Ludwig

Ludwig von Koopa (known as Coogy von Koopa in the cartoons) is the oldest member and presumed leader of the seven Koopalings. This group is closely loyal to Bowser and were originally depicted as his children, with Ludwig serving as his second-in-command and presumed heir to the Koopa throne. However, games released after the Koopalings' debut in Super Mario Bros. 3 usually downplayed or ignored the idea that they were Bowser's children, and Super Mario Sunshine later introduced Bowser Jr., who appeared to take on the role of Bowser's protégé and second-in-command. The Japanese version of New Super Mario Bros. Wii confirmed that Junior ranked higher than Ludwig and the other Koopalings, and in a 2012 interview, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo's current story was that the Koopalings were Bowser's children. His emblem is shown to be a deep blue silhouette of his own head on a black background, much like Bowser's emblem.

Ludwig is a middleweight racer, giving him relatively balanced attributes for most of his stats. He is used for the Staff Ghost for 3DS Piranha Plant Slide. He is the only Koopaling in Mario Kart 8 who isn't on a sign or advertisement.

Ludwig's main color for his standard parts is blue, which is also used on his Super Glider. Instead of the orange seen on the spike rings on his shell, Ludwig's secondary color for his standard parts is green. These colors are featured to some degree on all of the other parts that change colors, including for example the green laces on Sneeker.

Other appearances and references

Super Princess Peach

Unused Super Princess Peach sprite sheet.

Ludwig was originally going to appear in Super Princess Peach, although he was taken out of the final game with the rest of the Koopalings. It appears that he could breathe fire like in Super Mario World, and that he could cackle haughtily.

NES Remix 2

Since Super Mario Bros. 3 appears in NES Remix 2, Ludwig von Koopa appears as a boss in some stages along with the rest of the Koopalings.

General information

Physical appearance

Like the other Koopalings, Ludwig has yellow and tan skin and a green head. 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, although he is unique in having one beaver-like tooth in the upper center of his snout. He has a round head and small, circular eyes, like Morton. Ludwig is average in height to most other Koopalings. He is taller than Larry, Lemmy, Wendy, and Roy, and shorter than Morton and Iggy. Mario Kart 8 shows that he's taller than most of the other middleweight characters, and is tied with Rosalina and Wario, but shorter than Bowser. His body is like a wider version of Larry's. Ludwig is best known to have large, wild, blue hair (although it was colored white in his sprites for Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World due to graphical limitations, similar to Larry); aside from slight color differentiation his hairstyle is the same as Flurrie's. He also has small, blue eyebrows. In Mario Kart 8, however, when in a section of Bowser's Castle, Ludwig's hair appears black. Ludwig's shell was originally green and was once grey in Hotel Mario, but is now blue with light orange rings surrounding the multiple, short spikes. Ludwig wears the same metal, spiked cuffs as the other Koopalings. His redesigned shell also bore a close resemblance to his NES sprite, which was a dark shade of green.

Personality and traits

Ludwig is the oldest among his siblings; his exact age is unknown, but he is said to be adult-like and conceited. He is also considered to be the cruelest of all the Koopalings. Nevertheless, he is said to be very much into culture: he likes listening to classical music and composes his own "Koopa Symphonies" which, according to the comics and adventure books, are horrendous. In reference to this, he waves a conductor's baton in Mario is Missing! He was also implied to have been partially deaf at one point (which may have explained why his music was bad), as when Mario caused an explosion that "shook something loose in Ludwig's brain" in Pipe Down! he claimed he could finally hear. Ludwig is possibly the most intelligent of the Koopalings, though he doesn't seem to be as much of an inventor as Iggy. His skill with machines was also implied in the Club Nintendo comic Super Mario: Erholung? Nein, danke!, where he worked as a mechanic for the KoopAir airline service, although he wasn't able to completely maintain Mario and his friends' plane before it took off. He also seems to be into horror, as he had a horror-themed hotel in Hotel Mario. His actions in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga also suggests that he gets enraged when the Mario Bros. ignore him. He was also implied to be somewhat treacherous, as evidenced by his leaving without Bowser Jr. shortly after Morton's defeat, which also resulted in Bowser Jr. being forced to allow Mario onto his airship a second time when attempting to re-board the airship. Ludwig was also implied in the Super Mario Adventures comics to be skilled at video games, where his brothers and sister were also rooting for Ludwig to get the 1-Up Mushroom. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. 2, and New Super Mario Bros. U, Ludwig has a tendency to turn back and chuckle to himself before saying "oh?" prior to fighting the Mario Bros., which could indicate that he doesn't see them as a threat and is confident in his abilities to defeat them. In the DOS version of Mario is Missing!, Ludwig focused on light bulbs since Bowser discovered Mario's fear of the dark, cruelly cracking a joke about light bulbs and darkness at his expense. He also had a stereotypical German accent in both the official Nintendo Power strategy guide for Super Mario Bros. 3 and the CD-ROM Deluxe edition of the game, along with maniacal laughter not indicated in the speech bubbles in the latter source. Interestingly, he seems to have a very laid-back tone in the original Super Mario Bros. 3 manual, having some eccentric "cool musician" mannerisms and even using the pronoun 「おいら」 oira (highlighted in katakana as 「オイラ」), a version of 「おれ」 ore with rural connotations, of himself in the Japanese manual. This is further seen in Mario Kart 8, when he uses several exclamations like "Whoopsie!" In the comics, he has a refined vocabulary to go with his personality (for example, in Bowser Knows Best he remarks that Bowser "desperately needs refinement"). Mario Kart 8 describes him as a "showy anti-hero", referencing his arrogance and his cruelness, though his Japanese blurb, "showoff villain hero" shows that he is a show-off, and maybe he isn't all bad. His UK blurb "conductor of chaos" might suggest his fondness for classical music and his position as the leader of the Koopalings. Mario Kart 8 also shows his more polite side, as when he's doing a trick, he sometimes says a rudimentary "Thank you," and when he's on a bike doing a trick, he will sometimes salute to the player in a seafaring way, which may imply that he has an interest in ships. His Prima Guide bio from that game says that he will compose his own victory theme, because he believes his victory is the obvious outcome.

