It's-a Mario World: Koopa Kids
Lately we have found ourselves pondering the Koopa family lineage in all of its complexity. Bowser seems to have outdone himself in the procreation department, but no one seems to know who mothered his children. It seems likely that Princess Peach did at least some of the laboring, given the amount of time she has spent in captivity with Bowser, but Bowletta or Kammy Koopa could have just as easily nursed a Koopaling or two. Details of intimacy between King Koopa and females in the Mushroom Kingdom remain relatively obscured. Regardless, we know that at least 8 children were born to him and his anonymous bedmate(s), with dozens more probably carrying the Koopa genes.
Of course, the Koopa kids first appeared in the famed Super Mario Bros. 3. After two subsequent SNES games they vanished for ten years (excluding games like Hotel Mario, which no one really played anyway) until resurfacing in 2003's Game Boy Advance RPG, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, albeit without any dialogue or consequence to the main plot. We are left wondering how they dropped from the radar so abrupty, and why they have recently been condensed into the new Koopaling on the block, Bowser Jr. While such questions might be attributed tomarketing and sales the phases of the moon, we can still pay homage to the classic Koopa kids in our new gallery.
Of course, the Koopa kids first appeared in the famed Super Mario Bros. 3. After two subsequent SNES games they vanished for ten years (excluding games like Hotel Mario, which no one really played anyway) until resurfacing in 2003's Game Boy Advance RPG, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, albeit without any dialogue or consequence to the main plot. We are left wondering how they dropped from the radar so abrupty, and why they have recently been condensed into the new Koopaling on the block, Bowser Jr. While such questions might be attributed to
It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wah-hah-ha! @ Sep 5th 2008 1:15PM
I always remembered Iggy for some reason, it was Larry and Roy that i always forgot
Iggy's fight was most fun, and he had a blue shell in the SNES game, which i fancied at the time might be the origin of the Mario Kart powerhouse (since Mario Kart 64 was one of my first games, and i didn't get around to Super Mario World until the GBA port)
Cyber-Tyrant @ Sep 5th 2008 1:33PM
If they plan on making the new Mario Galaxy game, they have to bring them back!
I just wish there was a way to let them know...
ipsum @ Sep 5th 2008 1:38PM
Bowletta *is* Bowser, though, meaning that he/she/it, in order to have mothered/fathered/it'ed one of the children, Bowletta must have slept with... a... male? I'm not getting in to who could be the father.
Yourself @ Sep 5th 2008 2:10PM
I always felt a bit bad about killing Ludwig von Koopa - after all, when you see the scene where the castle falls, the game says "Ludwig von Koopa's days of composing Koopa symphonies in castle #4 are over", sort of implying that the only evil deed he committed was... writing music.
That'll show him, right Mario?
CHelmertz @ Sep 5th 2008 2:10PM
It's kinda boring that you get to know the ones mentioned after ~1-2 hours of Super Mario World-playtime, and you left out the up-and-coming ones i.e. characters for Wii games (maybe that's for next week? :)).
Antonio @ Sep 5th 2008 2:12PM
The Koopa Kids aren't around anymore because they're not interesting enough to incorporate into the game. Even in the NES days I was blatantly aware that fighting the majority of them was a matter of stomping at just the right moment, with little factors like ground-shaking stomps and bouncing hula hoops thrown in to mix it up slightly.
Baby Bowser came about because the role of "mischievous, miniature Bowser" could be capably achieved without having to model, animate, and voice 7 different characters. Unless they intend to give Koopa characters more personality, the rest of them aren't needed.
Kenneth Caldwell @ Sep 8th 2008 6:15PM
I cannot argue that the Koopa Kids were fully-developed and well-rounded individual characters, but as a group they provoked some thought into family history. Besides have you ever played Mega Man? Were all of those bosses NEEDED? Is even Bowser Jr. neeeeeeded? Is the influence of marketing on your perception of creative game development needed?
Undead Priest @ Sep 5th 2008 6:41PM
Morton Koopa Jr. is a play on Morton Downey Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Downey_Jr.
Spekkio @ Sep 7th 2008 4:25PM
I think they were all intended to be parodies of celebrities. Check the Super Mario Wiki.
Iggy = Iggy Pop, for example.
Kenneth Caldwell @ Sep 8th 2008 6:01PM
Yeah, I didn't include this information since it's not really documented anywhere other than an anonymously written wiki. Not to say it's false, but much of the Mario mythology is based on conjecture, even though saying that kind of bursts the bubble.
Kaes Delgrego @ Sep 10th 2008 7:04PM
Excellent post, Ken! I was happy to battle the Koopa Kids in Mario & Luigi, as I figured Nintendo might have decided to permanently abandon them. What's truly interesting / puzzling is the connection between the Koopa Kids and Bowser Jr. Are they siblings? Step-siblings? Half? Are the Koopa Kids adopted? I wonder if the entire group will ever be featured together in a canonical Mario game.