Enemies Turned Allies: When Villains Join Mario

AnalysisLoreCharacters

In Mario's world, the line between hero and villain is surprisingly porous. This analysis rounds up the villains who crossed over to the plumber's side: Donkey Kong, an antagonist in 1981 and a hero from Donkey Kong Country in 1994; Bowser, playable from Super Mario RPG in 1996; Wario, the 1992 usurper turned headliner; and Birdo, from mini-boss to spin-off regular.

In the world of Mario, the line between heroes and villains is surprisingly porous. Several figures who began their career as sworn enemies of the plumber ended up joining his side, a phenomenon English-speaking fans sum up with the phrase Mario enemies who became allies.

From Donkey Kong to Vivian, by way of Bowser himself, here are the former foes who switched to Mario's side — and above all how and why each one changed camps.

Contents

• Donkey Kong: Mario's very first enemy
• Bowser: the sworn enemy recruited in the RPGs
• Wario: the usurper turned anti-hero
• Birdo: from egg-spitting mini-boss to spin-off regular
• Paper Mario: when whole species switch sides
• Why Nintendo turns its villains into allies
• Quick recap
• FAQ

---

Donkey Kong: Mario's very first enemy

Before becoming a Nintendo star, Donkey Kong was the very first antagonist of Mario's career. In the arcade cabinet Donkey Kong (1981), the giant ape carries off Pauline (first called “Lady”) to the top of a New York construction site, and it falls to a carpenter nicknamed “Jumpman” — the future Mario — to climb the scaffolding and rescue her.

The turnaround is spectacular as early as Donkey Kong Country (1994) on Super Nintendo, where Donkey Kong becomes the hero of his own series, entrusted to the studio Rare. One piece of lore trivia is worth flagging: according to Rare, the DK of 1981 is actually Cranky Kong, the grumpy old ape, while the modern Donkey Kong belongs to a later generation.

Even juicier: as early as Donkey Kong Jr. (1982), the roles are reversed and Mario becomes the villain, keeping Donkey Kong locked in a cage that his son has to come and open. So the plumber has not always been on the right side of history.

---

Bowser: the sworn enemy recruited in the RPGs

Bowser is Mario's most iconic opponent since Super Mario Bros. (1985), but the role-playing games love making him switch sides. It is in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996 in Japan and North America; re-released in Europe in 2023) that the King of the Koopas joins Mario's team for the first time as a playable character.

The pretext is simple: his own troops have abandoned him after the Smithy Gang's invasion, and Bowser strikes an alliance out of spite. In Mario & Luigi, he becomes a recurring ally: a mere ally of convenience in Superstar Saga (2003) — where he is not playable, however — and then a full-blown protagonist.

The high point remains Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009) on Nintendo DS, where you literally play as Bowser while Mario and Luigi, swallowed whole, venture through his insides. The alliance forms against a common enemy, Fawful, proof that rivalry always gives way before a greater threat.

---

Wario: the usurper turned anti-hero

Wario was born a villain, and no ordinary one. He first appears in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) on Game Boy, where he takes advantage of Mario's absence to seize his castle and rename it after himself.

His name sums up the whole character: “Wario” blends “Mario” with the Japanese warui, “bad”, and his emblem is an “M” flipped into a “W”. And yet, as early as Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994), he inherits his own platform game series, greedy but now playable.

The shift is complete with the WarioWare series (from 2003 onward), which turns him into a comic anti-hero obsessed with gold rather than an enemy of Mario. Wario never really turned good; he simply went from being an obstacle to being a star in his own right, with a thoroughly selfish streak.

---

Birdo: from egg-spitting mini-boss to spin-off regular

Birdo really did start out as an enemy. This pink dinosaur with a red bow, able to spit eggs, serves as a recurring mini-boss in Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988), a game adapted from the Japanese Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987, Japan).

Her name is in fact the fruit of a famous blunder: the American manual swapped the names “Birdo” and “Ostro”, the other enemy in the same game. The egg-spitting dinosaur has kept “Birdo” ever since, and the mistake went down in history.

From the 2000s onward, Birdo becomes a regular in Mario's camp and a playable character in the spin-offs: Mario Tennis (2000), Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003), the Mario Party games, right up to Mario Tennis Aces (2018) and Mario Strikers: Battle League (2022). The former level guardian has become a friendly, familiar face in the gang.

---

Paper Mario: when whole species switch sides

The Paper Mario series pushes the idea to its extreme: Mario recruits his teammates straight from the enemy species. In Paper Mario (2001 in Europe), his battle partners are a Goomba, a Koopa Troopa, a Bob-omb and a Boo, all creatures normally hostile to the plumber.

The most touching case comes from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004 in Europe), with Vivian (Viviane in French). This witch initially belongs to the Shadow Sirens, alongside her sisters Beldam and Marilyn, a trio of enemies serving the X-Nauts.

Mistreated by her elder sister, Vivian defects in Twilight Town to join Mario and turns against her own kind. A mistress of fire, able to hide Mario inside her shadow, she has become one of the best-loved partners in the entire saga.

---

Why Nintendo turns its villains into allies

This back-and-forth is no accident. Nintendo reuses its antagonists as allies above all in the RPGs, where the story has the time it needs to add nuance to a character and make an unlikely alliance believable.

The device is almost always the same: joining forces against a common threat. Faced with a danger that overwhelms everyone — the Smithy Gang, Fawful, the X-Nauts — old rivalries naturally take a back seat.

The result: a universe where no villain is permanently evil, and where you take pleasure in meeting again, in a kart or on a battle team, the very foe you were fighting the day before. That is one of the great strengths of Mario lore: its knack for recycling enemies into endearing companions.

---

Mario enemies turned allies: the essentials

Donkey Kong	Antagonist in Donkey Kong (1981), hero from Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Bowser	Playable ally from Super Mario RPG (1996)
Wario	Enemy in Super Mario Land 2 (1992), his own series from 1994
Birdo	Mini-boss in Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988), playable from Mario Tennis (2000)
Vivian	Enemy witch who joins Mario in The Thousand-Year Door
Bowser's Inside Story	2009: you play as Bowser himself
Narrative device	Joining forces against a common threat, typical of the RPGs

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Discover our Mario figurines in the shop.

---

FAQ

• Who is Mario's very first enemy?
  Donkey Kong. In the arcade game Donkey Kong (1981), the ape carries off Pauline and Mario, then nicknamed Jumpman, has to climb a construction site to save her.
• In which game does Bowser become a playable ally?
  As early as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996), the first game where the King of the Koopas joins Mario's team, long before Bowser's Inside Story (2009).
• Is Wario a good guy or a bad guy?
  Neither: he is an anti-hero. He starts out as an enemy in Super Mario Land 2 (1992), then earns his own series, Wario Land and WarioWare.
• Was Birdo really an enemy?
  Yes. This egg-spitting dinosaur served as a mini-boss in Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) before becoming a recurring playable character in the spin-offs.
• Who is Vivian in Paper Mario?
  A witch of the Shadow Sirens in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. An enemy at first, she defects to join Mario and becomes one of his partners.

↑ Back to top