Goomba's Shoe

A Goomba's Shoe is a large, green-colored boot with a wind-up key sticking out of the back of it; it is also one of the rarest of all the power-ups in all of the Mario series and made its only game appearance in Super Mario Bros. 3. It was originally known in English as Kuribo's Shoe, with Kuribo being the Japanese name of Goomba left unchanged. The name is translated in the re-releases of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Game Boy Advance remake, but the item has been called Kuribo's Shoe again in Super Mario All-Stars.

The first and only appearance of Goomba's Shoes was in Super Mario Bros. 3, in Level 5-3 of Sky Land. The Goombas of this level would hop around aimlessly in Goomba's Shoes and if jumped on by Mario, would be defeated; however, if Mario was to attack a Goomba's Shoe-shod Goomba from below, the Goomba will be knocked from the shoe and Mario will be able to ride in it. In Super Mario Advance 4, there is an unreleased Level that uses the Goomba's Shoe and adds it coming out of blocks in that level.

Once wearing a Goomba's Shoe, Mario will be able to easily hop across spikes and sharp-toothed or spiky enemies, such as Spinies and Piranha Plants. Once the end of the level is reached, though, Mario will lose the Goomba's Shoe.

Appearances in Other Media
Goomba's Shoes only appeared in the episode "Super Koopa" of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, despite also appearing in the show's opening sequence. During the episode, they were referred to as Karoobi's Shoes, a mispronunciation of Kuribo's Shoes.

The Thwomp Stompers of the Super Mario Bros. movie may be loosely based on the Goomba's Shoes.

Trivia

 * In international releases, when Mario was hit while wearing the shoe, he will simply lose it. In the original Japanese version, a hit will also cause Mario to shrink to small Mario in addition to losing the shoe.  If the player was already small, Mario will only lose the shoe.
 * In several of the unused levels of Super Mario Bros. 3, Goomba's Shoes can be found and used. Using a certain cheat code available only in some copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 and its Super Mario All-Stars remake can also trigger usable Goomba's Shoes, although they appear as garbled symbols unless the level they are used in features Spinies or Buzzy Beetles.
 * In Super Paper Mario, one Sammer Guy is called Shoe of Kuribo. Also, the ability of the Super Paper Mario Pixl Carrie can be thought of as vaguely similar to that of the Goomba's Shoe, as Carrie, too, allows players to stomp on spiked enemies such as Piranha Plants and Spinies and allows them to glide over spikes.
 * In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the enemy Sockop is very similar to a Goomba's Shoe. One Sockop is named Kuribo as a reference to the mistranslation. It was hinted earlier in the August 2009 Issue of Nintendo Power, in an interview with Nate Bihldorff. Nate revealed two cameos in the game: the Sockop and the hidden Shroobs.