Fighter Fly

A Fighter Fly (also spelled Fighterfly ), also referred to as a bee, is a hopping insect that first appeared in the sewers of the original Mario Bros. arcade game.

Mario Bros.
In Mario Bros., Fighter Flies are one of the myriad of pests that emerge from pipes to attack Mario and Luigi. They first appear in Stage Six. After a Fighter Fly emerges, it hops across the stage's platforms. As such, Mario has to precisely time his Jump when the Fighter Fly is on the ground to flip the creature over. If airborne, a Fighter Fly cannot be flipped over - not even if Mario uses the POW Block. Once flipped over, Mario has to run into the insect to clear it off the stage.

In early iterations of the game, their design features large toothy scowls and shiny eyes, but their design was redone for the multiplayer mode of the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 3. Their design in this title has large white eyes with black pupils, while their scowls are replaced with small closed mouths, their heads are a light orange color, and they have noses. This design is further developed in the iteration of the game included on many Game Boy Advance games, which also gives them three colors and speeds depending on how many times they have been flipped over, like the other target enemies have.

In other iterations of Mario Bros.
Fighter Flies appear in Luigi Bros., an additional game featured in Super Mario 3D World. Like the other enemies in Luigi Bros., Fighter Flies behave in the same way as in Mario Bros., which this game is based on.

Fighter Flies are present in NES Remix as enemies and level objectives in some of the challenges and remixes based on Mario Bros..

Super Mario Land
In Super Mario Land, Fighter Flies are simply named Flies and are seen in the Birabuto Kingdom of Sarasaland. In this game, they hop towards Mario, just like in Mario Bros. Kumos from the Easton Kingdom attack in the same manner as Fighter Flies. They can simply be jumped on or be shot with a Superball to be defeated. Flies award Mario with 400 points when he defeats them. They are only found in the first stage, World 1-1. One also poses as Princess Daisy in the ending to World 1-3.

Super Mario Maker
A Mystery Mushroom costume, designed after Fighter Fly, can be unlocked in Super Mario Maker (after the version 1.20 update) by completing the hard version of Gnat Attack. When performing a jump as Fighter Fly, the player can hear the high-pitched noise this enemy made in the original Mario Bros.. If the player presses while playing as Fighter Fly, it will turn into a Freezie, which is a foe that also debuted in Mario Bros.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga / Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, they make a reappearance in Stardust Fields, the border between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Beanbean Kingdom. To attack, a Fighter Fly hops towards Mario or Luigi and tries to bump into the plumber. The heroes can jump to avoid the attack.

The Fighter Flies are orange with blue hands and feet, pink antennae, small wings, and have large green squinting eyelids. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, their feet are pink instead of light blue.

Mario and Luigi also encounter a stronger version of the Fighter Fly, the Super Fly, in the basement of Beanbean Castle.

In the remake's Minion Quest mode, a Fighter Fly makes a cameo as the first audition for Popple's new "Rookie," a position which Birdo ends up receiving. Outside of this appearance, they are completely absent from the mode.

Mario Power Tennis
Fighter Flies appear on the Mario Classic Court in Mario Power Tennis, in a flat 8-bit model form. Like other enemies, they can trip up an opponent. An unused 3D model for a Fighter Fly can be found, heavily based off their design from the Mario Bros. remake found in Super Mario All-Stars.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Fighter Flies make a cameo appearance as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Unlike the other Mario Bros. trophies, this trophy uses sprites from the NES version instead of the arcade version.

Super Mario Land

 * Virtual Console Manual: "This creature is always buzzing around. Defeat it by stomping on it from above."

Names in other languages
Mario Bros.

Super Mario Land

Super Mario All-Stars

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Trivia

 * In later remakes of Mario Bros., the Fighter Fly was redesigned. It is still thin, but it has a different mouth instead of the grinning face. Its eyes also now resemble a Lakitu's goggles.
 * For reasons unknown, the Fighter Fly is absent from the stage, Mario Bros., in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * The name of the enemy is a pun on the insect firefly, and the word "fighter", which is another name for a boxer.

Interwiki links

 * Fighter Fly (Mario Bros.) — de:Fieser Flieger
 * Fighter Fly (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga) — de:Fliegmut — it:Calabrotto

Fly Calabrotto