Chain Chomp

"Ruff! Ruff! (I'm gonna steal coins or stars just for you!)"

- Chain Chomp

A Chain Chomp (or Chomp) is a black sphere that has a huge gaping mouth, razor sharp teeth, circular eyes, and chain for a tail who tries to bite everything, first appearing in Super Mario Bros. 3. It has a bulldog-like personality, which helps explain its name, as does that fact that it is bigger than most creatures and is rarely seen with a calm demeanor. It has extremely sharp teeth and is constantly "chomping", and trying to break his chain to gnaw at Mario or another victim. Most Chain Chomps are bound by chains, restricting their movement, though some are originally chainless. In rare circumstances, Chain Chomps can break their chain, mostly when mad. They also have a tendency to fall asleep often, probably because they are so energetic and hyper that they rapidly waste energy. If woken up, they become furious and chase the poor person who woke it up. In some occasions, they turn red when extremely mad.

Appearances
Chain Chomps first appeared in level 2-5 of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES/Famicom as Chain Chomps, along with their relatives, the fire-spitting flying Fire Chomps. When the timer hits 160 seconds, all Chain Chomps come loose and aren't bound by chains. It has returned in the remake, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3.

Chomp Heads appear in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island for the Super Nintendo, devoid of their chains and having increased to the massive size they retained in many future games. There also was one regular specimen, which remained chained and small, like in previous games. Chomp Rocks also made an appearance and were powerful objects or obstacles. They look just like smaller, rocky Chomp Heads.

In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the Super Nintendo, Bowser uses a small Chain Chomp as a weapon. There are also Chomp Chomps which are about as powerful as the game's first Smithy Gang boss, Mack.

Chain Chomps appear as invincible enemies in Yoshi's Story, resembling the Chomp Shark. These are the first to actually be called Chomps. They only appeared in one of the huts on Stage 4-1: Jungle Hut.

In Super Mario 64, there is a Chain Chomp located near the jail in Bob-omb Battlefield. It also reappeared in the remake, Super Mario 64 DS. In this game the Chomp acquired its famous bark, which was used in later games, save Paper Mario, where Chain Chomps (as well as the Stone Chomp variant) were unleashed by Tutankoopa and, like most of the other characters in the game, made no distinctive sound.

In Mario Kart 64, a relative of the Chain Chomps, the Rainbow Chomp, appear on the Rainbow Road track where they travel at road level in the opposite direction of the racers in a regular zig-zag pattern.

In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, a Chain Chomp is a usable item for Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Petey Piranha, and King Boo that pulls the racers forward for a few seconds and bowls over other racers in its path. After a certain amount of time, it abandons the vehicle and goes of on its own in a straight line until it runs into a vehicle or off the course. Chain Chomps also appear as obstacles on the Mario Circuit and Luigi Circuit tracks.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour features a couple holes where a Chain Chomp devours any ball that enters the hole, wasting two turns.

In Mario Power Tennis there is a minigame that takes place in Wario's Factory featuring a Chomp. If pelted with water, it would go to sleep or calm down, but if struck with a Bob-Omb, it would wake up, get really mad, or chase the player. When a tennis ball is shot at it, the player gets a point.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door features two types of Chain Chomps: Red Chomps, which appear in Glitzville, and traditional Chain Chomps, appearing in the Palace of Shadow. Both types are found in the Pit of 100 Trials. There are also a new fish-like sub-species that attack Mario whenever he falls in water, which are called Nibblers.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, two Chain Chomp enemies appear. In one area at Woohoo Hooniversity, Mecha-Chomps, dog-like mechanical Chomps, appear. The Chomp Bro., a variation of the Hammer Bros. that swing small Chomps as weapons, appear in Bowser's Castle. In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the "Pocket Chomp" is a Bros. Item. It first appears to be a small chomp in a can, but when released it more than triples in size and chases the Bros. across the screen, forcing them to Jump on any enemy in their wake. There are also Shroobified versions called Chain Shromps.

More recently, Super Mario Strikers featured a Chain Chomp as an item with which the player could attack. If used, the Chomp attacked all opposing players on the field, leaving them on the ground for a few seconds.

