Mario's Enemies: Complete Guide to Bosses and Creatures

Bowser Jr.The son, the bandana, the paintbrush

Arriving in Super Mario Sunshine in 2002, he starts out with a lie: his father made him believe that Peach was his mother, and he daubs Isle Delfino with a magic paintbrush in order to kidnap her. The fanged bandana he wears over his mouth has become his signature, as has the Koopa Clown Car, the flying pod inherited from Bowser. He is today the only child the series officially grants the Koopa King.

Baby BowserThe tyrant in nappies

Careful not to confuse him with Bowser Jr.: Baby Bowser is the king of the Koopas in infant form, final boss of Yoshi's Island in 1995 and thief of the Super Happy Tree. The fight plays out in two stages, Kamek enlarging his protégé to the proportions of a building once the first round is lost. The Yoshi saga has made him a regular — capricious, screaming, and already very unpleasant with the sorcerer who raises him.

Dry BowserThe king down to the bone

Introduced in New Super Mario Bros. in 2006, he is what is left of Bowser after a fall into the lava: a skeleton that charges, bites and breathes blue flames. The fight is built as a callback — the player recognises the silhouette, but the rules have changed. Since then he has been part of the regular spin-off cast, on the same footing as the living version.

MidbusThe copy who takes himself seriously

Midbus in the original version, Métaboss is Fawful's chief minion in Bowser's Inside Story, in 2009: a cross between a pig and an armadillo, conceived as the grotesque mirror of the Koopa King. Bowser faces him three times over the course of the game, including a frozen version named Blizzard Midbus. The gag lies in the seriousness with which he takes himself for a worthy opponent — and it is Bowser, not Mario, who has to deal with him.

Lemmy KoopaThe tightrope walker of the seven

No taller than a Toad, he refuses to set foot on the ground: Lemmy fights while balancing on a large ball and throws others to take up space. Rainbow mohawk, cross-eyed gaze, a permanent circus act — and a name borrowed from Lemmy Kilmister, of Motörhead. The spin-offs have kept that acrobatic register: he plays the lightest driver on the roster there.

Roy KoopaThe shock wave in pink glasses

Roy plays brute force: he climbs the walls, drops back down with all his weight and pins Mario to the ground for the duration of a shock wave. Purple shell, mauve skull and magenta glasses screwed onto his nose: the contrast between the accessory and the build makes the whole character. New Super Mario Bros. U added a Bullet Bill cannon, and the kart tracks have made him a heavyweight.

KamekThe magician on a broom

Kamek is arguably the most useful piece in the clan: he is the one who, with a flick of his wand, turns an ordinary mini-boss into a giant. Introduced in Yoshi's Island as baby Bowser's guardian, he has provided the series' magical continuity ever since. Without him, half the fortress fights would have no build-up at all.

Kammy KoopaThe adviser in the shadows

An elderly witch from the Paper Mario series, Kammy plays the part, at Bowser's side, of the adviser who always has a plan and is never listened to. She prepares the ground, alters the scenery mid-battle and takes her king's mockery on the chin. Her double act with Bowser is one of the most constant comic devices in the first two Paper Mario games.

MechakoopaBowser as a toy

These little wind-up robots, released by the king during the final battle of Super Mario World in 1990, walk straight ahead until you stomp on them — they then start up again after a few seconds. They illustrate perfectly the second principle of the bestiary: a Mechakoopa can be picked up and thrown back in the face of its own creator, which remains the most elegant way to win the fight.

The Koopa family treeThe question Nintendo avoids

Who is Bowser Jr.'s mother? The series has never answered, and Shigeru Miyamoto cut the discussion short with a now-famous piece of deflection. This dossier reconstructs what the games actually say about Koopa parentage, what the Western manuals added on their own account, and why the seven Koopalings changed status along the way.

LakituThe Koopa who stays in the air

Perched on his bespectacled cloud, he follows Mario while staying out of range and drops Spinies without pause. He is the enemy that teaches the player you sometimes have to attack the source rather than the projectiles. In Super Mario 64, the series gave him a second job: it is a Lakitu who holds the camera, which makes him one of the rare opponents promoted to the rank of staging tool.

SpinyThe anti-jump par excellence

The Spiny arrives as an egg thrown from a cloud, hatches on the ground and starts walking. Its bristling shell announces the only rule that counts: do not jump on it. It takes a thrown shell, a fireball or a POW Block. It is the purest example of the silhouette principle, since its entire appearance serves only to forbid the player's reflex move.

