- —Tagline
Luigi VS Tails is the 32nd episode of Death Battle, featuring Luigi from the Super Mario series and Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog series in a battle between iconic video game sidekicks.
Interlude
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Wiz: With the dragon slain and the princess rescued, the hero revels in gold, glory, and cake.
Boomstick: But they couldn't have done it without a little help.
Wiz: The sidekick. The people's champion would be lost without his player two. Such as Luigi, Mario's younger brother.
Boomstick: And Tails the Fox, Sonic's deformed flying stalker.
Wiz: Now we have already proven that standard Mario and Sonic series power-ups perfectly counter each other, so, to not waste time, we're giving these second strings only what is unique to them.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Luigi
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Wiz: After clobbering Koopas, besting Bowser, and saving the princess, who gets all the credit?
Boomstick: Mario, of course, leaving his lanky brother with rejected sloppy seconds.
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Wiz: No doubt, Luigi has it rough. Despite being born as one of the seven Star children destined for greatness, it's not easy being second fiddle to the most popular character in video game history, yet he doesn't seem to mind. Like a good sidekick, Luigi exists only to help Mario, never asking for his own slice of the cake.
Boomstick: So he's pretty much a slave.
Wiz: In a way, but this devotion makes him the perfect teammate, helping to save the Mushroom Kingdom time and time again.
Boomstick: What did Mario do to him to make him so obedient? He's gotta have some serious dirt from their childhood.
Wiz: Luigi may take subordination to an extreme, but he's no pushover. In fact, he's not only taller than Mario, but also faster and more athletic. He can jump over six feet higher, plus after studying Yoshi's superb jumping ability, Luigi developed his own variant of the dinosaur's floating technique, the Scuttle Jump.
Boomstick: His abilities don't end with the mid-air hustle. Luigi has plenty of powerful attacks, each of which, if pulled off perfectly, increase their damage for quick KOs. The spinning Luigi Cyclone, the rocketing Green Missile, and the Super Jump Punch, which can send his foe up into the air so high, they never come back down.
The music fades as Luigi sneaks up on Jigglypuff from behind and uses the Super Jump Punch, knocking Jigglypuff into the background.
Jigglypuff: JIGGLYPUFF!!!
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Wiz: In addition, he has numerous power-ups at his disposal, including his trusty hammer and the Vanish Power Flower, which makes him invisible and intangible, Luigi could be next to you... watching you... right now.
Boomstick: Aahhh, stop that! He was trained by the Thunder God himself in the powerful Thunderhand technique. With this, he can shoot lightning at his foes or at deadly soccer balls.
Wiz: And after spending so much time in Mario's shadow, Luigi has somehow gained the ability to manipulate some sort of negative energy.
Luigi dances, creating the Negative Zone.
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Boomstick: Remember when Mario Bros. was about running around and jumping on turtles? Anyway, you were saying something about physics-breaking time energy or whatever?
Wiz: Luigi's Negative Zone can devastate a nearby opponent. Its effects are random, but unavoidable, ranging from sudden dizziness to uncontrollable tripping over absolutely nothing.
Boomstick: But when Luigi wants real firepower, he busts out the Poltergust 5000, a handy vacuum cleaner which can somehow kill ghosts! It can KILL that which is already DEAD.
Wiz: He ain't afraid of no ghosts!
A ghost appears behind Luigi, frightening him.
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Wiz: Scratch that, he's afraid of all ghosts, bugs, water, flowers, the Sun. Luigi is a coward and doesn't even try to hide it. Granted, his fears are usually justified... usually.
Boomstick: He's also pretty clumsy, which you'd think would make a terrible combination. But like the Chinese Drunken Master style, Luigi harnesses awkwardness to make himself even more vicious. He's more powerful than he seems, murdering Goombas and Koopas by the hundreds every day.
Luigi uses a cannon on the Koopas in the Ice Capades.
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Boomstick: Ha ha. Before we go any further, I'd like to point out that the unmaking cannon belongs to a bunch of children. "IS IT BEDTIME NOW MOM?!" Goush! No more parents!
Wiz: Even without it, Luigi has defeated Dimentio, discovered the Grand Final Galaxy, raised a ravenous man-eating dinosaur, and even rescued Mario from certain doom on three separate occasions. The Green Thunder can pretty much do it all.
Boomstick: Luigi is one mean, green, fighting machine.
Luigi: (puts on the Poltergust) Yeah. (speaking into the nozzle) I do it. Ho-ho!
Luigi dances, before accidentally bumping into a car, which then causes a shelf to fall down.
Luigi: Oh...
Tails
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Tails: All systems go... full speed ahead!
