Larry Koopa

Larry Koopa (known as Cheatsy Koopa in the cartoons) is the youngest of the seven-member clan known as the Koopalings. Larry and his siblings are very loyal to Bowser and were originally depicted as his own children. This idea was usually omitted in games released after their debut in Super Mario Bros. 3, and Shigeru Miyamoto stated in a 2012 interview that Nintendo's current story was that they are not Bowser's children, leaving Bowser Jr. as his only offspring.

Larry has blue hair much like Ludwig, and as shown in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he has an interest in tennis. He also likes to sing songs/symphonies about himself as seen in the Super Mario World episode "Gopher Bash". In the Prima official guide for Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, Larry was referred to as Bowser's favorite Koopaling. He originally had four visible fangs on the top corners of both sides of his mouth, but he now only has two as of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. While many sources claim he was named after the American talk show host Larry King, like all the other Koopalings, Larry was named after a musician: Larry Mullen, Jr., the drummer for the rock band U2.

Super Mario Bros. 3
In Larry's first appearance, Super Mario Bros. 3, he was the first Koopaling to be battled. He had stolen the magic wand from the king of Grass Land and turned him into a dog (a Cobrat in the SNES version). After Mario had gone through all of the airship's cannons, he battled Larry in his cabin, who was determined to fight Mario for the wand as he knew the alternative would be Bowser loudly reprimanding him for failure. In this battle, Larry would jump around and shoot magic blasts from his stolen magic wand. He would need to be jumped on three times to be defeated. He is then forced to make a quick retreat. Mario got the wand back, the king was returned to normal, and thanked him for returning him to his original state.

His role is expanded slightly in the opening cutscene of the GBA remake, Super Mario Advance 4. He is shown breaking into the Grass Land castle at the dead of night during a thunderstorm, stealing the wand and turning the King into a Cobrat, leading to Grass Land's request for the Mushroom Kingdom's assistance.

Super Mario World
Larry's second appearance was in the last world of Super Mario World, the Valley of Bowser. In battle, he utilized Iggy's attack pattern. He would sit on top of a tilting platform on top of lava and was immune to all of Mario's attacks. However, unlike Iggy, Larry's platform had three Podoboos that jumped up and down. He could also throw more than one ball at one time. Larry would need to be jumped on until he fell off his platform. After the battle, Mario kicked away his castle (literally), and gained access to Bowser's Castle. This was Larry's first time being the last Koopaling to fight in the Mario games he's appeared in so far.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
The Koopalings make their 3D-rendered debut in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Larry is the boss of World 1, which is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3. In this appearance, Larry looks almost the same as before, but his two small fangs are now gone, he has a star-shaped birthmark similar to Morton, though it's near the back of his head and he has a light-blue coloured shell similar to the colour of his hair.

Before battling him, he is shocked at Mario's presence, rages about it and gets ready to fight. In the first battle, Larry will fire blue fireballs at Mario and jump. After being hit, he will retreat into his shell and start to spin around the area, causing Mario damage if he comes in contact with him. After three stomps on the head, Larry will be defeated, retreating to his castle in World 1.

Larry's second battle (in his castle) is in a room filled with platforms that shift up and down thanks to Kamek's magic. Larry has the same tactics as his last fight. However, his shell dash attack is more difficult to avoid because of the moving room, unless he gets stuck between two of the platforms. After three more stomps Larry is defeated. After this fight he will fall off screen, leaving the key to the desert, where Roy is. In the ending, he is shown limping when he comes across Bowser Jr., who points to the other Koopalings, and they watch as their siblings prop Bowser up, but unfortunately, the castle falls on Bowser and most of the Koopalings. Larry was unharmed.

New Super Mario Bros. 2
Larry is a boss once again in New Super Mario Bros. 2. He is the castle boss of World Mushroom, an unlockable world. Like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he'll throw a tantrum on the fact that Mario made through his castle before fighting him once more. His battle features three blue platforms in the middle of the room, four holes, two on the floor and two on the ceiling and two stone pillars, which go in and out of the four holes, always one on the top and one on the floor. Using his magic wand, Larry shoots sky blue fireballs, which ricochet off the walls upon contact, similar to Wendy's rings. Oddly, despite being seen dragging Princess Peach along when his world is unlocked, the aftermath of the battle does not have Mario discovering Princess Peach in the room after him. A similar oddity appears with Lemmy in World Flower.

