Penguin

"Hey, old man! Are you practicing how to skate too? Well, why don't we play a game? Can you catch me?"

- Penguin

Penguins are a species of anthropomorphic, flightless bird found in the Mario franchise. They are good swimmers and often inhabit cold climates, like their real-world s, to which they bear varying degrees of resemblance, depending on the game. Many also inhabit tropical areas, as seen in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Most of them do not hurt Mario, though they sometimes act as obstacles or hindrances to his quest. Friendly penguins often speak with Mario, sometimes asking for his help or offering him a service.

Penguins from the Mario franchise are colored a moderate dark shade of blue with white bellies, making them similar to Bumpties. They also resemble s, also colored dark blue. However, the Penguru and Coach are colored similar to s. In some games, the back of their heads is tapered by a small crest.

Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS
"Egad! My baby!! Have you seen my baby??? She's the most precious baby in the whole wide world. (They say she has my beak)...I just can't remember where I left her. Let's see...I stopped for herring and ice cubes, then I...oohh! I just don't know!"

- Mother Penguin Penguins were given a minor role in Super Mario 64 and its remake Super Mario 64 DS, where they could be seen in the level Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land. In Cool, Cool Mountain, a Mother Penguin had lost her baby Tuxie and asks Mario to find her. Mario finds her and is awarded a Power Star. Later on, Mario has to race down a long, icy slide and get to the finish line before a champion sledder does. If Mario wins, he will be awarded with another Power Star. In Snowman's Land, another penguin is present on the bridge leading to the top of the giant snowman. The penguin can be used to sneak around the giant snowman head.

Super Mario Galaxy
In Super Mario Galaxy, penguins reappear residing in the Loopdeeloop Galaxy, Sea Slide Galaxy, Drip Drop Galaxy, Buoy Base Galaxy, Loopdeeswoop Galaxy and Beach Bowl Galaxy. There is also one lone penguin in Freezeflame Galaxy, and an elderly penguin named Penguru in the Drip Drop Galaxy, Bigmouth Galaxy, and Sea Slide Galaxy. Usually, the penguins will challenge Mario to a water challenge, such as surfing, collecting shells, or racing them. They are quite friendly, and will give Mario tips on how to swim, or even help him find Silver Stars. In the Loopdeeloop Galaxy and Loopdeeswoop Galaxy, the penguins spend their time surfing on rays. They also have a Coach which is a black penguin bigger than normal penguins who teaches Mario (and Luigi) how to use shells to swim with. The penguins in this game are shown to live in more tropical areas than the previous games, which had penguins living mainly in cold areas. The penguin race mission of Sea Slide Galaxy contains a penguin smaller than Mario and any other penguin found in the game. This penguin can be found walking around the lighthouse.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Penguins reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2. The penguins appear only in one galaxy; the Cosmic Cove Galaxy. They appear with Penguru (who also appeared in Hightail Falls Galaxy) and Coach in all missions of the galaxy. In the first mission, penguins are all throughout giving Mario hints on how to swim and leading him along.

In the second mission of the Cosmic Cove Galaxy, a Luma has been trapped in a cage and all the penguins have gone searching around the galaxy to find the key. They lead Mario in the correct direction and give him many hints on how to swim. After Mario has completed this second mission, one penguin will appear on Starship Mario and tell Mario how to swim whenever spoken to.

Super Mario Odyssey
Penguins populate the Snow Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. They bear a strong resemblance to the penguins of previous games, but do not appear to be sapient and behave like other bird species from the game, flying away if Mario approaches them (despite real penguins' inability to fly). Additionally, unlike the penguins of previous games, their eyes are located closer to the sides of their heads instead of on the front, potentially to make them look less anthropomorphic.

Mario Kart 64
Penguins appear around Sherbet Land from Mario Kart 64. They push away and spin any racer that bumps into them. Some of them move across the track from side to side and attack by laying on their bellies and sliding, while the penguins found in caverns simply waddle in pairs around giant columns. In the same course, a giant penguin can be seen walking in circles on an unreachable ice island.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, a few spinning penguins flank the racetrack in Snow Land. Any racer that collides with them will spin out, losing some coins.

Mario Kart Wii
Penguins appear in Mario Kart Wii, with the return of the, and behave identically to how they did in Mario Kart 64.

Mario Kart 7
In Mario Kart 7, penguins cause drivers to simply lose some momentum without spinning them out. They are encountered in the underwater portion of Rosalina's Ice World where they are seen swimming around in circles, and are also found waddling on Sherbet Rink.

Mario Kart Tour
Penguins first appeared in Mario Kart Tour only on the Steer Clear of Obstacles bonus challenge of SNES Vanilla Lake 1 and later made full course appearances in 3DS Rosalina's Ice World and RMX Vanilla Lake 1. Like in Mario Kart 64, they cause drivers to spin out when collided with; however, they can be taken out with any attack method, granting points in the process. The Penguin Wingtip glider and the Penguin Slider kart are designed to resemble penguins from the Mario franchise.