Wiz: Born the very same day Doctor Eggman began his robot-powered takeover of the world, Miles Prower—
Boomstick: Haha! I get it! Miles Per Hour! Creativity like that is why Sega is still making consoles...
Wiz: Ahem, Miles was awkwardly born with two tails. Mere minutes after being welcomed into the world, Eggman's deadly forces made Miles Prower an orphan.
Boomstick: Whoa, that's... that's pretty fucked up.
Wiz: Eight years later, and after some much-needed counseling, Miles stumbled upon a broken-down biplane and happily repaired the whole vehicle on his own.
Boomstick: Well, of course. Just like all walking, talking, adolescent, two-tailed foxes can. Anyway, it turns out the airplane happened to belong to Miles' personal idol, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic: What're you doing?
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Boomstick: Why Sonic needed a plane in the first place is beyond me, but whatever.
Wiz: It was Sonic who first suggested that Miles' birth defects could be used to fly by spinning like helicopter blades. Which is obviously impossible as they could never create lift and they would just tangle together—
Tails promptly flies upwards using his tails.
Wiz: WHAT?!
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Boomstick: And so, Sonic gave his rotary ass the oh-so-obvious nickname he deserved: "Tails."
Wiz: Well, that's stupid. That's like if you were named "Boomstick" because you just like shotguns.
Boomstick: Don't be fucking ridiculous, Wizard. Anyway, aside from flight, Tails' copter butt blades are strong enough to bust metal, and he can use them like the turbine of an engine to keep up with Sonic's super-fast speeds. He can almost reach the speed of sound.
Wiz: Tails pledged himself to Sonic's freedom fighting cause against Dr. Eggman, and the two quickly became friends, almost like brothers. They also shared a sort of teacher-student relationship, though it wasn't always clear who was the student.
Boomstick: It was Tails who invented the famous Spin Dash. Not the speedy hedgehog.
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Mad Gear Zone (Act 2) - Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 by Jun Senoue
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Wiz: Tails is a genius and a master mechanic.
Boomstick: He's so much smarter than Sonic, that he actually learned how to swim.
Wiz: He has built several planes and combat mechs and has numerous gadgets on hand. Like the Projectile Ring, which can pull or latch onto objects, almost like a grappling hook.
Boomstick: But despite being a super geek, he really likes to blow shit up. He carries a huge supply of bombs. Big bombs, napalm bombs, remote bombs, flash-bang grenades, bombs shaped like magic rings, bombs shaped like mice, bombs shaped like your mother. You name it, he's got a bomb like it.
Wiz: He also wields the Magic Hand, a long-range comical punching weapon, and the Energy Ball arm cannon.
Boomstick: Which is ripped straight out of Mega Man! He built all this HIMSELF, but never a device to breathe underwater. Kinda dropped the ball there, sidekick.
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Drowning Theme - Sonic the Hedgehog by Masato Nakamura
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Tails swims underwater as the timer goes down to zero, causing him to drown.
Wiz: Unlike Sonic's speed-blitzing battle style, Tails relies on logic and tactics in a fight. His Shield Bot fortifies his defenses, and his Medibot heals wounds over time.
Boomstick: But he's a total wimp. He can't fly forever, and if Sonic's not around to hold his hand, he's scared of pretty much everything. After a good thunderclap, you'll find him shivering his spiny ass off in the bathtub.
Sonic: Right, we should hurry.
Thunder goes off in the background, scaring Tails, who jumps and grabs onto Sonic.
Tails: GAAHH!! I'm afraid of lightning!!
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All Heroes Gather - Sonic Heroes by Jun Senoe
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Wiz: Well, he is only 11 years old, and the feats he's accomplished at his age are beyond impressive. Like being able to run 100 miles per hour without his tails, stopping a nuclear missile, and saving the MULTIVERSE by transforming into... uh...
The music fades as Titan Tails is shown on-screen.
Boomstick: Don't do steroids, kids.
Sonic: We good to go or what, Tails?
Tails: I've built a TV out of paperclips...
Sonic: Yeah...
Tails: ...and reprogrammed a supercomputer using dishwashing detergent and a toothpick...
Sonic: I know...
Tails: ...So look, fixing a propeller on a bi-plane? That's about as difficult as taking a nap.
Tails spins the propeller and the plane starts its engine.
Sonic: 'Kay, I didn't need your whole life story. A simple "good to go" would have been cool.
Tails: Alright. Good to go!
Sonic: Cool!
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEEEEeeeeeEEEEE!!!
Death Battle
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Tails flies down onto a pipe and begins scouting the area, but Luigi pops out of the pipe, making Tails jump down. The plumber jumps out of the pipe angrily to face Tails.
