Fishin' Lakitu

A Fishin' Lakitu (alternatively Fishing Lakitu ) is a variant of Lakitu found throughout the Mario franchise. This Lakitu uses a fishing rod to hold up various objects, usually items or stoplights.

Super Mario World
Super Mario World marks the first appearance of Fishin' Lakitu. Only one appears in this game, in Forest of Illusion 4. In this game, the Fishin' Lakitu dangles a 1-Up Mushroom from a fishing pole; should Mario grab the mushroom, it becomes a normal Lakitu and throws Spinies at Mario. Mario can defeat it the same way he can a normal Lakitu. It will respawn as a normal Lakitu from there on in.

This game also introduces ghostly versions known as Fishin' Boos.

Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS
No Fishin' Lakitus appear in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS outright; however, the Lakitu Bros., who have fishing poles with cameras on them, appear in the game as cameramen and exist mostly to explain how the camera works.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
In Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, whenever the player wants to scan an e-Reader card, a Fishin' Lakitu will appear to whisk Mario away from wherever on the map he is on. This Lakitu has a slightly different appearance from the enemy Lakitus found in levels.

He goes unused in the European version due to all e-Reader content being removed. He also goes unused in Virtual Console releases due to all e-Reader levels being unlocked by default.

Super Mario Odyssey
Fishin' Lakitus (referred to simply as "Lakitus") return in Super Mario Odyssey as NPCs instead of enemies. They appear in the Sand Kingdom, Lake Kingdom, Snow Kingdom, and Bowser's Kingdom, and generally do not appear until all the main story Power Moons have been collected for a kingdom (most notably, the Sand Kingdom's Lakitu is initially frozen). Mario can use Cappy to capture the Lakitu, who can slowly float with his cloud but is confined to a small area in each kingdom he appears in, and can fish for Cheep Cheeps in the water (or poison in Bowser's Kingdom), most of which give coins after being reeled in. In the Lake Kingdom and Snow Kingdom, the biggest Cheep Cheep instead gives a Power Moon. In the Sand Kingdom, Mario can also fish Captain Toad out of sand, while in Bowser's Kingdom, he can fish for Poochy; reeling either of these in has them reward Mario with a Power Moon. If an enemy gets too close to the Lakitu when he is not captured, he will complain that he cannot fish under these conditions, regardless of whether Mario has captured the enemy in question or not. Otherwise, he sings a song about fishing when not captured. Lakitu is found at the Desert Oasis in the Sand Kingdom, the Courtyard in the Lake Kingdom, the southeastern corner of the Snow Kingdom, and Beneath the Keep in Bowser's Kingdom.

Super Mario-Kun
A Fishin' Lakitu appeared in Mario Kart-themed issues of Super Mario-Kun, generally serving the same role it does in those games. This one seems to be wilder than usual; most notably, it bonks Mario with the starting light at one point.

Mario Kart series
A single Lakitu appears throughout the Mario Kart series, billed in Super Mario Kart's instruction manual as the owner of all the tracks. He uses his fishing pole to hold the starting lights (except in Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Tour) and fish out racers who fall off the track. The action of falling off a track and being fished out incurs a considerable loss of time and often position, and in Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart 8, he also charges up to three coins for fishing out a racer; however, if a racer does not have enough coins, he fishes out the racer anyway.

Starting with Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, he uses his pole to show the lap count as well as a U-turn sign when a driver is going the wrong way. In Mario Kart 8, after about five seconds, he will also flip a driver so that they go in the right direction again.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has an intro gag regarding the Fishin' Lakitu: he normally appears holding the starting light, but may sometimes appear with a Cheep Cheep that falls off the hook.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and its remake, they are present only in Hookbill The Koopa's Castle, where they attempt to steal Baby Mario from Yoshi's back with a baitless fishing pole ending in a hook. If they snatch Baby Mario, the Countdown Timer will start. However, these Fishin' Lakitus fly away from Yoshi with their catch, making it harder to save him.

Yoshi's New Island
Fishin' Lakitu returns in Yoshi's New Island, unchanged from their appearance and abilities in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
A Fishin' Lakitu appears in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in Rose Way on the overworld, but not in battle. This Lakitu uses Shy Guys as bait.

A Fishin' Lakitu helper was going to appear in Booster Tower, but became unused.