Like all the other Koopalings, Mario will have to jump on Larry´s head to defeat him. After 3 stomps, Larry is defeated, leaving the key to World 3.

Larry survived the encounter, and rejoined his comrades at Bowser's castle, where they attempted to petrify Mario with their Koopa Clown Car's petrification device. He also aided Bowser alongside the rest of the Koopalings by causing him to grow larger, but it resulted in him and the others being knocked into a lava pit by Bowser due to his increased size. He and the other Koopalings survived, however, and attempted to help Bowser by airlifting him with the Koopa Clown Car, but this resulted in it crashing due to it being unable to handle the combined weight of both them and Bowser. Larry ended up flung into a tree as a result of the crash.

In the New Super Mario Bros 2 guide, Iggy Koopa was also mistaken for Larry in World 2.

New Super Mario Bros. U
Larry reappears in New Super Mario Bros. U, alongside the rest of the Koopalings, Boom Boom, Kamek, and Bowser Jr.. He is the boss of Sparkling Waters, and is battled in Larry's Torpedo Castle. His battle strategy is to blast fireballs and use water blasts from the pool below the arena, which act like the pillars from his previous New Super Mario Bros. battles. When Larry is spinning in his shell, the water geysers will give his shell a boost upwards making it a bit difficult to avoid. After two stomps, Larry will start to cast two fireballs in quick succession. In addition, he is one of only three Koopalings to retain the use of a Magic Scepter, the others being Iggy and Ludwig. When the player reaches his airship at the end of Sparkling Waters' Castle, he'll emit a mocking laugh. However, when Mario actually boards his airship, Larry will once again get into one of his rages. Three hits to his head and he falls off-screen.

Despite this, Larry survived, and was later picked up along with the rest of the Koopalings by Bowser Jr., although they ended up escaping by hanging onto Bowser's tail after the latter inadvertently destroyed Bowser Jr's (already damaged) ship.

Larry's airship is designed after him, with his face for the bow and his sky blue-colored shell on the top of the ship. The stern of his ship has a green color design, similar to his shell color from past appearances. Like most of the airships, Larry's airship is equipped with a propeller at the back of his ship as well as another one placed just beneath the crow's nest. The airship is equipped with two cannons, one on each side. There are also yellow lids on top of the cannons used for opening and closing them. The interior of Larry's ship resembles a pirate ship, with compasses upon the top of the room, the ceiling of the room having a map design and the windows resembling steering wheels found on an old ship.

On a side note, Larry is the only Koopaling to not receive new artwork, with his New Super Mario Bros. Wii artwork simply being reused, although with an updated look. Roy's artwork was also recycled, however it was mirrored and altered to add his Bill Blaster weapon. Also, the top of Larry's Magic Scepter will turn pink when Mario jumps on his head.

Larry's role is slightly expanded, as he is in a challenge in Challenge Mode in Larry's Groundless Battle. This is exactly like the battle in the main game, except the player cannot touch the ground. The player can touch the geysers, however.

New Super Luigi U
Larry appears in New Super Luigi U. His battle is identical to in New Super Mario Bros. U, and is fought in Larry's Trigger-Happy Castle.

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 produced by Nintendo and DIC Entertainment, he was named Cheatsy Koopa and was usually scheming up Bowser's latest plan, sometimes in conjunction with Kooky. There are several physical differences between Larry and Cheatsy: Larry's hair is pointed upwards but Cheatsy's hair was flatter and much more untamed; Cheatsy was almost always seen squinting and was given an overbite, and had a tail that curled around like a pig's. He appears the most of all the Koopa Kids. Cheatsy was voiced by James Rankin. Additionally, in the continuity of the cartoons, Hip and Hop were the youngest Koopalings, not Cheatsy.

A very common animation goof regarding Cheatsy was that his green head was often colored orange, the same color as the rest of his body. One particular shot in the episode "The Beauty of Kootie" even had his head mistakenly colored purple.

