Pionpi

Pionpi
Artwork from Super Mario Land
First appearance	Super Mario Land (1989)
Latest appearance	Game Boy - "Pipes is Pipes" (1990)
Comparable Dry Bones Fly Kumo

Pionpi, also known as Pinopi, are undead creatures based on jiangshi, a mythical vampire and zombie-like creature from Chinese folklore, and enemies in Super Mario Land. Pionpis are encountered in the Chai Kingdom, where they constantly try to jump on Mario, and some Pionpis appear from the air. Pionpis can be temporarily stunned by being jumped on, giving 800 points to the player. To actually destroy them, Mario must lure them off the level, shoot them with two Superballs or touch them while invincible. They act essentially as a faster, harder version of the Fly and Kumo found earlier in the game. They are also similar to the Dry Bones introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, being an undead enemy that soon resurrects upon being squashed.

In the Game Boy comics published by Valiant Comics, a Pionpi is shown to be Tatanga's second-in-command and frequently rides around on a Yurarin Boo. In the issue "Team Play", this Pionpi leads Tatanga's invasion of the Great Wall of China and is also the only one of Tatanga's Elite Squadron to protest Herman Smirch's joining of Tatanga's forces.

In the Super Mario Land manga from the KC Deluxe series, Pionpi are depicted similar to zombies in an apocalypse. A trio of Pionpi attacks Mario and Mecha Kuribō (who is Princess Peach in disguise) as they arrive in Chai Kingdom. Mario shoots them down with a Superball, but they quickly rise back up. Running from them, Mario and Mecha Kuribō run into Nankin, who tells them to hide in a bush. The three Pionpi jump over the bush and right into a pit. Nankin explains that Tatanga cursed the kingdom's citizens, turning them into Pionpi, except for the local temple's residents, protected by a magic seal that also functions as a door latch. While Mario takes a rest in the temple, waiting for Mecha Kuribō to make a new seal for him, a Goombo manages to trick Nankin-kun into opening the door and destroys the temple's seal, letting the Pionpi swarm the temple. The residents are bitten by the Pionpi and turned into zombies, followed by Princess Peach right after she finishes the seal, which Mario uses to keep the Pionpi at bay while he takes the Sky Pop at the airport. Once Tatanga is defeated, all of the transformed Pionpi are immediately restored to normal.

In the Super Mario Land 4 manga, a Pionpi is the third challenger in the Qix storyline. It bites Peach to make her his ally and the two of them take the role of the two Qix, with Qix Daiō even buffing the Pionpi to ease up its work, but it is eventually defeated with a Qix Split and disappear, freeing Peach from its control.

Profiles and statistics

Super Mario Land

• Instruction booklet: Hopping about and persistently dogging Mario, no matter how many times you jump on Pionpi, he keeps coming back to life. But you can defeat him with a superball.
• 3DS Virtual Console manual: Hopping about persistently, Pionpi keeps coming back to life no matter how many times Mario jumps on him. He can be defeated by a Superball.

Gallery

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  Artwork from Super Mario Land

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  Sprite from Super Mario Land

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  KC Deluxe manga

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	Pionpi	-
French	Pionpi	-
German	Pionpi[?]	-
Italian	Pionpi	-
Spanish	Pionpi[?]	-