Morton Koopa Jr.

Morton Koopa Jr. (also known as Big Mouth Koopa Jr.) is one of Bowser's eight children and is the second youngest Koopaling. Morton stands out from his siblings because of his primarily darker skin colouration and his grey head and until New Super Mario Bros. Wii gave his siblings unique shell colours, his pale grey shell was also a point of interest. He also has a star-shaped birthmark on his face, although Larry now has similar markings. Although Morton is the largest of the Koopalings, he isn't as powerful as some of his older brothers, like Ludwig or Roy, though this may just be due to the fact that he is one of the younger Koopalings, and needs to grow some more.

Morton is named after Morton Downey Jr. This is the reason for the "Jr." at the end of his name; no in-universe reason for it has been provided. The editors of the magazine Nintendo Power once claimed that when they asked Bowser why Morton Koopa was called "Jr.", he responded by pelting them with Bob-ombs.

''Super Mario Bros. 3
Morton made his first appearance was in Super Mario Bros. 3 where he, along with his siblings (minus Bowser Jr.) aided their father in an attempt to take over the Mushroom World. Morton usurped the sultan of Desert Hill and took over. He used the same attack pattern as his brother Larry, but in the end he was defeated by Mario.

Morton also uses his wand to shoot circular rings. Larry Koopa, fought previously before Morton Jr., barely used his wand, as what he mainly did was jump. Morton jumps also, and is a slight bit harder to defeat than Larry.

''Super Mario World
Morton appeared again in Super Mario World helping his family in an attempt to take over Dinosaur Land. Artwork depicts Morton's shell as gray, but like the other Koopalings, the sprites are differently coloured: in-game, he's green. Morton's Castle is located in the second area, the Donut Plains. Morton attacks Mario or Luigi by climbing the walls and ceiling of his room and dropping down.

''New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Morton appears as a boss once again, this time in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. He is fought in World 6 on a platform with the ends of each side slightly raised up, set in a sea of lava. When Morton sees Mario, he stamps his foot and growls, then begins to fight.

Morton's main method of attack is shooting energy blasts that can be targeted in any direction. He can also do a Ground Pound similar to that of Roy Koopa, that will stun anybody who is on the ground. However, Morton's casting speed is extremely slow compared to Roy, but magic blast speed is second only to Iggy. Whenever Morton is damaged, he will jump into his shell and spin to attack. However, this attack is much faster than those of the other Koopalings. Fortunately, it can be easily avoided if the player jumps on the raised ground. However, spiked pillars will come down from above and land on the two raised platforms, damaging anyone that they hit. Once Morton has been stomped on three times, he will retreat to his castle.

In his castle fight, it appears it is be very alike to the attacks Larry used. Then, Kamek flies in and sprinkles magic, and nothing looks different. Morton will then ground pound and the platforms on either side of him will rise up and hit the ceiling. He will jump around and repeat this tactic throughout the battle. Getting squished will defeat Mario and company in one hit. It is strongly noted that Morton hardly ever uses his magic in the castle fight, and he doesn't start spinning around as long as the pillars are up. Also, unlike his tower battle, Morton's Ground Pounds won't stun grounded players during the castle battle.

Morton survived the battle, however, and was seen along with the other Koopalings getting Bowser back up, only to have Bowser's castle fall on top of all of them.

On a side note, unlike in the past titles, players fight Morton after Roy Koopa in this game. Also, in Super Mario Bros. 3, he is the boss of a desert world, while another desert world (though still the second world) is given to Roy in this game, and Morton gets a mountain level instead. In addition, neither Roy or Morton get the cloud level, but it is rather given to Ludwig.

Super Mario anime series
Morton, along with the other Koopalings appeared in two of the Japan-only Super Mario anime videos. In Momotarō, they try to defend their father's castle, only to be defeated by Mario and his friends in their quest to rescue Princess Toadstool. In Snow White, Morton and the other Koopalings play a similar role, once again, being defeated by Mario as he attacks Bowser's Castle.

