They aren't lying! I came across a glitch that allows you to play as Luigi! I don't know what happened, but in the hallway that goes to the first Bowser area, I somehow got past the barrier! I just kind of slid into the wall and came out the other side! Excited, I ran over to the Bowser picture, and jumped in. Mario just jumped back out again. I jumped in a bunch more times, but it didn't work. Then, remembering all the tricks that had to do with the number "64", I jumped in until it was presisely 64 times in and out. On the sixty-fourth jump, Mario jumped out and was clutching a green hat! Let me tell you, I about ****ped my pants when I saw this. I know you think I'm lying, but this is all true. It allowed me to save and I was able to walk back down the hallway into the main area without the trap door or barrier. Oh yeah, and the Peach-to-Bowser painting was then Mario to Luigi, and the Bowser level was now a cool bonus game. I walked into the main area and headed down the stairs, and saw Luigi standing on the sun symbol! I talked to him and he said something like: "Thank you Mario for helping me get out of that painting! I should give you something in return! Tell you what: I'll take care of the Princess, you should go home and rest! You're all dirty and sweaty!" Mario then gave Luigi his hat back and walked out the front door. I could play as Luigi!!! Here's a few other things I noticed though:
1. Luigi can jump higher than Mario
2. Luigi does the same punch combo as in SSMB
3. The warp pipe that Mario comes out of in the beginning sticks out of the ground in front of the castle! Go in it and you'll be at Mario and Luigi's HOUSE!!! It's SO cool! It's very much like the house from PM! And if you ground pound near Mario and Luigi's bed, you'll drop into a secret basement where you CAN GET THE 121st STAR!!!
(NO! I'm NOT lying! This is all true!)
4. If you start a new game, you can choose who you want to be for the start of the game. If you pick Luigi, Peach's speech will include Luigi instead of Mario, and the cake will be a pie.
5. If you finish the game as Luigi, Peach will say Luigi instead of Mario, and pie instead of cake. The "The End" screen at the end has a pie with a Luigi doll next to Yoshi.
6. If you beat it with 121 stars as Luigi, you'll get a special ending where Bowser falls from the sky, and you have to beat him once more on the castle grounds. You can beat him by grabbing him by his tail and spinning him really fast. Then throw him into the castle. You win, and Bowser hops in his Clown Copter and flys off. You then get a special ending where Daisy shows up and Luigi gets a kiss. The ending picture has the whole gang around the pie, and Luigi has it all in his mustache. Bowser is also looking in the window angrily.
7. If you beat it with all 121 stars as Mario, he gets a kiss from Peach and he blushes.
8. Luigi is WAY faster than Mario. He runs at about 1.5 times the speed of Mario.
9. Luigi can't be hurt by falling.
10. (Possibly the coolest) Luigi's face is now on the "Press Start to Play" screen. Playing with Luigi's face is a lot more fun too, as his face can stretch more.
11. Luigi doesn't sound like Mario. He sounds like Luigi from Mario Kart 64.
12. I called the guys of Nintendo about this and they congratulated me on finding the 64th SM64 game made. They explained the whole thing to me and said to try and find everything that was hidden.
13. All images you see are edited. Luigi is taller than Mario by quite a bit, and he's a rather dark shade of green.
14. Luigi blinks in morse code. Though I thought this was stupid, I tried translating it. It eventually came out to "SUPERLUIGI64ENJOY" Which came out to "Super Luigi 64! Enjoy!"
15. Luigi dreams about meatballs and speghetti rather than ravioli.
16. Luigi seems to have a problem with ghosts. I can't seem to get him down the hallway to the courtyard! The guys at Nintendo said there was a way, and if I made it I'd get an award. I haven't found it yet. Oh yeah, and every time I try to get him down the halway he just stops in front of the big ghost, screams, and runs back towards the basement.
17. Luigi can walk up slopes.
18. When shell surfing, Luigi bounces off of things rather than losing the shell.
19. Luigi seems to take less damage.
20. The caps seem to last longer on Luigi, and the wing cap is easier to manuver. You don't have to dive and then pull up to gain altitude.
21. And finally, Luigi says "Hasta la vista Bowser" instead of "So long-a Bowser!".
Whew! Questions? Comments?
Yoshi likes to dance in his backwards saddle!