Jr. Troopa

"I'm your worst nightmare! Here comes the pain!"

- Jr. Troopa

Jr. Troopa (or Master Jr. Troopa, as he calls himself) is a young Koopa who never left his egg after he was born. He is a bully that lives near Goomba Village who likes to pick on other kids. Jr. Troopa has his own piece of territory which he likes to call "Jr. Troopa's Playground". Throughout the game, Jr. Troopa trails Mario and his allies during their quest to save the Star Spirits from the clutches of the Koopa Troop. After each defeat, Jr. Troopa returns in a stronger form. In the last fight between Mario's party and Jr. Troopa (in Bowser's Castle), the young Koopa can mix and match all of his abilities. However, like every other time before, Jr. Troopa is defeated by Mario and his friends.

Paper Mario
Early in the game, Mario and Goompa travel to Jr. Troopa's playground to find the Goomba's missing Hammer. Eventually, they find the Hammer and head back to Goomba Village. However, Jr. Troopa discovers the hero in his territory and challenges him to a fight. Mario defeats the Koopa, and then heads on his way. After Mario saves the first Star Spirit from the Koopa Bros., Jr. Troopa ambushes him on his way back to Toad Town. During this fight, Jr. Troopa hides in his shell, raising his defense. However, Mario once again beats the young Koopa.

Jr. Troopa next appears in Forever Forest. He is lost and scared, so at first he is glad to see Mario, but then, perhaps remembering what Mario did to him, Jr. Troopa attacks. Jr. Troopa's new ability is flight. Nevertheless, Mario beats Jr. Troopa.

Still following Mario, Jr. tracks Mario to Lavalava Island, swimming all the way across the ocean. However, just as Jr. Troopa arrives, Mario leaves on the back of a Whale, forcing Jr. Troopa to turn around and swim back across the ocean. Jr. Troopa arrives at the harbor in Toad Town and challenges Mario. This time, Jr. Troopa has placed a spike on top of his head to go with his wings. However, all the swimming had lowered Jr. Troopa's HP to twenty.

Jr. Troopa appears once again in Shiver Snowfield, though Mario can learn from the penguins that they were talking about him making a ruckus. Jr. has learned some magic and uses a wand-like stick to create balls of damaging magic. After Mario defeats him, he gets frozen in a block of ice before he has time to recover.

Jr. Troopa makes his final appearance in Bowser's Castle. Jr. Troopa appears just as Mario is preparing to face the Super Ultra Mighty Koopa Bros. the Great. He beats the Koopa Bros. himself and proceeds to challenge Mario. After Mario defeats him, Jr. Troopa then runs away shouting that he will never give up.

Jr. Troopa is later seen fighting Kammy Koopa during the ending sequence of Paper Mario. Both end up attacking Bowser by accident, and get burnt to a crisp by him.

Though Jr. Troopa acts as mini-boss, it is possible to avoid the third and the fourth battle with Jr. Troopa by using Toad Town Tunnels to return to Toad Town, which requires players to unlock the pipes in Toad Town Tunnels before the end of chapter 3 or 5.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Jr. Troopa makes a cameo appearance in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In the photograph included with Zip Toad's email, Jr. Troopa can be seen flying in the background.

Super Mario-Kun
Jr. Troopa also makes an appearance in the Paper Mario arcs of Super Mario-Kun. He plays the same role as he does in the game: he interferes with Mario and his partners' progress. As in the games, he uses various power-ups to aid him in the fight, but in the end, he is always defeated.

Profiles and statistics

 * Field tattle: "That's Jr. Troopa. He used to boot us out of the forest near Goomba Village. He thinks he's pretty tough. As far as I can tell, he goes around picking fights with people who are stronger than he is. Talk about dumb! His hobbies are working out and ordering stuff by mail."

Trivia

 * Jr. Troopa breaks the fourth wall when in the fourth fight that he notices his HP bar has dropped in half.
 * At the beginning of the game, Goompa states that Jr. Troopa is the boss of a "neighborhood gang", but none of its members, other than Jr. Troopa, were ever seen.
 * In one of his conversations with Mario, Jr. Troopa accidentally calls himself Jr. Koopa.