Editing Ludwig

{{character-infobox

|image=[[Image:Ludwig NSMBWii.png|230px]]

|first_appearance=''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' ([[1988]])

|species=[[Koopa]]

|affiliation=[[Koopalings]], [[Bowser]]

|latest_appearance=''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'' ([[2009]])

|latest_portrayal= [[Mike Vaughn]] (2009)

 

{{LLquote|But [[Bowser|King Dad]]! It'll blow if you give it more juice!|Kooky von Koopa|[[The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3]]}}

 

'''Ludwig von Koopa''' (also known as '''Kooky von Koopa''') is the oldest [[Koopalings|Koopaling]] and was [[Bowser]]'s second-in-command until [[Bowser Jr.]] came along.  He possesses a magnificent intelligence.

He loves playing video games with his younger brothers.

Like the other Koopalings, not much of Ludwig's personality has been revealed, though it is known that he composes "Koopa Symphonies", is somewhat arrogant and is said to be the cruelest of all the Koopalings.<ref>''Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3'' Player's Guide</ref> He is also shown to be highly intelligent, such as when he built the gigantic robot in ''[[Yoshi's Safari]]''. In battle he displays feats such as making earthquakes and magic blasts, spitting fireballs, shooting lightning blasts from his hands and the ability to teleport from place to place. He even has the ability to flutter jump like [[Yoshi (species)|Yoshi]].

[[Image:SMB3_LudwigVonKoopa.jpg|left|thumb|'''Ludwig von Koopa''' from ''Super Mario Bros. 3''.]]

In ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' Ludwig was charged with taking over [[Pipe Land]]. Easily doing so with the aid of his [[Airship]] and armies, Ludwig stole the wand of Pipe Land's king, whom he turned into either a [[Piranha Plant]] or [[Yoshi (species)|Yoshi]], depending on the version of the game.

[[Image:LudwigSMB3Ani.gif|right|thumb|]]

Boarding Ludwig's airship, Mario managed to fight his way to Ludwig's cabin, there he engaged the Koopa prince in battle. In battle, Ludwig goes into his shell and tries to roll into Mario. Though fast and capable of making stunning earthquakes and magic blasts, Ludwig was defeated and his control over Pipe Land was at an end.

After he was defeated by Mario, Ludwig was assigned to occupy the fourth world of [[Dinosaur Land]], the [[Twin Bridges]], in ''[[Super Mario World]]''. Doing so, he then isolated himself in his castle where he composed [[Koopa Troopa|Koopa]] symphonies, at least until Mario showed up to ruin his work.  

[[Image:Battle2.png|thumb|250px|left|'''Ludwig''''s battle with Mario.]]

During his battle with Mario, Ludwig attacked by spitting fireballs, sliding around in his spiked shell, and occasionally making huge leaps. Ultimately, he was defeated a second time by Mario who destroys Ludwig's castle by detonating explosive charges near the bottom of the building, sending it flying into a nearby hill. Subsequently the hill is bandaged in the spot it gets hit.

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[[Image:Ludwigfortressnsmbw.jpg|thumb|left|'''Ludwig''' in his tower.]]

Ludwig and the other Koopalings reappeared in ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'', after six years of absence, now alongside Bowser Jr. His physical appearance remains relatively unchanged, except for his shell, which is now blue instead of green and he now has blue eyebrows.

He first appears in the opening scene, in which Ludwig and the rest of his siblings jumped out of a cake at Princess Peach's birthday party, then trapped her inside it by throwing the cake at her and runs away. Mario, Luigi, [[Blue Toad]], and [[Yellow Toad]] travel through the Mushroom Kingdom to defeat them, as well as [[Kamek]] and Bowser, and save the Princess [[Peach]]. He is later implied to have commanded the Airship to leave without Bowser Jr., causing Bowser Jr. to chase after it and Mario to board it the second time. He appears as both the [[tower]] and [[castle]] boss of World 7.

The stage for the tower battle is a straight ground with a pit on both sides.

