Ludwig von Koopa

"I'm a mad genius, not a plumber!"

- Ludwig von Koopa

Ludwig von Koopa is the oldest Koopaling and Bowser's second-in-command. As such, he has the greatest authority of all the Koopalings, at least, until the arrival of Bowser Jr. Like the other Koopalings, not much of Ludwig's personality is known; what is known is that he composes "Koopa Symphonies" and is somewhat arrogant and cruel. He's also known for being an evil genius too, and the smartest of all the Koopalings. In the games though Iggy replaces him in that title.

Super Mario Bros. 3
In Super Mario Bros. 3, Ludwig was charged with taking over Pipe Land. Easily doing so with the aid of his airship and armies, Ludwig stole the wand of Pipe Land's king, whom he turned into either a Piranha Plant or Yoshi, depending on the version of the game.

Boarding Ludwig's airship, Mario managed to fight his way to Ludwig's cabin, there he engaged the Koopa prince in battle. Though fast and capable of making stunning earthquakes and magic blasts, Ludwig was defeated and his control over Pipe Land over.

Super Mario World
After he was defeated by Mario, Ludwig was assigned to occupy the fourth world of Dinosaur Land, the Twin Bridges, in Super Mario World. Doing so, he then isolated himself in his castle. During his isolation, he composed Koopa symphonies, at least until Mario showed up to ruin his work.

During his battle with Mario in, Ludwig attacked by spitting fireballs and by sliding around in his spiked shell, and occasionally making huge leaps. Ultimately, he was defeated a second time by Mario. Mario destroys Ludwig's castle by detonating explosive charges near the bottom of the building, sending it flying into a nearby hill. Subsequently the hill is bandaged in the spot it gets hit.

Mario is Missing!
In Mario is Missing!, Ludwig, along with a few of his siblings, invaded Earth with his father, with the plan of flooding the world by melting Antarctica. Guarding a corridor of Bowser's headquarters, Ludwig would battle Luigi, who planned on stopping Bowser's plot and saving the kidnapped Mario. In the end, Ludwig was defeated in combat and Luigi managed to move on.

Yoshi's Safari
Ludwig later helped his father conquer Jewelry Land during the events of Yoshi's Safari. The eldest Koopaling occupied the Mushroom Land region of the kingdom. In battle, Ludwig uses a large robotic Koopa Troopa covered in spikes and equipped with four cannons. Despite the power of his mech, Ludwig is beaten by Yoshi and a Super Scope wielding Mario.

Hotel Mario
In Hotel Mario, Ludwig appears as the boss in Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel in Ludwig's Frantic Lab. In this game, Ludwig displayed the previously unseen ability to teleport and shoot blast of lightning from his hands. Despite these new powers, Ludwig is still defeated by Mario.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
After years of absence, Ludwig finally made a reappearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Thinking Bowletta as his real father, Ludwig and his siblings (minus Bowser Jr.) act as guards in Bowser's Castle during Bowletta's invasion of the Beanbean Kingdom. Attacking Mario and Luigi by shooting balls of fire and zooming around in his shell. Unfortunately, Ludwig was no match for the Bros. teamwork and was ultimately beaten.

Physical appearance
Ludwig is seemebly best known to have a large, blue and wild hair. However, in Super Mario World his hair was white. He has a one visible fang, and smaller eyes than the others (possibly, because Roy is wearing sunglasses, so you can't see them). Ludwig and Roy are the strongest of the Koopalings, but since Ludwig is also intelligent, that might make him stronger than Roy.

Personality
Ludwig is the oldest of the Koopalings, and is seemingly a teenager. He is somewhat cruel and arrogant, but is still very much into culture and also the smartest of the Koopalings. He likes listening to classical music and a bit of opera. He is himself a composer as well and composes Koopa Symphonies. Ludwig is also an evil genius, but doesn't seem to be inventing as much as Iggy. He is portrayed in the cartoons as a mad scientist instead of an evil genius.

Appearances in Other Media
Ludwig, as well as his siblings were featured in the Super Mario Amada Series, a set of three Japanese OVAs. In the Mario retelling of the story "Momotaro", Ludwig and his siblings appear as minions of Bowser, aiding him in abducting Princess Toadstool. In "Shirayukihime (Snow White)" Ludwig also appears as a minion of Bowser once again, like his brothers and sister, Ludwig ends-up being beaten by Mario.



Ludwig also appears prominently in DiC Entertainment's The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Super Mario World cartoons. Here, Ludwig was portrayed as having mad scientist like personality, inventing various gadgets and doo-dads for his father. In these cartoons, Ludwig was renamed Kooky Von Koopa, had somewhat messier hair and was smaller in size. He also possessed an extremely bizarre laugh. "Baby Ludwig", or more appropriately, Baby Kooky, has made his first (and last) appearance in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode, "Toddler Terrors of Time Travel", which had Kooky, as well as Mario, Luigi, Toad and Bowser, regressed to infant states due to a malfunction with a time machine.

Ludwig also appeared in the Nintendo Comics System's Mario comics, as well as Mario's Nintendo Adventure Books. Ludwig also appears in the Super Mario Adventures comic, where he and his siblings aided Bowser in his attempt to marry Princess Peach.

He makes another short appearance in the Club Nintendo comic "Super Mario: Erholung? Nein, danke!", where he works as a mechanic for KoopAir. The plane he is working on takes off before he even finished his work.

Trivia

 * Ludwig von Koopa is named after the famous composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. Additionally, both Ludwig's have the same wild hair and both like to compose music.