Mario Party 4
Penguins make a minor appearance in one of the puzzles in the Mario Party 4 minigame Photo Finish.

Mario Party 5
A mob of baby penguins and penguins appear in the minigame Pushy Penguins as they run across from the right side of the screen and dive into the water to the left. The players must avoid the penguins and find gaps between them to avoid being pushed off. Baby penguins also appear in Later Skater.

Mario Party 6
A penguin appears as one of the friends that need to be found in the minigame Lab Brats.

Mario Party Advance
Mario Party Advance features a multiplayer game called Penguin Race, which involves two to four players controlling penguins. Player one uses a blue penguin, player two uses a green penguin, player three controls a red penguin, and player four controls a yellow penguin. The penguin's performance in the race is based solely on the player's single-player minigame records, and the player with the best records is the one who wins. A distinct Penguin character also appears at the Ice Game Room.

Mario Party 7
Penguins appear as spectators in various modes throughout Mario Party 7.

Mario Party 8
One penguin appears as a racer in Moped Mayhem in Mario Party 8. A penguin is also hiding in Specter Inspector. It also appears in the minigame Cardiators as a card, if their card is drawn either one penguin or a group of penguins will charge at the opponent. A Penguin plushie also appears in the introduction of Grabbin' Gold.

Mario Party 9
In Mario Party 9, penguins appear as obstructions in the minigame Polar Extreme, simply wandering around on random chunks of ice in the water. Running into them results in a player being stunned. Like the other players, they can be stomped and jumped on, and it does flatten them for a second, but this does not affect them very much.

Mario Party: Island Tour
Penguins appear in Mario Party: Island Tour in the minigames Slip 'n' Slip and Go with the Floe.

Mario Party: The Top 100
Penguins appear in Mario Party: The Top 100 in the returning Mario Party 5 minigames, Pushy Penguins and Later Skater.

Super Mario Party
Penguins appear in Super Mario Party as non-playable characters. Penguins are found in the minigame Tall Order, where they move the bowl that the players must shave ice into. They are also featured in Penguin Pushers, where the players must corral baby penguins into a pen.

Mario Pinball Land
In Mario Pinball Land, penguins appear to be in the Frosty Frontier Stage; if Mario hits one of them, the penguin will slip down to the icy floor, waddling while sliding. If Mario hits it one more time while the penguin is down lying on the icy floor, he will earn 2,000 points. While sliding, if a penguin hits another waddling penguin, the other penguin slips down to the icy floor while sliding as the process repeats.

Mario Strikers Charged
Penguins appear in Mario Strikers Charged as part of the audience.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, penguins appear as spectators in Dream Curling. Also, one appears as a VIP.

Mario Sports Mix
In Mario Sports Mix, penguins are seen standing on icebergs in the background of the Sherbet Sea arena in the party game, Smash Skate.

Mario Tennis Open
In Mario Tennis Open, penguins are line judges in the Penguin Iceberg court.

Mario Tennis Aces
In Mario Tennis Aces, penguins appear in the audience in some of the courts. In the game's adventure mode, a penguin appears in Snowfall Mountain, in the level Snowball Fight, where it tells Mario and Toad that they are unable to board the train to Snowfall Mountain, as Shy Guys had taken control of it. After the Shy Guys are defeated, the penguin allows them to use the train.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a penguin makes a cameo appearance on the Starship Mario spirit.

Dr. Mario World
Penguins make their debut in the Dr. Mario series in Dr. Mario World as Assistants. They were added on December 12, along with World 10. When equipped in stage mode, the doctor's skill gauge will further increase by a percentage if four or more viruses are simultaneously eliminated. For example, with a level 3 Penguin (fills skill by 50% more), if a row of four viruses is eliminated with one half-capsule, there will be five objects (four viruses + one half-capsule) eliminated but the skill gauge will fill by 7.5 points: 5 points from the match and 2.5 extra points (50% of 5 points) through this assistant. In versus mode, each attack by the user has a chance of ignoring the opponent's defense, resulting in the attack landing regardless of how likely the opponent can block the attack. Penguin assistants are each rewarded by clearing the first are in World 10 and World 26.

Dr. Mario World

 * Stage mode: "Fills skill meter 30%/40%/50%/60%/70% more when four or more viruses are eliminated at the same time."
 * Stage mode (Prior to version 2.3.0): "Fills skill meter 20%/30%/40%/50%/60% more when four or more viruses are eliminated at the same time."
 * Versus mode: "Grants 30%/35%/40%/45%/50% chance of disregarding opponent's defense when attacking."

Trivia

 * Realistic penguins can be seen in a few games during cameos, such as in some versions of Mario is Missing!, at the end of Arctic Plunge in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, and in an exhibit in Wario: Master of Disguise.

Pinguin Pinguotto