Psycho Waluigi Demo

The Super Mario Bros. universe has expanded a lot over the years, featuring dozens of interesting characters and many memorable locations throughout Mushroom Kingdom. One of the lesser known antagonists in the franchise is the tall and skinny Waluigi, who’s obviously the opposite of Luigi and Wario’s partner in crime, given the evil mustache.

Psycho Waluigi is a retro platformer in which you get to play Waluigi’s role and try to get acquainted with his newly-gained psychic abilities. Other than the weird theme and the unusual main character, the rest is mostly the same as any other Super Mario title you can think. Naturally, this being a fan-made title, you shouldn’t expect the same level of quality, on the other hand.

The entire action takes place in Mushroom Kingdom again, so the environments should look pretty familiar if you are a fan of the universe. Some of the same enemies make an appearance as well, although they are designed to appear slightly different, to go along with the theme. Stomping on their heads should do the trick in most cases, however, so you can quickly pick up on the mechanics.

The difference resides in Waluigi’s psychic powers, which allow you to directly influence things around you in case you need to do so. Hence, the glowing orb that gravitates around Waluigi can be used to hold objects, destroy boxes, or even throw things around. This opens up a lot of possibilities and it makes the exploration bit a tad more interesting, at least in some cases.

As far as the level design is concerned, the developers did an excellent job at making the environments look and feel as authentic as possible, even if they sometimes get pretty repetitive. The 8-bit graphics and music help with the atmosphere an awful lot as well, so you’ll definitely get a touch of nostalgia every once in a while.

Even if Psycho Waluigi has no connection with Nintendo, the game is quite interesting and well-designed so that you won’t be disappointed in this regard. However, it’s still unfinished and rather unpolished, so don’t expect to be amazed either.