#the koopalings were not retconned

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

There Might Have Been No Koopaling Retcon?

In a previous post I talked about how the Koopalings were originally meant to be Bowser's Kids, and that this was retconned. However, upon further examination it seems the Koopalings since the start might have never been intended to be Bowser's children.

Okay so in the Japanese Manual of Super Mario Bros. 3's manual they are called Kokuppa 7 Kyōdai, meaning 7 Little Bowser Siblings. Notice how that doesn't say Bowser's kids, let's move on.

In the Super Mario World Japanese manual they are called Kokuppa 7 Ninshū meaning Team of 7 Little Bowsers. Again, not outright saying they are his kids.

So here's the thing, kuppa is Bowser's Japanese name, but also more than likely the name of his whole species. Similar to how Goomba can be named Goomba, but it's also the name of their species. So with that being said the little of 7 little Bowser/Koopa Siblings begins to make sense. Keep in mind Koopa Troopas or Common Koopas are called Nokonoko in Japan instead of Kuppa. The Japanese said wasn't saying they were Bowser's 7 children, it was saying that's their species name. Heck if the English side didn't give them their names they would have probably all just been called Bowsers.

So what's going on here? It's probably a localization problem based on misunderstanding the Japanese text and or adding to it. This is not uncommon especially back in the day. I intend to cover some examples in the future which I will link here. So if anything the the Team of 7 Little Bowsers were not intended to be his children, but the localization team added it in.

This naming is even seen in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga with them being called Kokuppa-gundan, aka Little Bowser Corps.

This naming could also explain Koopa Kid or his proper name Minikuppa, he is a species of Mini Bowsers, or if we were to say it in English Boss Koopas. Also showing this hypothesis to be wrong, and a hypothesis in this post to be correct. But..... In the manual it Morton and Larry call Bowser oyaji, which apparently means father. However, it can also mean boss, or old man. But Bowser does say ore-sama no musuko-tachi meaning my sons or my children.

[delightfuldevin]

I know it’s probably easier to just say that the Koopalings’ designs in SMB3 were retconned and thus are no longer important to consider, but I actually like the idea of them having actually changed their colors. Perhaps this is another Dragon-Koopa exclusive trait, though maybe it could be Koopas in general? Maybe it’s something similar to cephalings in Splatoon: it was initially evolved as a camouflage technique but then in modern times it’s used more for fashion. Idk I’ll sit on this a bit more, but I do like the idea of the Koopalings’ SMB3 colors still being canon to when they were younger.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Clawdia Koopa

Debut: Super Mario Bros.

If you’ve ever tried to take a closer look at the Mario series lore, you’ll realize one thing… it is not very consistent! Mario games are filled with little discrepancies, and of course, plenty of obscure and forgotten characters were practically retconned by the series! And of these, who has suffered a worse fate than Clawdia Koopa?

If you were a gaming fan during the 80s and 90s, you will surely remember Clawdia Koopa, the beloved and female wife of the fearsome King Koopa! She may not have shown up much, but her impact on the Mario world was felt everywhere!

Who could forget making it all the way to the end of the NES game, squaring off against the frightening Bowser himself… only to find out, he was even more scared of his wife than you were of him! As the king of the Koopas cowers before his nagging old ball & chain, Mario, who is in no committed relationship, is able to jump over their heads and grab the ax, sending them both plummeting into lava!

Though their relationship may have had a rocky start, it seems the two were still able to settle down and start a family. Just take a look at this letter Bowser sends you in Super Mario Bros. 3!

Yup, this game introduced the Koopalings, and as Nintendo made very clear, Clawdia was their mother! Not only did the game manual reiterate this fact, it also included some pretty detailed pictures of Clawdia in labor, giving birth to each of the seven! They’re a bit too graphic to reproduce here, but it’s awesome they went that far to flesh out the worldbuilding!

So, if Bowser was married, why did he keep kidnapping Princess Peach? Maybe their marriage wasn’t actually going that great? You see, if you were to 100% Super Mario World twice over, you would actually get to see a secret message written by Bowser:

It’s pretty heavy stuff, and Nintendo hid this message for only the most dedicated of Mario fans! And sure enough, things would only go downhill from here… In Hotel Mario, Bowser would build seven Koopa Hotels just to stay away from his wife, and Clawdia hasn’t been seen in any games since… All the fans who never got this message were pretty confused, wondering where Clawdia Koopa had gone… and they were even more confused with the release of Super Mario Sunshine!

This game introduced Bowser Jr., and he was supposed to be Bowser’s new child! Not only were the Koopalings not mentioned at all, but Clawdia was nowhere to be found, either! Instead, Bowser Jr. kept referring to Peach as his ‘mama’, but she turns out to not be his mother either! What’s going on? If Clawdia and Bowser really did get divorced, then where did Bowser Jr. come from?

Things got even worse when Shigeru Miyamoto was interviewed in 2012, saying “Our current story is that the seven Koopalings are not Bowser's children. Bowser's only child is Bowser Jr., and we do not know who the mother is.” When asked about Clawdia Koopa, Miyamoto ended the interview abruptly. So what’s going on here? Is there some sort of conspiracy to cover up Clawdia Koopa? Who would benefit from this, and why?

Well, it turns out the real culprit may have been right in front of us all along! Bowser actually DID remarry, and the mother of Bowser Jr. is none other than Miyamoto himself! After becoming Bowser’s wife, Miyamoto became jealous of Bowser’s ex-wife, suspecting he still had feelings for her. So Miyamoto went and changed the official story, acting like the Koopalings were never Bowser’s kids to begin with! It was quite a petty move on his part, but since Mario canon is in his hands, there was nothing we could do to stop him…

Clawdia may be gone, but I won’t let this revisionist view of history take place! Most Mario fans today have never even heard of Clawdia Koopa, and that’s sad… But I’m not afraid to say her name! This International Women’s Day, I will be changing my full legal name to Clawdia Koopa in her memory, and I hope anyone who stands with me will do the same! After all, if we let Miyamoto get away with this, who knows what he will do next? He might even try to sully the name of Morton Koopa Sr.!

[thepipeplaza]

Fact: While the Koopalings were considered to be Bowser’s children at the time of Super Mario Bros. 3, after the introduction of Bowser Jr. this information was officially retconned.

