▲
1
▼
In the intro is a tournament board with every character in the game. In the bottom left corner of the board you can see the team of Toad and Toadette, hinting that they were possibly planned to appear as playable characters at one point during development.
subdirectory_arrow_right Mario Tennis (Game)
▲
2
▼
Waluigi was created by Camelot artist Fumihide Aoki during the development of Mario Tennis as a rival to Luigi. There were also talks of a Princess Peach counterpart to further expand the roster. This proposed "Warupichi" character was ultimately dismissed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo because they were hesitant about making an evil version of Princess Peach, given how she was still portrayed as innocent in earlier games. Despite this, Aoki would keep the character idea around for Mario Power Tennis, featuring another rejected design that would eventually be revealed to the public in 2023, both through unused sketches and a 3D model. In one sketch, the character wields an axe, which according to Aoki, was added to make her "cute and scary". Aoki also revealed more information through Instagram comments, like how "Warupichi" was going to be the authority figure that gave orders to Wario and Waluigi, and how he wanted to make a companion to "Warupichi" that would have been an arch-rival to Yoshi that was going to be a dragon with horns and wings. The day after revealing Warupichi and the rest of this information, Aoki deleted the original posts and locked his Instagram account.
Original DidYouKnowGaming blog post:
https://didyouknowgaming.com/post/30812672774/mario-tennis-source
2000 Camelot interview revealing the existence of Warupichi:
https://www.camelot.co.jp/gimon/gimon13.html
Warupichi character design first Instagram post (now deleted):
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0TpKyDSfOy/?img_index=1
Archived Warupichi concept art and 3D model images:
https://archive.org/details/wapeach
Archived Fumihide Aoki Instagram comment collages (all other comments in the attachment not featured in these two images were captured on desktop directly from Fumihide Aoki's Instagram posts prior to the account being locked down):
https://twitter.com/GenesisJam_/status/1730803149915472217
Warupichi design articles (second link submitted by NintendOtaku):
https://www.polygon.com/23984146/nintendo-wapeach-design-waluigi-creator-mario-tennis
https://www.thegamer.com/waluigi-creator-reveals-wapeach-designs/
Warupichi designs taken down article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/waluigi-creator-shares-then-removes-designs-of-wario-style-peach
https://didyouknowgaming.com/post/30812672774/mario-tennis-source
2000 Camelot interview revealing the existence of Warupichi:
https://www.camelot.co.jp/gimon/gimon13.html
Warupichi character design first Instagram post (now deleted):
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0TpKyDSfOy/?img_index=1
Archived Warupichi concept art and 3D model images:
https://archive.org/details/wapeach
Archived Fumihide Aoki Instagram comment collages (all other comments in the attachment not featured in these two images were captured on desktop directly from Fumihide Aoki's Instagram posts prior to the account being locked down):
https://twitter.com/GenesisJam_/status/1730803149915472217
Warupichi design articles (second link submitted by NintendOtaku):
https://www.polygon.com/23984146/nintendo-wapeach-design-waluigi-creator-mario-tennis
https://www.thegamer.com/waluigi-creator-reveals-wapeach-designs/
Warupichi designs taken down article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/waluigi-creator-shares-then-removes-designs-of-wario-style-peach
Related Games
Mario Tennis Open
Mario Tennis: Power Tour
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
Mario Tennis
Mario Tennis Aces
Mario's Tennis
Mario Tennis
Mario Superstar Baseball
Luigi's Mansion 3
New Super Mario Bros. Mii
Mario Paint
Super Mario 3D Land
New Trivia!
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart 8
Nintendo World Championships 1990
Yoshi's Cookie
Donkey Kong
Mario Golf: World Tour
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Yoshi's Safari
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
New Super Luigi U
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Mario Golf
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Yoshi
Game & Watch Gallery 4
Mario Is Missing!
Dr. Mario 64
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Donkey Kong
Mario's Cement Factory
Nintendo Land
Mario Bros.
Super Mario RPG
Yoshi
BS Super Mario Collection
Super Mario Spikers
Mario Party
Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge
Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Game & Watch Gallery 2
Mario Strikers Charged
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Mario Kart DS
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon