Goomba

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Goomba
A Goomba from New Super Mario Bros..
Series	Mario series
First game	Super Mario Bros.
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto

Goombas are small, brown enemies that resemble Mushrooms in the Mario series. They were introduced in Super Mario Bros. for the NES where they were the easiest enemies to defeat, as a simple jump on the head would do them in. After their initial appearance, Goombas started to appear in nearly every Mario platformer excluding Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Sunshine for the NES and GameCube, respectively. Over the years, new variations have popped up that boost their defense and offense such as the spiked Goombas and the Para Goombas.

Prior to the events of Super Mario Bros., Goombas were apparently friends to the Mushroom Kingdom until the evil king Bowser earged them to join his army. While some stayed loyal, most went to the new superpower, though have become a relatively useless ally. However, in some games such as Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, Goombas became Mario's partners (Goombario and Goombella).

Goombas have also appeared as obstacles in the Mario Kart series as well. Such as in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Wii where they appeared in the Mario Circuit stage. The only actual playable appearance of a Goomba in a sports game was in Mario Superstar Baseball and its sequel Mario Super Sluggers where this species and a Paragoomba both were playable.

They have appeared in almost every Mario platformer, other than Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Bros. 2, which was meant to have more original and new enemies on the account that Mario traveled to new areas. They do appear however in Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, where they appear in three forms. Standard goombas can be squished under Mario's foot and a coin is obtained or using the spin attack results in the Goombas spinning upside-down. While upside-down, running into them will result in Mario kicking them into space and an explosion of star bits. A Grand Goomba appears in the first level and dark tiny Goombas appear throughout and can be killed with one spin or jump.

Contents 1 Goomba variants 1.1 Paragoomba 1.2 Microgoomba 1.3 Mugger Micro Goomba 1.4 Pile Driver Micro-Goomba 1.5 Giant Goomba 1.6 Spiked Goomba 1.7 Others 2 Cameo appearances 3 Development

[edit] Goomba variants

[edit] Paragoomba

A Paragoomba is an enemy found in the Mario series of games. They are Goombas with wings that, like Paratroopas, bounce up and down. If they get to close to a ledge they will accidentally fall down, thus killing themselves. They first appeared in the NES video game Super Mario Bros. 3, and would later appear in other Mario games as well. Their first playable appearance was in Mario Superstar Baseball for the Nintendo GameCube and later Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii.

[edit] Microgoomba

A Microgoomba is a very small species of Goomba that are found in the NES video game Super Mario Bros. 3. Though they aren't powerful enough to harm Mario or Luigi, a whole bunch of them will latch onto him, making him go slower, thus giving enemies a better chance of harming them. The name Microgoomba is a portmanteau of the words Goomba (a fictional species in the series) and micro. Microgoombas later appeared in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

[edit] Mugger Micro Goomba

The Mugger-Micro Goombas are tiny Goombas that attack Mario by biting or throwing large heavy objects at him. They appeared in the games Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and Super Mario 64. They are found in deserts, grasslands, hills, mountains, caves and ships. The Micro Goomba are often part off the Koopa Troop but can also be found wild. They are incredibly weak in hit points as practically any attack can take them down in a single hit. On the other hand they are very evasive and can perform incredibly powerful bites. Some of them are strong enough to lift bricks and other heavy objects several times their size. Also, they, although not intelligent, have been known to create tribes containing Micro-Goombas and often more powerful Para-Goombas.

There are many different species of Micro Goomba although they all share the same title. One kind, appearing in Super Mario Bros. 3 were 1/4 of the size of a regular Goomba and had very large eyebrows. another from Super Mario 64 was only the size of Mario's foot and did not have hair. Although some say that they are Para-Goombas' children others think that they are a complete different species of Goomba.

