Koopalings

The Koopalings (Bowser's minions in Europe in the New Super Mario Bros. games, and occasionally called Koopa Kids in the cartoons) is the name of a seven-member clan that closely serves King Bowser Koopa. The Koopalings often act as high-ranking leaders of the Koopa Troop and mostly appear as bosses in various SNES-era Mario series games, before going on a nine-year hiatus after Hotel Mario, reappearing once in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga in 2003, and then being redesigned for their inclusion in the recent New Super Mario Bros. games, starting with 2009's New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

The Koopalings were originally considered to be Bowser's own seven children, but while this idea was explored in various media released after their debut in Super Mario Bros. 3, it later fell into disuse. Then, 14 years after the Koopalings made their debut, Bowser Jr. was introduced during their 9-year hiatus, causing confusion about the nature of Bowser's parenthood. While the Prima Guide of New Super Mario Bros. Wii referred to Bowser Jr. as a "bothersome Koopaling." , other sources treated him independently from his Koopaling "siblings". In particular, the Japanese version of New Super Mario Bros. Wii made it clear that Junior was ranked higher than the Koopalings in the Koopa Troop, and then in a 2012 interview, Shigeru Miyamoto explicitly stated that Nintendo's "current story is that the Koopalings are not Bowser's children", leaving Bowser Jr. as his only offspring.

Members
The Koopalings are listed below in order from what is possibly (but not confirmed to be) their birth orders from youngest to oldest:

Larry Koopa
Larry Koopa has been stated to be the youngest of the Koopalings. In the cartoon he's the middle child. He seems to have an interest in sports, such as how he plays tennis with a fireball in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, although he hasn't appeared in any sports game. He has also shown to be bad-tempered or bratty in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. His main color representation is sky blue. Larry is known as Cheatsy Koopa in the cartoons, because he will try to win by any means (legitimate or otherwise).

Morton Koopa Jr.
Morton Koopa Jr. is considered the second youngest of the Koopalings despite his very large size. In the cartoon he is smaller and is the second oldest. He seems to possess a cantankerous personality. He is also the only Koopaling to have a brown skin tone rather than the yellow tone of the others; this could be because he normally rules a hot and dry area (Desert Hill in Super Mario Bros. 3, Donut Plains in Super Mario World). The Jr. following his name has sparked some controversy, although it was not meant to have any in-game connotations and was simply included as an homage to the man he was named after, Morton Downey Jr. His main color representation is black. Morton was known as Big Mouth Koopa Jr. in the cartoons, due to his talkative nature.

Wendy O. Koopa
Wendy O. Koopa is the third youngest of Koopalings, as well as the only female. She is considered a spoiled brat with a quick temper, often going into a rage over little things. Instead of the spiked bands the other Koopalings wear, she has a bow, a necklace, very large bracelets and wears high heels. Regardless of her feminine traits, she is stated to be a tomboy. Even though she is female, she is one of the two Koopalings with no hair (the other being Roy). Wendy was known as Kootie Pie Koopa in the cartoons. Her main color is pink.

Iggy Koopa
Iggy Koopa is considered the middle child of the Koopalings. He is depicted as hyperactive and unpredictable. His two outstanding characteristics are his glasses and his height; he is shown to be the tallest and thinnest of the Koopalings. In the cartoons he is known as Hop Koopa and is the twin brother of Lemmy Koopa (Hip Koopa), and together, they are the youngest members of the family. His main color representation after New Super Mario Bros. Wii is yellow-green.

Roy Koopa
Roy Koopa is considered the third oldest of the Koopalings in the games. In the cartoons he is the oldest. Roy is sometimes depicted as a typical bully who likes beating up others (mostly Iggy and maybe Lemmy) for his own amusement. He was even known as Bully Koopa in the cartoons. In a likely reference to the "Real men wear pink" joke, Roy's head and sunglasses are pink, as was his shell originally, although now it and his representative color is purple. In Japanese materials, Roy is shown to speak in a calm and collected manner, so he may have more of a laid-back personality.

Lemmy Koopa
Lemmy Koopa is the smallest of the Koopalings, despite being considered the second oldest. He retains a childlike innocence and immaturity about him. Already being clownish from his love of balancing on his rubber ball, it is stated he would rather join the circus than try to destroy Mario. His main color representation is yellow. Lemmy was known as Hip Koopa in the cartoons and is the twin brother of Iggy Koopa (Hop Koopa), and together, they are the youngest members of the family. He is named after Lemmy Kilmister.