Luigi: Let's-a go!
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Chemical Bath/Chemical Plant Zone (Remix) - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by Classic Black and Green
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Tails uses his energy cannon, but Luigi powers through with a Green Missile, but his attack misses as Tails jumps away and hits Luigi down to the ground with his tails. Luigi jumps back up as Tails uses the Spin Dash to charge at his opponent, but Luigi counters with the Hammer, hitting Miles up into the air. Luigi follows him upwards with his Scuttle Jump and they go blow-for-blow, with it being Tails Swipes VS Luigi Cyclones. The two eventually knock each other away, Tails into the air and Luigi onto the ground. Luigi walks around as Tails closes in on him and the plumber tries to jump up and hit Tails with his Hammer again, but Tails counters it with his tails again, knocking Luigi back.
Tails lands on the ground and tries out another Spin Dash, but this time Luigi launches Tails up with his Super Jump Punch. Tails manages to recover though and begins flying around the place from his high altitude. He then goes back down to the ground, picks up Luigi and begins to fly back up, but Luigi uses his Vanish Flower to confuse Tails, and knocks the fox away with his hammer to break free.
The Hammer and Tails' gadgets go blow-for-blow first with the Magic Hand and Hammer colliding, Tails taking out his arm cannon again but Luigi simply hits him, Tails using the Magic Hand from the ground now but doing nothing to his intangible adversary and finally, as Tails charges up his arm cannon once more, Luigi nails him in the face and sends him downwards a bit.
As Tails recovers from the blow and starts flying again Luigi uses the Scuttle Jump again to land safely as the invisibility wears off. But soon after Luigi lands...
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Bowser Jr.'s Boomsday Machine - Super Mario Galaxy 2 by Mahito Yokota
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Tails drops multiple bombs surrounding the plumber and leaving him to run around in panic. Luigi then gets the idea to suck up the bombs with his Poltergust 5000, and fires all the bombs at Tails. However, they are launched just barely too low to hit Tails, and it backfires on him as they land before he can run and blow him sky-high.
After being launched up, Luigi notices a pipe and dives into it, then shooting out with his Lightning powers fully activated, completely surrounded in lightning. He hits Tails with his Super Jump Punch, followed by a Green Missile and then slams into him multiple times with Luigi Cyclones, before hitting him with his Hammer and transferring all of the electricity into his hands, sending Tails away with an extremely powerful Thunder Hand.
In the distance, Tails gets back on his feet and uses his Medi Bot to heal, but Luigi somehow clears all that distance and uses his Poltergust to bring it close to him and the Hammer to destroy it. Luigi then tries to suck Tails in and finish the fight, and almost succeeds, until Tails throws his Boomering at a nearby pipe to keep himself steady, and throws out a Flash Bang, which Luigi's Poltergust sucks up and escapes into a pipe.
Luigi: Hello?
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The Flash Bang blows up, and while Luigi is dizzy, Tails comes out of the pipe and rigs a bomb onto the Poltergust and tries stalling him with his Shield Bot, but Luigi quickly destroys the bot with his hammer again. Tails jumps away from his broken machinery as Luigi pulls out and breaks a Smash Ball. Tails begins to walk towards Luigi but the plumber unleashes Negative Zone.
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Tails trips up and is almost hit with Luigi's hammer but he flies up to just barely escape it. He is almost sucked up by the Poltergust and finished, but Luigi is forced to stop when he notices the bomb and tries to throw it away. Unfortunately, while Tails fails to escape the blast due to the Negative Zone slowing down gravity, Luigi does not escape either and is sent hurtling through the air until he slides up to the front of a pipe as the Negative Zone gets destroyed.
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The Deadly Six Theme - Sonic Lost World by Tomoya Ohtani
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Tails quickly runs up to Luigi (with his tails on fire for a brief moment, presumably due to the explosion) and has him backed up against the pipe. With the two being face-to-face, Luigi readies his Hammer to squash Tails and end the fight, but isn't fast enough as the Magic Hand quickly rockets forwards, impaling Luigi through the abdomen and damaging the Warp Pipe.
Tails goes to heal himself with another Medi Bot as blood still pours out of Luigi's impaled body.
Results
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South Island Theme/Sonic VS Metal - Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA) by Mitsuhiro Tada
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Boomstick: Well, there goes the Year of Luigi.
Wiz: While Luigi technically has more combat experience and has survived being Nintendo's whipping boy, Tails' skills and arsenal were more than the green-capped plumber can handle.
Boomstick: His training with Sonic makes him faster, and his superior mobility gave him complete control over the battlefield.
Wiz: Also, he has an outrageous I.Q. of 300, which is about as much as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking combined.
