Headless Snowman
- “I need a good head on my shoulders. Do you know of anybody in need of a good body? Please! I'll follow you if you do!”
- —Headless Snowman, Super Mario 64
The Headless Snowman is a minor snowman character who appears in Cool Cool Mountain of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS. He resides on a pedestal around the halfway mark of the mountain.
Despite his name, the Headless Snowman has never been seen to be decapitated, although his body once melted away during the events of Super Mario 64 (in the stage Snowman's Lost His Head, to be exact). Thankfully, Mario (or Yoshi, Luigi, or Wario in Super Mario 64 DS) is searching for Power Stars on the mountain at the time and assists the snowman (who is looking for nearby headhunters) by rolling down a huge snowball fit to be the Headless Snowman's new body. However, running into him will cost the player two health points. If the player isn't by the head when the body starts rolling towards it, it will miss the head entirely and fall off the stage, and The player must restart the stage from this point for the Power Star. If Mario is by the snowman's head, the body will run into the head and complete the snowman itself. If this happens, the happy snowman gratefully awards the hero with just the thing he was looking for, a Power Star. Also, if the player finished the game without completing the mission, his head won't be there in the ending.
The Headless Snowman reappears in Super Mario 64 DS, with the same role as the original game. In this appearance, he is given facial expressions. Without the rest of his body, he gets a sad face but when he gets his body back, he gets a smile. He also appears in the minigame Snowball Slalom, in that same game and in the New Super Mario Bros. version of that game.
Once this mission is complete, the snowman will remain with a full body in one spot during every mission (unless the player does Snowman's Lost His Head again).
Quotes
“Oooooh nooooo! Talk about out-of-body experiences--my body has melted away! Have you run in to any headhunters lately?? I could sure use a new body! Brrr! My face might freeze like this!”
—Headless Snowman (bodiless head), Super Mario 64
“Perfect! What a great new body! Here--this is a present for you. It's sure to warm you up.”
—Headless Snowman (after the head and body are united), Super Mario 64
Trivia
- Although the Headless Snowman was an extremely minor character in his few appearances, he got some publicity in the form of a Nintendo Power joke published around the time of the main circulation of the "L is Real 2401" Super Mario 64 rumors. In Volume 107 of Nintendo Power, a Luigi 64 article is present where Nintendo states that angry Luigi fans had been campaigning to have the green-clad plumber in his very own game, and their apparent response was to create a hoax upcoming game known as Headless Snowman 64. This game was apparently to be made to satisfy lovers of the second bananas by featuring a ridiculous cast of both well-known and obscure characters (that weren't Luigi) from Samus Aran to "random audience members from Super Punch-Out!!" to the Headless Snowman himself. Additionally, the game would supposedly contain some non-Nintendo characters such as "one of the civilian women in GoldenEye 007" (in the mistaken belief that her name is Luigi), "that bald guy from Blast Corps" and "the bikini woman in Cruis'n USA". Humorously, this never-made game wasn't going to feature Luigi.
