Summary

• There has been a lot of speculation over the years about how Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi are related.
• Mario and Luigi are brothers, as evidenced by their shared last name and Luigi's introduction in Mario Bros.
• Wario is not related to Mario and Luigi and was originally created as a childhood acquaintance and villain in Mario Land 2.

Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi - Nintendo's premier platforming franchise characters who all share a similar fashion sense and naming convention. While Luigi joined Mario on his first exploits before striking out on his own ghost-hunting ventures, Wario was one of Mario's first rivals right alongside Bowser, and Waluigi showed up when Wario needed a tennis partner. For someone who first picked up the Super Mario series on the Nintendo Switch, the familial relations between these similar-looking characters may be unclear, but the answers are quite straightforward.

As far as Nintendo's original pair of protagonists go, the answer to their relationship is in the name of their games. Luigi was first introduced as Mario's green-suited brother in Mario Bros. That arcade game eventually became Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and Luigi has been an important part of Mario's adventures ever since. Although Luigi is taller, he takes the status of the younger brother and lives routinely in Mario's shadow if the mockery he receives from Toads in Super Mario 64 DS is anything to go by. Mario and Luigi even share the last name "Mario," according to the much-maligned 1993 Super Mario Bros. film.

Is Wario Related To Mario?

Wario originated in Mario's second Game Boy game outing as the villain. According to Super Mario Land 2's backstory, Wario is Mario's childhood acquaintance, and the two have never been portrayed as blood relations despite their similar appearance. Wario's similarity to Mario instead stems from the developers of Super Mario Land 2's discomfort with making Mario games (according to a now-archived article on kombo) since a different division of Nintendo was behind the NES originals. This is why Wario eventually took over the series, becoming an antihero with his own cast of characters in both the Wario Land and WarioWare franchises.

Are Wario and Waluigi Brothers?

Like Wario, Waluigi is also an old adversary of the Mario Bros. and not a distant relative in any way. Unlike Mario and Luigi, Waluigi is a friend of Wario, but they are not brothers. Originally appearing out of the blue in Mario Tennis on Nintendo 64 when Wario needed a doubles partner, it was implied that Waluigi had a history with Luigi similar to Mario and Wario's rivalry. However, because Waluigi typically only appears in sports and party titles, his backstory is still a blank slate. All that's truly known about Waluigi is that, if he has family out there, they don't seem to live in the Mushroom Kingdom.

As far as family is concerned, the only two blood relatives between Nintendo's four male Mushroom Kingdom mascots are Mario and Luigi. Perhaps the familial bond between Bowser and Bowser Jr., whose ages have seemingly been confirmed by a new video from Nintendo of America focused on how to create Nintendo accounts, helps the fire-breathing Koopas usurp Wario and Waluigi as the most significant rivals for the plumbers. Wario and Waluigi have seemingly known the Mario Bros. since childhood, but they don't attend the Mario equivalent of Thanksgiving dinner at the same household.

It's always possible that this information could change in the future, as Mario relationships don't always appear to be set in stone. Shigeru Miyamoto famously changed the Koopa Kids from Bowser's children to his minions upon the reveal of Bowser Jr., so the right game coming along could still see Wario could becoming Mario's evil brother. Like the somewhat random reveal of Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s ages, news regarding these dastardly foils to Mario and Luigi could also come from the most unexpected of places. For now, however, Wario and Waluigi will have to be content to keep their relationships just a little bit distant.

Source: Kombo, Nintendo of America/YouTube