Buzzy BeetleThe fireproof helmet

This black beetle with a blue shell exists for a precise reason: neutralising the Fire Flower. Fireballs bounce off its helmet, which forces an over-powered Mario back to the fundamentals of the jump. Once flipped over, it behaves like an ordinary Koopa shell. You find it mainly in the underground levels, where it sometimes drops from the ceiling.

SpikeHe makes his own ammunition

Spike does not charge: he stops, opens his mouth wide and pulls out a spiked ball that he rolls towards Mario. The idea is a nasty one, since it turns a static enemy into a projectile dispenser. Depending on the episode, he spits snowballs or logs, but the principle stays the same — waiting him out means giving him time to reload.

Dry BonesHe never stays dead

A Koopa Troopa reduced to its bones, which collapses under a jump then reassembles itself a few seconds later. That mechanic completely changes the way you cross a castle: it is no longer about eliminating, but about gaining ground during the window when it is down. To finish it off for good, you need the star, the hammer suit or a thrown shell.

Hammer BroThe elite of the infantry

Helmet, shell and a rain of arcing hammers: the Hammer Bro has made generations of players sweat on the NES. His attack trajectory covers both the ground and the jump, which rules out the usual solution. He has become an elite figure across the whole saga, and serves as the model for a warrior class in the RPG episodes.

Boomerang BroThe projectile that makes the round trip

A late variant of the brotherhood, he throws a boomerang that comes back on itself — so two passes to dodge instead of one. The difference looks slight on paper; in play, it changes the rhythm of the back-and-forth and punishes the player who simply goes round. His weapon eventually became a power-up in its own right, the Boomerang Flower.

Fire BroThe incendiary version

Same shell, same helmet, but fireballs instead of hammers. The Fire Bro fires in bursts at ground level, which pushes you to jump at the exact moment you would rather stay down. He occupies the same tactical slot as his hammer-wielding brother, with a different screen coverage — that is the whole derivation logic of the Koopa army.

Sumo BroHe strikes the ground, not Mario

The Sumo Bro does not attack directly: planted on a platform above, he stamps on the ground and makes a wall of flame spring up that runs beneath his feet. The danger therefore comes from the scenery, not from him. Introduced in Super Mario World, he then disappeared for twenty-two years before returning on Wii U, where his blows produce electric waves.

Boom BoomThe fortress bouncer

Since Super Mario Bros. 3, he waits at the end of the fortresses and spins on the spot with his arms out. Three jumps are enough, but he speeds up between each one, and his later versions add wings or jumps. He is the house mini-boss: simple enough not to block you, present enough for his entrance music to be recognised instantly.

Pom PomThe boomerang ninja

Added in Super Mario 3D Land, she is Boom Boom's counterpart: where he charges, she disappears, splits in two and throws spiked boomerangs. The pair form the mini-boss tandem of the modern episodes, each with their own register — strength on one side, dodging and distance on the other. She kept that role right through to New Super Mario Bros. U.

ReznorFour dinosaurs on a carousel

The Reznors guard the fortresses of Super Mario World: four fire-breathing triceratopses, set on a turning wheel above the lava that brings them past Mario in turn. The fight is played as much against the scenery as against them, since the bridge collapses as the eliminations mount. Their name is a tribute to Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails; they only resurfaced in New Super Mario Bros. 2.

Fred LafonceThe Koopa who charges in a straight line

Charlie le Chargeur, Bill Dozer or Fred Lafonce: this Koopa in American football kit has changed name three times in French. The behaviour, for its part, has never budged — he charges head down from one end of the screen to the other, and has done since Super Mario World, helmeted and therefore ill-disposed to receive a jump. He embodies the branch of the Koopa army that bets on speed rather than on projectiles.

Bowser's fortressesThe scenery as an opponent

Bridges over lava, turning fire bars, moving platforms and a liberating axe: Bowser's castles are an architectural language in their own right. This dossier follows their evolution, from the brick corridor of 1985 to the three-dimensional fortresses of Odyssey, and shows how each generation of hardware redefined what a Koopa castle could inflict on the player.

The flying fortressThe king's warships

Introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, the flying fortresses are armoured galleons that sweep from one side of the screen to the other, bristling with cannons, Bullet Bills and Roto-Discs. They gave the saga its idea of the vehicle-level, where the ground itself is in motion, and have come back in every major 2D episode as an end-of-world signature.

