Nintendo made a whole bunch of announcements during today’s Smash Bros Ultimate Direct, including revealing brand new characters such as everyone’s favorite monarch, King K. Rool. However, the biggest talking point from the event was surprisingly the fate of Luigi, the perennially overlooked Mario brother who appeared to have died during the presentation.
Yes, after a confrontation with Castlevania antagonist Death, it seemed like Luigi had literally been killed by Nintendo by way of introducing new fighter Simon Belmont. In a pretty graphic moment (for a Nintendo game, at least), Death slices through Luigi before the Mario brother’s ghost leaves his body. Then Nintendo cuts straight to the action, showing off Simon Belmont’s cool moves in Smash Bros Ultimate as if it hadn’t just murdered the dungaree-wearing coward.
It wasn’t long before Nintendo fans starting taking to Twitter to mourn the loss of Luigi, pointing out how it seemed as though the character had now canonically perished in the Mario universe:
That #SmashBrosDirect was all well and good, but let’s not forget the consequences of our joy
RIP Luigi
1983 – 2018 pic.twitter.com/RWwlpenePS— Ryan Blanchard (@ThatRyanB) August 8, 2018
nintendo just killed luigi, this is canon pic.twitter.com/szG9ydOWmJ
— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) August 8, 2018
they killed luigi…mega man….and fucking mario….sakurai is everything ok at home
— bee ᵉ ᵉ ₑ SMASH CON (@ghoulrunnings) August 8, 2018
However, it seems as though the Castlevania castle won’t officially be recognized as Luigi’s final resting place, with Nintendo confirming that the Mario bro is, in fact, “okay.”
Luigi is okay
— Nintendo UK VS (@NintendoUKVS) August 8, 2018
Nintendo didn’t offer any further confirmation as to what on Earth happened during the Smash Bros Ultimate Direct, but at the very least it sounds like Luigi is doing as well as can be hoped after an encounter with Death. We’re not sure why he was venturing into that castle in the first place, but perhaps he should stay away from these Castlevania characters in the future.
