Kings

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This article is about the characters in Super Mario Bros. 3. For other uses, see King.
Kings
Kings of the Mushroom World
Sprites from Super Mario All-Stars/Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
First appearance Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
Latest appearance Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (2024)
Species Human
“Oh thank heavens! I’m back to my old self again. Thank you so much. Here is a letter from the princess.”
Kings, Super Mario Bros. 3

The kings[1] are the monarchs of the various lands of the Mushroom World. Seven of them are featured in Super Mario Bros. 3, and each was turned into a different creature by the Koopalings. The kings are unnamed individually, although The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 gave some of them unique identities, and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! even introduced several similar characters and territories. Like Princess Toadstool, they have Toad helpers.

History[edit]

Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]

Sea Side King
The Water Land king, after being turned into a kappa. Unlike the sprite, he does not wear a shell, and instead wears a cape.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, the Koopalings invaded seven kingdoms of the Mushroom World, stealing the royal magic wands and using them to transform their kings into various creatures. With the kings in their vulnerable state, each evil Koopaling then ruled over the world in that king's place, with Boom Boom and Bowser's Minions placed all over the kingdoms. Renowned heroic brothers Mario and Luigi of the Mushroom Kingdom arrived to help them, first starting with Grass Land.

To save a king, the Mario Bros. have to go to his castle, where the Toad pleads the heroes to restore the king by taking the magic wand back from the Koopaling. After that, Mario and Luigi must assault the airship, defeat the Koopaling, and return the king back into his human shape. He thanks the Mario Bros. for saving him, and he delivers a letter from Princess Toadstool enclosed with a "jewel" (or power-up). If the player manages to restore the kings to their human forms while wearing a special suit, then they get different rescue dialog for each different suit. This continues until the brothers reach the forbidden kingdom of Dark Land, where Bowser ended up holding the princess hostage.

In Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, if the player defeated Bowser before saving the kings, upon selecting the castle, the player is treated to a cutscene where it shows the Koopaling of the respective world invading the castle, snatching the magic wand and using it to transform the king, and then escaping seconds before Mario arrives. In addition, because Princess Toadstool has already been saved beforehand, the king does not give the player a letter from her.

Grass Land king[edit]

The king of Grass Land wears a jeweled white turban and has a large black mustache and sideburns. In the original game, he wears a green robe over white clothing, while in remakes, he wears red clothing and an indigo-colored cape. In the original game, there are unused tiles depicting him moving his mouth or chin when he speaks, though in the final game, he only blinks. He is turned into a dog that constantly scratches his ear in the original game, and into a Cobrat that slithers back-and-forth in the remakes.

Desert Land king[edit]

The king of Desert Land appears to be balding with a white mustache and a small crown. In the original game, he wears an orange robe over white clothes, while in the remakes, his robe takes a slightly more reddish hue, and has slightly brighter orange pants. He is turned into a silkworm that bobs on a thread over his crown in the original game, and a Hoopster that falls off a vine and continues animating on the ground in the remakes.

Water Land king[edit]

The king of Water Land has a striking facial resemblance to Mario and Luigi and wears a tall crown. In the original game, he wears a green robe over white clothes, while in the remakes, he wears green clothes and a red cape. He is turned into a kappa in the original game, and a medium-sized purple Dino Rhino in the remakes.

Giant Land king[edit]

The king of Giant Land wears a turban and pants without a shirt, which are white in the original and tinted orange in the remakes. He also appears thinner in the remakes compared to the original. He is turned into a small orange bipedal dinosaur with plates down his back in the original, and into Donkey Kong Jr. in the remakes.

Sky Land king[edit]

The king of Sky Land has a crown and a long white beard. In the original, he has a long nose and the beard is angular, while in the remakes, his nose and beard are more rounded with his mustache becoming more prominent. He wears an orange and white robe in the original game and a red shirt with indigo pants in the remakes. He is turned into a large vulture that flies in-place in the original, and into an Albatoss that flies back-and-forth in the remakes.

Ice Land king[edit]

The king of Ice Land appears to be balding and has a crown, a black mustache, and a heavy coat. In the original, he uses unique palettes that gives him peach skin with gray hair and a brown coat, while in remakes he shares his palette with others and has tan skin, blond-yellow hair, and a purple coat over a red suit. He is turned into a seal that balances his crown on its nose in the original and into a Monty Mole that dashes back-and-forth in the remakes.

