Koopa Kid

A Koopa Kid (also known as a Koopaling) is a character from the Mario Brothers series of video games. As far as it is known there are at least eight Koopa Kids - all the children of King Bowser Koopa. Their origin (i.e. mother) is never revealed. The first seven originally appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3. They also appeared in Super Mario World, Yoshi's Safari, and Mario Is Missing!. Recently, they appeared in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. They are always bosses of levels.

The Koopa Kids have wild punk hairstyles and dress. It is said that each Koopaling was personally designed by a different member of the production staff of SMB3.

'[The Koopa Kids] were modelled after the design team of that game [Super Mario Bros 3]. This is another [sic] way we give recognition to the many people who help make the games successful.'

• Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario Mania Players Guide [1] (http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/0561.shtml) (May 1991).

All of the first seven Koopa children are named after celebrities. In the Mario cartoons, they were given different names.

Contents

1 Ludwig von Koopa 2 Lemmy Koopa 3 Roy Koopa 4 Iggy Koopa 5 Wendy O. Koopa 6 Morton Koopa Jr. 7 Larry Koopa 8 Bowser Jr. 8.1 Ludwig theory 9 References

Ludwig von Koopa

Ludwig von Koopa was named after (and resembles) Ludwig van Beethoven and they are both composers (according to Super Mario World he composes "Koopa symphonies" in his castle). He first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 as the boss of World 7.

In the cartoon series he was named Kooky von Koopa, and is the typical mad scientist character, inventing wicked devices for his dad to use, such as a time machine with which to prevent the Mario Bros. from coming to the Mushroom Kingdom, or a robot look-alike of Princess Peach programmed to turn the Mushroom Kingdom over to Bowser Koopa, and speaking with a German accent.

The only major physical difference between Ludwig and Kooky would be that Kooky has untamed hair.

Lemmy Koopa

Lemmy Koopa is the second oldest. He was named after Lemmy Kilmister. Lemmy has lazy eye and balances atop a ball. In the cartoons he was named Hip Koopa, and he often hung out with his similar-looking brother Hop (Iggy). The two of them shared most of their sentences, and were usually off pulling pranks of some nature.

There are three major differences between Lemmy and Hip. One is that Hip's hair is much, much thinner. The second is that Hip has an overbite. The third is that while Lemmy is the second oldest Koopa Kid, Hip and Hop are twins, and are also the youngest.

In the comic books, he was quite stupid, but could somehow understand Larry's dialogue.

Roy Koopa

Roy Koopa is the third oldest. He was named after Roy Orbison, and both he and Orbison wear trademark dark sunglasses. In the cartoons he was named Bully Koopa, and he acted like one too. He also spoke with a gruff Brooklyn accent.

Names aside, Roy doesn't seem to have any real differences between himself and his cartoon counterpart.

The comic books, however, did not carry the accent trait over; so, in his one major Nintendo Comics System appearance, Roy spoke with normal English dialect. Incidentally, in the comics, it was revealed that he had a pet bunny named Pookie, whom he would often beat up for Bowser's amusement.

Iggy Koopa

Iggy Koopa is the fourth oldest. He is bespectacled and blue. He is named after Iggy Pop. Super Mario World says he is demented. In the cartoons, he was called Hop Koopa (Lemmy, his brother, was named Hip, a play on hip hop).

There are only two real differences between Iggy and Hop. One would be that Hop has an overbite. The other is that while Iggy is the middle child of the Koopalings, Hop is Hip's twin, and the two of them are the youngest.

In Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, for some reason, Iggy's eyes were swirls instead of blue eyes. This is probably because in the Super Mario World artwork (as seen to the right) had Iggy with swirly eyes, and Nintendo got it confused with the Super Mario Bros. 3 artwork.

Wendy O. Koopa

Wendy O. Koopa is the only female Koopa Kid, and was named after Wendy O. Williams. In the cartoons she was named Kootie Pie Koopa and apparently sixteen years old, and often whined about everything. Usually, she wants something terribly (ala Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), such as domination of the United States or her own water park in Venice, and Bowser Koopa, caring father that he is, often tries to grant her wishes in order to please her (or at least shut her up).

There isn't much of a physical difference between Wendy and Kootie Pie. In fact the only one that really stands out is that Kootie Pie's bow is more pointy.

Morton Koopa Jr.

Morton Koopa, Jr. is named after Morton Downey, Jr. and appears to be modelled after Paul Stanley of KISS. In the cartoons he was named Big Mouth Koopa, because he was more talk than action. Aptly, in the Super Mario World cartoon, he occasionally served as an announcer.

There are a few physical differences between Morton and Big Mouth. One is that while Morton's shell is gray, Big Mouth's is purple. The second difference is that Big Mouth has much larger eyes. The third is that Big Mouth has purple eyelids. The fourth is that the star-shaped birthmark on Morton's face is darker around the cheek, while it's just one solid color on Big Mouth.

The Jr. in his name raises many questions, none of which have been answered. It is a theory though, that Bowser's father was named Morton and they decided to respect him by adding Jr. to Morton's name. Another possible reason is that Morton Jr is actually Bowser's adopted nephew, the son of Bowser's brother Morton Sr.

Larry Koopa

Larry Koopa was named after Larry King. In the cartoons, he was named Cheatsy Koopa, and was usually scheming up the Koopa's next plan, sometimes with Kooky. A very common animation goof regarding Cheatsy was that his head was constantly being colored as orange as the rest of his body in certain shots.

There are several physical differences between Larry and Cheatsy. One is that while Larry's hair is pointed upwards, Cheaty's hair was much more untamed and flatter. The second is that Cheatsy was almost always seen squinting. The third is that Cheatsy was given an overbite. Also, during the Super Mario World cartoon, strangely, his hair was colored a very light shade of green rather than blue.

In the comic books published by Valiant, he didn't speak normal English; rather, his dialogue balloons had various pictures in them (Lemmy was somehow the only one who could understand him).

Bowser Jr.

Bowser Jr. was the main villain in Super Mario Sunshine, in which he used his alter ego known as Shadow Mario (shown to the left) to frame Mario of polluting Isle Delfino using his magical brush made by Professor E. Gadd. He has since then appeared in Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis as Bowser's partner.

Bowser Jr. is often confused with "Baby Bowser" who appears in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Baby Bowser is King Bowser Koopa (Bowser Sr.) as a child.

A gray area arises when discussing the young Bowser in Yoshi's Story, who may be Bowser Jr., or Baby Bowser (a young Bowser Sr). There is no substantial evidence either way, because Mario does not appear in this game.

Other characters that seem to be similar to Bowser Jr. have appeared in Mario Party 3, Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, and Mario Party Advance under the name of "Mini Bowser," (also called "Bowser's Cohort") though these games don't necessarily follow the plot line of other Mario games, since they were created by Hudson Soft, and the characters have larger horns.

Bowser Junior, unlike his siblings, does not appear in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.

Ludwig theory

It has been theorized that Bowser Junior is actually Ludwig Von Koopa in a graphically ambigous form. This theory is mainly based on the fact that Bowser Junior appeared so suddenly and yet this fails to take into account that in FLUDD's intro Mario can be seen fighting Larry Koopa and since that Ludwig is significantly older than Larry, Ludwig must already exist time line wise.

References

• Super Mario Bros. Info Station (December 5, 2003). Theoretical Origin of the Koopalings' Names (http://smbis.nescentral.com/commentary/koopalings.htm). Retrieved Jan. 23, 2005.