The release of Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series as a DLC challenger marked the end of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s post-launch content. Though this left the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster with a grand total of 86 playable characters, it obviously was impossible to fulfill every fan request.
One such character is Waluigi. Starting with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Waluigi has appeared in the series as an Assist Trophy and has pretty much behaved identically in later iterations. Waluigi ended up being disconfirmed very early on after the initial reveal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and its very first Assist Trophy showcase.
This revelation actually caused a bit of a backlash from some fans of the franchise. It’s bizarre to think that Masahiro Sakurai, Director of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, actually had to block some people due to the harassment he was receiving over on Twitter about Waluigi’s exclusion.
Regardless, the Waluigi situation ended up spawning a lot of memes. While there were plenty of fans that legitimately wanted the character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there were also those that were simply perpetuating the joke.
Eventually, Reggie Fils-Aime, the then President of Nintendo of America, was asked about Waluigi during an interview with Waypoint. Fils-Aime said that any decision regarding the character would ultimately be up to Masahiro Sakurai himself.
“We look at all of the feedback and share with the devs and certainly Mr. Sakurai will be aware of the groundswell of support that appeared for a Waluigi,” said Fils-Aime. “And in the end it’s his decision to make.”
Leading up to this, a meme suggesting that Nintendo outright hated Waluigi (despite being their own creation) was circulating online. Fils-Aime was asked about this directly, but he revealed that it wasn’t true and that Waluigi was actually his personal favorite character to play as in Mario Tennis Aces.
“Just because you try hard doesn’t mean you’ll make it into battle.” — Masahiro Sakurai
Eventually, a fan made a joke online indicating that Sakurai believed that the fan demand for Waluigi was “insincere.” Though Sakurai never actually made a comment like this, that declaration would often be falsely attributed to him.
Looking back, the only thing notable that Sakurai has said about Waluigi in Super Smash Bros. was during a Miiverse post for Super Smash Bros. 4 that revealed that the character would be returning as an Assist Trophy from Brawl.
“Just because you try hard doesn’t mean you’ll make it into battle,” said Sakurai on the subject.
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Overall though, there’s never been any evidence to suggest that Sakurai has ever seriously considered Waluigi for a playable slot in a Super Smash Bros. entry. Of course, that could someday change with future iterations in the series.
Nintendo only just recently officially unveiled the Switch 2. As of right now, we only know that Mario Kart will be part of the new console’s library.
Incidentally, Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he’s been working on a secret game project since April 2022. We don’t know much about this game project yet, but Sakurai also told fans that he whipped up the proposal for it back in July 2021 while he was still juggling the DLC development for Kazuya and Sora for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
If Sakurai really is working on the next Super Smash Bros. for the Switch 2, then it feels like Waluigi could be considered as a serious candidate this time around. Should this game get announced, we likely won’t have to wait too long as Waluigi will likely either be shown as a character or immediately disconfirmed as an Assist Trophy like before.
Source: Event Hubs
