Tatanga

Tatanga (also known as Tatanga the Mysterious Spaceman) is an alien invader who once conquered Sarasaland. Although he is acknowledged as an invader, in appearance he looks like a meek purple alien. During the events of Super Mario Land, Tatanga captured Princess Daisy, the princess of Sarasaland, and ordered his armies to guard the land's four kingdoms.

Super Mario Land
Tatanga was a mysterious invader from another unknown planet. He once invaded Sarasaland during the events of Super Mario Land, and captured Princess Daisy. Tatanga brought with him an army of creatures. He placed the best of his army to guard the four kingdoms of Sarasaland - Birabuto Kingdom, Muda Kingdom, Easton Kingdom, and the Chai Kingdom. When Mario defeated his henchmen and liberated all kingdoms, Tatanga and Mario went head to head in air combat.

During the climactic battle, Tatanga fought in his spaceship, the Pagosu, while Mario fought in his airplane, the Sky Pop. Mario had to fire his missiles at Tatanga's spaceship while dodging the war vessel's scattering rockets. After forty hits, the Pagosu was destroyed (and Mario gained 5000 points); however, the alien invader escaped. In the end, the heroic plumber rescued Princess Daisy and peace was returned to Sarasaland.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Tatanga reappears as a boss in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. Although his role in this game was not as significant, he did play a part. While Mario was distracted with Tatanga, Wario took over Mario Land and occupied Mario's Castle. After Mario defeated the alien invader, Tatanga fled to Wario's new castle. The spaceman was given one of the six golden coins needed to access Wario's Castle, and he set up base in the Space Zone.

During the events of Super Mario Land 2, Mario tracked down Tatanga and the two fought for a second time. However, in this battle, Tatanga does not fight in his war vessel Pagosu. This time Tatanga fights with a smaller space craft, capable of shooting energy weapons and dive bombing Mario. While descending in his dive bomb attack, Mario jumped on top of the space invader. After three hits, Tatanga was defeated and Mario recovered the golden coin of Space Zone. Like all the other bosses except Wario, Tatanga fell off the screen (his spaceship was destroyed as well, except instead of falling off the screen as he did, it simply disappeared). It is presumed that he was dead, but this has not been entirely confirmed (given his survival in the previous game). Ultimately, Mario uses the six golden coins to open the doors to his castle and kick Wario out.

The fact that he is guarding one of the six coins at all hints that Tatanga may have been working for Wario the entire time, and that his kidnapping of Princess Daisy was a means of distracting Mario specifically so Wario could take over his castle.

Game Boy
Tatanga appeared as a villain in the Game Boy comic books spun off from the Nintendo Comics System, both of which were created by the company Valiant. In the comics, Tatanga lives in an alternate dimension that exists within a Game Boy. However, the evil alien hypnotizes Herman Smirch, a human from New Jersey, causing the man to release Tatanga from the Game Boy. Upon arriving on Earth, Tatanga hopes to conquer the planet and rule it with an iron fist. Each time Tatanga was released, he always tried to take over an Earth monument, such as Disney World or the World Trade Center. One time, Tatanga and his minions conquered the Great Wall of China. However, Mario is always released from the Game Boy, and the hero inevitably brings the evil alien back to the Game Boy dimension. As it turns out, Herman Smirch was merely hallucinating all these events. However, the comic series was canceled before this plot point was revealed.

In this series, he is considerably bigger than in the games.

References in Later games
Tatanga, the Mysterious Spaceman, has not reappeared in games following Super Mario Land 2. However, Tatanga was mentioned in Princess Daisy's bio in the game Mario Superstar Baseball and her trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Trivia

 * Katsini, a boss from Wario's Woods resembles Tatanga, though with more pronounced mandibles and hair, leading to the possibility that he and Tatanga may be members of the same species.
 * Unlike the other bosses featured in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Tatanga does not appear in Nintendo Power's Mario vs. Wario comic. This is ironic as he is perhaps the most major boss next to Wario (given his status at Super Mario Land's antagonist.
 * Tatanga is the first extraterrestrial main villain to appear in the Mario series, followed by Smithy, Sir Grodus, Princess Shroob, and Elder Princess Shroob.
 * It is unknown how Tatanga escaped the battle with Mario in Super Mario Land, as he was not seen leaving the spaceship or flying from the explosion, and appeared to be destroyed with it. (Apparently Nintendo intended to kill him off here, but later decided to have it so he survived and returned in the sequel, to indicate that he was working for Wario the whole time to distract Mario). It is possible that he warped out of his ship at the last second using some sort of device on the ship.
 * During his death scene in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, his spaceship disappears before he falls off the screen. This is the only time he is ever seen outside of a spaceship.
 * Tatanga is one of the few recurring villains not associated with the Koopa Troop. The only other one who doesn't become a protagonist in later games (such as his boss, Wario, or Donkey Kong) is Fawful. Elder Princess Shroob may count, as she is shown frozen in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story; however, she is only ever seen frozen, and (given her obvious death in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time), one of the theories behind this is that this is simply a sculpture of her.
 * Interestingly enough, Tatanga's role is the reverse of Fawful; While Fawful's first appearance is as the main villain's henchman, and his final appearance is as main antagonist, Tatanga's first appearance is as antagonist, and his final appearance he is one of the six bosses working for Wario.
 * In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (when played in color, such as on the Game Boy Player for the Game Cube) Tatanga is shown as red rather than purple, most likely due to color limitations within the hardware.
 * Not counting Wart (as the events of Super Mario Bros. 2 were a dream), Tatanga is the first non-Bowser antagonist Mario fought since his battles with Donkey Kong.
 * Though always listed as the sixth boss in Super Mario Land 2, Tatanga is sometimes implied to be the second, as the gold coin he has is placed in the second slot and the one that the octopus has is placed in the sixth.

Names in Other Languages
Tatanga

Tatanga the Mysterious Spaceman