Pom Pom

"Wow, what a neat-looking place! Name’s Pom Pom! I’m not TOO late, am I?"

- Pom Pom

Pom Pom is a boss who debuted in Super Mario 3D Land. She appears to be both the female counterpart and partner of Boom Boom. She is also seen wielding a boomerang with a ribbon on it. Pom Pom often appears on airships where she could fight Mario or Luigi. Pom Pom shares her name with a loose, fluffy material used by cheerleaders and sports fans, or in crafts, the pom-pom.

Super Mario 3D Land
Pom Pom debuts in Super Mario 3D Land as one the bosses encountered alongside Boom Boom. At the beginning of Super Mario 3D Land, Pom Pom, Boom Boom, Bowser and the Koopa Troop had invaded the Mushroom Kingdom during a storm, stole the Super Leaves and kidnapped Princess Peach.

After the defeat of Boom Boom in World 3, Pom Pom resides in her pink airship, first seen in World 4. In battle, Pom Pom will throw boomerangs at Mario, a maximum of 2 Boomerangs, and jump a fair distance, similar to a Boomerang Bro (though she does back flips and front flips). When Pom Pom takes damage, she will hover in her shell and try to land on Mario, unlike Boom Boom. This can be avoided by stepping to the side, and repeatedly jumping on top of her shell during her hover attack will yield a number of 1-Up Mushrooms. After taking three hits from Mario's stomps, Pom Pom is defeated and will vanish while releasing ten coins.

Pom Pom reappears in World 6; this time, the arena's floor is covered in fire on the side of the platforms. She will occasionally jump to different platforms in this battle, but otherwise is fought the same. In World 7, Pom Pom will fight her last battle in the regular worlds with Mario, alongside her partner Boom Boom. Unlike the first two encounters, she will throw a maximum of 3 boomerangs instead of 2. After defeating Bowser, she and Boom Boom appear frequently in the Special Worlds, fighting against Mario and Luigi until the last level. For unknown reasons, shortly before fighting the Mario Bros., she winks at them in a somewhat flirtatious manner.

On a side note, both Pom Pom and Boom Boom are referred to in the plural sense on the European and Australian websites of Super Mario 3D Land, rather than individuals in the overall Boom Boom species. Therefore, it's possible that the player is fighting different Pom Poms and Boom Booms on the various ships, although the North American website suggests that they're one pair of recurring characters, the Prima guide refers to them in the singular, and even the Japanese website implies Pom Pom is a unique individual by describing her as 「クッパ軍 の紅一点. 」, meaning "The Koopa army's lone female." .

Super Mario 3D World
Pom Pom returns in Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U. She appears the same, but is now smaller when compared to Boom Boom. She throws shurikens, rather than boomerangs, and she uses transparent clones (the number of which varies depending on where fought and how many hits she took) to aid her in her boss fights, which also throw shurikens; the clones vanish if attacked. The difference between her and the clones lie mostly in her hair bow which the clones lack and the color of her shuriken (the clones have gray shurikens, while she has a pink one). She is the boss of World 3 in the level The Bullet Bill Express, but Mario and the others have a rematch with her in The Bowser Express, where she produces more clones. In her third encounter in Boss Blitz, she reuses her strategy from the first encounter.

In the credits, she can be seen next to Boom Boom, comforting him over their recent loss.

Super Mario Maker 2
Pom Pom appears as an enemy in Super Mario Maker 2, where she can be placed in the Super Mario 3D World style. Like in Super Mario 3D World, Pom Pom creates clones and attacks by throwing shurikens.

Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Pom Pom appears in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as a goalie for the Football event in the Nintendo 3DS version. Although she is not among the main cast of playable characters, the player can take control of her while playing the event, making this her first playable appearance in a game.

Mario Sports Superstars
Pom Pom makes her playable debut in Mario Sports Superstars. In baseball she is classified as a Power type character. In soccer, she is one of the two selectable goalies, with the other being Boom Boom. Players can have two Pom Poms in the same field at once, possibly indicating that she is a species (this has yet to be confirmed, as Pom Pom has been shown to have the ability of cloning herself).

Super Mario Party
Pom Pom makes her Mario Party debut in Super Mario Party as an unlockable playable character. She is unlocked by completing the fifth world of Challenge Road, Salty Sea. This is the first game in which Pom Pom speaks, as well as the first game where Pom Pom is physically present while Boom Boom is not, who only makes a cameo as artwork in the minigame Absent Minded.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pom Pom appears alongside Boom Boom as an Attack-type, ace class, primary spirit, which is the enhanced form of the Boom Boom spirit once it has reached level 99. The artwork is from Super Mario 3D Land.

Physical appearance
Pom Pom appears to be the female counterpart of Boom Boom, though she has a ponytail and a pair of beads on her head, shorter arms than Boom Boom's, and a smoother and smaller shell with dots similar to that of Buzzy Beetles, while other Koopas have shells with plates and grooves. She has shaped cheeks, a high nose, a low jaw, and deeply curved lips, similar to that of the Koopalings, two large teeth, padded feet and, since Super Mario 3D World, claws like her male counterpart. Unlike the latter, Pom Pom has magenta skin, tan head with red eyes instead of black and pink foot pads instead of light yellow. Her closest resemblance (apart from Boom Boom) is Wendy O. Koopa. The Prima Guide for Super Mario 3D World states that Pom Pom is Boom Boom's sister.

Abilities
In Super Mario 3D Land, Pom Pom's way of fighting is similar to that of a Boomerang Bro. She throws at least two to three boomerangs at Mario, and then jumps away. She also spins in her shell to attack Mario anytime she gets hurt, though in a different manner from Boom Boom and the Koopalings: She hovers in her hard shell and tries to smash on her opponent overhead. Pom Pom can shake her airship just by impacting the floor with her spinning shell. Pom Pom is highly acrobatic as she can perform high jumps and elegant flips after she attacks.

In Super Mario 3D World, she uses the art of ninjutsu to battle. She performs a hand gesture to disappear into pink smoke, which splits and teleport across the arena. She reappears from the split smoke with a large horde of clones equipped with large shurikens to attack with the real Pom Pom, who can be identified by her hair tie and pink shuriken with a bow, traits the clones do not share.

Personality and traits
According to the commentary in Super Mario 3D World Original Soundtrack, Pom Pom wants to be refined and elegant, but is actually prone to losing her temper.

Super Mario 3D Land

 * North American website bio (shared with Boom Boom): "Cruising for a bruising in Bowser's airships, Boom Boom and Pom Pom wait for you in the lower chambers. They may look tough, but they're both a bit of a pushover—three quick stomps to the head will take them out."
 * European Website Bio: "Adding a dash of glamour to Bowser's army of minions, Pom Poms lead Mario a merry dance with their silky smooth moves."

Super Mario Party

 * Website Bio: "This boomerang-tossing character makes her Mario Party debut as a playable character."

Quotes

 * "I’m so inspired! You make me wanna be a Super Star too! Perhaps next time we’ll meet as rivals." - Super Mario Party
 * "Wow, what a neat-looking place! Name’s Pom Pom! I’m not TOO late, am I?" - Super Mario Party
 * "Where ya headed? I’ll come with!" - Super Mario Party
 * "Great! I’m a winner at pretty much everything!" - Super Mario Party