Koopalings

The Koopalings (occasionally called Koopa Kids in the cartoons, not to be confused with the actual Koopa Kids) are the children of King Bowser Koopa. This makes all of them the the heirs of the Koopa Kingdom. Oftentimes, the Koopalings act as high-ranking leaders of the Koopa Troop and mostly appear as bosses in the various Mario series games.

Names of the Koopalings
The Koopalings are listed below in order from oldest to youngest:


 * Ludwig von Koopa
 * Lemmy Koopa
 * Roy Koopa
 * Iggy Koopa
 * Wendy O. Koopa
 * Morton Koopa Jr.
 * Larry Koopa
 * Bowser also has an eighth child, Bowser Jr., but as to whether he should be counted as a Koopaling is debatable, as he has never actually been referred to as one.

Super Mario Bros. 3
The first appearance of the original 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. 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.

Mario would encounter and battle a Koopaling every time he ventured through a heavily guarded airship. The battle against the Koopaling would consist mostly of dodging the Koopaling leaps and magical blasts from their stolen scepter. It would only take three jumps on the head in order to defeat a Koopaling.

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 would battle a Koopaling, who would need to be bashed on the head repeatedly to be defeated. After a Koopaling was defeated, a captured Yoshi would be rescued and the path to a new area would be opened.



Mario is Missing!
In Mario is Missing!, the Koopalings travel to Earth with Bowser to aid him in his plan to melt Antarctica, thus, flooding the Earth. 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 Koopa appear, while in the PC version of the game, all the Koopalings, except Lemmy and Morton Koopa Jr. (the two were mentioned in the manual though), appear. 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.

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 weaponry built by Iggy. It would take various shots from Mario's Super Scope to defeat a Koopaling.

Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario was the last appearance of the Koopalings for several years. In Hotel Mario a Koopaling would guard a hotel, which they had taken over. Mario would have to adventure through a Koopaling's hotel and reach their room to battle them. Like in previous battles, the Koopalings were defeated.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
After several years absence, the Koopalings made a return appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. In this game, the Koopalings appear as bosses in Bowser's Castle, which had been hijacked by Bowletta and was currently attacking Beanbean Castle Town.

In Bowser's Castle, Mario and Luigi would fight a Koopaling in their room, usually needing to complete some sort of challenge in order to battle them. They appeared in the same order as in Super Mario World (Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy and Larry), and none of them had any dialogue.

Relationship with Bowser
In some of the Koopalings' appearances they were shown to act his minions. Though some depictions showed them acting as his children. It should be noted that the events of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World seemed more like giving his children gifts rather than simply using them as part of an evil plan. However, Bowser using his children as minions seems more cruel than the current Bowser. Bowser Jr. was shown to act like his child so it can be assumed he treats the rest the same way, as he has never stated Bowser Jr. is his favorite child. How he treats them is debatable as he has never had any intercourse with them besides the credits of Super Mario World.

Other Appearances
In the LazerBlazer - Type A: Intercept mode in the game Super Scope 6, Lemmy Koopa can occasionally be seen flying across the game screen riding a missile. In Super Mario Sunshine, a brief clip of Mario fighting Iggy Koopa in Super Mario World can be seen when FLUDD first scans Mario. The Koopalings are also mentioned briefly in Bowser's trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Additionally, a video game called Larry Koopa: Zombie Heartbreaker was mentioned in Super Paper Mario.

Appearances in Other Media


The first appearance of the Koopalings outside of video games was in the Japanese-exclusive movie, Super Mario Amada Series, which was an adaptation of three fairy tales.

In the Mario adaptation of Momotarō, where they appeared as the minions of Bowser, who was portrayed as the stories' ogre.

The Koopalings also appear in the Super Mario Amada Series' adaptation of Snow White (Shirayukihime), where they were minions of Bowser (now the Wicked Queen) once again.

In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, the Koopalings 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 shows creators using the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 3 as a reference and as the Koopaling's weren't named in that game, the show creators simply created names and gave the Koopaling's personalities to match these names; these names were presumably kept in the Super Mario World animated series, which was created after the Koopalings were officially named, so as not to confuse viewers.

Also in the show, the order of the Koopalings' ages were altered. Bully was said to be the oldest, while Hip and Hop were the youngest. This would make their age orders; Bully, Kooky, Kootie Pie, Big Mouth, Cheatsy, and Hip and Hop, from oldest to youngest.

They were also shown to serve Bowser differently. Rather than acting as his highest ranking minions, they acted directly as his children. They did thinks such as try to get his attention, gain his appreciation, and even plot against him.

The Koopalings were also recurring characters in Valiant's Nintendo Comics System imprint. Here, their personalities were similar to the animated series counterparts, though they had their "game names" and appearances. In the Super Mario Adventures comic, the Koopalings acted as Bowser's henchmen in his plot to kidnap and marry Princess Toadstool.

Trivia

 * The Koopalings are apparently all named after famous pop-culture icons, consisting mostly of musicians (Iggy, Lemmy, Ludwig, Wendy, Roy) and talk show hosts (Morton, Larry).


 * The Koopalings were said to appear in New Super Mario Bros. in an issue of Nintendo Power, though this was later proven false in a later issue of the magazine.


 * 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, possibly to add new bosses.


 * Due to the Koopalings disappearing after several defeats at the hands of Mario and their most recent appearance was guarding Bowser's Castle. Most people believe they are being punished and are simply regulated to guarding their home.


 * The Koopalings were originally titled "Little Koopas". Presumely because they are children.


 * Ever since the Koopalings first appeared, who is their mother is one of the most well known questions. It was once wondered if they were adopted, but they share all of his features (that other Koopas do not have), minus the horns. Clawdia Koopa was said to be Bowser's wife in a joke, which would make her the Koopalings' mother. Though she is most likely to not exist, see her article.


 * Despite Ludwig and Iggy being portrayed as geniuses, it can be assumed the Koopalings aren't that smart, as they were tricked into believing Bowletta was their father. Despite it being obvious it was not.