drawings concerning the character.

Some Nintendo employees, such as Takashi Tezuka, Yoshihito Ikebata, and Miyamoto, made Miiverse posts to encourage user interaction.

The design also included promotion for New Super Luigi U, and kiosks were placed at the Clark/Lake station with a playable demonstration.

[10][11] On November 28, 2013, Canadian actor Danny Wells died in Toronto, Ontario at age 72.

[2] During and following the event, critics speculated future celebrations that could focus on other characters or franchises by Nintendo.

[20][21][22] At the beginning of the February Nintendo Direct, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon received major announcements on its gameplay and new game-modes, marking the first Luigi-oriented game for the celebration.

[26] In the February Direct, presented by Iwata, Miyamoto held a Poltergust machine from the Luigi's Mansion series.

In a cooperative multiplayer game-mode, and players complete objectives on floors of the "ScareScraper" in a level-like fashion.

It originally served as an expansion pack that would be downloadable from the eShop at an unspecified date, and would include an additional 80 levels on top of the base game.

[36] The levels were designed to be much more difficult, so the time to complete them was made shorter so less experienced players would be encouraged to continue, according to producer Takashi Tezuka.

I wondered if the developer would take this opportunity to honor him seriously, and a few minutes in, I was immediately skeptical as he tripped over his own feet and others lobbed their usual ridicule.

Before long, however, the game’s themes took precedence, and Luigi conjured a world where he finally belonged."

When Luigi gets distracted and sleeps on a bed in the castle's artifact room, a "Dream Portal" opens up, and its hostile inhabitants kidnap Peach and wreak havoc on Pi'illo island.

Reception for Dream Team was positive, being praised for its writing,[51] characters,[52] and turn-based combat,[53] and criticized for its plot length and use of backtracking.

[64] To encourage people to purchase the physical copy of New Super Luigi U, Nintendo posted a survey on the Nintendo Club America website; anyone who completed the survey received virtual currency and was also entered in a draw to win a pin depicting Luigi.

The coin was designed with the Year of Luigi logo and came packaged in a green felt bag.

[70] In December, also on the Club Nintendo America and Europe cites, a diorama depicting Luigi, the Polterpup, and a ghost in a Dark Moon mansion setting was released.

[72] 2013 was an apparent financial failure for Nintendo, losing $457 million in total, primarily due to the poor reception of the Wii U and its games;[73][74] however, an Internet meme spread in the end of the year that declared Luigi the cause of Nintendo's financial loss.

[75] Nintendo Life's Thomas Whitehead called the Year of Luigi a success in comparison: "he led the rescue mission, ensuring damage control and smiling gaming faces with his humorous terror, clumsy mannerisms and awesome platforming athleticism.