Before battling him, he is distracted that the player(s) appeared in his room but looks away and laughs (presumably because Mario doesn't know that he could do the [[Flutter Jump]]). He says, "Oh?" after that and then he then battles the player(s).

When battling him at his tower, before the player(s) could reach him, he conjures a blue fireball from his wand (he is the fastest to cast a spell out of all the bosses) which slowly homes into the player(s). After that, he then jumps really high and Flutter Jumps above the player(s) which he is trying to stomp on. After landing, Ludwig then conjures another homing fireball if he is not stomped on. When jumped on, Ludwig retreats back to his shell and spins it to the left and right of the stage in a attempt to hit the player(s) (accompanied by his homing fireballs if it hasn't made contact with anything yet). When he is stomped on 3 times, he is defeated and retreats to his [[castle]].

He is the most resistant Koopaling to [[Fire Mario]]'s fireballs.

[[Image:Mario vs Ludwig2.PNG|thumb|220px|[[Ice Mario]] battling Ludwig in his castle.]]The stage for the castle battle are three separate, rising platforms which [[Kamek]] activated with his magic. The platforms rise up and down during the fight and the sides move in unison while the middle does not. The player(s) could also fall between the spaces between the platforms and lose a life. It is strongly noted that the characters do not get affected by the platforms rising (the player(s) jump normally as if the platforms aren't even rising at all, only the background moves).

In the Castle, unlike the tower battle, his fireballs no longer home in, but instead they split into four and takes more time to cast them a bit. He uses his Flutter Jumping ability to get to another section of a platform. The player(s) can tell in which platform he is going to land due to his legs being visible in the screen, doing his infamous Flutter Jumping before landing. When Ludwig is hit, he slides around in his shell, but he will only slide on the platform he is on, rather than sliding to another platform. When he is hit 2 times, he shoots out another 4 fireballs after he casts his first set of fireballs. When finally defeated, Ludwig falls offscreen and Mario gets the key to World 8.

Although Ludwig fell during his castle battle with Mario when when Mario defeated him, he was uninjured, as he was seen along with the other Koopalings getting Bowser back up, only to have Bowser's castle fall on top of all of them.

It is worth noting that he is one of the only two bosses fought in the same order as ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' (the other being Larry, who was the first one Mario fought in both games).

It is also worth noting that Ludwig has an audible voice in-game for the first time. He is portrayed by Mike Vaughn, who gives Ludwig a much deeper voice than his of the cartoon series.

===''Super Mario Amada'' Series===

[[Image: AnimeKoopalings.jpg|thumb|right|150px|'''Ludwig''' as he appears in [[Super Mario Amada Series]].]]

Ludwig, as well as his siblings were featured in the ''[[Super Mario Amada Series]]'', a set of three Japanese OVAs. In the Mario retelling of the story "Momotaro", Ludwig and his siblings appear as minions of Bowser, aiding him in abducting [[Princess Peach|Princess Toadstool]]. In "Shirayukihime (Snow White)" Ludwig also appears as a minion of Bowser once again; like his brothers and sister, Ludwig ends-up being beaten by Mario.

Ludwig also appears prominently in [[DIC Entertainment]]'s ''[[The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' and the [[Super Mario World (TV series)|''Super Mario World'']] cartoon. Here, Ludwig was portrayed as having mad scientist-like personality, inventing various gadgets and doo-dads for his father. In the cartoons, Ludwig was renamed '''Kooky von Koopa''', had somewhat messier hair, was smaller in size, had only one spike on his shell, his tail was usually twisted or curved, and also possessed an extremely bizarre laugh. Also, Kooky wasn't the oldest Koopaling, as that position was taken by [[Roy Koopa|Bully]]. His personality was different too, as he didn't ever listen to classical music, and was never portrayed as a composer.[[Image:Ludwig_smw.PNG|thumb|200px|right|Kooky in ''Super Mario World'']]

In the Super Mario World cartoon, Kooky appeared exactly the same with the exception of the episode [[The Wheel Thing]], where his snout was colored the same as the rest of his body. His silent appearance in [[Rock TV]] colors his snout a lighter shade, as in ''The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3''.