In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World Cartoons, 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 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. Although all the Koopalings in Super Mario Bros 3 frequently retreated into their shells when stomped on by the Mario Bros. Ludwig was the only one of the Koopalings to demonstrate doing so at will, without having to be hit by the Mario Bros. 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 to breath 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: he can fire electricity from his hands and teleport in a flash of lightning. In Superstar Saga, Ludwig retained his previous abilities of breathing fire (though not as furiously as the previous time) and spinning around in his shell, but also learned the new ability of spinning like a tornado to attack the Mario Bros., which was also done by Iggy.

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Ludwig learned even more new abilities. He can either blast four fireballs from his scepter at time or fire a single fireball with circling capabilities, and has even mastered the ability of Flutter Jumping, being able to stay in the air for several seconds. His appearance in New Super Mario Bros. 2 has him also expanding on these abilities, utilizing the flutter jump to grab a chain, and then move between the two, and in addition, he can also increase his rate of fire. In New Super Mario Bros. U, similar to Lemmy and Wendy in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, he was also revealed to create fake duplicates to fake out the Mario Bros. He also has the ability to levitate, without needing to Flutter Jump. He's also proven to be more acrobatic than most of the other Koopalings being able to jump large horizontal distance with several flips in Super Mario World. While his appearance in Mario Kart 8 doesn't show his abilities, it is shown he can do a double-flip in the air while performing a stunt. Most of his tricks involve him jumping out of his kart, something he does more than any other characters meaning.

Official profile and statistics

Bio from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 Writers Bible

When Koopa's villainous schemes require sheer lunacy, he calls on Kooky. A graduate of Frankenstein University, Kooky loves to construct monsters in his basement lab in Kastle Koopa. He's responsible for many of the new villainous characters in SM3 [sic]. He built the Doomship. Kooky never showers or combs his hair. He sleeps during the day, if he ever sleeps at all. Eats nothing but candy and fried foods.

Super Smash Bros. Series

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Stickers

Image	Game	Effect
	Super Mario Bros. 3	[Explosive] - Attack + 8

Mario Kart 8

File:MK8-horn Ludwig.jpg

Ludwig's emblem from Mario Kart 8.

• Class: Medium
• Size: Medium
• Stat Boosts
  • Ground speed: 3.75
  • Water speed: 4.25
  • Air speed: 3.75
  • Anti-gravity speed: 4
  • Acceleration: 2.5
  • Weight: 3.75
  • Ground handling: 3.25
  • Water handling: 3.25
  • Air handling: 3
  • Anti-gravity handling: 3.5
  • Traction: 3.75
  • Mini-turbo: 2.25

• Bio: "Ludwig has followed his fellow Koopalings to the races, intending to compose his own victory anthem should he win... which as far as he’s concerned is the obvious outcome."