Pipe Land king[edit]

The king of Pipe Land has a full beard and wears a horned helmet. In the original, he has pale white skin with an orange beard and black clothes, while in the remake, he has the same tan skin tone as the other kings, a white beard, and a red suit. He is turned into an orange Piranha Plant (with a pose resembling a Venus Fire Trap) with a small pipe in the original, and a Yoshi in the remakes.

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 featured several characters loosely based on the role of Super Mario Bros. 3's kings, although none of them are directly based on a specific king. They serve as rulers of their specific region, appearing in one episode each. The rulers seen in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 are:

Super Mario Kodansha manga[edit]

The kings seen in the first 4koma volume of KC Mario
The kings seen in the first 4koma volume
“"スーマリ3には七人も王さまが出てくるからどれがほんものかわからないのよ" ("In Super Mario Bros. 3, there are seven kings, so who knows which one is my real father.")”
Princess Peach, Super Mario Kodansha manga

The kings appear in the first manga of the Super Mario Kodansha series: Manga Super Mario Bros. 3 Kanzen Kōryakuhon. All of them are seen in one of the first panels being turned into animals by Bowser and his kids but not all of them are shown throughout the story and not with equal relevance. None of the shown kings' human forms resemble how they appear in game.

The Grass Land King, similar in design to the Mushroom King, is the only one to give Mario Peach's letter after being rescued. The Water Land king is briefly seen in one panel, in his kappa form, celebrating Wendy's defeat. The Giant Land King makes a single-panel appearance, crying for help from his castle in dinosaur form. The Sky Land is not seen, but a Goomba pretending to be a Toad lies that he rewared Mario with a party with booze and bunny girls (in reality, that was one of Bowser's tricks to distract Mario with numerous disguised enemies). The Ice Land King is seen in his human form in one panel, after Mario defeats Lemmy: he has an eighteenth-century wig and small mustache instead of his rodent-like appearance from the games. Lastly, after defeating Ludwig, Mario and Luigi reach the castle and mistake the transformed king for an enemy and beat him up, until the Toad explains the misunderstanding. Returned to his human form, still carrying some injuries from the assault, he warns the Mario Bros. of the dangers of the Dark Land. In his human form, instead of the viking design, he resembles an European king, with shoulder-lenght hair with curly tips and a ruff around the neck.

The kings also appear in Super Mario 4-koma Daikōshin in the "7 Kings" strip, in which Peach admits that she thought one of the seven kings was her real father, and not the Mushroom King, mostly hoping it was the Water Land king. Instead of being depicted with their NES cursed forms, like in the first manga, the kings are instead depicted with their SNES cursed forms.

Mario's dad's outfit, as depicted in a painting in Super Mario Land 2 - 6-tsu no Kinka 3, resembles the clothing of the Water Land king, hinting at a possible connection between the two characters.

Yukio Sawada's manga[edit]

The Kings are mentioned at the beginning of both Super Mario Bros. 3 adaptations from Wanpakku Comic and Gakushū Yōchien, but only the Grass Land King appears being turned into a dog. Beside the kings, even their subjects are also turned into animals.

In Super Mario-kun, during the adaptation of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 in volume 30, the Grass Land King appears in his human form greeting Mario. When Larry appears to turn him into a Cobrat, Mario tosses Luigi between them, causing his brother to be turned into a Cobrat. While Mario goes to bring back the wand, the King remains with Luigi.

Gallery[edit]

Artwork[edit]

Sprites[edit]

Screenshots[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

The contemporaneous name for each language is listed first. Subsequent names are listed in chronological order for each language, from oldest to newest, and have the media they are associated with in the "notes" column.

Language Name Meaning Note(s) Ref.
Japanese 王様おうさま
Ōsama
King [2]:2, 24
国王こくおう
Kokuō
[2]:2
Chinese (Traditional) 國王
Guówáng
King [3]
Danish Konge King [4]
Dutch Koning King [5]
Finnish Kuningas King [6]
French Roi King [5][7]:46
German König King [8][9][7]:26
Greek Βασιλιάς
Vasiliás
King [10]
Italian Re Kings [11]:5[12][7]:106[13]:17[14]
7 Re 7 Kings Super Mario Bros. 3 [11]:25
Regnanti del Mondo dei Funghi Mushroom World's rulers [15]
Sovrano Ruler Super Mario All-Stars - 25th Anniversary Edition [13]:15
I Re The Kings Super Mario Bros. Encyclopeida (second edition) [16]
Korean
Wang
King [17]
Norwegian Konge King [18]
Portuguese Rei King [19]
Spanish Rey King [20][7]:86
Swedish Kung King [21]

