Penguin
Penguins were first seen in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "7 Continents for 7 Koopas". In the episode, Bowser had assigned Big Mouth Koopa to take over the continent of Antarctica. To do so, Big Mouth build an Abominable Snowkoopa, which he brought to life with his Magic Wand, so that it could terrorize the local penguins. Later on, Luigi stole Big Mouth's Wand, which he used to not only destroy the Abominable Snowkoopa, but also to enlarge the penguins, which gave chase after Big Mouth.
Penguins then appeared in the PC edition of Mario is Missing!, where they were apart of the background of Antarctica; also of note, the game's narrator states that if Bowser succeeds in his plan to melt Antarctica in Mario is Missing!, "dozens of Penguins will be left homeless". Later, half-Penguin, half-raccoon enemies known as Penkoons appeared in Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land.
Penguins were given more prominent appearances in Super Mario 64, where they could be seen in the level Cool Cool Mountain. In the game, a Penguin lost her baby Tuxie and asks Mario to find her. Mario finds her and is awarded with a Power Star. Also, later, Mario has to race down a long, icy slide and get to the finish line before a Penguin does. If Mario wins, he will be awarded with another Power Star. Also, in Snowman's Land, there's a Penguin on the bridge leading to the top of the giant snowman. The Penguin can be used to sneak around the giant snowman head. Super Mario 64 also introduced the appearance given to the Penguins of Mushroom World, as opposed to the standard Penguins of Earth.
In Mario Kart 64, they could be found as obstacles in ice courses. Also, in one ice course, a giant Penguin could be found on a unreachable ice island.
In Mario Pinball Land, Penguins appear to be in the Ice World; if Mario hits one of them, the Penguin will slip down to the icy floor, waddling while sliding. If Mario hits it one more time while the Penguin is down lying on the icy floor, he will earn 2,000 points. While sliding, if a Penguin hits another waddling Penguin, the other Penguin slips down to the icy floor while sliding as the process repeats.
The Penguins also appear in the Mario Party series (such as in the mini-game Pushy Penguins from Mario Party 5) and more games in the Mario Kart series. They are not to be confused with Bumpties, who are shorter, smaller, and generally appear mainly in the Yoshi series, with a few exceptions.
In Mario Party Advance a Penguin can be found in the Ice Casino of Shroom City. He is trying to save up money to buy a ring for his girlfriend, Pengwen, but has lost all of his money playing Drop 'em. If the Player wins the game for him, he will thank the player by giving away a Gaddget.
Penguins appear in a Mario Strikers Charged and are actually just part of the audience.
In Super Mario Galaxy, Penguins reappear residing on the Loopdeeloop Galaxy and the Beach Bowl Galaxy. In the Loopdeeloop Galaxy, the penguins spend their time surfing on Manta Rays. They also have a "coach" which is a black penguin (similar to the Real World kind of penguin) bigger than normal penguins who teaches Mario how to Manta Ray surf. In the Beachbowl Galaxy, the black penguin seems to be a swimming teacher and the blue penguins are the students.
Notable Penguins
Trivia
- The Lemguins of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land III are a type of penguins with lemming-ish instincts.
- At the end of a Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat level, a bunch of Penguins are seen in the background. However, these penguins look more "real life-like" than the Mario version of them.
- In Wario: Master of Disguise once of the exhibits is a Penguin. This Penguin resembles a real life version as well.
- Mario Party 8 has brought about a matter of confusion among various gamers in that, despite Penguins never appearing as enemies, various mini-games include them as enemies (interestingly, it may be noted that all their appearances as enemies would have also been fit for Bumpties), and one mini-game places them among famous Mario enemies and, within the context of the mini-game rules, the penguin is called a "classic enemy," even though Bumpties are classic Yoshi enemies whereas Penguins have never been an enemy at all. In short, Penguins (notably short Penguins) appeared in the game wherever it would have been more fit for a Bumpty to appear.
- Penguins are possible relatives to Bumpties.
