With Mario Strikers: Battle League on the horizon, the former director of the soccer series finally gave us the answer as to why Waluigi, Nintendo’s fan-favourite black sheep, celebrates with that distinctive crotch chop after scoring a goal.
For the uninitiated, a crotch chop involves waving your arms toward your crotch while thrusting your hips forward. After scoring a goal in Mario Strikers, Waluigi performs this suggestive taunt while cackling into the sky. The gyration of his hips is arguably haunting.
Mike Inglehart, formerly of Next Level Games and the game director of the original GameCube Super Mario Strikers and Wii Mario Strikers Charged, sat down with the folks over at GameXplain and, appropriately, explained the inspiration behind Waluigi’s infamous taunt. He notes that he and his colleagues at Next Level Games were surprised that Nintendo didn’t issue them a metaphorical red card by requesting the chop be removed.
Personally, I was of the mind that Waluigi’s taunt was a deep-cut wrestling reference to him being affiliated with the equally immature WWE tag team faction, D-Generation X, who just so happen to share the same taunt. But according to Inglehart, the actual story behind Waluigi’s hip-jerking jibe is more straightforward and innocuous than it appears. Everyone who thought Waluigi was telling his opponents to “suck it” was entirely off-base. See, it turns out he was simply reminding folks to put some respect on his name by spelling his first initial with his hands…and crotch.
“The inspiration for that came from, quite frankly, the shape. Even though it’s a ‘V’, we thought it was a representation of part of the ‘W’, so that’s sort of his way of connecting into his first initial,” Inglehart told GameXplain.
But Nintendo would certainly interpret Waluigi’s taunt the same way the rest of us did, right? Surely Next Level Games had to go to bat in a series of back-and-forth meetings with Nintendo to keep the taunt in the game? Nah. Inglehart explained that the taunt stayed in the game simply by virtue of no one caring or bringing it up.
“Nobody batted an eye so we didn’t kind of bring it up because we wanted it to be in there and sure enough it landed the way we expected it to,” Inglehart said.
Read More: Waluigi Debuted 20 Years Ago Today, And I Respect Him A Lot
With the bombastic battle-soccer series making its 15-year return with the release of Mario Strikers: Battle League later this year, one question remains: Will Waluigi do his famous crotch chop? Inglehart is also curious about the answer to that question.
“I’m not sure if it’s gonna be in the threequel but I’m really interested to see if it’s still there,” he said. “I hope it’s still there.”
Mario Strikers: Battle League is slated to release on June 10 for the Nintendo Switch.
The post Waluigi’s Famous Crotch Chop Celebration: Explained appeared first on Kotaku Australia.
