Super Mario Strikers' platformer origins revealed, and the story behind Waluigi's crotch chop

In a recent interview with GameXplain, former Next Level games employee Mike Inglehart discussed the early prototype for Mario Strikers. According to the Mario Strikers director, the original build of the game was a traditional platformer, but Nintendo asked them to scrap the prototype.

While discussing the platformer, he mentioned the gameplay mechanics, and how eventually, it didn’t resemble soccer at all.

Inglehart also touched on another infamous part of Super Mario Strikers; Waluigi’s infamous crotch chop. While many thought this was a direct reference to the “suck it” gesture dreamed up by WWE’s D-Generation X, Inglehart says the actual origins have nothing to do with pro wrestling.

“The inspiration for that came from, quite frankly, the shape. Even though it’s a ‘V’, we thought it was a representation of part of the ‘W’, so that’s sort of his way of connecting into his first initial.”

Even more impressive is the fact that this gesture passed through Nintendo as well. When Inglehart’s team showed their progress to Nintendo, including the crotch chop, Nintendo didn’t say a single thing about it. I’m guessing Nintendo wasn’t aware of how close Waluigi’s taunt was to the rather crude WWE gesture, but there’s no doubt they know now!