Floater

Not to be confused with Flutter or Flopter.

Floater
First appearance	Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994)

Template:Quote2 Floaters are rare floating creatures that appear in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. They are robotic, statue-like beings that Wario can ride. They move in the direction the arrow in their head is pointing, and Wario can control the direction in which they go by jumping and landing back on top of them, similar to the Directional Lifts with exclamation marks in Super Mario Bros. 3. They are only found in two courses of the game: Course No.11 and Course No.17. If Wario falls off of the Floater, he may fall into a pit and lose a life.

Floaters' design appears to be inspired by the Japanese dogū sculptures of the Jōmon period. These ancient sculptures share the same lidded eyes and general shape as Floaters, and are often referenced in Japanese pop culture — including video games.

Profiles

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

• Japanese Virtual Console manual: ハニハニは敵ではなく、ワリオの移動を手助けしてくれます。その場で浮遊していて、頭の上に乗ってジャンプすると、進行方向を変えることができます。進行方向は、ハニハニの持っている玉に矢印で表示されます。(Floater is not an enemy, but helps Wario navigate. It floats in place and can change its direction of travel if you jump on top of its head. The direction of travel is indicated by an arrow on the ball that Floater is holding.)

Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten

ハニハニ
種族　メカ族
性格　親切
登場ゲーム　ランド3
頼もしいお助けキャラ
ワリオランドのポット山に住む、お助けロボット。ワリオが上に乗ると矢印の方向に進んでくれる。ハニハニの助け無しでは、先に進めないところもあるのだ。

Floater
Tribe: Mecha clan
Disposition: Kind
Game appearances: Land 3
A reliable and helpful character
A helpful robot that lives on Mt. Teapot in Wario Land. When Wario rides on it, it moves in the direction of the arrow. Without Floater's help, Wario cannot move forward in some places.

Gallery

• 

  Sprite

• 

  A Floater as depicted in the Kodansha manga

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ハニハニ Hanihani	Probably from a partial repetition of「埴輪」(haniwa)
German	Floater[?]	?
Italian	Galleggiante Fluttuatore	Floating Floater