Hoopster
| Hoopster | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork from Super Mario Advance | |||
| First appearance | Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987, overall) Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988, Super Mario franchise) | ||
| Latest appearance | Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (2024) | ||
| |||
Hoopsters are enemies introduced in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2. They are large, spotted ladybug creatures.
History
Super Mario series
Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros. 2
Hoopsters appear in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2. They are first encountered in World 1-1. Hoopsters are colored red with black spots, changed to yellow with red spots in Super Mario Advance, giving them somewhat of a resemblance to 22-spot ladybugs. Artwork depicts Hoopsters consistently as red with a lighter shade of magenta for their spots. Hoopsters crawl up and down vines, and sometimes on trees in the background. Hoopsters move faster if the player character is either nearby or on the vines. A Hoopster damages the player character on contact if done from either below or the sides. A character can stand on a Hoopster without taking damage. A Hoopster is defeated if either it is hit by a vegetable, touched by an invincible character, or from being picked up and thrown at another enemy.
In the ending's cast list for the original version and the Super Mario All-Stars remake, Hoopster's name was misspelled as Hoopstar. This was corrected in Western versions of Super Mario Advance.
Super Mario All-Stars / Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
A Hoopster in the Super Mario Bros. 3 remakes included in Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 is what the king of Desert Hill turned into when Morton Koopa Jr. used his magic wand against him. Hoopsters are encountered in the Rich with Ropes level exclusively in the latter remake, sharing a sprite with the transformed king while behaving identically as in Super Mario Bros. 2.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
- “Oh no! Look! Koopa found we're missing and summoned his Hoopsters!”
- —Princess Toadstool, "Mario and the Beanstalk"
Several Hoopsters appear as minions of King Koopa in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Mario and the Beanstalk", being sent by King Koopa to attack Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Toad and their goose ally on a giant beanstalk. These Hoopsters are defeated by Mario, who throws several Garbanzo Beans at them. Much like the game, they are red, but their spots are white instead of pink. Their legs are shown to be purple, while their feet seem to be gloved. Their eyes also are connected to each other, and the area around them is also purple instead of black.
Nintendo Adventure Books
When Mario first arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom in Double Trouble, he spots some Hoopsters (most of them presumably sand clones created by the GLOM) fighting for room on a hill. Later, Mario casually mentions that he hates it when the beetles ruin his picnics by stealing the food.
In Leaping Lizards, Hoopsters are used in the second International Mushroom Games event, the Beetlebowl, in which the goal is to catch and dunk Hoopsters into an opposing team's bucket. The gold trophy awarded to the winner of the tournament is also described as being based on a Hoopster.
In Pipe Down!, Ludwig von Koopa can use his giant pipe organ to summon some Hoopsters and other enemies to swarm the Mario Bros. if they attempt to attack him directly during one portion of the book. In Dinosaur Dilemma, while traveling through a forest, Yoshi spots some Hoopsters crawling around a tree trunk, and eyes them hungrily.
Profiles and statistics
Super Mario series
Super Mario Bros. 2
- Instruction booklet description:
- English:
He is a creature about the size of a basketball. He resembles a ladybug. He lives on vines and crawls up and down.[1]
- English:
Super Mario Advance
- Instruction booklet description:
- English:
You'll find Hoopsters hanging on vines and ropes. They're real speedsters, so step lively![page number needed]
- English:
Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Hoopster.
Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic Hisshō Kōryakuhō
Super Mario Bros. 2
An early poster for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
Super Mario USA
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 青藤虫[?] Qīngténg Chóng |
Green Vine insect | |
| Chinese (simplified) | [4] | - | |
| German | Hoopster[?] | - | |
| Italian | Hoopester[5] | Either a typo or a portmanteau of "Hoopster" and peste ("pest") | |
| Coccinellona[6] | Femininized augmentative of coccinella ("ladybug") | ||
| Coccinellone[7] | Masculinized augmentative of coccinella ("ladybug") | ||
| Polish | Hoopster[8] | - | |
| Swedish | Hoopster[9] | - |
Trivia
- In the Japanese manual, Hoopster is likened to a soccer ball,[2] whereas in the English one, it is compared to a basketball (likely referring to the "hoop" in its name).[1]
References
- ^ a b 1988. Super Mario Bros. 2 instruction booklet. Nintendo of America (English). Page 24.
- ^ a b 「サッカーボール
大 のテントウ虫 みたい怪物 。つるに住 みつき上下 に移動 している。」("A soccer ball-sized, ladybug-like creature. It lives on vines and crawls up and down.") – 1987. Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic instruction booklet. Nintendo (Japanese). Page 32. - ^ a b Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten. Page 225.
- ^ From the ending scenes of Super Mario Advance as localized by iQue. 无敌阿尔宙斯 (August 28, 2013). 神游 超级马力欧2敌人官译. Baidu Tieba (Simplified Chinese). Archived February 26, 2017, 16:11:09 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
- ^ Super Mario Bros. 2 Italian manual[page number needed]
- ^ 2001. Super Mario Advance European manual. Nintendo of Europe (Italian). Page 112.
- ^ November 15, 2018. Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 67.
- ^ Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Episode 7 | Mario and the Beanstalk (Polish Voice-Over)
- ^ Super Mario Bros Super Show - Episode 7 - Swedish