Notes[edit]

  • If Mario defeats a Koopaling as Frog Mario, Tanooki Mario, or Hammer Mario, the king says one of the following:
    • "Oh me, oh my! You've been transformed! Shall I change you back with this wand?" (to Frog Mario)
    • "Thank you, kind raccoon. Please tell me your name." (to Tanooki Mario)
    • "Hey you! How about lending me your clothes? No dice?! What a drag." (to Hammer Mario)
  • The king of Water Land bears a striking resemblance to Mario. Also, the castle's island resembles Japan, with the castle itself placed where Kyoto, Nintendo's headquarters, would be.
  • All of the transformed kings are depicted with generic crowns either on or near them, despite the fact that only four of the non-transformed kings wear crowns.

References[edit]

  1. ^ 1990. Super Mario Bros. 3 instruction booklet. Nintendo of America (English). Page 5 and 25.
  2. ^ a b 1988. 『Super Mario Bros. 3 取扱説明書』 (PDF). Kyoto: Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japanese).
  3. ^ 瑪利歐歷史|超級瑪利歐兄弟 35週年|任天堂. Nintendo of HK (Traditional Chinese). Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  4. ^ 1991. Super Mario Bros. 3 Instruction Booklet. Kungsbacka: Nintendo (Danish, Finnish, Swedish). Page 5.
  5. ^ a b 1991. Super Mario Bros. 3 Handleiding / mode d'emploi. Nederland, Brussels: Nintendo (Dutch, French). Page 31.
  6. ^ Nintendo-lehti (1990-1994, Finnish)
  7. ^ a b c d 2003. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 Instruction Booklet (PDF). Großostheim: Nintendo of Europe GmbH (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian).
  8. ^ 1991. Super Mario Bros. 3 Spielanleitung. Großostheim: Nintendo of Europe GmbH (German). Page 25.
  9. ^ Matsumoto, Atsuko, Rie Ishii, and Claude Moyse, editors (1992). Der Spieleberater Super Mario Power. Großostheim: Nintendo of Europe GmbH (German). ISBN 3-929034-02-6. Page 28.
  10. ^ 1990. Super Mario Bros. 3 Βιβλίο Οδηγιών. Alimos: Nintendo (Greek). Page 6.
  11. ^ a b 1991. Super Mario Bros. 3 Libretto d'Istruzioni. Großostheim: Nintendo of Europe GmbH (Italian). (Archived 29 July 2022 via Mario's Castle by Alessandro "Stormkyleis" Imbesi.)
  12. ^ 1993. Super Mario All-Stars Libretto di Istruzioni. Florence: Nintendo (Italian). Page 23, 33. (Archived 23 Mar. 2024 via Mario's Castle by Alessandro "Stormkyleis" Imbesi.)
  13. ^ a b 2010. Super Mario All-Stars – Edizione per il 25º Anniversario – Manuale di Istruzioni. Großostheim: Nintendo of Europe GmbH (Italian). (Archived 29 Apr. 2019 via Mario's Castle by Alessandro "Stormkyleis" Imbesi.)
  14. ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), and Marco Figini, editors (2018). "Super Mario Bros. 3" in Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Translated by Marco Amerighi. Milan: Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 34.
  15. ^ Super Mario Bros. 3 | NES | Giochi | Nintendo IT. Italian. Retrieved August 6, 2024 from Nintendo.it.
  16. ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), and Marco Figini, editors (2025). "Super Mario Bros. 3" in Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia (2nd ed.). Translated by Alessandro Apreda. Milan: Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 979-1259575760. Page 34.
  17. ^ 1990. "슈퍼 마리오 브라더즈 3 사용 설명서". Icheon: Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Korean). Page 4. (Archived 29 Mar. 2007 via Naver by togepi1125.)
  18. ^ Jeg leser… Nintendo Magasinet nr. 6/7 1991
  19. ^ «O Mario e o Luigi voltam a entrar em ação quando o Bowser e os seus lacaios roubam varinhas mágicas dos reis do Mushroom World e os transformam em animais.» – 2025. The History of Super Mario Bros.. Nintendo (European Portuguese).
  20. ^ 1991. Super Mario Bros. 3 Manual de Instrucciones. Madrid: Nintendo (European Spanish). Page 25.
  21. ^ Back of Swedish instruction booklet of Super Mario All-Stars