Swooper

Swoopers, also called Swoops, are bat enemies that first appeared in Super Mario World and since then, Swoopers have appeared in several other games, including main-stream and spin-off ones.

In Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros., and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, they would hang on the ceiling and when Mario or Luigi came near, they fall and fly, hurting the heroes on contact. They do the same thing in Super Mario 64 and Super Paper Mario.

Super Mario World
In the game Swoopers would hang from the ceilings of caves upside down waiting for Mario or Luigi to come. When they come near the Swoopers would fly down and try to hurt Mario or Luigi. They could easily be defeated by stomping on them. They were found in Vanilla Dome.

Super Mario 64/Super Mario 64 DS
Swoopers also appear in Super Mario 64 and its DS remake. Found only in Hazy Maze Cave, these Swoopers are recolored from green with brown wings to blue with purple wings, which would go on to be their color scheme in future appearances. Like in Super Mario World, they hang still on the ceiling waiting for Mario to come, falling off the ceiling and flutter in a spot shortly to dash towards its victim.

New Super Mario Bros.
Like in Super Mario 64, they would be on the ceiling waiting to attack. They were only found in underground stages. They are blue and have purple wings. Their design was extremely similar to their design in Super Mario 64.

Super Mario Galaxy
Swoopers appear in Super Mario Galaxy. They are brown in this game, and cling on ceiling or appear flying. If Mario approaches, they will lock-on and swoop at him. They could be defeated by a jump or a spin, and give a Coin or three Star Bits depending how they are defeated. There is also a cyan ice variation called Ice Swoopers that will freeze Mario on contact for a few seconds. The only way to defeat them is to use fireballs as Fire Mario (or Fire Luigi). Ice Bats only appear in Freezeflame Galaxy.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Swoopers appear in caves in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. They look just like their New Super Mario Bros. counterparts, and behave exactly the same.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
The Swoopers from Super Mario Galaxy re-appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and they behave the same way as they did in the first game. They appeared in galaxies such as the Slimy Spring Galaxy and the Fleet Glide Galaxy. Ice Swoopers do not re-appear.

Nintendo Adventure Books
A trio of Swoopers appear in Dinosaur Dilemma, living in the upper floor of an abandoned mansion. Upon spotting Mario, they attack him by dropping Koopa Shells. Depending on which page the reader chooses to turn to, Mario either avoids the Swoopers and hides until they grow bored and leave, or one of their shells will connect and knock the plumber out for several hours, allowing Bowser to easily conquer Dinosaur Island.

Hotel Mario
In this game, Swoopers are called Pat-the-Bats. They swoop down from ceilings and attack Mario and Luigi, impeding their progress. They can also open doors upon contact.

Paper Mario
Swoopers made their first appearance in the Paper Mario series in Paper Mario. They are found inside the Dry Dry Ruins, where they are either constantly flying or hanging on the ceiling. When they are hanging from the ceiling, Mario cannot reach them using a regular jump attack, and must instead use the Quake Hammer, Skolar's attack, an item, or one of his partners (such as Parakarry) to knock them lose from the ceiling. They attack by simply swooping down and physically ramming their opponent. A stronger version of Swoopers exists, called Swoopulas.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The Swoopers also appeared in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. 4 Swoopers led by Sir Swoop make up the Glitz Pit team Wings of Night who appear during Chapter 3 to serve as a brief replacement for the KP Koopas after King K. "retires".

Super Paper Mario
Swoopers also re-appeared in Super Paper Mario. They are mainly found in Chapter 2 (Gloam Valley and Merlee's Mansion). Swoopers can be found in Gloam Valley in a secret area via using the Flip and falling into a 3D-accessible hole near the Star Block. Their Catch Card can be found here, along with the Shlurps' Catch Card. Swoopers are also found in the line-of-coins trap in Merlee's Mansion.

Swoopers are set to re-appear in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, for the Nintendo 3DS.

Mario Kart series
Swoopers appear first in Mario Kart DS, in the track Banshee Boardwalk, a racecourse once appearing in Mario Kart 64. In the game, Swoopers appear in large flocks that fly in the opposite direction that all racers go. Though they are not a real hazard, Swoopers can get in the way of any incoming karts, slowing them down.

Swoopers also appear in Mario Kart Wii and act in the same way as seen in DS. They only appear in the courses Wario's Gold Mine and Dry Dry Ruins. Additionally, players can wipe out these bats by using certain items such as Shells, or under the power of a star.

Swoopers re-appear in Mario Kart 7 in the course Rock Rock Mountain. They behave the same way as in previous titles slowing down racers. There is also a glider that looks like a Swooper.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
This time the Swoopers were not on the roof, but flying around. They only appeared in a boss fight against Donkey Kong trying to attack the Mini Marios. The Swoopers' artwork can be seen during the credits.

Mario Party 8
Swoopers make their first appearance in the Mario Party series as a cameo in Mario Party 8: they appear on the wrapper of the Vampire Candy. The Swoopers appearing on the wrapper are blue, making them look like the Super Mario 64 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 versions of Swoopers.

Mario Party 9
Swoopers also have a minor appearance in Mario Party 9, flying around Boo's Horror Castle board. In the minigame Chain Event, several Swoopers can be seen in the background as the player slides down the chain.

Trivia

 * Swoopers look like and have similar attacks to Buckys.

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