DIC Cartoons
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World cartoons produced by Nintendo and DIC Entertainment, he was renamed Big Mouth Koopa Jr. (although the "Jr." part was only mentioned on the bonus disc of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 DVD set released by Shout! Factory). Thus, he is commonly known simply as Big Mouth Koopa), ostensibly because he was more talk than action. Aptly, in the Super Mario World cartoon, he occasionally served as an announcer in only three episodes: "Send in the Clown" (as a ringmaster), "Rock TV" (as a ring announcer), and "The Yoshi Shuffle" (as a football commentator). He appears the least out of all the Koopalings.

There are a few physical differences between Morton and Big Mouth: Morton's shell is gray and in the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon, Big Mouth's is purple. Big Mouth has much larger eyes and purple eyelids; the star-shaped birthmark on Morton's face is darker around the cheek, while it's just one solid color on Big Mouth. Lastly, Big Mouth is shorter and thinner than Morton.

Sometimes, Big Mouth's name is spelled as Bigmouth. He was voiced by Dan Hennessey.

Nintendo Adventure Books
In Koopa Capers, Morton and his brothers have their wands stolen by Wendy, who disappears with them shortly afterward, intent on overthrowing their father with her own army, and a super wand she plans to create by fusing her own wand with her brothers'. If Luigi, who had been coerced by Bowser into searching for Wendy, tracks the female Koopaling down to her hideout, Bowser and male Koopalings, who had been following him, will barge in after the plumber, but decide to stave off punishing Wendy for her mutiny if she helps search for the hiding Luigi. If Luigi had acquired Boom Boom's socks earlier in his adventure, he can toss them into Wendy's simmering wand combination potion, which will release fumes that knock the entire Koopa family and their minions out for at least a week.

At an unknown point in Brain Drain, Morton's mind ends up in Toad's body due to Iggy's Synapse Switcher. When Luigi's mind is transferred to Princess Toadstool's body, Morton (who is unaware of the change) tries to trick Luigi into following him to a secluded houseboat by promising him "triple decker lasagna and chocolate chip raviolis". If Luigi tells Morton who he really is, Morton immediately tries to attack him, but Luigi escapes by using the princess's floating ability to cross the nearby Dinosaur Lake. If Luigi instead decides to pretend to be the princess and take Morton up on his offer of snacks, he will be taken to the houseboat, and be ambushed by a group of Koopa Troopas, leading to a Game Over.

''Mario is Missing!
Though Morton doesn't appear in Mario is Missing!, it is mentioned in the PC version of the game that he did indeed travel to Earth with Bowser and his siblings.

''Yoshi's Safari
In Yoshi's Safari, Morton helped his family invade Jewelry Land and steal the jewels that maintain the stability in the kingdom. Bowser entrusted one of these jewels to Morton, who then watched over the area known as Spirit Mountain. He attacked in a giant, blue, mechanical frog built by Iggy, but Mario and Yoshi defeated him with the aid of a Super Scope.

''Hotel Mario
In Hotel Mario, Morton was given the treetop WoodDoor-Hysteria hotel to run when the Mushroom Kingdom was once again taken over by Bowser. Here, he held Princess Toadstool captive for a short while, but soon became the first Koopaling battled and defeated by the Mario Bros. in this game.

''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Morton, along with his brothers and sister reappeared in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga where they guarded Bowser's Castle. He is the second Koopaling to be fought.

To get towards him, Mario and Luigi would have to dodge several shockwaves Morton sent towards the two by jumping over them, High Jumps and Spin Jumps would not work.

Here Morton had two attacks, sending shock-waves and sending four fireballs at the target (like all the other Koopalings). Despite this new moves, Morton ended up being beaten and has once again disappeared.

Defeating Morton raised a platform, allowing the Mario Brothers to continue on towards Lemmy.