Ludwig von Koopa
Ludwig von Koopa has been said to be the oldest Koopaling and was Bowser's second-in-command until Bowser Jr. came along. He possesses a magnificent intelligence, most likely superior to that of the other Koopalings as well as that of King Bowser. He is presumptuous, arrogant, and the cruelest of his siblings, but is still very much into culture; he likes listening to classical music and he is a composer himself, as he apparently composes "Koopa Symphonies" (which are said to be terrible). His main color representation is deep blue. Ludwig was known as Kooky von Koopa in the cartoons and was the third oldest. He can do a Flutter Jump in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. He was named after Ludwig van Beethoven, which connects with the fact he composes symphonies.

Super Mario Bros. 3
The first appearance of the seven Koopalings was in Super Mario Bros. 3. Here, the Koopalings were ordered by Bowser to use their airships and armies to conquer the various lands of the Mushroom World, and presumably to distract Mario while Bowser himself abducts Princess Peach. Each Koopaling, after attacking a kingdom, would steal the magic scepter of the land's ruler and transform that ruler into an animal of some kind (or in the case of Pipe Maze's ruler in the NES version, a plant).

Mario and Luigi would encounter and battle a Koopaling every time they ventured through a heavily-guarded airship. The battle against the Koopalings would consist mostly of dodging the Koopalings' leaps and magical blasts from their stolen scepter. It would only take three stomps on the head or ten fireballs in order to defeat a Koopaling. Unlike Bowser, they are immune to hammers. Once defeated, that Koopaling would retreat into their shell, fly away and drop their Magic Wands. After Mario or Luigi picked it up, the airship would strangely vanish and that world's king would be restored.

The Koopalings played the same role in the GBA remake, Super Mario Advance 4, with Morton, Lemmy and Ludwig each being given an extra e-Reader level. Larry was also shown attacking Grass Land and turning its King into a Cobrat, resulting in his Toad sending a letter to the Mushroom Kingdom asking for assistance, and thus, getting the Mario Bros. involved. In addition, if the player managed to defeat Bowser before defeating the other Koopalings, a cutscene will play when the player arrives at their respective world's castle that shows them ambushing the king, stealing the wand, and then departing shortly before Mario arrived in a similar manner to Larry.

Super Mario World
In Super Mario World the Koopalings aid Bowser in his attack on Dinosaur Land. Each Koopaling was charged with guarding a fortress on each of Dinosaur Land's areas.

After traveling through a Koopaling fortress, Mario or Luigi would battle a Koopaling, who would need to be bashed on the head three times, or in Iggy and Larry's case, knocked into the lava to be defeated. Morton, Ludwig, and Roy can also be defeated with a dozen fireballs. After a Koopaling was defeated, a captured Yoshi Egg would be rescued and the path to a new area would be opened.

Once defeated, Morton, Ludwig, and Roy went spiraling into the background wall (signified by a puff of smoke), while Iggy, Lemmy, Wendy and Larry all fell into the lava. Afterwards, Mario or Luigi would totally destroy their castle. The narration heavily implied their complete demise, though this was added for flavor by the localizers - the Japanese text for each castle was originally uniform for each victory and did not even refer to them by individual name (in International versions, a rematch can also occur by holding L & R at the castle's rubble).

For some reason (likely technical restrictions), the Koopalings' in-game sprites have alternate color schemes from their artwork such as Ludwig with white hair and a yellow shell rather than blue hair and green shell. Additionally, Iggy's hair is different than his normal hair sprite - interestingly, the hair resembles his Super Mario Bros. 3 hair, though it is restyled during the final image in the cast roll.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
The Koopalings made a surprise return in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, serving as bosses in seven of the game's worlds. They also make an appearance in the game's opening sequence, hiding in a cake as cake toppings that the Koopalings presented Princess Peach with. Bowser Jr. also appears alongside the Koopalings, marking the first time that all eight children have appeared in the same game. The seven Koopalings all sport a replica of the Magic Wands from their first appearance, while Bowser Jr. has a miniature Koopa Clown Car of his own. In the first seven worlds, Mario and his friends would have to ascend a tower in the middle of the world, at the top of which the Koopaling of that world waited. When defeated in battle, the Koopaling then jumps away after their defeat, much like Bowser Jr. in the original New Super Mario Bros., setting up a rematch at the castle at the end of the world. Upon catching up with the Koopaling again, Kamek appears and adds a new element to the battle, such as replacing the floor of Larry's room with one that shifts up and down, giving Lemmy an even larger ball than before or even flooding the room Wendy is in. The Koopalings have been given voices in this game as well.