"Baby Ludwig", or more appropriately, Baby Kooky, has made his first appearance in ''The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3'' episode, "[[Toddler Terrors of Time Travel]]" , which had Kooky, as well as Mario, Luigi, Toad and Bowser, regressed to infant states due to a malfunction with a time machine.

[[Image:Ludwig_playing_videogame.jpg|thumb|120px|'''Ludwig''', playing video games in ''Super Mario Adventures''.]]

Ludwig appeared in the [[Nintendo Comics System]]'s Mario comics, as well as Mario's [[Nintendo Adventure Books]]. Ludwig also appears in the ''[[Super Mario Adventures]]'' comic, where he and his siblings aided Bowser in his attempt to marry [[Princess Toadstool|Princess Peach]]. Here he is portrayed as the most cynical of the Koopalings, disbelieving that Princess Peach would ever agree to marry his father. He i also in charge of communication with Bowser through their television.

He makes another short appearance in the [[Club Nintendo]] comic "[[Super Mario: Erholung? Nein, danke!]]", where he works as a mechanic for [[KoopAir]]. The plane he is working on takes off before he even finished his work.

In ''[[Mario is Missing!]]'', Ludwig, along with a few of his siblings, invaded [[Earth]] with his father as part of a plot to flood the world by melting Antarctica. Guarding a corridor of Bowser's headquarters, Ludwig would battle [[Luigi]], who planned on stopping Bowser's plot and saving the kidnapped Mario. In the end, Ludwig was defeated in combat and Luigi managed to move on. He appeared on all versions of the game except [[NES]] version. On the [[SNES]] version he was the first boss while on the PC version, he was the last. When Luigi clears [[San Francisco]], Ludwig von Koopa will appear when he arrives back at the castle. Ludwig will try to destroy Luigi by running around the castle like mad and trying to ram into Luigi meanwhile dashing out from under him. Once Luigi jumps on Ludwig a total of six times, he will disappear in a puff of smoke.

[[Image:YoshisSafari013.png|left|thumb|Ludwig in his mech during ''Yoshi's Safari''.]]  

Ludwig later helped his father conquer [[Jewelry Land]] during the events of ''[[Yoshi's Safari]]''. The eldest Koopaling occupied the [[Mushroom Land]] region of the kingdom. In battle, Ludwig uses a large robot with four legs, a spiked shell and a retractable head (in which Ludwig himself is stationed). Two cannons are attached to the head. The robot's weak spot is a large red area which Ludwig normally guards with the robot's head. However as he has to move while he shoots, the red spot often becomes temporarily visible, allowing Mario to destroy it. After the robot explodes, the pieces salvage themselves together into a fighter style mech, which has fists that fly off to attack Yoshi and Mario. In the end this robot is also destroyed, after which Ludwig concedes defeat.

In ''[[Hotel Mario]]'', Ludwig appears as the boss in [[Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel]] in Ludwig's Frantic Lab. In this game, Ludwig displayed the previously unseen ability to teleport and shoot blast of lightning from his hands. Despite these new powers, Ludwig is still defeated by Mario.

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===''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga''===

{{MLinfobox

|name=Ludwig von Koopa

|image=[[Image:Ludwig-MLSS.png]]

|align=right

|hp=550

|speed=93

|def=130

|exp=800

|coins=99

|item=[[1-Up Super]]

|location=[[Bowser's Castle]]

After years of absence, Ludwig finally made a reappearance in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]''.  Ludwig and his siblings (minus [[Bowser Jr.]]) act as guards in [[Bowser's Castle]] during Bowletta's invasion of the [[Beanbean Kingdom]], presumably believing Bowletta to be their father. Like in ''Super Mario World'', the eldest Koopaling attacked Mario and Luigi by shooting balls of fire and zooming around in his shell. However, Ludwig was no match for the bros'. teamwork and was ultimately beaten.

