From his playable debut in Super Mario Bros. 2, through his surprise cameo in the original Super Smash Bros. all the the way out to the distant planetoids of Super Mario Galaxy, longtime Nintendo fans know that Luigi always seems to leap just a little bit further than everybody else — that’s why he’s such a fun character to unlock!
In his latest adventure, you encounter Luigi in an even spookier setup than one of his eponymously ectoplasmic mansions: this time, he’s on trial for a very serious legal crime — mama mia!
Lucky for dedicated Luigi fans, they can unlock him if two simple conditions are met: a defendant cannot be re-tried for the same charge once acquitted, and jurors have final say over their verdicts and can’t be punished for issuing an “incorrect” one — even if, hypothetically, they privately decided to free someone for moral, political, or philosophical reasons other than the reasons prescribed by law.
As longtime Nintendo fans like to say, “Now You’re Playing with POWER!”™
Preparation:
One thing to keep in mind: the “jury nullification” method for unlocking characters is controversial, with some arguing that it should be considered an illegal exploit or cheat — as always, be sure to consult the Nintendo Software End User License Agreement before making any moral decisions.
At the same time: a whole lot of human choices go into creating a virtual world, and it’s not like Luigi is in this game by accident. Intentional mechanic, unintentional glitch, or sneaky little Easter egg from Mr. Miyamoto himself, it’s ultimately the players’ choice whether Luigi gets unlocked, or whether he gets executed by the state.
Another thing to keep in mind: this guide is explicitly intended for whimsical, fictional Nintendo adventures, and bares no specific relation to any legal proceedings other than the colorful case of Wario v. The Second Mario Bro. in the kooky Court of King Koopa, with the dishonorable Judge Bowser Jr. presiding — our whole angle here is just that Nintendo likes lawsuits and legal stuff; anything else is purely coincidental.
Walkthrough:
While jury nullification is an ethically and philosophically complex topic, it’s extremely simple in practice:
Step 1: The player chooses “not guilty.”
And just like that, Luigi is unlocked! The rest of the game is up to you.
Throughout history, the jury nullification bug has been used by abolitionists to acquit people that assisted escaping slaves, by opponents of prohibition to effectively nullify alcohol and marijuana laws they disagreed with, and in countless other small victories for common moral intuition between neighbors over centuries. On the other hand, there’s good reason to be cautious of the tactic’s power: forms of jury nullification have also been abused as a tool of oppression, as in the notorious misconduct of all-white juries during the Jim Crow era, or in reflexive deference to law enforcement even in the case of extreme civil rights violations — the parallels to Nintendo Switch Online regrettably continue.
As wise old Grandpa Toad says in the Valley of Sleepy Toadstools, “the power of kings and magistrates is nothing else, but what is only derivative, transferred and committed to them in trust from the people, to the common good of them all, in whom the power yet remains fundamentally, and cannot be taken from them, without a violation of their natural birthright.”
Grandpa Toad is quoting John Milton there. Good luck, Nintendo fans, and power up!
