Koopalings
The Koopalings (occasionally called Koopa Kids in the cartoons, not to be confused with the actual Koopa Kids) are the children of King Bowser Koopa. This makes all of them the heirs of the Koopa Kingdom. Oftentimes, the Koopalings act as high-ranking leaders of the Koopa Troop and mostly appear as bosses in the various Mario series games.
Names of the Koopalings
The Koopalings are listed below in order from oldest to youngest:
- Ludwig von Koopa
- Lemmy Koopa
- Roy Koopa
- Iggy Koopa
- Wendy O. Koopa
- Morton Koopa Jr.
- Larry Koopa
- Bowser also has an eighth child , Bowser Jr. Bowser Jr. is not usually considered a Koopaling as he has never actually been called a Koopaling and was absent from Bowletta's call of "Koopalings! Come forth!" in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. He also did not appear in the beta version of Super Princess Peach, which further supports the idea that he is not a Koopaling. Bowser often seems to trust Jr. more than the Koopalings, as they seem to have been demoted to palace guards and Jr. normally accompanies his father.
Appearances
Super Mario Bros. 3
The first appearance of the original seven Koopalings was in Super Mario Bros. 3; here, the Koopalings were ordered by Bowser to use their airships and armies to conquer the various lands of the Mushroom World. Each Koopaling, after attacking a kingdom, would steal the magic scepter of the land's ruler and transform that ruler into an animal of some kind.
Mario would encounter and battle a Koopaling every time he ventured through a heavily guarded airship. The battle against the Koopaling would consist mostly of dodging the Koopaling leaps and magical blasts from their stolen scepter. It would only take three jumps on the head in order to defeat a Koopaling. Once defeated, a Koopaling would retreat into their shell, fly to an unknown place (possibly Dark Land) and drop their scepter.
Super Mario World
In Super Mario World the Koopalings aid Bowser in his attack on Dinosaur Land. Each Koopaling was charged with guarding a fortress on each of Dinosaur Land's areas.
After traveling through a Koopaling fortress, Mario would battle a Koopaling, who would need to be bashed on the head repeatedly to be defeated. After a Koopaling was defeated, a captured Yoshi would be rescued and the path to a new area would be opened.
Mario is Missing!
In Mario is Missing!, the Koopalings travel to Earth with Bowser to aid him in his plan to melt Antarctica, thereby flooding the Earth. A Koopaling would guard the corridor of Bowser's fortress and battle Luigi, who was searching for his missing brother. All it would take are a few bops on the head to defeat a Koopaling in Mario is Missing!.
In the Super Nintendo version of Mario is Missing!, only Ludwig, Roy and Iggy Koopa appear; in the PC version of the game, Lemmy and Morton Koopa Jr. are the only ones not appearing, though they are mentioned in the game's manual. Also in the PC version, instead of stomping the Koopalings, Luigi defeats them with a single blast from a Fire Flower that he gains after locking each door on a floor.
Yoshi's Safari
In Yoshi's Safari, the Koopalings once again aid Bowser in the conquest of a kingdom, this time the target is Jewelry Land. In this game, the Koopalings attack Mario by using weaponry built by Iggy. It would take various shots from Mario's Super Scope to beat a Koopaling, thus forcing it to hold up "the white flag of defeat".
Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario was the last appearance of the Koopalings for several years. In Hotel Mario a Koopaling would guard a hotel which they had taken over. Mario would have to adventure through a Koopaling's hotel and reach their room to battle them. Like in the previous engagements, the Koopalings were defeated.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
After several years absence, the Koopalings made a return appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. In this game, the Koopalings appear as bosses in Bowser's Castle, which had been hijacked by Bowletta and was currently attacking Beanbean Castle Town.
In Bowser's Castle, Mario and Luigi would fight a Koopaling in their room, usually needing to complete some sort of challenge in order to battle them. They appeared in the same order as in Super Mario World (Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry), and none of them had any dialogue.
Other Appearances
- In the LazerBlazer - Type A: Intercept mode in the game Super Scope 6, Iggy Koopa can occasionally be seen flying across the game screen riding a missile.
- In Super Mario Sunshine, a brief clip of Mario fighting Iggy Koopa in Super Mario World can be seen when FLUDD first scans Mario.
- The Koopalings are also mentioned briefly in Bowser's trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
- A video game called Larry Koopa: Zombie Heartbreaker was mentioned in Super Paper Mario.
- Ludwig von Koopa appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a sticker.
Appearances in Other Media
The first appearance of the Koopalings outside of video games was in the Japanese-exclusive movie, Super Mario Amada Series, which was an adaptation of three fairy tales. In the Mario version of Momotarō, they appeared as Bowser's minions, who was portrayed as the stories' ogre. The Koopalings also appeared as minions of Bowser (now the Wicked Queen) in the adaptation of Snow White (Shirayukihime).
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, the Koopalings (referred to as the Koopa Kids) were featured as recurring villains, replacing Mouser, Tryclyde, Fryguy and Clawgrip from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Oddly, the names of the Koopalings were altered in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, this is probably due to the shows creators using the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 3 as a reference and as the Koopaling's weren't named in that game, the show creators simply created names and gave the Koopaling's personalities to match these names; these names were presumably kept in the Super Mario World animated series, which was created after the Koopalings were officially named, so as not to confuse viewers.
Also in the show, the order of the Koopalings' ages were altered. Bully (Roy) was said to be the oldest, while Hip and Hop (Lemmy and Iggy) were the youngest. This would make their age order: Bully, Kooky (Ludwig) , Kootie Pie (Wendy), Big Mouth (Morton), Cheatsy (Larry), and Hip and Hop, from oldest to youngest. Rather than acting as Bowser's highest ranking minions, the Koopa Kids acted directly as his children. They did things such as try to get his attention, gain his appreciation, and even plot against him.
The Koopalings were also recurring characters in Valiant's Nintendo Comics System imprint. Here, their personalities were similar to the animated series counterparts, though they had their "game names" and appearances. In the Super Mario Adventures comic, the Koopalings acted as Bowser's henchmen in his plot to kidnap and marry Princess Toadstool.
Relationship with Bowser
In some of the Koopalings' appearances they were shown to act as his minions, though other depictions showed them acting as his children. It should be noted that the events of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World seemed more like giving his children gifts rather than simply using them as part of an evil plan. Bowser Jr. was shown to act like Bowser's child so it can be assumed he treats the rest the same way, as he has never stated Bowser Jr. is his favorite child; and using his other offspring as minions does not fit the current characterizations of Bowser.
Trivia
- The Koopalings are apparently all named after famous pop-culture icons, consisting mostly of musicians (Iggy, Lemmy, Ludwig, Wendy, Roy) and talk show hosts (Morton, Larry).
- The Koopalings were said to appear in New Super Mario Bros. in an issue of Nintendo Power, though this was later proven false and that it was a mistake (however, they mentioned that Bowser Jr. was still in the game).
- The Koopalings were originally going to appear in Super Princess Peach as boss characters in the order of Super Mario World, though they were dropped from the final version of the game for unknown reasons, possibly to add new bosses.
- The identity of the the Koopalings' mother is a mystery.
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