==Character Description==

Ludwig's skin tone is the same as most of the other Koopaling's, having the same yellow and tan skin complexion, as well as a green head like most other Koopalings. Ludwig has one, beaver-like tooth in the upper center of his snout. He also has a four-ribbed, padded stomach and padded feet. His facial features are defined, having shaped cheeks, a high nose, a low jaw, and deeply curved lips; his features are most similar to Roy's.  

He has small, circular-shaped, eyes; his eyes are overall the same as Morton's. His head is a very simple round shape. Ludwig is usually close in height to most other koopalings and is often in the middle when correctly compared; his body is like a wider version of Larry's.  

Ludwig is best known to have large, wild, blue hair; aside from slight color differentiation his hairstyle is the same as [[Flurrie]]'s. Ludwig's hair is parted down the middle his left bang touching his face. He also has small, blue eyebrows.

===Clothing===

Ludwig is portrayed wearing very few items of clothing, even compared to his siblings. He wears the same metal, spiked cuffs the others do, but he also has his own shell design. His shell is blue, lined with a white encasing, and the multiple, short spikes are circled with light orange rings.

Ludwig is the oldest of the Koopalings, probably making him a teenager (his somewhat older age is also supported by his deep voice in ''New Super Mario Bros. Wii''). He is presumptuous and arrogant, but is still very much into culture; he likes listening to classical music and he is a composer himself, and composes "Koopa Symphonies" which, according to the [[Nintendo Comics System|comics]], are terrible. He is also said to be cruel. Also, he was also implied to have been deaf at one point (which may have explained why his Koopa Symphonies were horrible), as when Mario caused an explosion that "shook something loose in his [Ludwig's] brain" he claimed he could finally hear, and presumably discovered how bad his music was as a result; whether he still chooses to compose music or not is unknown. Ludwig is possibly the most intelligent of his siblings, though he doesn't seem to be as much an inventor as his younger brother [[Iggy Koopa|Iggy]]. He also seems to be into horror, as he had a horror-themed hotel in ''Hotel Mario''.

In ''The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3'', Ludwig's name was changed into Kooky von Koopa, and was portrayed as a stereotypical mad scientist, whose main purpose was to invent new doomsday weapons and gadgets for his [[Bowser|father]]. He would commonly burst out into maniacal laughter or raise his voice by shouting in the middle of talking and seemed to be very aggressive towards the Mario Bros. Kooky didn't also care much about his hygiene; he never washed or combed his hair.

==Powers and Abilities==

Ludwig is usually portrayed as the most talented and powerful of the Koopalings. In ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', Ludwig shared his attack pattern with Roy; Ludwig could fire projectiles from his [[Magic Scepter]], pound the ground to stun the Mario Bros., and retreat in his shell for both defensive and offensive purposes. He was given a completely unique attack pattern in ''Super Mario World'', which none of the other Koopalings shared; Ludwig could spit three fireballs in a row (thus making him the first Koopaling to have learned the ability of breathing fire) and spin around the room in his shell, after which he could perform a long jump to the other side of the room. Ludwig was given even more new powers in ''Hotel Mario'', as he could use electricity to fire dangerous lightnings from his hands and to teleport wherever he wished to. In ''Superstar Saga'', Ludwig retained his previous abilities of breathing fire and spinning around in his shell, but also learned the new ability of spinning like a tornado to attack the Mario Bros. In his latest appearance in ''New Super Mario Bros. Wii'', Ludwig learned even more new abilities; he could fire projectiles from his Magic Scepter that would automatically home into the Mario Bros., or fire 5 all at once. He has even mastered the ability of [[Flutter Jump]]ing better than the [[Yoshi (species)|Yoshis]] themselves, being able to stay in the air for several seconds.

Already stated above, Ludwig is the most skilled with a wand, as he is shown to shoot five magic blasts at once, even ones that home in on the player.  He is even shown to utilize the Flutter Jump, a technique previously thought to be exclusive to the Yoshis.  Ludwig is also seen to leap great distances in ''Super Mario World''.