The current story is that Bowser Jr. is Bowser’s only son and the Koopalings are elite minions.

Source(s):

Game Informer

Nintendo Life

[heloflor]

After getting into Mario with a more “fandom” kind of mindset, and more specifically getting a bigger interest in the RPG games, something that amuses me a lot are the people in youtube comments trying to argue that the Koopalings aren’t Bowser’s children.

Like, don’t get me wrong, I know Miyamoto retconned their link to Bowser. But the funny thing is, even to this day, Nintendo themselves are still writing those kids as if they were related to Bowser !

Seriously :

- In New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii U, the Koopalings are attacking the castle along with Junior/Bowser, thus putting them on the same level of importance as Bowser and his son. The ending cutscenes do the same thing, especially the one in Wii U that just screams “they’re a family”. Plus, all the Koopalings serve as world bosses, which was kinda Junior’s role in DS, yet again putting them on the same level.

- In New Bros U, they all have their own ship. The only character to have a ship with their face on it before had always been Bowser.

- As I’ve seen someone point out in a comment section, the Koopalings are different skins of Junior in Smash Ultimate, again putting them on the same level as Bowser’s son. They might also be skins of Junior in Mario Maker 2 but I’m not sure on this one.

- In New Bros 2, they’re using a giant clown car, which is implied to belong to Bowser as Bowser and Junior are the only ones with a recurring clown car and Junior’s is too small. I doubt Bowser would let just about anybody use his car.

- On top of that, each has their own clown car in Smash.

- You know that icon/logo of his head thing that Bowser has (the one we see in games like 64 when we die) ? Bowser Junior had had one for a while now and more recently each Koopaling were given one (I think you can see them at Nintendo World in Bowser’s castle ?).

- Since they were originally created as Bowser’s children, they’re the same type of Koopa as him, and that fact hadn’t been changed in recent years. Hell, outside of Ludwig in Mario World and the fights in Superstar Saga, the Koopalings are never shown to breath fire, yet in the remake of Superstar Saga, they chose to keep the fire breath (except for Ludwig ironically enough). They could’ve easily removed the fire breath to make them more similar to Boom Boom, especially since Boom Boom has recently been shown with spikes on his shell, but they chose to keep this ability. Granted their shell plastron is different from Boom Boom, but that’s another design change Nintendo could make to set them apart from Bowser (giving them the same shell as Boom Boom to make it seem like they’re the same species, instead of keeping them as “Royal Koopas”).

In short, the Koopalings’ design wasn’t changed after the retcon, making them, Bowser and Junior the only members of that specific type of Koopa, thus implying they might be related. It’s also not helped by them having magic (which only Magikoopas and Bowser have) + being high-ranked members of the army. They might also be the only minors in the army, which raises a few eyebrows as to how they got the job (why would Bowser hire a bunch of children/teenagers to put in charge of his army ? Granted some like Ludwig, Roy and Wendy might be adults by now but I can’t bring myself to see Lemmy and Larry as anything other than teenagers).

- Saw a video of the bosses in Paper Mario Color Splash, and the minions (paratroopas) address Ludwig as “your evilness”, which is pretty reminiscent to how Bowser is called by his army, most notably by Kamek (“you grouchiness”, stuff like this)

- Baby Bowser and Bowser Jr are referred to as “young master” by Kamek. In the RPGs, the Koopalings are sometimes called “master [name]” (and “mistress Wendy”) when talked to individually. Note that both this point and the previous one are for the English version tho, not the Japanese one (no idea how they’re called in Japan).

- There’s that one Super Mario Adventures comic made in the 90s that was apparently re-released a few years ago (something like 2017-2018 ?), aka well after Nintendo retconned the kids’ relationship with Bowser (around 2012). Yet, in this comic, at least in the English version, the Koopalings are explicitly said to be Bowser’s children, with him saying he wants to marry Peach so they can have a mom + the kids calling him dad. And I don’t think they changed this dialogue in the re-release ?

- Bowser Jr’s Journey. Just, Bowser Jr’s Journey. After seeing all the cutscenes of this game, it is a crime that those kids aren’t related ! Hell there’s literally a moment where Junior pulls out the “I’ll tell dad !” card on Roy ! And let’s not forget stuff like the interactions between Junior and most notably Ludwig/Morton/Roy, Junior saying “us Koopalings” at some point thus including himself amongst that group, or stuff like him singing “I’m the one who wears the crown” making it sound like he’s saying “I’m the one chosen amongst the eight of us”. Then there’s the “family drama” vibe in the first half, the cute moments etc (Also unpopular opinion but after seeing that game, Ludwig should still be the heir of the throne. He has what it takes to be a fantastic king ! Granted Junior is still extremely young and could learn and mature.)

- Also about Jr’s Journey, the main conflict actually works a lot better if you imagine the kids to be siblings, with the Koopalings talking down to Junior because he’s the baby of the family + they resent him for taking the throne from them, while Junior is tired of his siblings babying him + he’s that kind of kid who orders the older siblings around because he thinks he has the power to do so. Them being siblings also justifies why Junior changes his mind so easily during the beach scene and then is quickly shown to be strongly attached to the others (getting happy when Iggy gets his memories back, ordering Ludwig to stay with him from now on, that whole adorable scene with Morton etc).

Meanwhile, if you see the Koopalings as nothing more than high-ranked underlings, it’s weird why they would have such an issue with Junior, the son of their king who is also their boss, and likewise it’s weird why Junior would take such issue with them only to have such a quick change of heart. Idk, I feel like if they weren’t siblings they probably wouldn’t spend that much time together, making both their whole conflict and strong bond a bit weird. And in general their interactions in this game read more as people who are widely different and wouldn’t usually be friends yet still love each other, which is the kind of dynamic many siblings tend to have (isn’t there a poll going around about whether you’d be friends with your siblings if they weren’t your siblings, and the option winning is “we wouldn’t be friends” ?)

