Twenty-four years and one month after the release of Mario's green brother. The discovery of Luigi's files has also given way to a conspiracy theory claiming that the leak had been prophesied by the mysterious fountain in Super Mario 64's courtyard.
Super Mario 64 was released on June 23, 1996 with Mario being the only playable character. A port of Mario 64 for the Nintendo DS allowed the player to take control of Yoshi and Mario's brothers, including Luigi, but this wasn't until eight years later. However, a fountain in the original Super Mario 64 located in Peach's Castle's Courtyard has an illegible plaque that players believe reads, "L is real 2401." Since the scribbles were "deciphered", players have believed this to be an homage to Luigi, but were never able to find any other evidence of his existence in the game.
That was until the source code for Super Mario 64 leaked online alongside many other classic Nintendo games. Within the source code, a hacker known as CometMedal on Twitter found the files for Luigi's body textures and audio files. The textures dug up by CometMedal include Luigi's mustache, his hat's emblem, and a second player icon hinting that the original Super Mario 64 intended to have multiplayer.
Since the files were found, an amatuer game developer known as greendev123 on Twitter assembled a 3D model with the assets making Luigi a playable character in-game.
The rabbit hole doesn't end there, as the Super Mario 64 community caught wind of these leaks and began to share theories that associated the newfound assets with the mysterious courtyard fountain. While the majority of the theories seem far-fetched, MoffRhea broke down the numbers on the plaque and compared them to the date Luigi's assets were found. She pointed out that the numbers from "L is real 2401", if separated, could mean 24 years and 1 month, which is when the leak was discovered. She also stated that if the numbers were added up individually they would equal 7, which is the number associated with the month July. And lastly, if the numbers 24 and 01 were added together they equal 25, which is the day Luigi was found inside the game's source code.
Theories like this may seem absurd, but the numbers adding up in multiple different to the exact date Luigi was found is pretty wild, if even just coincental. If it was intentional, however, it could also be the greatest easter egg of all time. It has never been confirmed or denied whether the plaque actually reads "L is real 2401", but what players do know now is that Luigi was originally intended to be in Super Mario 64 and that "L" truly has been real this entire time.
Sources: CometMedal, greendev123, MoffRhea
