Headless Snowman

"I need a good head on my shoulders. Do you know of anybody in need of a good body? Please! I'll follow you if you do!"

- Headless Snowman

The Headless Snowman, or simply Snowman, is a minor snowman character who appears on Cool, Cool Mountain in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS and is the focus of the mission Snowman's Lost His Head. His head resides on a pedestal around the halfway mark of the mountain, while his body (a snowball that also has a mind of its own) appears on a pedestal near the start of the level during that mission.

Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, or Wario can assist the snowman head (who is looking for nearby headhunters) by rolling down the snowball fit to be the Headless Snowman's new body. However, running into him costs the player two health points. If the player is not by the head when the body starts rolling towards it, it misses the head entirely and falls off the stage, and the player must restart the stage from this point for the Power Star. If the player character is by the snowman's head, the body runs into the head and completes the snowman itself. If this happens, the snowman gratefully awards him a Power Star.

In the Headless Snowman's appearance in Super Mario 64 DS, he is given facial expressions. Without the rest of his body, he gets a sad face, but when he gets his body back, he gets a smile. He also appears in the minigame Snowball Slalom in that same game and in the New Super Mario Bros. version of that game.

Once this mission is complete, the snowman remains with a full body in one spot during every mission (unless the player does Snowman's Lost His Head again). Also, if the player finishes the game without completing the mission, his body will not appear in the ending.

Trivia

 * Although the Headless Snowman is a minor character in his few appearances, he got some publicity in the form of a Nintendo Power joke published around the time of the main circulation of the "L is Real 2401" Super Mario 64 rumors. In Volume 107 of Nintendo Power, a "Luigi 64" article is present where Nintendo states that Luigi fans had been campaigning to have the character in his very own game, and the company's response was to create a hoax upcoming game known as Headless Snowman 64. This game was apparently to be made to satisfy fans of the "second bananas" by featuring a cast of both well-known and obscure characters (that were not Luigi), from Samus Aran to "random audience members from '" to the Headless Snowman himself. Additionally, the game would supposedly contain some non-Nintendo characters such as "one of the civilian women in '" (in the mistaken belief that her name is Luigi), "that bald guy from '," and "the bikini woman in '." Humorously, this never-made game was not going to feature Luigi.