- According to their page on the Mario wiki, during an interview revealing them in Mario Kart 8, Miyamoto used a word that means either “underlings” or “adopted children” when mentioning their relationship to Bowser (btw I know it’s the most popular headcanon anyways but them being adoptive children is just perfect. It would explain why 1. Some might be young adults while Bowser is younger than 40 depending on how old you see him, 2. Why they look so widely different from Bowser and each other, 3. Why Junior is the rightful heir).

- Also according to the wiki, the Italian and German versions of Mario and Luigi Paper Jam has mentions of them being Bowser’s kids, which I find hilarious. The translation teams didn’t give a fuck !

So yeah, when it comes to the Koopalings not being Bowser’s kids : who’s gonna tell Nintendo ?

(Side note about the whole idea of “Bowser clearly likes Junior more and neglects his older kids” : what if instead it was just that the Koopalings are teenagers/young adults now so Bowser is giving them their space + have them busy with royal duties, hence why he doesn’t spend that much time with them ? Plus, in all the examples that put the Koopalings on the same level as Junior, it’s pretty evident that they have the same privileges)

[chaosbean1443]

YOOOOOOOO been wanting to pop into your ask box for a while,,, What's your headcanons for some of the Mario characters? Could be from any game, can be any character. Imma just sit here and kick my feet :3

Heyyyy!! I've seen you a lot around here! Hi! :D

Ok, so most of my headcanons were kinda just absorbed from other people, but I do have a few of my own.

Mario:

- He's the guy that gets everyone to try new things. Sports, the Olympic games, the medical field... you name it, and he's probably dragged Luigi and/or anyone who would listen into it.

- When he's not busy saving the world he is a massive goofball and jumps between lots of hobbies.

- He's a movie nerd (wears a lot of 80-90s movie t-shirts) and once tried to get into filmmaking

Luigi:

- He wears his candy cane socks and a turtleneck shirt in every version of his design

- I reblogged a post about it the other day, but ENGINEER LUIGI ENGINEER LUIGI

- He LOVES reading, and in Mario Galaxy spent most of a lot of time exploring the library

(he also writes a bit but isn't very open to sharing)

- He was definitely called a nerd in middle/high school

Peach:

- Despite her looks, she is, if not more adventurous than Mario

- the two are made for each other and make a good team in pretty much anything

- I imagine her treating Daisy a like a cool little sister

Daisy:

- Oh yeah, and about her, she definitely wears tennis shoes under her dress

- I know they're two separate kingdoms, but I think of Toastarena as part of Sarasaland

-Also, I have no idea why, but I have always seen her as Hispanic

Rosalina:

- As evidenced by the Odyessy concept art, she plays the guitar. She plays for the lumas a lot :)

- She doesn't really talk much

Bowser:

-Kamek is his father figure, not just an advisor (I am still a bit salty over how they wrote him in the movie...)

- The Bowser's Inside Story version of him is my definitive version of him. He's such a overconfident doofus in that game I love it

-The Koopalings are his adopted kids and he loves them very much (no amount of retconning will change that for me)

- As seen in the movie, the guy is surprisingly musical. I like to think the castle track music in the mario kart games is composed by him.

- He also teaches his kids to play instuments! (I'll make a separate post for that. This is getting a bit long, haha)

So yeah, these are most of my headcanons for main characters.

Thanks for asking! :D I never really get to talk to people about Mario that much, so this was really nice.

[koopzilla]

Hi there! Question time.

What's your take on the Koopalings in relation to Bowser? They were introduced as Bowser's kids but then were kind of retconned, then Junior was introduced. Then they were brought back but their relationship with Bowser was left a little vague.

I've seen them presented as not his kids but very high up ranked minions, but I've also seen them said as being his kids but adopted while Junior is his biological son, which is my favorite take personally!

// I prefer the idea of the Koopalings being somewhat adopted. I don't think Bowser is as much a father to them as he is their father figure. Even in the cartoons, they had to call him King Dad, not just Dad. He'd strike back if someone tried to harm the koopalings in the same way he does for all his minions.

Entering headcanon space for their origin - Bowser was the only koopa of his kind growing up. Given his appearance, attitude, and alliance with Kamek, no one outside of his lackies treated him like anything more than a monster. Now he's established himself at the King of Monsters. Finding babies potentially put into a similiar situation as him growing up, Bowser shielded the koopalings from the same torment by immediately providing them a place to grow up. Also, raising the brats to work under him promises him powerful underlings in their adulthood. Selfish reasons very much included in his decision making.

Junior is his biological son, which is why he gets favoritism and is the only one to actually look like Bowser.

[askwendyokoopa]

Hey Wendy, who’s your favorite koopaling sibling?

"I think I've answered this one before... probably, but I can't be arsed to look for it. Also after a decade or so there's just too much content on an ask blog to ever find anything. Well, the answer is Lemmy, the 'clown prince* of Koopas' as it were. Morton is the second, we share that... I don't know what you'd call it... diva attitude? But he just rubs me the wrong way sometimes, like when he told me to use my head for something besides makeup. Lemmy never has an unkind word to say about anyone."

((And as I've gone over, since Wendy's title for Mario Kart 8 is 'Overthrow Princess!' and that is well after the retcon, it can be assumed that the Koopalings are still royalty. In fact, this almost has to mean that they are adopted and that Miyamoto meant that Junior is the only blood-relation, not just relation, and this whole debate comes down to the word choice of a single translator. But I digress.))

[game-boy-pocket]

I feel Cranky regained his cranky characterization in the Retro, though I suppose he breaks the 4th wall less.

It was really the Paon games that made Cranky upbeat, K. Rool was also not into bananas in the Paon games, I wonder if both were influenced by the TV series.

The only other thing is that Retro reverted back to Cranky being DK's Grandfather rather than father, which Rare had settled on in the 64 era.

Personally I prefer DK being Cranky's son rather than Grandson as I feel it makes sense for him to be Jr given how muscular and large, JR was in his last few appearances, but eh its no biggie to me.

I don't really see any of Cranky's old personality in the Retro Studios games. It helps that he doesn't even have dialogue in Tropical Freeze but he barely says much at all in DKC Returns, he might make a few remarks here and there but it's still very soft in comparison to how he'd talk in the Rare games.

