| When the Koopa Troop returned to the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Brothers 3 Mario and Luigi faced Bowser and his seven Koopa kids, the Koopalings: Larry, Lemmy, Iggy, Wendy, Ludwig, Roy, and Morton. It is unknown where these children came from, as Nintendo has never graced gamers with a mention of a Mrs. Bowser, adoption, or any other explanation as to their births. They simply appeared for SMB3 and reappeared in Super Mario World and Yoshi's Safari before being sent to the dust bin of Nintendo history until they suddenly reappeared in 2003's Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga as bosses.
In their first appearance in SMB3 Bowser stole the seven magic wands from each king of the Mushroom Worlds and gave one to each Koopaling. Sailing high above the land in their respective Doom Ships, the Koopalings waited for Mario or Luigi who promptly trounced each one, recovering the wands. While each kid had basically the same attack pattern of leaping around the room, some of them varied their methods. Larry, Iggy, and Morton leapt around and shot energy beams from the wand, while Wendy tossed bracelets, Roy & Ludwig caused minor earthquakes with his large stomps, and Lemmy balanced upon a ball and tossed other balls at our heros. An interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in the Mario Mania Nintendo Player's Guide reveals that the Koopalings were designed and named after the various members of the design team behind this game.
Super Mario World found the kids in much the same role as before, only this time each Koopaling stood guard at fortresses built in strategic areas of Dinosaur Land. Once again Mario and Luigi saved the day by defeating each of them and destroying their fortresses. Once again the attack patterns of the kids varied. Larry & Iggy perched on a platform over a lava pit, Lemmy & Wendy hid in pipes and sent decoys out to fight, Roy &' Morton climbed up the walls to drop on their targets, and Ludwig blew fireballs and zoomed around the room.
In the edutainment title Mario is Missing the kids appeared as bosses, however they inflicted no damage and simply paced back and forth. As this game is not an actual Nintendo production, most fans consider these appearances to be non-canon.
The Koopalings were also in Yoshi's Safari, a Super Scope light gun title for the Super NES. Each of the kids fought from behind the controls of a battle mech, although they were easy to shoot down once players learned their pattern of attack.
When Valiant began publishing comic books based on the Super Mario Brothers games, the Koopalings were along for the ride. Also, in the animated cartoons based on Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World that aired on NBC in the early 1990s, the Koopalings were featured in many of the episodes, although they were renamed for reasons unknown. Also, the cartoons attempted to give the characters some personalities, resulting in sibling rivalry and characterizations. The kids were renamed as follows:
- Larry = Cheatsy
- Ludwig = Kooky
- Iggy = Hip
- Lemmy = Hop
- Roy = Bully
- Morton = Big Mouth
- Wendy = Kootie Pie
Although the kids spent years without appearing in a new game, they have appeared in the various ports of classic games that Nintendo has released. They reappeared in Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario Advance 2, and Super Mario Advance 4, for example. Super Mario Sunshine introduced a Bowser Junior whose origin is also unknown, however he is not considered to be one of the Koopalings. Wherever the kids have gone, many people believe that they will someday return in a new adventure.
References:
Playing the aforementioned games.
Mario Mania
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