After the credits they are shown with Bowser Jr. ordering them to help Bowser get back up. When he does, however, Bowser's castle falls on top of all of them. Bowser can be heard moaning in pain after that.

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Larry is in World 1, Roy is in World 2, Lemmy is in World 3, Wendy is in World 4, Iggy is in World 5, Morton is in World 6, and Ludwig is in World 7.

It is interesting to note that, while in Super Mario Bros. 3 Morton was the boss of a desert level, Roy was the boss of a sky level, and Ludwig was the boss of a pipe level, these have all been slightly switched. Roy is the boss of a desert level, Ludwig is the boss of a sky level, and Morton is the boss of a mountain level (replacing the pipe level). Also, Iggy's giant level is replaced with a jungle level. Larry, Lemmy, and Wendy each retain their level themes (grass, ice, and water, respectively).

New Super Mario Bros. 2
The seven Koopalings, alongside their Magic Wands, reappear in the game, New Super Mario Bros. 2. Five of them (Roy, Iggy, Wendy, Morton and Ludwig) serve as the Castle bosses of the first five Main Worlds, while the two others (Larry and Lemmy) are the bosses of the castles in two of the special worlds.

They use the Koopa Clown Car to kidnap Princess Peach, as seen in the intro, where Mario and Luigi fly around for coins while the Koopalings capture the Princess. After Mario and Luigi safely landed, the Koopalings crash onto the floor, making the Mario Bros. lose their Raccoon powers. They show them Princess Peach and fly away, with Mario and Luigi closely behind them.

One of the Koopalings is seen at the beginning of each world, where they run to the tower with Princess Peach. After defeating the Reznors in the Tower, the Koopaling of this world comes down with a chain, laughing or taunting Mario and then disappearing again, running to their castle. After the castle fight, the next Koopaling awaits with Princess Peach, only to run away to the next world. They are also seen with the Koopa Clown Car to turn Mario into stone in the final castle by blasting a bright light. After Bowser's initial defeat, the Koopalings attempt to aid Bowser by making him grow bigger, although this only resulted in them being knocked down by Giant Bowser. During the credits, they are seen trying to carry the defeated Bowser with the vehicle, but his weight pulls them down, scattering them all on the floor and on trees.

In this game, Roy is in World 1, Iggy is in World 2, Wendy is in World 3, Morton is in World 4, Ludwig is in World 5, Larry is in World Mushroom and Lemmy is in World Flower.

New Super Mario Bros. U
The Koopalings are set to return, along with Boom Boom and Bowser Jr., in the upcoming Wii U title New Super Mario Bros. U. Like in Super Mario Bros. 3, each Koopaling has a personal Airship, though this time, the ships have been stylized in their own images. They're bosses in castle levels once again, but they are fought in their Airships, which are accessed via a Cannon from the castles. With the known exception of Larry, they don't have their Magic Scepters this time around, and instead use different strategies (e.g. Roy uses a handheld Bill Blaster during his battle) much like in Super Mario World.

So far, Lemmy has been confirmed to be the Acorn Plains boss, Wendy to be the Frosted Glacier boss, Larry to be the Sparkling Waters boss, and Roy to be the Mountain world boss. Though unconfirmed, it's possible that Morton will be the boss of Layer Cake Desert (the first time as a desert boss since Super Mario Bros. 3), Iggy to be the forest world boss, like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Ludwig to be the usual sky world boss.

Super Mario anime
The first appearance of the Koopalings outside of video games was in the Japanese-exclusive Super Mario anime series, which was an adaptation of three fairy tales. In the Mario version of Momotarō, they appeared as the minions of Bowser, who was portrayed as the stories' ogre. The Koopalings also appeared as minions of Bowser (now the Wicked Queen) in the adaptation of Snow White ("Shirayukihime").

DIC Cartoons
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World produced by Nintendo and DIC Entertainment, the Koopalings (sometimes referred to as the Koopa Kids) were featured as recurring villains, replacing Mouser, Tryclyde, Fryguy and Clawgrip from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Oddly, the names of the Koopalings were altered in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. This is probably due to the show's creators using the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 3 as a reference and as the Koopalings weren't named in that game, the show creators simply created names and gave the Koopa Kids (as they were called) personalities to match these names. These names were presumably kept in the Super Mario World animated series, which was created after the Koopa Kids were officially named, so as not to confuse viewers.