As for the family tree, that's a whole other can of worms. My personal feeling is that "Cranky is the Original DK" was just a meta joke, and is probably not even canon anymore, if it ever was canon to begin with. I was never a fan of it, personally speaking, but trying to put my bias aside, it feels to me like something that they would retcon because it's weird and over complicated and raises questions about how quickly Kongs age in comparison to literally everything else in the mushroom Kingdom. I'm just waiting for the day when a new DK game comes out and someone who actually gives a shit aobut Donkey Kong interviews Miyamoto or something and we have another moment just like when he revealed the Koopalings to no longer be Bowser's Children.

[samd1o1]

The Koopalings Origins {Theory/Headcanon}

Remember the good ol’ days when the Koopalings were Bowser’s kids? And then Bowser Jr. came along.

I swore I heard that now the Koopalings were adopted children and BJ is the only biological child of Bowser. (I think this was on Game Theory)

But I have now confirmed through very basic research that it has been officially stated that BJ is the ONLY child of Bowser and that the Koopalings are just high ranking minions in Bowser’s army.

Now a few things about this bug me:

1. The retcon just doesn’t feel smooth.

2. Why are there high ranking children in the army?

3. I honestly just don’t like it.

But I think I have found a way for people who, like me want the Koopalings to be Bowser’s family.

Now let’s go over the FULL names of each Koopaling:

Bowser Koopa Jr.

Larry Koopa

Morton Koopa Jr.

Wendy O. Koopa

Iggy Koopa

Roy Koopa

Lemmy Koopa

Ludwig von Koopa

See anything interesting?

1. BJ and the others share a last name!

2. Morton is a Jr!

First,

Koopa being a last name is odd. It’s like being named Sam Human. Well Bowser is the King Of Koopas. It makes sense they’d have a basic “last name” since most royals don’t really have a last name.

Now second,

So that implies there’s a Morton Koopa Sr.

This shows that Bowser is in fact not the Dad.

So who is?

Well let’s go back in time a bit to:

Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels)

In this game the main antagonist is a blue version of Bowser. In the game manual this blue imposter is actually named Bowser’s younger unnamed brother.

Well weird how he never appears again right? But you know who does in the very next game? The Koopalings!

My theory is that either:

Mario killed Morton Koopa Sr. (The Blue Bowser, father of the Koopalings) in the ending of SMB2. So in Super Mario Bros. 3 the Koopalings take revenge and Bowser raises the Koopalings.

Or

Morton Koopa Sr. disappeared or died and the Koopalings are now being raised by Bowser.

Take your pick based on how much angst you like in your Mario!

Now you may say blue bowser was just some random design choice we are supposed to forget about, but he has been referenced in recent years!

In both Smash 4 and Ultimate he is the last alt for Bowser and has a loading screen tip talking about him being a direct reference to SMB2.

So I think this does make everyone happy.

Nintendo gets to say the Koopalings are not Bowser’s kids, but people who want that get to say Bowser is the Koopaling’s main father figure.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this Theory/Headcanon.

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

The Mario Movie Is Not Canon To The Games P1

Okay so it's become a common occurrence amongst a bit too many people who think the MarioMovieverse is canon to the MarioTalesverse. So I am here to tell you why this is wrong and point out all the contradictions between the Movie and Games. So Let's begin.

So to start off with this movie appears to be an origin story for the Bros., and the cast as a whole. This doesn't work for various reasons. First off the Bros. are in their modern attire instead of their Classic Outfits. The Classic Outfits as has been established to be what Mario and Luigi wore up until Super Mario Bros. 3 when they switched to their Modern Outfits.

Mario and Luigi also grew up in Brooklyn and are Italian Americans while the Mushroom Kingdom is on a separate planet in the movie. While the games through Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong 94, Donkey Kong Land, and Super Mario Odyssey, it's established are from the Mushroom Kingdom and migrated to Big City. The Bros. living on the same planet as the Mushroom Kingdom was already and idea in the OVA before it was added to the games. While the original idea was for them to be from real world New York, and that they were Italian Americans. This was never stated in game or in manuals unlike the Koopaling retcon and Yoshi retcon. As of now they are native sons of the Mushroom Kingdom.

The events of Mario Bros./Did Somebody Call A Plumber never play out where the Bros. fight the Koopa Troopas, Fighter Flies, and Sidesteppers in the sewers eventually finding their way to the Mushroom Kingdom.

The events of Donkey Kong also don't play out in the movies either. Mario owned Donkey Kong Senior aka Cranky Kong as a pet in the games. While Cranky Kong kidnapped Pauline as a way to get a rise out of Mario. Cranky in the Movie is an adult and Leader of the Jungle Kingdom. Also, Cranky doesn't even know who Mario is.

Speaking of the Jungle Kingdom, it does not exist in the game universe. There is also no Kong Civilization in games, and what is ancient ruins in the games is in use structures. The Kongs in game are from the Kong Archipelago which is near the Metro Kingdom.

More stuff all the Kongs in the movie speak English, while in the games they speak Kongish.

Donkey Kong Junior the son of Cranky Kong and father of Donkey Kong III is not in the movies. Instead Donkey Kong III was made into Cranky's Son in the movies instead further establishing the difference between the 2 continuities. DK III also is implied to have met Mario in Mario Vs Donkey Kong.

Next up is Princess Peach, first off she wears a modern dress instead of her classic dress. But also, Peach's origin story is a creation of the movie and exclusive to the movie as established in a Nintendo Dream article in "I think it was probably something that was originally reflected, and we just had to decide how to explain it, and it was a clear cut feeling. This movie really clarified the setting (laughs). It was Matthew's invention." While in the games Peach is delivered to the Mushroom Kingdom via stork, and was raised by Toadsworth. Peach also wore princess attire when she was a Baby unlike her movie appearance. Peach would have interacted with the Baby Bros. which does not happen in the movie. This leads into the fact while the citizens if the Mushroom World in the Mario universe know what humans are. It's treated as a rare sight, the humans of Earth don't seem to know about the Mushroom Kingdom, and the Bros.' parents never mention it. Peach as a Princess and ruler who would have to interact with other leaders would have to know at least one other leader, aka Princess Daisy. Also, Peach uses her dress to float in the movie while in the games she uses magic.