Sneaking Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas: Cheatsy was assigned with several of his brothers to be Giant Ninja Koopas in order to capture Prince Hugo in Giant Land by King Koopa. Cheatsy and his brother managed to capture not only Hugo, but Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool too. Cheatsy and his brothers are later defeated, turned back to their normal selves by Mario and co. which Koopa manages to go through a Warp Pipe to a Warp Zone with Cheatsy and his siblings.

The Beauty of Kootie: In the episode Cheatsy works with Kootie Pie to refill the Doomship engine with oil, which caused the Sultan's jacuzzi to be filled with oil. Cheatsy then turns Kootie into a human to distract the Mario Bros, but Cheatsy turned Kootie back but she fell for Luigi who was transformed into Casanova Koopa but goes back to his normal self. Cheatsy and Kootie chase after him but again are defeated.

Princess Toadstool for President: Cheatsy and Kooky make a Nice Guy Potion for King Koopa so he can be elected to be king of the Mushroom Kingdom. Cheatsy and Kooky eventually have to make more as the old one was all used up but the Mario Bros. learned about this and ruined their last batch, thus stopping Koopa from becoming King.

Never Koop a Koopa: In this episode Cheatsy and Koopa capture the gang and Koopa teaches Cheatsy about double-crossing. Cheatsy later double-crosses Koopa into signing the Mushroom Kingdom to him but Koopa tells him its just a smiley face and chases him around his throne.

Tag Team Trouble: Koopa and Cheatsy plans to get one million gold coins, which Toad thinks they stole his for the Orphanage. Cheatsy enters the Sledge Brothers to fight Toad's cousins but like his name displays cheats and hypnotizes them to sleep for two days. But Cheatsy didn't prepare for Mario and Luigi, with help from Starmen beat them and win the gold coins.

Misadventure of Mighty Plumber: Cheatsy has a minor role as he takes toys from the T.V. like a race car for Hip and Hop and then Mighty Plumber. Cheatsy later is forced by Mario to put Mighty Plumber back into the T.V.

A Toadally Magical Adventure: Cheatsy and his siblings attempted to steal a Magic Scepter but to no avail by the Mario Bros. Cheatsy his family stole the wand and controlled the Pipe Monsters to grab the bros. but with help from Toad defeated them and gave back the wand.

Misadventures in Babysitting: When Junior came Cheatsy, Kooky and Bully tricked him into trapping the Mario Bros. until Kooky set molten lava in the Pipe Maze where they nearly killed him but with the help of the Mario Bros. they were foiled once again.

Do the Koopa: Cheatsy, Bully and Big Mouth go to get the Doom Dancer Music Box and steal it for Koopa. Cheatsy uses Big Mouth's string and grabs the Music Box for Koopa, only for Bully to uses it to make him and the other dance. Koopa then uses it to make everyone dance until Mario covers his ears and destroys it.

Kootie Pie Rocks: Cheatsy helps Koopa bring Milli Vanilli to Kootie Pie, using the Doomship to kidnap them from a concert in New York City, which was being attended by Princess Toadstool, Toad and the Mario Bros.

7 Continents for 7 Koopas: In this he helps his dad take over the Real World by taking over Australia. Cheatsy turns every human into a kangaroo, except one. He turns this man into a prawn, while alligators dressed as chefs attempt to put him on the grill. Cheatsy was foiled as Toadstool turns everyone back to normal and removes the alligator's teeth. After barely escaping from being thrown on a grill himself, he retreats back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Super Mario World television series
In the Super Mario World animated series, Cheatsy's hair was changed to a lighter green color and drawn a tad thicker, most likely to resemble his appearance in the game.

Gopher Bash: Cheatsy recruits Monty Moles to help steal the cave people's crops and replace them with Piranha Plants. This plot is foiled by Yoshi but he and the Monty Moles escape underground, telling the Mario Bros. they have to pay up if they want their crops back. The Mario Bros. rescue the food but not before dropping the Monty Moles they kidnapped on top of Cheatsy. He sings his own self-praising song called Cheatsy's Life.

