Since the beginning of time, games have had rumors attached to them. I grew up on classic Nintendo 64 games like Mario Tennis, so finding out a long known rumor is actually true is really neat. This time, it was about an evil Peach variant known by multiple names, but specifically as “Wapeach”.
So, when the original Mario Tennis developers were working on trying to fill out the roster, they realized that certain characters needed a good pairing for doubles matches. Mario goes with Luigi, and so on. Wario needed a partner, so the Luigi doppelganger Waluigi (Wah!) was born.
During the early stages, the name Warupeachi/Wapeach/Walupichi (depending on the translation) was floated as an evil doppelganger of Princess Peach. It was vetoed pretty quickly by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. That’s where the rumor should have ended.
After the first Mario Tennis, they wanted to keep the momentum.
Earlier this year, Nintendo Life translated a 2008 interview that had been re-posted to Nintendo Dream Web with Camelot Software Planning VP, Shugo Takahashi. In the interview, he confirmed that “Walupeach” actually made it to the design phase sometime after the original Mario Tennis. They were trying to recreate the magic of Waluigi again.
Miyamoto vetoed whatever it was that they had made, due to it feeling too much like Doronjo, the villain from Yatterman, an anime from 1977. Considering that another Yatterman villain looks a lot like Waluigi, it’s possible that they were both inspired from the classic anime. In any case, it was dead in the water.
That was close to a year ago with nothing. Earlier today, however, Waluigi creator Fumihide Aoki did the unspeakable: he posted concept art and renders of “Wapeach” to Instagram. And she’s adorable.
The leather clad dress, punk look, blank stare, and crown on her head make her look both evil and innocent. But, the concept art for Mario Power Tennis, Camelot’s 2004 follow-up to the original Mario Tennis, shows Wapeach wielding both tennis rackets and a big axe. So, maybe not so innocent.
Needless to say, it’s great to see a rumor verified by the most reputable source you can get: the creator of both Wapeach and Waluigi. She does definitely give off Doronjo vibes, but could have added some additional layers to the Mario lore and could have been useful in Mario Tennis. In any case, I hope she shows up in a game eventually and is added to the next Smash roster whenever that happens, which will still be before Waluigi.
While you’re here: If you hadn’t seen yet, we also posted a run down of all of the reviews we did over the last month, plus some additional tidbits!
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