Also in the show, the order of the Koopalings' ages were altered; see the section Birth Order for more information. Rather than acting as Bowser's highest ranking minions, the Koopa Kids acted directly as his children. They did things such as try to get his attention, gain his appreciation, and even plot against him. Cheatsy and Kooky (Larry and Ludwig) seemed to be Bowser's favorites out of the bunch, which somewhat follows the games. Lemmy, Iggy, Wendy, and Roy were the only Koopa Kids who closely resembled their game counterparts.

Comics
The Koopalings were recurring characters in Valiant's Nintendo Comics System imprint. Here, their personalities were somewhat similar to their animated series counterparts, though they had their original names and appearances. While Wendy and Lemmy each had solo appearances (the former in Fins and Roses, and the latter in The Buddy System and The Revenge of Pipe Ooze!) their siblings only appeared in the story Bowser Knows Best (where the group abduct Princess Toadstool for Bowser as a Father's Day present) and the short Get Kooped Up With the Nicest People! (where they and Bowser are shown vacationing in a resort called Klub Koopa).

In Nintendo Power's Super Mario Adventures comic, the Koopalings acted as Bowser's henchmen in his plot to kidnap and marry Princess Toadstool.

Nintendo Adventure Books
The Koopalings appeared throughout the Nintendo Adventure Books, often aiding Bowser in his latest scheme, though they would occasionally strike out on their own, as was the case with Ludwig in Pipe Down! and Iggy in Brain Drain. The only book in which all seven appeared together was Koopa Capers, which has Wendy steal her brothers' wand so she can fuse them with her own to make a super wand that, along with minions loyal only to her, would allow her to usurp her father.

In the books Iggy was the Koopaling featured the most, often appearing as the main threat due to whipping up a new invention like the GLOM, Monster Mixer and Synapse Switcher. Larry was used the least, his only noteworthy role in the series being ambushing Mario and Yoshi in an entirely skippable sequence in Dinosaur Dilemma.

Mario is Missing!
In Mario is Missing!, the Koopalings travel to Earth with Bowser to aid him in his plan to melt Antarctica, thereby flooding the Earth. Presumably, they also acted as the commanders for each of the "Koopa critters" that were being deployed to steal the artifacts around the world. A Koopaling would guard the corridor of Bowser's fortress and battle Luigi, who was searching for his missing brother. All it would take are a few bops on the head to defeat a Koopaling in Mario is Missing!.

In the Super Nintendo version of Mario is Missing!, only Ludwig, Roy and Iggy appear, although Larry and Morton are mentioned in the manual; in the PC version of the game, Lemmy and Morton are the only ones not appearing, though they are mentioned in the game's manual. Cut dialogue in the latter version, however, implied that Lemmy and Morton were considered to be implemented as bosses. Also in the PC version, instead of stomping the Koopalings, Luigi defeats them with a single blast from a Fire Flower that he gains after locking each door on a floor. The PC version is also the only major appearance of the Koopalings where they actually talk in-game.

Yoshi's Safari
In Yoshi's Safari, the Koopalings once again aid Bowser in the conquest of a kingdom, this time Jewelry Land. In this game, the Koopalings attack Mario by using giant mecha weaponry. It would take various shots from Mario's Super Scope to beat a Koopaling, thus forcing it to hold up a white flag of defeat.

Hotel Mario
In Hotel Mario a Koopaling would guard a hotel which they had taken over. Mario would have to adventure through a Koopa Hotel and reach their room to battle them. Their hotels were passed in this order:


 * Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria
 * Roy's HardBrick Hotel
 * Larry's Chillton Hotel
 * Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel
 * Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel
 * Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel

Despite their efforts, and like in the previous engagements, the Koopalings were defeated. Iggy didn't have his own hotel, but he accompanied Bowser in the final battle.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
"Koopalings! Your time has come!"

- Bowletta

After several years absence, the Koopalings make a return appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. During the game, the witch Cackletta who had previously stolen Bowser's body takes control of Bowser's Castle and uses the fortress to attack Beanbean Castle Town. The Koopalings serve "Bowletta" and work to impede the Mario Bros.' progress.

