Bone Goombas are Goombas that wear skull helmets and first appear in New Super Mario Bros. 2. Appearing alongside other bone-related enemies like Bone Piranha Plants and Dry Bones in Towers and Castles, they seem to be identical to ordinary Goombas in everything but appearance, slowly walking forward and being able to be defeated with any attack.
When defeated, the skulls on their heads are broken, revealing that they have a teal colored body, similar to the Goombas found underground in Super Mario Bros.[1] Additionally, they appear without skulls in World 6-, World Flower-, and in the Gold Classics Pack.
Bone Goombas make their Paper Mario debut in Paper Mario: Color Splash, where they are enemies that can be fought in Marmalade Valley. They are slightly stronger than regular Goombas, but otherwise act the same.
Bone Goombas return in Paper Mario: The Origami King, where origami Bone Goombas appear as enemies in the Temple of Shrooms, Bonehead Island, and Scorching Sandpaper Desert once the sun returns. A regular Bone Goomba also appears as part of the Canned-Food Par-tay Trio in Autumn Mountain and briefly accompanies Mario until he arrives at their party. If Mario enters battle while the Bone Goomba follows him, it aids in battle by attacking one enemy with Skullbonk, dealing 20 damage. However, this attack does not work against Spinies. This Bone Goomba can also use its teeth to open cans, such as Canned Tuna and the Canned Heart. Another regular Bone Goomba appears in the Bonehead Islandcafé. It offers for Mario to borrow its spoon, and then tells the Dry Bones that runs the café that its friend, another Dry Bones, is exhausted. Additionally, the Bone Goombas in this game speak in broken English.
Bone Goombas appear in Mario Sports Superstars as one of the playable sidekicks in the soccer sport, marking the first playable appearance of a Bone Goomba. Unlike regular Goombas, Bone Goombas are exclusive to soccer. They also serve as obstacles in the Road to Superstar mode.
In Dr. Mario World, Bone Goombas are introduced as assistants when World 23 was introduced, where they have a chance to transform viruses into rotating cannons at stage start: one in stage mode and two in versus mode. The chance to do so is greater at higher levels, where it is 20% at the first level and 100% at the maximum level. Bone Goombas also appear in the backgrounds of World 11, World 13 and World 23 after the areas within the worlds are cleared. A Bone Goomba is rewarded to the player when they cleared the first area of World 23.
Twenty-one years prior to New Super Mario Bros. 2, a skeletal version of a Galoomba similar to a Bone Goomba called「ホネクリボン」(Hone Kuribon, Bone Galoomba) is encountered in the first volume of Super Mario-kun in the chapter revolving around a theoretical "Super Mario Bros. 5". Upon being stomped, it releases a power-up that transforms Mario in a skeleton for a limited time.