The Mario Mandate™

Speaking of Waluigi's absence in WarioWare, while he didn't appear in the series back then and is unlikely to happen, I was hoping that some interviewer who is able to communicate with the developers would bring up their opinion on it, similar to an interview on Luigi's Mansion 3 where Tanabe was asked about Waluigi (the idea of a Waluigi's Mansion does sound pretty cool). I know there was a question on Wario and Waluigi's relationship, but that's not exactly addressing the issue. The developers were interviewed but it's pretty much mainly in Japan, so I would've liked a Westerner to interview them because they are more likely to bring up Waluigi. The answer might be disappointing like "we just don't want to include Mario characters besides Wario", but some form of enlightenment could go a long way.

Thank you for reading.
 
Waluigi was referenced as a costume in Super Mario Odyssey...which is like, what, an upgrade over complete absence in the "creative era"?
 
Ray Trace said:
Waluigi was referenced as a costume in Super Mario Odyssey...which is like, what, an upgrade over complete absence in the "creative era"?
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Odyssey in general really has a ton of cool references, outside of Mario Maker it's the first main series game to reference Waluigi, Diddy, and Dr. Mario, Pauline and Poochy both show up, Dorrie and Klepto return, a bunch of different games from across the franchise and obscure art pieces are referenced by the costumes, the New Donk City street sign references to DKC characters, stuff like that. For a game under the "mandate" it's pretty darn good creatively in terms of both the new and legacy content.
 
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I mean, I've never seen the mainline games do anything The Mandate would say is not ok.
 
Even spin-offs back then strongly adhered to their contemporary mainline games rather than strictly catered to their own content. Mario Party had strong Super Mario 64 vibes (even a minigame that involves you running around a Mr. I), Paper Mario had a lot of basis in Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Sunshine content was prevalent in the GCN days, and so on. Now that it's New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 3D World, and Odyssey that are the games being referenced, and even so, games not using Odyssey content such as the Broodals isn't a new thing either. How many Galaxy bosses were referenced outside of Galaxy in the Wii days? How many times did we see Phantamanta in the Mario spin-offs during the GCN era?

I still think mainline games DO adhere to the so-called mandate: they made original creations and what not. But the mainline games never modified a Toad's body physique or made a Koopa Troopa obese, even during the loosened restrictions of earlier eras. Something like Paper Mario: The Origami King still made Olly and Olivia, and the Mario & Luigi remakes were primarily kept intact a few assets not withstanding, even the BIS remake introduced the BFFs without a hassle.

And to be honest? I'd rather have the RPGs and whatnot focus on existing characters and assets. Perhaps not just Toads, that I can agree with. But if we need to get rid of Goombas wearing a hat? We still see no use of something like Daisy or Waluigi as an NPC. The Mario series is rich on existing enemies, even within mainline games that don't see use, especially those in the 3D platformers (such as Pokios, Amps, Mr. I's...Mario Party still uses them and they look great).
 
The Mandate burned my ranch, killed my father, shot my dog and stole my bible.
 
I know I'm literally just Making Up A Guy To Be Mad About but I can't shake the feeling we're one viral social media post away from having a guy very performatively but also very seriously complain if beloved characters The Super Team make no appearance in this game whatsoever