After getting into Bowser's Castle, Mario and Luigi fight the Koopalings in their respective rooms, usually needing to complete some sort of challenge in order to battle them. Additionally, the last three (Roy, Wendy and Larry) use a special Time Bob-omb in battle. If the Mario Bros. failed to end the battle successfully in 9 turns, the Bob-omb's timer would reach zero and it would explode, resulting in an instant Game Over. While the Mario Bros. ventured through the castle they encountered the Koopalings in the same order as in Super Mario World (Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry). After being defeated, each Koopaling left a warp point for the Mario Bros. None of the seven Koopalings had any lines of dialogue.

Other Appearances
Iggy and Larry appear in Mario's Early Years. Iggy is in the alphabet, and Larry comes out of a pipe if the player chose the correct answer, saying "I like your choice". Iggy also makes cameo appearances in Super Scope 6 and Super Mario Sunshine. In the former, he is shown riding a missile and chasing a plane piloted by Mario, while in the latter, an image of Mario fighting him in Super Mario World is briefly shown during F.L.U.D.D.'s scan.

The Koopalings were originally going to appear in Super Princess Peach as boss characters in the order of Super Mario World, though they were dropped from the final version of the game for unknown reasons. In this game, Roy, Wendy's, and Morton's shells were apparently going to be colored green like their brothers, rather than their original pink and grey coloration (respectively).

The Koopalings are mentioned briefly in Bowser's trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but only Bowser Jr. is mentioned in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy, while Ludwig alone appears as a Sticker.

Although the Koopalings do not directly appear in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, costumes that are based on them can be unlocked in that game, and are unlocked in the same order as the Koopalings were fought in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Names
The Koopalings were modeled after the design team of Super Mario Bros. 3, and they were all named after famous musicians by the North American localizers of Super Mario Bros. 3 , since they were not given distinct names in the original Japanese version. In the Japanese version of Super Mario World, only their first names were adopted, dropping the Koopa surname, as was done in many subsequent games (both in English and Japanese). The Koopalings were all given different names in the cartoons, purportedly because Nintendo of America had not released their own names yet, forcing the writers of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 to come up with their own names.

The word "Koopaling" itself is likely a combination of the name "Koopa" with the diminutive suffix "-ling", which is often used to denote younger, smaller or inferior versions of the full name, which aptly describes their relation to Bowser. Similarly, their original Japanese name, "Kokuppa" is essentially "Little Koopa" or "Child Koopa". The English name also evokes such words as "fledgling", "hatchling", "youngling" or even "underling", and may be a mere portmanteau between one of them and "Koopa".

Games
According to the Player's Guide for Super Mario Bros. 3, Larry is stated to be the youngest of the Koopalings, while Ludwig is said to be the eldest. As Larry is the first Koopaling of the game, while Ludwig is the last, it is strongly implied that all seven Koopalings are fought in order from youngest to oldest, provided the player doesn't warp. However, the birth order for the five middle children has never been officially confirmed. Bowser Jr.'s age in relation to the Koopalings is also unclear, though he is assumed to be younger as he not only appears much later, but is also very childish when it comes to his traits.

DiC Cartoons
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, an alternate birth order was used; much of this information comes from the Writer's Bible included on the Shout! Factory DVD set. Bully (Roy Koopa) is regarded as the eldest, while the twins Hip and Hop (Lemmy and Iggy Koopa) are the youngest. While Hip and Hop are said to be six-year olds, the rest of their siblings are all teenagers. Although Kootie Pie (Wendy O. Koopa) celebrated her sixteenth birthday in "Reptiles in the Rose Garden", the specific ages of the others was never confirmed. In a behind-the-scenes clip of the cartoon, the Koopalings were shown in the age order of Bully, Big Mouth, Kooky, Cheatsy, Kootie Pie, Hop and Hip.

Appearance
All the Koopalings look relatively similar to each other and to Bowser and Bowser Jr. However, unlike their father and younger brother, the Koopalings lack horns on their head, one of them has a unique darker complexion, and two have heads that are not green in colouration (one is pink while the lone female Koopaling's head matches the rest of her body's yellow coloration). All the Koopalings have various distinguishing features, some of which were exaggerated or changed in the redesigns introduced with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Originally, most of the Koopalings had green shells, but now they all have unique shell coloration, and their tails are visible in the artwork, having only been seen in various sprites before the release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Personalities
The Koopalings' individual personalities have not been fleshed out much besides their desire to cause mayhem and their loyalty to Bowser. However, there were some hints in various supplementary materials. Some of the personalities changed between localizations. For example, Roy in the American localizations was depicted in a manner similar to a bully (which also earned him the name "Bully" in the DiC cartoons), but Japanese materials give him a calm and collected demeanor. The Japanese manual for Super Mario Bros. 3 gave each of the Koopalings several quirks unique to each of them that hinted at their individual personalities with some speeches uttered by them. However, the American translation toned down several of these quirks or removed them altogether.