Rock TV: Along with Kooky, Cheatsy helps King Koopa with his "Robby Rockwell" costume which he uses to pitch Rock TV to the cave people.

The Yoshi Shuffle: In this episode, Cheatsy plays the role of the referee in the football game between the Mario Bros. and the Koopas.

Comics
Larry often appeared in Nintendo Comics System comics, published by Valiant. Unlike his siblings and his father, he didn't speak an intelligible language (whether he was unable to or didn't by choice was not revealed). Instead, he spoke in pictures, which were only understood by Lemmy. However, in the Super Mario Adventures comic, he was able to speak intelligibly.

Nintendo Adventure Books
In Leaping Lizards, either Larry or Ludwig compete alongside five of their siblings in the International Mushroom Games.

In Koopa Capers, Larry and his brothers have their wands stolen by Wendy, who disappears with them shortly afterward, intent on overthrowing their father with her own army, and a super wand she intends to create by fusing her own wand with her brothers'. If Luigi, who had been coerced by Bowser into searching for Wendy, tracks the female Koopaling down to her hideout, Bowser and the male Koopalings, who had been following him, will barge in after the plumber, but decide to stave off punishing Wendy for her treachery if she helps search for the hiding Luigi. If Luigi had acquired Boom Boom's socks earlier in his adventure, he can toss them into Wendy's simmering wand combination potion, which will release fumes that knock the entire Koopa family and their minions out for at least a week.

In Dinosaur Dilemma, if Mario and Yoshi decide to hide from Bowser in the kitchen while snooping around his Dinosaur Island Castle, Larry (incorrectly described as having red and blue hair) will sneak up on the two, and steal several coins out of Mario's pocket before dumping a large pan of sticky, uncooked dough on him and Yoshi, trapping them.

Mario is Missing
Larry is the first boss in the PC version of Mario is Missing!, where it takes a single blast from a Fire Flower to defeat him. He also taunts Luigi with the knowledge that he won't see his brother again, although he also admits that even he doesn't know the door Mario is trapped in. Eventually, after realizing that Luigi possesses a Fire Flower, and thus is capable of defeating him, Larry attempts to talk his way out by claiming that he's on Luigi's side, only for Luigi to ignore him. Larry does not appear in the SNES version of Mario is Missing!, although he is pictured alongside the similarly-absent Morton and Lemmy in the manual of the SNES version.

Yoshi's Safari
In Yoshi's Safari, Larry is the boss of Crescent Coast. Larry rides in a sun-like submarine that has a purple face and has a blue nose. Mario had to shoot at the nose to get it to open up and expose Larry. He will then zoom around the screen while Mario continued to shoot at it. Eventually the submarine will break and Larry will hold a white flag while he floats up to the surface.

Hotel Mario
The last appearance of Larry for several years was in the obscure Hotel Mario. He was found and battled in Larry's Chillton Hotel with the words "Larry's Cave Hotel" and "This mine is mine" written on the entrance. In battle, Larry would attack by using bombs as bowling balls. Like most other battles, this Koopaling can eat the Mario Bros. in (presumably) one gulp if they meet in an elevator.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
After several years of absence, Larry reappeared in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga after Wendy was defeated. He was the last Koopaling to be fought. Before battle, Larry would trap Luigi in a barrel and shoot fireballs at him. To engage Larry, Luigi would need to stand in front of the Bob-omb to bounce them back, and he would bounce them back with his tennis racket. Luigi had to continue bouncing the Bob-omb back until one of the projectiles hit Larry. In battle, he would spit fireballs (similar to the other Koopalings) and bounce them back with his tennis racket, and spinning similar to Iggy or Ludwig. He is also able to call in assistance in the form of a Time Bob-omb. He can also defend himself; if the player jumps or uses Knockback Bros, the Bros. will get poisoned or burnt. In the end, he was defeated and once again disappeared.

Defeating Larry caused the spikes blocking their path to disappear, allowing Mario and Luigi to battle Fawful.