Moving on the events of the Super Mario Bros. don't play out in the movie. Bowser doesn't invade the Mushroom Kingdom before the Bros. show up. Bowser doesn't capture the Princess from the start or turn the Toads to Bricks and Stone. Goombas don't betray the Mushroom Kingdom but are already part of Bowser's army in this movie, unlike in the games. And Luigi is not kidnapped in the SMB unlike in the movie.

Unlike the original game where Bowser is simply focused on conquest, the games have him already in love with Peach. Bowser also doesn't know who Mario is in the movie, while by Yoshi Story he knew who Mario was and hated Yoshies. Bowser is not captured at the end of SMB unlike in the movie where he is shrunken by a Mini Mushroom and taken captive. Also, in the movie Bowser had the intent to kill and was planning on sacrificing his captives. But in the games Bowser rarely actually tries to kill anyone and any implications he intends to is seen out of character. Bowser while is willing to torch others out of frustration, he doesn't necessarily attack his underlings unless the really annoy him like with Iggy or Kammy. We don't slam a piano lid on Kamek or set a Koopa Troopa on fire for a minor inconvenience. Bowser was also tone deaf in the games until it was fixed by the music keys. Before DDR he has note been shown to have the ability to sing like does in the movies because of this. Also, Bowser doesn't know what Spinys even though Spinys are turtles and part of the Turtle Tribe since the first game.

Part 2

[itsbenedict]

Kingdoms and Koopas: Ep. 10

K&K is a Fate Accelerated campaign set in the Mario universe, which I’m running for three players:

Bee @thebeeskneesocks​, playing Kandace Koopa

Jovian @jovian12​, playing Cozmo Naut

Malky @sleepdepravity​, playing Dr. Chevy Chain

Last time | Archive | Next time

Previously on Kingdoms and Koopas, the party went and heroically crashed a spaceship into the ocean! They snagged a macguffin and a good time was had by all. Now, though, they find themselves on the roof of Kam Ekademy, amidst a brewing underground war between the two rival magic schools.

Which they promptly ignore to go shoot a movie with Zip Toad!

So the party, once again, falls out of the cloud of Ted, the Storm God, the location to which Kandace’s teleportation circle goes. Before anything else happens, Princess Opal, uh, has some business to attend to in the Magic Kingdom what with the alien invasion that was happening, so she leaves right away and I totally didn’t forget that she came through the portal with them for the entire session and this isn’t a retcon shut up.

So they see the unconscious body of Waluigi lying there, and pretty much ignore that, because who cares about that. What they take notice of is Ted the Storm God, who seems pretty dejected for some reason.

Apparently, Ted is feeling left out, because Kam Ekademy and Kammy Koopa’s Academy for Young Witches and Wizards have, y’know, gone to war in the secret tunnel system connecting the schools underground, but the other students at Kam Ekademy thought he’d just be a liability and wouldn’t let him come. (Kandace is briefly shocked, not by the war, but by how there were secret tunnels underneath the school and no one told her.)

As they’re debating getting involved, Chevy does what she does best whenever anyone proposes getting involved in anything, and just sort of rolls away. Off the roof of the castle. And crashes through a ceiling.

She falls into a classroom somewhere in Kam Ekademy, and notices the door leading out has a can of green paint precariously balanced on top, waiting to spill on whoever opens it. It was probably meant to fall on someone coming in from the outside, but since she took an... alternative entrance, the trap isn’t much to worry about. She knocks it down and proceeds outside.

...Where the hallway appears to be filled with swinging blade traps except instead of blades it’s big versions of those toy sticky hands.

She barely manages to dodge, when from behind her, the result of a failed spot check she made earlier begins to berate her. Iggy Koopa, who was lurking in wait in the classroom to ambush his would-be victim, is super upset that she ruined his ambush, and begins to attack! He also sounds the alarm, and more Koopalings come running.

Chevy attempts to escape, but here’s the thing: Chevy successfully escaping would be at odds with anything actually happening. Her driving motivation is to get out of all this nonsense and just go home, and splitting the party is no fun. So... this isn’t going to go her way. But in what way is it not going to go her way? That depends on what the rest of the party decides to do.

Let’s go check in on them.

Back up on the roof, another Lakitu arrives, having spotted them on the roof of Kam Ekademy from a distance with his camera. He tells them that shooting is going to start soon on Zip Toad’s new movie, the one Cozmo was hired to act in. So, Kandace and Cozmo have a choice to make: they can go investigate this underground magic war and be late for shooting, or they can go shoot a movie and let this underground magic war sort itself out.

Obviously they go for the movie. They get Ted’s phone number and promise to help him get involved in magic war later, and then they’re off- Kandace ferrying Cozmo on her broom.

So, that choice made, we can resolve what happens when Chevy tries to escape. What happens is that Larry, Lemmy, and Iggy all combine their magic to create a giant explosion, which blasts Chevy into the sky- directly in the direction of the party, as luck/contrivance would have it! 

So Chevy gracefully lands on the broom, and the three of them-

-wait, no, that doesn’t happen. Chevy is a chain chomp who’s just been launched by an explosion. She’s basically a cannonball right now, and this is really not what anyone wants to have flying directly at them while balanced on a broom.

So Kandace tries to fire off her spell, the one she’s used before that makes things all puffy and lightweight, so Chevy’s bulk is reduced and they can catch her out of the air. She, uh, whiffs. So Chevy hits them and knocks them off the broom. But all is not yet lost! Chevy rolls to try to chomp onto the broom in a last-ditch effort to grab hold, and rolls a 6! So she chomps down extremely hard on the broom. Which, uh, almost breaks it in half, like you might expect. The broom is pretty badly damaged, now, and that in combination with Chevy’s additional weight, and the weight of her two compatriots who managed to grab onto her chain, means that the broom is now slowly sinking to the ground.

...Sorry, did I say ground? Let’s double-check something. They started at Kam Ekademy, they’re about halfway to the shooting location, and the shooting location is World 8-1, The Part That’s Supposed To Stop Mario But Doesn’t- a twisty bridge over lava leading to Bowser’s Castle. Let me take a look at the map...

Okay, yes, the broom is now slowly sinking to the lava. That’s a more accurate way to put it.