Abilities
The Koopalings' each have varying abilities, but in general, the Koopalings are capable of utilizing their shell as both a method of defense and a method of offense. In addition, they are also skilled in magic, frequently utilizing Magic Scepters as a weapon. However, they are weak to fireballs, though their exact limit has varied between taking multiple fireballs to take down, or being one-hit knocked out by a single fireball. Similar to Bowser, they also have a tendency to survive near-death methods. This is especially evident with their defeat in Super Mario World, where Larry, Wendy, Iggy, and Lemmy were dunked into lava by the Mario Bros., and each Koopaling later had their castles collapse on them, as well as New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where they alongside Bowser ended up surviving being crushed by Bowser's falling castle.

Family Relationship
The Koopalings were introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3 as Bowser's seven children, and were shown to have a family dynamic with him in Mario cartoons, books and comics produced at the time. In both the games and the other media, they helped their father in his evil plans, typically acting as mini-bosses who ruled over various conquered areas. They are shown to be very loyal to Bowser in all their appearances, their unexplained subservience to Bowletta (Bowser possessed by the witch Cackletta) in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga notwithstanding.

After Super Mario Bros. 3, subsequent games and their related material started downplaying or ignoring the relationship between the Koopalings and Bowser. The back of the English-language version of Yoshi's Safari box called them Bowser's "offspring", while the manual for the SNES version of Mario is Missing! ambiguously calls the Koopalings Bowser's "bad boys" (Wendy was not shown to be involved in that game), however in the the DOS version's in-game dialogue, the Koopalings refer to Bowser by name, rather than with a familial title. The text in the Japanese manual of the Super Mario Bros. 3 merely implies a relationship between the Koopalings and Bowser in calling them the 「コクッパ７兄弟」 Kokuppa 7 Kyōdai (essentially, the "7 little Bowser siblings"), however in a speech bubble, Bowser refers to them as 「俺様の息子達」 Ore-sama no musuko-tachi, which equates to "my children" (or, literally, "my sons") , and Larry refers to Bowser as 「オヤジ」 Oyaji, which is both a term of endearment and a Japanese word for "father". However, after Super Mario Bros. 3 and a few Famicom-era promotional materials, none of the Koopalings' Japanese game appearances mentioned their relationship with Bowser.

In 2002, Super Mario Sunshine introduced a new son, Bowser Jr., and given that the Koopalings had not made a major appearance since 1994's Hotel Mario, there were concerns that Bowser Jr. had replaced the seven older characters as Bowser's sole offspring. This suspicion was supported by the fact that in 2003, the Japanese manual of Super Mario Advance 4 merely called the Koopalings underlings rather than Bowser's kids, although the North American manual of Super Mario Advance 4 refers to the Koopalings as Bowser's children. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga gave them no lines and did not comment on their relationship to Bowser. In addition, while Bowser's Trophy in 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee referred to his seven children, only Junior was mentioned in his Super Smash Bros. Brawl Trophy in 2008.

However, the Koopalings did eventually return after a long hiatus alongside Bowser Jr. in 2009's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and seem to share a familial relationship with him, Kamek, and Bowser. The game established that Bowser Jr. was the heir to the Koopa throne despite being the youngest, and he seemed to act as the ringleader of the group. He is often viewed as the "spoiled" one, though there is little in-game evidence supporting this, partly because the other Koopalings have yet to be shown interacting with their father in modern games aside from assisting him in or after battle. Promotional materials did downplay their kinship, such as the website of New Super Mario Bros. 2 referring to them as minions, as well as their name change in Japan and Europe to "Bowser's minons" (although the European website for New Super Mario Bros. 2 grouped the Koopalings in with Bowser Jr. as being part of the "Koopa Clan"). In a September 2012 interview, Shigeru Miyamoto went on record to say that Nintendo's "current story is that the seven Koopalings are not Bowser's children" and that Bowser Jr.'s mother is unknown.

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