Mario Kart 8
Larry Koopa, alongside the rest of the Koopalings, is set to appear as a playable character for the first time in Mario Kart 8. His blurb in the Japanese April 30, 2014 Nintendo Direct reads ｢クッパ軍団 の特攻隊長 」, meaning the "Koopa army's special attack squad leader". His emblem is shown to be a sky blue silhouette of his own head, in a similar manner to Bowser and Bowser Jr. His winning animation has him waving to the crowd.

Despite being the youngest Koopaling, Larry is one of the heavier lightweights in the game. As such, his acceleration, handling, and grip stats are lowered a little to boost his speed and weight.

Other appearances and references
In Super Paper Mario, there is a game named Larry Koopa: Zombie Heartbreaker that Francis owns.

In Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, a costume for your Mii based on Larry can be unlocked.

Super Princess Peach
Larry was originally going to appear in Super Princess Peach, although he was taken out of the final game with the rest of the Koopalings.

Physical appearance
Like his siblings, Larry has yellow and tan skin, and a green head. He is set apart by the blue star on the side of his head, which is similar to Morton's star and the stripes on the side of Lemmy's head; this star was not added until New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Larry is around the same height as Princess Peach, and a little shorter than Ludwig. Larry has two, fang-like teeth in the upper corners of both sides of his snout, similar to Roy. His mouth is feline-shaped, as his lips are deeply curved, and his nose is flat; it is relatively the same as Roy's aside from the jawline. He also has a four-ribbed, padded stomach and padded feet.

He has large, oval eyes that are light blue, like Wendy; however, his in-game sprites in Super Mario World depict them as green due to the SNES's color palette limitations. His head is oval-shaped as well. He is on the small side when compared to the others. Larry can easily be recognized by his spiky, combed back hair, which is ice blue with highlights and blue roots (although it is depicted as white in his SMB3 and SMW sprites due to graphical limitations). Over time his hairstyle has remained relatively consistent. His shell is also light blue, lined with a white encasing, and the multiple, short spikes are circled with blue rings; originally, his shell was green, as seen in both his artwork and his sprites for SMB3 and SMW. He wears the same metal, spiked cuffs as the other Koopalings.

Personality and traits
Like the other Koopalings, not much of Larry's personality has been revealed. He seems to have an interest in sports, as he uses bombs as bowling balls in Hotel Mario, and he uses a tennis racket to hit his own fireballs in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Despite this interest, he has never appeared in any of the Mario sports games. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii as well as New Super Mario Bros 2, Larry was shown to be short-tempered. Additionally, he didn't possess a lot of stamina, as he was quite far behind his family, trying to catch his breath, while his siblings were trying to help Bowser up off the ground. Although, this may be due to the fact that he was residing in World 1, presumably the furthest world from Bowser's Castle in World 8. In the Japanese manual for Super Mario Bros. 3, Larry speaks in a masculine manner while thinking lowly of the Mushroom Kings and suggesting he and his siblings only follow orders because they don't want their father to yell at them. In Mario is Missing!, Larry even attempts to talk his way out of being defeated by Luigi when sensing that the latter is about to win against him.

In The Adventures of the Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Super Mario World animated series, Larry was known as Cheatsy Koopa and he was given a personality to match his name, as he was sneaky, unfair, and devious. For example, he attempts to double-cross Bowser in his attempt to obtain the Mushroom Kingdom from Princess Peach in "Never Koop a Koopa". He also eavesdrops on a conversation between Mario and Yoshi in "The Yoshi Shuffle". It is also shown that he enjoys listening to music, as shown in the episode "Never Koop a Koopa", where he is ignoring his father's lecture and listening to music on a set of headphones. He seems to be sarcastic too, as shown in "Gopher Bash", he says ''Don't just help him! Stand there!'' to his minions. In the PC version of Mario is Missing!, Larry is shown acting tough as the first guard, but shows cowardice once Luigi gains a Fire Flower and has the potential to destroy him. Like Ludwig, he is also into a horror theme, as seen in Hotel Mario, since the room that the player fights him in is called "Larry's Scary Lair". His hotel itself is very dark and the entrance states, "THIS MINE IS MINE".