Thankfully, they’re not alone- there’s the Lakitu cameraman there with them! Now, he’s got his fishing line, which he could use to haul them up and slow their descent enough to glide to safety up on the bridge, but... well, it’s got a big expensive film camera attached. Someone’s going to need to hold onto the camera and hold on to Chevy’s chain while dangling over lava, which sounds difficult. Plus, the natural Approach to use for such a feat would be Careful, a stat which neither Kandace nor Cozmo (the only party members with hands) have in abundance. In fact, I think it might literally be 0 for both of them. ...Yep. 

So this would likely end in disaster, except that they have an advantage: the GM is weak to puns.

Cozmo, see, has a very high Flashy stat. And the object in question is a camera.

So he rolls Flashy, he does well, he doesn’t drop the camera into the lava, and they actually make it to the set for Zip Toad’s new movie! And, given that I didn’t exactly plan this option out in detail (my pages of notes for the underground magic war will need to be adapted), I let them decide how this movie was going to go. 

The basic outline: it's a fast and furious type racing movie. Cozmo is the gruff and stuck-up career street racer, while Zip Toad is the fresh-faced rookie trying to prove himself. But when a giant chain chomp (played by some toads in a papier-mache prop) starts chewing up the other racers, they have to work together to put it down and save street racing! 

Everything else? Up to them.

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The racetrack. Under the ash-choked skies of the Lava Kingdom, the Outrageous Racing League carries on their sacred mission: to totally shred. Blargg’s Oven, the most dangerous course in the league, is the site of the Outrageous Championship- and there’s only one man intense enough to take home the cup.

Racer X, the mysterious masked daredevil on his tricked-out ebon dirtbike, refuses to lose. It seems as though he’s falling behind- but then, with a burst of speed, he zooms forward and bumps another racer off the edge of track into the burning abyss below. Surely that was an accident, right? Where’s the ref to make the call?

Ref? What ref?! This is the Outrageous Championship! Racer X smashes three more racers off the edge to their fiery dooms. He’s going to win... at any cost.

This scene reflects off the cool shades of another racer. An extreme closeup of his determined expression fills the screen. 

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Kandace is wearing a lot of hats today- she’s part of the crew running special effects, using her magic, but she’s also got a brief speaking role. And now, she’s filling in for the safety crew, as one of the Stunt Guys plunges towards the lava and the Lakitu trying to catch them fumbles their rod. She telekinetically saves the stunt biker, and now has a little blackmail on that Lakitu. No one has to know they messed up, right?

...Also, there’s the sound of an explosion from over by the schools in the distance. It’s, um, probably fine.

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It’s after the qualifying race, and finally, our hero is here. Ace McQueen Junior Jr. (don’t blame me, I let them name the characters) is sussing out this Racer X. He starts by trying flattery, asking how X pulled those cool stunts- and then smoothly transitions into questioning. He didn’t mean to knock those racers to their deaths, right? 

“Tch.”

X claims he didn’t even notice he bumped anyone. They’re just that far beneath him- he isn’t about to take stock of each and every greenhorn he spots when his eyes are on the prize. Pure focus.

We see Ace McQueen Junior Jr.’s eyes narrow behind his shades. Racer X is a liar, and he’s clearly more than willing to fight dirty to win. He tosses off a cool one-liner and heads off to prepare for the next race.

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Filming is interrupted by a sound from the direction of the school. This time, it’s not an explosion- it’s the sound of music. Kandace, actually, recognizes the tune, though not its full significance. She remembers one of her teachers, Professor Wizzerd, humming a few bars of it while teaching one of the basic spells in a Magikoopa’s arsenal. The spell in question was the Invocation of So’nee- a useful cantrip that calls on the power of the ancient sealed horror So’nee, a being anathema to this world. The Invocation of So’nee fires a magical structure shaped like So’nee’s unholy symbols (the Cross, the Halo, the Plane, and the Mountain, shaped like an X, O, ◻, and ◁), which serve as a base for all manner of other magical effects that can be stacked on top of it.

Why a song invoking So’nee is coming from the direction of the schools... is unknown. And probably fine! They have a movie to shoot!

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An indistinct shape beneath bandages lies on a bed in the infirmary. This poor soul is being treated for his horrible burn wounds, and we see a crying figure leave the room.

Racer X is suddenly slapped across the face- a koopa in a pit crew outfit has struck him. It’s confusing- he’s not racing right now, there’s no prize to win. What idiot would waste their chance to strike outside of battle? She’s crying, she’s telling him that her brother will never recover, never walk again, and how could he be so horrible?

He blows her off. Who cares if he destroyed her brother’s life? He was in the way of Racer X- and anyone who does the same will suffer the same fate. He stalks away, unconcerned. She’s not one of his opponents.

The camera pans over and around a corner. Ace McQueen Junior Jr. heard everything.

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Chevy, meanwhile, is waiting down by the trailers, at the base of the bridge supports out of sight of the cameras. She’s waiting for this to be over- since no one’s actually gotten injured yet, thanks to Kandace’s quick thinking, this impromptu set medic gig has been pretty boring. There’s a brief earthquake from the direction of the schools, but that’s probably fine.

Then someone in a nearby trailer starts demanding things from her, like she’s some kind of errand boy. He wants three full buckets of garlic, and he wants them NOW!

Chevy doesn’t care. Chevy ignores him. He won’t be ignored, and escalates his verbal abuse. Chevy responds by bodily ramming into and knocking over his stupid trailer.

The man who, furious, climbs out of the trailer... is a short, heavyset fellow with a big pink nose and motorcycle gear, who- holy cow, picks up and swings the entire trailer at her and knocks her into the lava. Chevy is, however, made of metal, so it’ll take at least ten minutes in the lava before she begins to melt. She swims back to shore, uncomfortably hot and glowing red for her trouble. She keeps her distance from the freaky-strong trailer man.

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It’s the semifinals, and Ace McQueen Junior Jr. and Racer X are neck-and-neck. It’s almost a dead heat- and then Racer X makes his move. We zoom in on his handlebars, and we see his wheels kick up dirt as he veers sharply to the side. They’re approaching a dangerously thin stretch of track, and as they do so, Racer X closes in, meaning to ram Ace McQueen Junior Jr. off the edge.