Mario Tennis series
In most Mario Tennis games, a Lakitu sits on one side of the net and uses his fishing pole to fish balls. In the Nintendo 64 Mario Tennis, he is only seen doing this when a player faults. In Mario's Tennis, he shows the current score using his fishing pole, while in Mario Power Tennis, he uses the pole to show starting lights (recycled from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!), the score, and time left in various minigames.

Mario Party series
Lakitu occasionally uses a fishing pole in the Mario Party series. This is seen in Lakitu's Luck in Mario Party-e and Test for the Best in Mario Party 8, as well as in Toad Scramble mode of Mario Party: Star Rush. Fishin' Lakitus appear in Super Mario Party as non-playable characters, and take over Klepto's role in Paths of Peril in Mario Party: The Top 100.

Mario Golf series
In the Mario Golf series, if a player hits into a water or tree hazard, a single, unnamed Lakitu will be seen with his fishing pole, presumably to fish the ball out. This was not seen in the GBC Mario Golf in favor of an angry Blooper shaking a fist at the player, nor was it seen in Mario Golf Advance Tour.

A Fishin' Lakitu also appears at the start of Speed Golf, holding starting lights (usually recycled from a Mario Kart game) on the fishing pole.

Mario & Luigi series
Fishin' Lakitus appear in the first three games in the series (as well as the first and third games' remakes), acting as level-up assistants. Whenever the player levels up, a Fishin' Lakitu appears with a selecting device that allows the player choose which stat they wish to add bonus points to (on top of the normal points gained while leveling up). Once selected, the device then flips over and becomes a roulette that determines how many points that stat will earn, from one to three. Fishin' Lakitus also appear in the final battle with Fawful in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, holding up spotlights.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time mentions a Fishin' Lakitu-based business.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
In Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Fishin' Lakitu will hold the ball on its fishing pole.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Fishin' Lakitus appear in Ski Cross Racing, Intense Short Track and Extreme Snowboarding in the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, where they will fish out any racers that fall off the course. Additionally, a Fishin' Lakitu will hold up a final lap sign on the second lap of the Extreme Snowboarding event. In the Wii version, a Fishin' Lakitu appears in Dream Ice Hockey, where it drops the puck onto the rink for the puck toss, and also drops Wild Balls onto the ice at various intervals in the event.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Fishin' Lakitus appear in 10km Marathon Swim in the Nintendo 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, where they hold the drinks that the characters need to collect to progress.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
A Fishin' Lakitu appears using its fishing pole to hold the starting lights in some events in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
In the Sport Climbing event of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, a Fishin' Lakitu appears and uses its fishing pole to pick up characters who fall off of the wall, at which point it transports them back to the last checkpoint that they reached (or back to the start if they have not yet reached a checkpoint).

Mario Sports Mix
Fishin' Lakitu appears in basketball and hockey in Mario Sports Mix. In the former, it holds the ball on its fishing pole for the tip-off, just like in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, where at the start of a face-off in the latter, it holds the puck.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Fishin' Lakitus were going to make their debut in the Paper Mario series in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, but were cut from the game.

Paper Mario: Color Splash
While no Lakitus of any kind appear in Paper Mario: Color Splash, Luigi references the Fishin' Lakitu of the Mario Kart series when he and Mario head off to Black Bowser's Castle.

Super Smash Bros.
In the original Super Smash Bros., a Lakitu Bro makes a rare cameo appearance in the background of Peach's Castle.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Super Mario World incarnation of Fishin' Lakitu appears in the Super Mario World-themed Yoshi's Island stage. Also, Lakitu's trophy in this game depicts it with a fishing rod.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Yoshi's Island stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee returns in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Also, the Mario Kart 64 incarnation of Fishin' Lakitu appears as a sticker.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Melee's Yoshi's Island stage returns yet again in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The Peach's Castle stage from Super Smash Bros. also returns to both games later on as downloadable content.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Fishin' Lakitu returns as background of Yoshi's Island stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

AR Games
A Fishin' Lakitu sometimes appears in the AR Games's Free Fishing minigame, fishing for Bloopers.

Nintendo Badge Arcade
A hand-drawn version of Mario Kart 8's incarnation of Fishin' Lakitu appears in Nintendo Badge Arcade.