Powers and abilities
Like the other Koopalings, Larry has shown the ability to generate magic blasts, as well as walk, run, or jump, as well as spin inside of his shell. He is usually the weakest of the group due to him being faced in battle before the others in most games, although in some occasions he is actually the last to be fought and his abilities are altered accordingly. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii the only magic he can perform with his wand is to make a low heated blue fire ball. Unlike the other Koopalings, Larry doesn't show any signs of improvisation, as he keeps his battle tactics mostly the same when the player fights him the second time. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga he has the same stats as Iggy and uses the same technique of spinning around at extreme speeds in order to make his foes dizzy. He is unique in that he uses a tennis racket to spar with the Mario Bros. before the actual battle, and in Hotel Mario, he used a bowling ball against them. In the former game, he is also capable of utilizing poison and burn status effects as a deterrent against Bros. Attacks. In New Super Mario Bros. 2, he also fires energy blasts at Mario that ricochet against obstacles, similar to Wendy's rings. He also used water geysers to his advantage in his battle in New Super Mario Bros. U. In Super Mario World, Larry shares Iggy's tactics against the Mario Bros. by throwing balls at them that he keeps in his shell. However, he also raises the stakes by having podoboos periodically jump up, and flings balls at a faster frequency than Iggy.

Sprites from Super Princess Peach relating to his planned appearance implied that he would have utilized his spin attack once again against Peach. Similarly, it would have been implied that his Vibe-state during what would have been the second half would have been "Calm."

Bio from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 Writers Bible
''He loves to tie people up and then challenge them to a foot race. In reform school, he copied so many test papers, he got writer's claw. His hobby is counterfeiting Gold Coins, and he does such a great job of it, that Koopa has put him in charge of the Kastle Koopa treasury, where he happily spends every day cheating his brother and sister Koopalings on their allowances. When Koopa wants to be sneaky and devious, he calls on Cheatsy.''

Quotes

 * "We took 7 wands from the 7 kings. Each of us has one. Our father has instructed us to protect the wands." - The Super Mario Bros. 3 manual (page 5)
 * "「マヌケな国王から巻き上げた杖は全部で7本. オレ達兄弟が1本ずつ持ってるって訳さ. オヤジに怒鳴られるのはイヤだから、そう簡単に渡す訳にはいかないぜ. 」 (We stole a total of seven wands from the stupid kings. Each one of us siblings has one. We can't give them up so easily because we don't want to get yelled at by dad.)" - The Super Mario Bros. 3 Japanese manual (page 4)
 * "I hate it when people sneak...unless I'm doing the sneaking!" - Do the Koopa
 * "This is badder than bad, Dad. This is baddest!" - Gopher Bash
 * "At last,... my time has come!!!" - Gopher Bash
 * "I like your Big Bang Theory, King Dad!" - Never Koop a Koopa
 * "Don't just help him, stand there!" - Gopher Bash
 * "I was only doing bad, like you taught me!" - Never Koop a Koopa
 * "I'm not rushing, I'm helping." - Princess Toadstool for President
 * "Guards! Take the prisoner away to my room." - Never Koop a Koopa
 * "Listen to me, you pathetic pea-brained problem-producing plumbers! You'll never see your crops again!" - Gopher Bash
 * "The only way you guys are gonna eat is by shopping at the Koopa Mart. So long, suckers!" - Gopher Bash
 * "I am the emperor of eavesdropping." - The Yoshi Shuffle
 * "Hi Luigi. We figured you would be coming by. Pity you're never going to see your brother again. I don't even know which door leads to Mario." - Mario is Missing!
 * "Nice try, plunger puss, but only fire can hurt me." - Mario is Missing!
 * "No plumbers behind that door? Go ahead, try another. The wrong door has many handles, plumber dude." - Mario is Missing!
 * "Uh, Luigi, old pal, buddy. You know, I've always been on your side all along. Really. Don't burn yourself with that fire flower, pal." - Mario is Missing!
 * "Reawwwwrrrrrrrr!" - New Super Mario Bros. Wii (when defeated in tower)

Trivia

 * Larry is one of only two Koopalings whose placement in their birth order is officially confirmed, the other being Ludwig von Koopa.
 * Larry Koopa is the only Koopaling whose battle room hasn't used a Warp Pipe.