And then Ace McQueen Junior Jr. does, to Racer X, the unthinkable: he slams on the brakes. He slows down, on purpose- an impossible maneuver which leads to Racer X throwing himself off the edge of the course.

Just as he goes over the edge, we see one impeccably-manicured hand shoot over the edge and grab Racer X’s glove, saving his life. But not so for his chances of winning- the ebon dirtbike calls into the lava and melts, in a visual callback to the first Metal Mario movie. It’s unclear how they’re going to edit in the bike giving a thumbs-up in post.

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Then there is a sound. The inhuman, robotic singing voice in the distance halts, and a deep, magically amplified voice bellows “HATSU, HATSU, HATSU”. Dead silence falls- the rumbling is over, the music is over, the probably-apocalyptic situation has been probably-resolved. Or something,

Finally, it’s time to film the big climax. The giant chain chomp needs to show up- and first, the producer- well, the "production assistant", but the real producer, as opposed to Zip Toad who just puts his name on everything, Mauve the Goomba- begs Chevy to be in the film, because the papier-mache chomp looks terrible and she really wants this to be a hit. Chevy agrees (taking her Rich up to 5), on the condition that they add a scene showing that the monster chomp used to be a normal person. She films a brief scene in the FX trailer, where the unnamed chomp scientist (breaking stereotypes!) suffers a lab accident with radioactive chemicals or something, with some camera trickery to imply that as she falls unconscious, she is beginning to grow. Soon, there’ll be a giant rampaging dog-beast destroying everything (un-breaking stereotypes! whew, close one.)

There's a problem, though: the prop chomp had a special compartment for actors who were "eaten" to hide in, but no such compartment exists inside a real one. Enter Kandace with an idea: hey, she can teleport people, right? So she scribes a teleport circle on Chevy's tongue, and then Chevy eats a Mega Mushroom, growing her and the circle such that the devoured stunt guys are harmlessly teleported away when she eats them alive.

Problem, though: wouldn't that alarm Ted? So they call him up, promising to explain why this random-crap-portal stuff has been happening to him. Kandace lies through her teeth, claiming that it's just stuff that this giant chain chomp eats getting teleported to his digestive system and coming out his mouth, because of magic stomach stuff. He's like, what? It doesn't come out my mouth, it comes out my cloud. And she explains, no, it's your magic digestive system, y'know. Ted is not smart- he has a clever of -1, actually- but it’s not a very good lie, so it’s not hard. Maybe he'll get a good roll!

He believes this harder than anyone has ever believed any lie, ever.

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“We need to stop this thing! If we don’t...!”

“...Illegal street racing... could be done for!”

Ace McQueen Junior Jr. and Racer X, both on standard-issue bikes, are speeding down the hill as the giant monster chain chomp pursues them. Teeth snap at their back tires, and they just barely manage to keep ahead. But as they flee, they see a gap in the course, where the giant chomp previously emerged from the lava.

“...Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I don’t think. I do.”

Ace McQueen Junior Jr. and Racer X speed towards the gap at high speed, then fork in two different directions, going straight up a couple of natural ramps and backflipping into the sky. They come down on top of the giant chain chomp- and now, as it rolls onward, large enough to clear the gap, they’re right on top. Their engines rev as they match pace with the chomp’s rotation, keeping their balance on the monster’s head.

“...X, watch out!”

The chomp’s mouth is coming around as it rolls, and they need to jump it! They pull it off once, but the second time Racer X seems to stumble, his bike slipping and flying off the side. He gets snagged on a tooth, cutting his arm open a bit, but Ace McQueen Junior Jr. reaches down a hand and pulls him up. This was definitely in the script, and not the actor messing up. Luckily, good camerawork captures this inspiring moment.

Racer X gets on  Ace McQueen Junior Jr.‘s bike, and the two of them work together to do one last sick stunt! They fly up into the air, there’s an inspiring slow-mo closeup, and then... the camera spins and wheels around, obscuring exactly what it is that just happened that led to their stunt causing the chain chomp to go flying into the lava. But it happens! And it’s incredibly rad!

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Now for a problem: when Chevy does her stunt fall into the lava, she, oops, gets a bunch of lava in her mouth. And into the portal in her mouth. So that a bunch of lava sprays out of the portal. 

Ted subsequently proclaims himself the Volcano God and nearly incinerates some Stunt Guys, until Chevy spits out the lava and ends his fun. Booooo. With that, and some medical attention for the Guys, the movie is over!

...so, anyway, I’m about to spring a moderately apocalyptic situation on everyone, when I realize: Kandace still has the Music Key taken from the Orbital Doom Casa. She never handed it in to Kammy Koopa. So... as was the case prior to the filming of this movie, Kammy Koopa does not possess all four Music Keys. And so... nothing bad happens. Yet.

So after they wrap filming, Chevy pays to fix Kandace's broom out of her stunt wages, and then they're off to the school war to investigate the aftermath. (Cozmo’s going to have to miss the afterparty, sorry.)

Next time: something big happened while Chain Chomp Run was being filmed, and now it’s time to figure out what it was and what to do about it. 

Last time | Archive | Next time

[fictionkinfessionsarchived]

Did Nintendo seriously RETCON the koopalings from being Bowser's children? How ridiculous! Though I don't remember if we were ALL his biological children, but he raised us as his own, and Bowser Junior was definitely my baby brother. But after all this time, we're suddenly NOT his kids?? Come on Nintendo; don't be a coward! Show everyone how well my father can handle eight children! -a very irritated Ludwig

[werewolf-cuddles]

Okay but why isn't bowser jr a koopaling given that he's almost always depicted with them is it because koopalings are a caste and he's royalty

Bowser Jr isn’t considered a member of the Koopalings, presumably because being Bowser’s son would mean that he ranks higher than they do.

The Koopalings are just high-ranking minions that work for Bowser. Originally they were his children, but this has since been retconned with Bowser Jr being his only son.

[therantingsage]

On the Koopalings and Mario Canon

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Koopalings and their relationship with Bowser, and it poses a really interesting question about the Mushroom Kingdom as we know it.

