Urchin

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An Urchin.

The Urchin is a slow, blue sea urchin that moves between tunnels in the underwater levels of Super Mario World. They are invincible, and Yoshi can't eat them, but he can step on them. Players must time their movements carefully as to avoid an Urchin's spikes.

Though they were seemingly going to make an unexpected return in Yoshi Touch & Go, Urchins were not seen in the final game. They were, however, featured in the Balloon Trip tech demo that can be thought of as a Yoshi Touch & Go beta, where they would (perhaps strangely) float unmovingly in the skies and take one of Baby Mario's balloons away if he was to touch one of them; they could also never be trapped in bubbles, making them some of the more challenging enemies featured in the demo. By the final game's release, these Urchins were redesigned as the plant-like Briers.

Urchins, or at least creatures that look identical to Urchins, appear in Super Mario Galaxy in the Beach Bowl Galaxy. They, however, unlike Urchins do not swim around in the water and stay on the sea bottom.

Appearances in Other Media

Several Urchins, from the Super Mario World cartoon.

Several Urchins make a small appearance in the Super Mario World episode "Mama Luigi". In the episode, Luigi and Yoshi, while being chased through an underwater tunnel by a Rip Van Fish, almost swim directly into several Urchins. Luckily, Luigi and Yoshi manage to avoid bumping into these Urchins.

In the Super Mario Adventures comic, several Urchins are seen to act as guards in the moat surrounding the Koopalings tower.

Trivia

• The Sammer Guy "Urchin Lung" from Super Paper Mario may be a reference to an Urchin.
• Hacking into Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars reveals that game was initially planned to feature what would appear to be a tiny Urchin, likely as some kind of item.