[edit] Pile Driver Micro-Goomba

Pile Driver Micro-Goombas are a type of Goomba who hide in blocks and jump around. They were introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3 though have appeared in a variety of video games. Being surrounded by a block, the micro Goomba is invulnerable to fire attacks by either of the Mario brothers. Under the block is a Micro Goomba rather than the more common, larger Goomba. When either Mario or Luigi jumps on top of the block, then the Micro Goomba underneath will be revealed, dramatically reducing its defense.

In the levels they appear in, they often disguise themselves as regular blocks, then jumping when one of the brothers gets near them. In the desert levels, for example, a few of the blocks found on any particular pyramid may in fact be a Microgoomba in disguise.

In New Super Mario Bros., the enemy Blockhopper was very similar to the Pile Driver Micro-Goomba, with minor differences. The Pile Driver Micro-Goombas also appeared in the Super Mario Bros. 3 TV show.

[edit] Giant Goomba

Giant Goombas are larger forms of Goomba, first seen on Tiny Huge Island in Super Mario 64 (and its remake Super Mario 64 DS). They can only be defeated by jumping on them like normal Goombas; attacking them with punches and kicks will only knock them back. Giant Goombas reappear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where they are minions of Bowser and the Subspace Army. They can be attacked normally or jumped upon to reduce their health, though attacking them normally won't cause them to flinch. Giant Goombas later appeared in Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii. Their trophy description in Brawl said:

"A giant-sized Goomba, as the name suggests. In Super Mario 64, punching and kicking had no effect on this brute. It could be stopped like normal Goombas--by jumping on it from above. A colossal Goomba appears as the boss of world four in New Super Mario Bros., but that's a Mega Goomba, not a Giant Goomba."

[edit] Spiked Goomba

A Spiked Goomba is an enemy from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. You can't jump on it because it has a spike on its head, and doing so would harm you. You can find it in Rougeport Sewers, Petal Meadows, and Twilight Town. Some of them even live in the dungeon of Rougeport Sewers. Regarding the species Goombario says: "Don't jump on it, unless you have the special spike badge that lets you jump on spiked creatures. Use Mario's hammer to dispatch it, or if the spiked goomba is behind another enemy, a hammer throw badge."

[edit] Others

• Paragoomba: Knock off their wings to turn them into normal goombas. Red kinds can only jump and brown kinds eject Mugger Micro Goombas. Some kinds don’t have wings and float down on parachutes.
• Mugger Micro Goomba: These are tiny goombas are either ejected by high flying Paragoombas or wait to throw bricks at Mario.
• Grand Goomba: These are massive sized goombas. Their size makes them a bigger target for a single jump.
• Kuribo's Goomba: Knock out the goomba and you can take a ride in its shoe!
• Giant Goomba: A larger form of a Goomba seen on Tiny Huge Island in Super Mario 64.
• Grand Goomba: Very similar to the Giant Goomba, though appears in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

[edit] Cameo appearances

• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Goombas, along with other Mario enemies in the sidescrolling levels.
• Super Smash Bros. Melee - Goombas appear as an enemy on the Mushroom Kingdom levels, and also have a trophy.
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Goombas appear as a common enemy in Brawl's Subspace Emissary.
• Super Mario Sunshine- Goombas do not appear in this game, but are replaced by Strollin' Stu, which appear to be related to Goombas.

[edit] Development

Goombas were added at the very end of development on Super Mario Bros. according to Takashi Tezuka. According to him, they initially only had Koopa Troopas in the game. However, after play testers told the developers that the Koopa Troopa were a bit too tricky to be the first enemy, they decided to make the Goomba the first enemy that the player encounters. "So we decided that that we should make an enemy that you could easily squash with a single blow. That's why we made it so that the first enemy the player would encounter would be a Goomba. But we created it right at the very end." said Tezuka. According to Toshihiko Nakago,the programmer of Super Mario Bros., they had a hard time putting the Goomba in the game because they had very few bytes available. So instead of making distinct sprites indicating movement, they instead chose to just flip the sprite which made it look as if the Goomba was walking.

According to the developers, the design of the Goomba is based on a shiitake mushroom.