Boomstick: Hell, Tails is stronger, too. He can move 10 tons, while Luigi struggles to lift a large radish.
Wiz: And Tails' gadgets more than make up for any of his weaknesses.
Boomstick: Looks like Luigi was outfoxed.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Miles "Tails" Prower.
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Luigi and Tails are that they are both video game heroes who are younger and more easily frightened sidekicks to iconic, rivaling video game protagonists (Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively) who act as an an older brother figure to them. Both also tend to use gadgets throughout their adventures, in contrast to their partner's more physical fighting style. Both also have confidence issues throughout their adventures but have stepped up to be the hero in their own game(s) (the Luigi's Mansion series and Tails Adventure, respectively). In addition:
- Both characters appear in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Super Smash Bros. series. In the latter, Luigi is a playable character while Tails appears as a Mii Costume for the Mii Gunner.
- Both have aspects of their designs based on the kitsune (Luigi's Tanooki and Raccoon forms were changed to be themed after the kitsune starting with Super Mario 3D Land, while Tails' twin tails are believed to be inspired by it).
- They have moments of single-handedly battling their franchises’ main antagonists (Bowser and Doctor Eggman) in place of the main heroes, earning them a begrudging respect from the villains.
- They have rivals who have abrasive, arrogant attitudes compared to their humbler nature (Waluigi and Wave the Swallow).
- Both of their partners previously fought each other in Season 1 and would battle once again in Season 5.
- This episode was likely done to commemorate the Year of Luigi.
- This is the first episode to use a 16:9 format thumbnail rather than the original 4:3 thumbnail format of prior episodes, whose thumbnails would all be replaced to match it shortly thereafter.
- In Tails' section, the clip where Sonic says "What are you doing?" is made using audio from a different scene in the episode than the one presented, edited to sync with the line.
- Boomstick stating that Luigi's only strong enough to lift up a giant vegetable in the post-analysis has garnered considerable criticism since the episode's release, with many Death Battle fans claiming that Luigi's actual strength was downplayed because of it, especially in light of greater feats of strength showcased in later Super Mario episodes.
Easter Eggs
- After Wiz talks about the Vanish Power Flower in Luigi's analysis, an image of the "Weegee" meme is shown.
- After Boomstick talks about the Poltergust 5000 in Luigi's analysis, Wiz says "He ain't afraid of no ghosts!", referencing the Ghostbusters theme song.
- The last thing listed in Luigi's "Feats" slide is "Won Mario Party by doing absolutely nothing". This is a reference to a meme where people post videos of Luigi competing in various Mario Party minigames by doing nothing and winning in spite of it.
Errors
- Luigi's analysis preview stated that he was "faster, stronger, and more athletic" than Mario. This was corrected to just "faster and more athletic" in the final episode, seeing that Luigi was seen as being weaker than Mario at the time.
- Boomstick claims that the Poltergust 5000 can kill ghosts in Luigi's analysis. This is incorrect, as the Poltergust vacuums simply capture ghosts after they get sucked into them until Luigi deposits them to Professor E. Gadd.
- Wiz erroneously refers to the Boomering as the "Projectile Ring."
- While describing Luigi's strength during the post-analysis, Boomstick describes the vegetable Luigi struggles to carry as a radish, though it is actually a turnip.
- Additionally, Luigi wasn't actually struggling to lift the turnip up as Boomstick stated, but instead pulling it out of the ground.
Other
- This is the second Nintendo VS Sega-themed episode after Mario VS Sonic (2011), and with the next four being Donkey Kong VS Knuckles, Mewtwo VS Shadow, Mario VS Sonic (2018), and Bowser VS Eggman.
- This is the second time the Sega character wins, after Mario VS Sonic (2011).
- This is the second Mario VS Sonic-themed episode, after Mario VS Sonic (2011), and with the next three being Donkey Kong VS Knuckles, Mario VS Sonic (2018), and Bowser VS Eggman.
- This is the second time the Sonic character wins, after Mario VS Sonic (2011).
- This is the first Sidekick-themed episode, with the next two being Genos VS War Machine and Winter Soldier VS Red Hood.
- This is the ninth episode in which only one character speaks and the other does not, after Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2010), Rogue VS Wonder Woman, Yoshi VS Riptor, Luke Skywalker VS Harry Potter, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Zelda VS Peach, Batman VS Spider-Man, and Ryu Hayabusa VS Strider Hiryu, and with the next eight being Batman VS Captain America, Beast VS Goliath, Donkey Kong VS Knuckles, Meta VS Carolina, Sub-Zero VS Glacius, Lucario VS Renamon, Shredder VS Silver Samurai, and Crash VS Spyro.