===Standard Abilities===

Unlike the other Koopalings, Ludwig is seldom shown with tactics resembling his siblings, which makes most of his battles unique. There is an exception in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', where he shared tactics with his younger brother Roy and in ''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga'', where he is shown spinning like Iggy.

==List of Appearances by Date==

{|class=sortable cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 border=1 align=center width=100% style="border-collapse:collapse; font-family:Arial"

|Boss NPC

|[[Japan]]:<br>October 23, [[1988]]

|[[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]]

|''[[Super Mario World]]

|'' Boss NPC

|'' Japan:<br>November 21, [[1990]]

|''[[Mario is Missing]]

|'' Boss NPC

|'' [[North America]]:<br>[[1992]]

|[[MS-DOS|PC]], SNES

|''[[Yoshi's Safari]]

|'' Boss NPC

|'' Japan:<br>July 14, [[1993]]  

|''[[Hotel Mario]]

|'' Boss NPC

|'' North America:<br>December 31, [[1994]]

|[[CD-i]]

|''Super Mario World

|'' Boss NPC

|'' Japan:<br>December 14, [[2001]]  

|''Super Mario Bros. 3

|'' Boss NPC

|'' Japan:<br>July 21, [[2003]]

|''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]

|'' Boss NPC

|'' North America:<br>November 17, 2003  

|''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]

|'' Boss NPC

|'' [[Australia]]:<br>November 12, [[2009]]

!width=120px|Image!!|Game!!|Effect

|[[Image:SMB3_LudwigVonKoopa.jpg|120px]]

|''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]''

|[Explosive] - Attack + 8

==Gallery==

Image:SMB3 Ludwig.png|<center>''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]''

Image:MLSSKoopaling4.png|<center>''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]''

Image:SMW LudwigBattle.PNG|<center>''[[Super Mario World]]''

Image:Mario_vs_Ludwig2.PNG|<center>''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]''

===Official Artwork===

<center><gallery>

Image:SMB3 LudwigVonKoopa.jpg|<center>''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]''

Image:LudwigKoopa2 SMB3.png|<center>''[[Super Mario World]]''

Image:Ludwig_NSMBWii.png|<center>''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]''

</gallery></center>

*"''This is a fun game called "STUFF YOUR FURNITURE DOWN THE DRAIN"!''" - [[Toddler Terrors of Time Travel]]

*"''I am a genius! My Koopa Klogger is sheer brilliant! Those pain-in-the-drain plumbers won't spoil our evil fun this time!''" - [[7 Continents for 7 Koopas]]

*"''Calm down, King Dad! Your cold Koopa blood is getting overheated!''" - [[True Colors]]

*"''Oh brother,it looks like the nice guy poison is wearing off.''" - [[Princess Toadstool for President]]

==Trivia==

[[Image:LudwigSpriteSheet.png|thumb|125px|Unused ''Super Princess Peach'' sprite sheet.]]

*Ludwig von Koopa is named after the famous composer [[wikipedia:Ludwig van Beethoven|Ludwig van Beethoven]], and he also has a similar hair style.  

*A [[Sticker]] of Ludwig von Koopa is a collectible in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''. Using it on a character in the Subspace Emissary increases his/her explosive attacks by eight points.

*Ludwig was originally going to appear in ''[[Super Princess Peach]]'', although he was [[Super Princess Peach/Beta elements|taken out of the final game]] with the rest of the Koopalings.  

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==Names in Other Languages==

|Jap=ルドウィック

|JapR=Rudowikku

|JapM=From English

{{Super Mario Bros. 3}}

{{The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3}}

{{Super Mario World TV}}

[[Category:Reptiles and Amphibians]]

[[Category:Fire Creatures]]

[[Category:Super Smash Bros. Stickers]]

[[Category:Super Mario Bros. 3]]

[[Category:Mario & Luigi Series Bosses]]

[[Category:Villains]]