Bat (Super Mario Galaxy)

A bat is a Swoop-like enemy from Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Bats resemble brown bats with pig-like noses and bulging, glowing eyes with faint rings on them, causing them to resemble Keese from the The Legend of Zelda series, particularly a cartoonish version of their Twilight Princess incarnation; the two games were in development at overlapping times, so this may be intentional.

Initially, bats are found either hanging from the ceiling or flying around aimlessly. When Mario or Luigi approaches, they fly in close to him, before attempting to fly straight into him. If they succeed, they will laugh at him. They can be defeated with a spin or stomp, and they will release either three Star Bits or one coin, respectively, depending of which way they are defeated. They can be found in many dark places, with the first being the cave in the Beach Bowl Galaxy. They are also found flying around the arm of Heavy Metal Mecha-Bowser. Icy locations such as the cold portion of the Freezeflame Galaxy sometimes contain an icy variant called an ice bat, which will freeze Mario or Luigi if he makes contact with it, and can be defeated only with a Fire Flower.

Trivia

 * The internal filename for this enemy in both games is a romanization of the Japanese name for "Swoop." The official Japanese name for "bat" is shared with "Enigma," another pig-nosed bat, from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.