Small puppy-like Chain Chomps called Chain Chomplets as well as a large Red Chomp appear in Pianta Village in Super Mario Sunshine. A giant Chain Chomp also appeared in Pianta Village in this game. It was overheated and very angry, so Mario had to spray it with FLUDD to cool it off. This was only temporary, however, as the Chain Chomp would soon get angry and flare up again. Mario had to drag it by its chain to the Pianta Spring where it cooled off completely and awarded Mario a Shine Sprite.

In Mario Kart DS, Chain Chomps appear in the original Luigi Circuit racetrack from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and the new course Peach Gardens. The latter level has a lot of stray Chain Chomps, some with item boxes instead of chains!

Chain Chomps have also made appearances in the Mario Party series. In Mario Party 4 an item called a Chomp Call was introduced in which a Chain Chomp was called to move the location of the Star. Later in the series, they take the role of Boos and steal Stars or coins with their own Orb.

The Chain Chomps make many cameo appearances in The Legend of Zelda games. Link's Awakening featured a domesticated chomp while The Four Swords Adventures and A Link to the Past had Chain Chomp-like enemies that had to be avoided by Link. These may in fact be the same Chain Chomps with means they may exist outside of the Mushroom Planet.

Three of them also appeared in Mario Superstar Baseball as a obstacle in the foul line in the Wario Palace field. One also appeared in the "Chain-Chomp Sprint" minigame, that sleeps in the center of the bases, and if anyone is still running around the bases it will ram into them, causing them to be out for a few seconds.

In Super Princess Peach a variation of Chain Chomp, known as Calm Chain Chomp could be found. These Chain Chomps would sleep unless Princess Peach woke them up. They would then act like normal Chain Chomps.

In Super Paper Mario, Francis had a pet Chain Chomp in his basement. Also, the guardian of the Underwhere was a "three-headed" Chain Chomp called Underchomp (it was actually three Chain Chomps, each of a different color).

Paper Mario Stats and Tattle Information

 * HP: 4
 * Attack: 3
 * Defense: 3
 * Location: Dry Dry Ruins
 * Tattle: You've heard about Chomps before, I'm sure. They're made of such hard stuff that most of your attacks won't even faze them. I heard a rumor that the Chomps are a little peeved at Tutankoopa because he works them so hard.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Stats and Tattle Information

 * HP: 7
 * Attack: 6
 * Defense: 5
 * Locations: Palace of Shadow, Pit of 100 Trials (Levels 71-79)
 * Tattle Log: It's tough to damage this creature, but it has low HP, so it's possible to take it out with one decisive blow.
 * Tattle Number: 89
 * Tattle: That's a Chain-Chomp. I'd hate to get chomped by those teeth. They look nasty. Max HP is 7, Attack is 6, and Defense is 5. Its body is hard, so most attacks won't do much. Plus, you can't damage it with fire and ice attacks. You can freeze it, though. Luckily, it has low HP, so you could take it down with a special move or an item. Chomp-Chomps are like, so super-pumped all the time. Don't they ever get tired?
 * Items: Power Punch, Defend Plus

Trivia

 * The Chain Chomp was inspired by a childhood experience of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, where a dog tried to attack him. The dog lunged at him, but was jerked back by its leash just as the canine snapped at Miyamoto inches in front of his face.


 * In the Japanese version of Mario's games, the Chomp is named Wanwan, the rough equivalent of "Woof Woof." This explains its dog-like personality, and also why it was called Bow Wow in the North American version of Link's Awakening.


 * All known female Chain Chomps wear a pink bow on their head. Otherwise, they look exactly like any other Chain Chomp. Female Chain Chomps have first appeared in Link's Awakening. Another appearance was in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time seen randomly instead of normal Chain Chomps after using Pocket Chomps. Female Chain Chomps are slower than normal Chain Chomps and don't get as fast or angry when being pounded on by a baby's Hammer.


 * Wario seems to have some relationship with Chain Chomps because in most of the newer Gamecube sports games, he hosts Chomp-related minigames on his turf.


 * In the Paper Mario Series, a Japanese mistranslation caused its name to be "Chain-Chomp" instead of "Chain Chomp".


 * In a Japanese Manga comic, Princess Peach keeps a Chain Chomp as a pet.