Character Description
Unlike the other Koopalings, Morton has a dark brown skin tone, except for his face, which is white. He also has a unique star mark on the left side of his face which is centred on his left eye and covers part of his snout and cheek. Morton has four, fang-like teeth in the upper corners of both sides of his large mouth; they are the same as Iggy's. He also has a three-ribbed, light, padded stomach and tan, padded feet. His shell is black, lined with a white encasing (formerly yellow), and the multiple, short, spikes are circled with white (formerly yellow) rings.

He has small, circular-shaped eyes, like Ludwig's. He has a round head and a large body, making him both taller and broader than most of his siblings. Morton appears to be relatively hairless, except for three, thin, long, black hairs at the top of his head. He also has three-haired black eyebrows that extend off his face like Wendy's. Morton wears the same metal, spiked, cuffs as the other Koopalings.

Personality and Traits
Like all the other Koopalings, Morton's personality and traits have been shrouded in mystery, even more so than compared to his other siblings. Although, according to the Nintendo Player's Guide for Super Mario Advance 4, Morton is a grouch with a cantankerous personality.

In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, all the Koopalings were given names to match the personalities they were given and such was the case with Morton, whose name was changed to Big Mouth Koopa. Big Mouth was extremely talkative, to the point of never seeming to know when to stop talking, which continuously forced Roy to interrupt him. Very few actual Mario games ever gave Morton lines.

Powers and Abilities
Morton usually uses his weight to try and crush Mario or paralyze him by shaking the ground, as in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Super Mario World, which even involved him running up the walls and dropping down from the ceiling. His debut appearance in Super Mario Bros. 3 did not involve his earthquake-causing power, however, and he relied on the standard abilities shared with his siblings to fight, such as jumping and shooting magic blasts, although he generally doesn't use his magical abilities as much as his siblings. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he tended to use his Magic Scepter once his enemies were already immobile, and the game also showed that he couldn't actually jump very high, unlike earlier depictions. Like his brothers and sister, Morton can breathe fire, and in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he used some sort of sonic screech against the Mario bros., which is like Bowser Jr.'s Sonic Roar! Super Ability from Mario Strikers Charged Football.

Bio from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 Writers Bible
''Big Mouth just can't stop blabbing, and his twisted talent is insult. His cutting remarks can even reduce his father to tears. Big Mouth's got a chip on his shoulder the size of the Doomship. He would never admit he was wrong, even though he usually is. He thinks he knows everything about everything, but what he knows is all wrong, and he always blames the other guy for his mistakes. Big Mouth loves to stir up trouble, and has a needling probing attitude that always gets it. He holds grudges against the whole world.

Gallery
For this subject's gallery, see here.

Quotes

 * "Grrrr. You're pretty tricky. With all of these new moves, Mario will be difficult to beat. I'd better report this to our Dad!" - The Super Mario Bros. 3 manual (page 9)
 * "That's Prince Hugo the Huge! The new ruler of Giant Land! They say he's the biggest, toughest, bravest prince ever! Even for a giant, he's a giant." - Sneaky Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas
 * "Yeah, and they're gonna pick you to be their leader! Isn't that always the way? Treat people lousy, dump garbage on their heads and they'll follow you anywhere!" - Recycled Koopa
 * "Have a good time! Have a nice day! Sayonara! So long! Ciao! See you later, alligator! Ciao! Bon voyage! Hasta la vista! Be sure to write!" - Send in the Clown
 * "Let's do an ambush..." - Do the Koopa
 * "You're a royal pain! And we need your cage for our prisoners!" - Sneaky Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas

Trivia

 * Morton was originally going to appear in Super Princess Peach, although he was taken out of the final game with the rest of the Koopalings.
 * His sprite in Super Mario World depicts him in a vastly different color scheme (orange and green) rather than the traditional brown and gray he usually has.
 * One of Bowser's alternate colors in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the same color scheme as Morton's original artwork from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World (brown skin, silver shell, and yellow rims).