Staff Ghost time

Course	Staff Name	Country	Time	Vehicle Combination
				Body	Tires	Glider
3DS Piranha Plant Slide	Nin★Polly	United Kingdom	2:23.991	Jet Bike	Slim	Super Glider

Game appearances

Title	Description	Original Release Date	System/Format
Super Mario Bros. 3	Boss	Japan: October 23, 1988	NES
Super Mario World	Boss	Japan: November 21, 1990	SNES
Mario is Missing!	Boss	North America: 1992	PC, SNES
Yoshi's Safari	Boss	Japan: July 14, 1993	SNES
Super Mario All-Stars	Boss	Japan: July 14, 1993	SNES
Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World	Boss	North America: December, 1994	SNES
Hotel Mario	Boss	North America: December 31, 1994	CD-i
Super Mario Advance 2	Boss	Japan: December 14, 2001	GBA
Super Mario Advance 4	Boss	Japan: July 21, 2003	GBA
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga	Boss	North America: November 17, 2003	GBA
New Super Mario Bros. Wii	Boss	Australia: November 12, 2009	Wii
Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition	Boss	Japan: October 21, 2010	Wii
New Super Mario Bros. 2	Boss	Japan: July 28, 2012	Nintendo 3DS
New Super Mario Bros. U	Boss	North America: November 18, 2012	Wii U
New Super Luigi U	Boss	Japan: June 19, 2013	Wii U
Mario Kart Arcade GP DX	Cameos on banners	Japan: July 25, 2013	Arcade
Mario Kart 8	Unlockable Playable Character	Japan: May 29, 2014	Wii U

Quotes

• "Quite an exciting game isn't it? I'm glad to know that we have such powerful enemies helping us out. We have more guys helping us besides these... but don't tell Mario." - The Super Mario Bros. 3 manual (page 41)
• "「イエーイ！　のってるかい。攻撃的で過激な仲間が増えてオイラもうれしいぜ。ベイビー。実を言うと他にもっと仲間がいるんだけど、そいつはマリオにはナイショだぜ。」 ("Yay! Let's get down. I'm also glad to know that the number of such aggressive and violent enemies helping us out increases. Baby. To tell you the truth, we have more guys helping us besides these, but don't tell Mario.")" - The Super Mario Bros. 3 Japanese manual (page 42)
• "Vee shall see if you can defeat me, Mario. I combine all the attacks ov my younger brothers and sister - I am the ultimate Koopaling! I see you trembling, Mario... Vy don't you just go home?" - The Super Mario Bros. 3 Nintendo Power Strategy Guide
• "This is a fun game called "STUFF YOUR FURNITURE DOWN THE DRAIN"!" - Toddler Terrors of Time Travel
• "Calm down, King Dad! Your cold Koopa blood is getting overheated!" - True Colors
• "Oh brother, it looks like the nice guy potion is wearing off." - Princess Toadstool for President
• "Smash! Crush! Pound! Destroy!" - Oh, Brother!
• "How many Bowsers does it take to unscrew in a lightbulb? Ha ha, only one, and he's dying to plunge Mario into darkness!" - Mario is Missing!
• "You think YOU'RE in the dark, friend? Just imagine poor Mario without any lightbulbs!" - Mario is Missing!
• "You made it past the others, but you won't get past me, you wrench wielding weirdo! I'm the mighty Ludwig von Koopa!" - Mario is Missing!
• "You got at me? ONLY FIRE CAN DESTROY ME!" - Mario is Missing!
• "Haha!" - Mario Kart 8 (when unlocked)
• "Hahahaha!"-Mario Kart 8 (when selected)
• "Yeah!" - Mario Kart 8
• "Wa-hoo!" - Mario Kart 8
• "Whoopsie!" - Mario Kart 8 (when performing a stunt)
• "Hoo-hah!" - Mario Kart 8 (when performing a stunt)
• "Thank you!" - Mario Kart 8 (when performing a stunt)
• "Hee hee ha ha haaa!" - Mario Kart 8 (when airborne)
• "Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" - Mario Kart 8 (winning 1st place)
• "Ha ha ha haaaa!" - Mario Kart 8 (winning 1st place)
• "Yeehaaaw!" - Mario Kart 8 (winning 1st place)
• "Haw haw haw! Hoo hoo!" - Mario Kart 8 (getting 2nd to 6th place)
• "Hey yeah! Yeah!" - Mario Kart 8 (getting 2nd to 6th place)
• "Uwaah!" - Mario Kart 8 (getting 7th - 12th place)
• "Grrngh..." - Mario Kart 8 (getting 7th - 12th place)

Trivia

• Ludwig is one of only two Koopalings whose placement in birth order is officially confirmed, the other being Larry Koopa.
• Ludwig allegedly being deaf in the comics may have been a reference to his namesake, who was known to have been deaf during his later life, resulting in his aides having to physically turn him around during a standing ovation due to his not hearing the applause.