I haven’t played TOO many Mario games personally, but I do know from research that the Koopalings, in the games they debuted in, were canonically Bowser’s kids. No question. Yet in other games, more recent ones, they seem to be unrelated, calling him ‘boss’ and 'Lord Bowser’ and such. Is this a retcon? An oversight?

Turns out, it’s entirely possible that both are true. Sometimes they are his kids, sometimes they’re not. It just depends on which universe you’re looking at.

For clarification, let’s look at Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam. This game specifically confirms that there’s more than one version of the Mushroom Kingdom within the Mario canon. In this case, it shows that the Paper Mario games are they’re own universe, separate from the rest of the Mario story. Now on it’s own, that wouldn’t do much to confirm the existence of more than TWO canons, but it’s not the only game to draw attention to this idea.

Super Mario Galaxy talks about Universes being reborn, but in addition to the end of that game, it’s actually implied to be the case made for the second game’s story as well. The comet only passes by the Mushroom Kingdom once every hundred years, and Mario in Galaxy 2 is DEFINITELY not over a hundred at this point. So this must be a different Mario, a different universe. Even more likely considering he doesn’t seem to know Rosalina at the end of the game.

So if it’s possible for there to be at LEAST three different Mushroom Kingdoms, what’s to say that the Koopalings relation to Bowser isn’t a variable in the equation? Maybe whether they’re related to him or not is a way to tell what games take place in the same universe.

Then again, they aren’t in all the games, so there’s a lot of guessing involved here. Again, not an expert, just think a bit too much about this kind of stuff.

[entergamingxp]

Super Mario Maker 2 proves Mario is always better with a world map • Eurogamer.net

The Japanese version of Super Mario World for the Super Famicom came in a long yellow box that always felt absolutely stuffed. There was the cartridge in there, and a plastic mount for it I think, but there was also the instruction sheet, which was folded and folded on itself, and when unfolded spread out to a surprising degree. And at the centre of it was a map – a beautiful, detailed map. Here was Super Mario’s world, islands, bridges, oceans, rivers. Even now I get a bit emotional thinking about it.

Just before this, Super Mario 3 had introduced the idea of having a map in Mario games, and I really love the little world maps it offered, plants and animals bobbing along with the beat, different route choices suddenly available, that astonishing bit where you go up into the sky and then explore the clouds. But Super Mario 3 is the tasting menu Mario, and it felt like you were getting a bunch of different arrangements of dishes as much as being allowed to visit actual places. Super Mario World actually linked all its little lands together into one place. Its map felt much more real and meaningful because it properly provided everything with a context.

After a while with Super Mario World you were actually playing the map as much as the game, hunting for levels that had multiple exits, trying to work out where the secret Star network was strung. I remember being stuck on Cheese Bridge for what felt like years – I just sensed I was missing something. I remember returning to the map and really trying to place myself in its world. A magical experience.

All of this is why I now realise that Super Mario Maker 2 has never really felt complete to me. And now it is complete. The latest – and final – free update adds a lot of very cool stuff that feels like you’re properly playing with the outer reaches of the Mario universe. There are new parts, new wearables, even the addition of Koopalings. There’s a wonderful nod to Super Mario 2 that kind of blows my mind. But the new update also allows maps. With World Maker, suddenly you can piece your levels into something larger. Mario deserves a map and now he has one again.

World Maker allows you to pull a bunch of levels together into a world a la Mario 3 – a map that fills the screen. Levels are strung along paths leading from a starting point to a castle, and you can link several worlds together to make what amounts to your own full Mario game. It’s basic, but playful. Alongside levels you can also chuck in Toad Houses and warp pipes. You can place mountains and incidental features, and you can choose between a range of classic Super Mario World themes, including deserts and clouds and all of that jazz.

It will be a while before I start getting the most out of it, and I appreciate that the limits to the system might frustrate the more creative Super Mario Makers out there. But what I was not prepared for was the sheer nostalgic power of being able to meddle with this stuff in the first map. For a Mario map fan like me, it felt like being granted abilities that have always been deemed too much for players. It’s like looking into the Mario Ark.

Honestly: this stuff properly hit me. When I first loaded World Maker up I created the classic grassy environment with a few hills and a wobbly path to the castle. I left most of the grid as water, and experimented with placing new squares with a lovely – and slightly incongruous – metallic clang and seeing what kind of hills and level furniture were available. It was fine.

But then I changed the theme, picking night-time, and the world I had made was transformed. Suddenly the sea was replaced with stars, and the grass I had made floated in space and glowed a kind of luminous turquoise that I have always associated with the night-time sequences of Mother 2. It was suddenly magical, this piece of Mario land floating in the darkness. It reminded me of the old Star locations in Super Mario World, but it also felt like seeing the Mushroom Kingdom afresh again, visiting at night, travelling the countryside, the whole thing filled with promise. How very Mario.

What will really talented players be able to do with this? It’s worth saying that even Mario hasn’t always gotten the map business right. The Super Mario Bros re-release for the Game Boy, which is a weird and lovely thing, retconned maps into the main campaign in a distinctly underwhelming manner. Mario’s candylands suddenly looked a bit like industrial quarries, and a map that only allows you to go in one direction isn’t that much fun anyway.

I didn’t really like the maps of Galaxy’s solar systems either, which seemed like unnecessary additions to a game that had hopped beyond any kind of two-dimensional representation. Only with Super Mario Bros U do I think we get a map that works once again – and it makes this under-appreciated Mario game on a doomed console feel like a true sequel to the mighty Super Mario World.

After that the 3D World Map was a lovely surprise, particularly because of the tinkly noise you made when you ran across those frozen train tracks. But by then I was starting to realise that the classic Mario map is made of those blocky pixels of the 8- and 16-bit era. The maps to Mario 3 and Super Mario World were the first signs to me that this game about running left and right and jumping on things was actually creating its own lore and traditions and sense of place. Mario was creating its own context. I look at the maps of those two games even now in my forties and I still feel like I’m back at the beginning of something, like I don’t know where a path is going to lead me or what is possible.

Astonishingly, I now get that feeling again from Super Mario Maker 2. What a great final update. What a perfect send-off. How very Mario.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/super-mario-maker-2-proves-mario-is-always-better-with-a-world-map-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=super-mario-maker-2-proves-mario-is-always-better-with-a-world-map-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net