Floating Face
| Floating Face | |
|---|---|
 Artwork from Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins | |
| First appearance | Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins (1992) |
| Latest appearance | Super Mario-kun ("Wario-kun the superhuman") (1995) |
Floating Faces[1][2] are enemies in Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins. They are ball-like creatures possess a mustache and bear a resemblance to Wario.
History[edit]
Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins[edit]
In Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins, Floating Faces bounce around a small room at diagonal angles. Floating Faces can be destroyed only by a Super Star or Spin Jump instantly or from being stomped twice (or just once on Easy Mode). Floating Faces appear in a total of three rooms consecutively, with the first room containing one and the latter having two each. They are encountered only in the last three rooms of Mario's castle, right before the boss room.
Super Mario Kodansha manga[edit]
In the first chapter of the Super Mario Land 2 - 6-tsu no Kinka 3 volume of the Super Mario Kodansha manga, Mario and Luigi venture inside the castle, where they encounter all the enemies and bosses they previously faced. A Floating Face explains that Wario used a spell to revive them while they were returning from Space Zone, and that he will be able to keep them alive as long as evil and malice lurks in people's hearts, but the Mario Bros. kick it claiming their eternal sense of justice will beat any villain's malice.
Super Mario-kun[edit]
In chapter 6 of volume 10 of Super Mario-kun, Floating Face acts as the chapter's antagonist. As a way to locate the way, Yokkī urinates on it, only to be hit by the Floating Face who then warns the heroes of the traps they are going to encounter, only to be crushed by a mechanical fist. After Mario, Carrot, and Yokkī pass all of the traps, Floating Face and its copies attack the trio. Nothing seems to work on them: even a fireball ends up powering them up, instead of burning them. To Mario's rescue, the Golden Coins use their hidden abilities to help him. In the end, the Tree Coin, with the power of a Super Mushroom, summons a giant tree against which the Floating Faces crash, resulting in them getting flattened. As a running gag, throughout the chapter, Mario keeps scribbling and playing with the Floating Face parts, never taking it seriously.
A Floating Face is used as a board for Fukuwarai by Wario, after he punches his face traits off his face, in the second bonus chapter of volume 12.
Profiles[edit]
Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten[edit]
| ドンガバメン (JP) / Floating Face (EN) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Original text (Japanese) | Translation | ||
| ゴースト族 | Tribe | Ghost clan | |
| 態度がでかい | Disposition | To be intolerant (e.g. to others) | |
| ランド2 | Game appearances | Land 2 | |
| 巨大な顔の不気味なヤツ ワリオ城に住み着く、奇妙なキャラクター。口ひげをつけた巨大な顔面がマリオの行く手を完全にふさいでいる。親衛隊長ともいえるこいつを倒せば、いよいよボスのワリオが登場するぞ。[3] |
The creepy one with the giant face. A strange character that lives in Wario Castle. His huge face with a mustache completely blocks Mario's way. Once he is defeated, the boss, Wario, will finally appear. | ||
Gallery[edit]
Sprite from Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins
Battle against one of them in Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins
Battle against two of them in Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins
Names in other languages[edit]
Unlike most mainline Super Mario titles, Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins did not receive officially localized enemy indexes at the time of its release on the Game Boy and not all enemies are listed in its instruction booklets. Consequentially, most available non-Japanese names come from localizations of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia.
| Language | Name | Meaning | Note(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ドン・ガバメン Don Gabamen |
Blend of "Don" (Spanish word for "sir"), possibly「がばがば」(gabagaba, an ideophonic word for something big), and「面」(men, face) | [4] | |
| ドン＝ガバメン Don-Gabamen |
[5] | |||
| ドンガバメン Don Gabamen |
[3] | |||
| French | Tête flottante | Floating Face | Super Mario-kun | [6] |
| Don Masko | From Don (Spanish word for "sir") and a corruption of masque ("mask") | Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia | [7] | |
| Italian | Pallafaccia | Face-ball | [8][9] | |
| Spanish | Cara Flotante | Floating Face | [10] |
References[edit]
- ^ "Floating Faces bounce off the walls in the last three chambers leading to Wario." – December 1992. Nintendo Power Volume 43. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 51.
- ^ English Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins entry on the official Mario Portal. nintendo.co.jp (English). Retrieved August 13, 2022. (Archived December 21, 2025, 19:32:03 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
- ^ a b 1994. 「パーフェクト版 マリオキャラクター大事典」 (Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten). Shogakukan (Japanese). Page 137.
- ^ Itoi, Shigesato, Takashi Watanabe, Hiroyuki Jinnai (APE), Jin Kobayashi, Ryuji Osawa, and Shigeo Tanabe, editors (1992). 『スーパーマリオランド2: 6つの金貨任天堂公式ガイドブック』. Tokyo: Shogakukan. ISBN 4-09-102413-0. Page 16.
- ^ Motoyama, Kazuki (6 July 1993). Super Mario Land 2 - 6-tsu no Kinka 1, Super Mario, vol. 18. Tokyo: Kodansha (Japanese). ISBN 4-06-319398-5. Page 7.
- ^ Sawada, Yukio (2018). Super Mario Manga Adventures, vol. 9. Translated by Florent Gorges. Toulon: Soleil Productions (French). ISBN 978-2-30206-555-0. Page 162.
- ^ Ardaillon, Joanna, and Victoria Juillard-Huberty, editors (2018). "Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins" in Super Mario Encyclopedia. Translated by Fabien Nabhan. Toulon: Soleil Productions (French). ISBN 978-2-3020-7004-2. Page 75.
- ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), and Marco Figini, editors (2018). "Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins" in Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Translated by Marco Amerighi. Milan: Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 75.
- ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), and Marco Figini, editors (2025). "Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins" in Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia (2nd ed.). Translated by Alessandro Apreda. Milan: Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 979-1259575760. Page 75.
- ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, and Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), editors (2017). "Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins" in Enciclopedia Super Mario Bros. 30ª Aniversario. Translated by Gemma Tarrés. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, S.A. (European Spanish). ISBN 978-84-9146-223-1. Page 75.
