Ludwig von Koopa

Ludwig Von Koopa is the oldest Koopaling and Bowser’s second-in-command. As such, he has the greatest authority of all the Koopalings (at least, until the arrival of Bowser Jr.). In Super Mario Bros. 3, Ludwig is the boss of the seventh kingdom, the Pipe Maze. During his battle with Mario, he can shoot multiple blasts from his Magic Wand and can cause the ground to shake. He eventually loses to the powerful plumber.

After he is defeated by Mario, Ludwig is demoted, and is assigned to occupy the fourth world of Dinosaur Land, the Twin Bridges. Doing so, he then isolates himself in his castle. During his isolation, he composed Koopa symphonies, at least until Mario showed up to ruin his work. During his battle with Mario in Super Mario World, Ludwig attacked by spitting fireballs (like his father in Super Mario Bros.) and by sliding around in his spiked shell. Ultimately, he is defeated a second time by Mario. Mario destroys Ludwig’s castle by detonating explosive charges near the bottom of the building, sending it flying into a nearby hill. Subsequently the hill is bandaged in the spot it gets hit.

Ludwig returned in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Thinking Bowletta was actually his father, he agreed to defend Bowser’s Castle during Bowletta’s invasion of the Beanbean Kingdom. He was ultimately defeated by the teamwork of Mario and Luigi.

Cartoons

In the Mario cartoon series, Ludwig was renamed Kooky Von Koopa. He was a mad scientist who invented gadgets for his father. Some inventions include a time machine used to prevent the Mario brothers from ever coming to the Mushroom World, and a robot doppelganger of Princess Peach programmed to turn control of the Mushroom Kingdom over to Bowser. Kooky had messier hair than Ludwig, and was considerably skinnier.

Trivia

Ludwig Von Koopa is named after the famous composer Ludwig Von Beethoven. Additionally, both Ludwigs have the same wild hair and both like to compose music.