GoombossThe Goomba scaled up to boss size

Taking the weakest enemy in the game and making it a boss is an old recipe, and Goomboss applies it literally: he is a giant, crowned Goomba who crushes and hurls ordinary Goombas. He appears under the name Goomba King in the Nintendo 64 Paper Mario, in 2000, where he plays the very first real boss, before returning as a guard in Super Mario 64 DS and then in the spin-offs.

Goomba's ShoeThe vehicle of a single level

A Goomba perched in a green spring-loaded boot, which you take from him in order to use it: the shoe lets you bounce on spikes and on enemies that are normally untouchable. It appears only in World 5-3 of Super Mario Bros. 3, and nowhere else, which made it an object of legend among NES players. Its French name only dates from Super Mario Advance 4; Nintendo then let it sleep before bringing it back in Mario Maker.

GoombarioThe first ally in Paper Mario

In the Nintendo 64 Paper Mario, the very first companion is a young Goomba who is a Mario fan. His signature ability consists in giving information about any enemy or piece of scenery — a walking manual, doubled with a mocking commentary. The choice is not innocent: giving the guide's role to the most despised species in the bestiary is a joke the whole series has taken up since.

GoombellaThe archaeologist of The Thousand-Year Door

An archaeology student, Goombella accompanies Mario in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and takes over the analyst role held by Goombario, more talkative and far more biting. She comments on the enemies, the scenery and the characters with a tone that did a great deal for the game's reputation as a piece of writing. It is one of the reasons this Paper Mario has remained a benchmark.

King BooLuigi's nemesis

Crown, red eyes, a stubborn grudge: King Boo is one of the rare antagonists whose main target is Luigi and not Mario. He shuts the brothers inside paintings, turns the mansions upside down and comes back in every episode of the haunted house series. Unlike ordinary Boos, he does not freeze under your gaze — which is precisely what makes him a boss and not an obstacle.

PolterpupThe puppy from beyond the grave

A puppy ghost able to pass through walls, the Polterpup appeared in Luigi's Mansion 2, on 3DS in 2013, as a little pest: it steals keys and valuables, then bolts. The third episode makes it a genuine companion, which sniffs out hidden objects, pulls Luigi out of King Boo's trap and brings him back to life. It is the best example of the series' typical shift, where the cute enemy ends up on the player's side.

DooplissHe steals the name, not the objects

In The Thousand-Year Door, this ghost is not content to attack: he takes on Mario's appearance, steals his name and turns his own allies against him. The sequence forces the player to find the letters of the ghost's name in order to break the spell — a fight won by deduction rather than by hit points. It is one of the most discussed passages in the game.

CortezThe dead captain who guards his loot

A pirate skeleton woken at the bottom of the Pirate's Grotto, Cortez guards the Sapphire Star with his ghost crew, in chapter 5 of The Thousand-Year Door. The fight runs through three successive forms, sword, scimitar, rapier and hook included, with a comeback in force after an apparent defeat. Defeated, he changes sides and starts ferrying Mario about — solemn one second, helpful the next.

BonetailThe bone dragon of the last floor

Bonetail waits on the hundredth floor of the Pit of 100 Trials, the longest optional trial in The Thousand-Year Door. Last of the family of three dragons, reduced to his skeleton, he racks up 200 hit points — more than the final boss of the main adventure — heals himself mid-fight and ignores half the status effects. House irony: his reward is a badge you can buy in a shop. He is the classic super-boss, optional and harder than the ending.

Petey PiranhaThe plant that grew into a boss

Introduced in Super Mario Sunshine, Petey Piranha is a giant Piranha Plant with arms, leaves for wings and a frankly foul temper. The fight consists in making him swallow water to swell his belly, then jumping on him. The character went down so well that he became a spin-off regular, from kart to tennis, and one of the rare plant bosses to have his own casting sheet.

Dino PiranhaThe first boss in Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy opens with a hybrid of dinosaur and Piranha Plant, still attached to its eggshell, on a spherical planet you can circle indefinitely. The weak point is the bulb at the end of its tail: you have to strike it with the spin, which makes for a lesson in gravity disguised as a boss fight. It is one of the best examples of the way Galaxy rewrote the bestiary for its round planets.

PokeyThe cactus that comes apart

A stack of three to five spiny balls topped with a smiling head, the Pokey is the signature creature of the sand levels. Its peculiarity lies in its structure: you take its segments off one by one, which shortens it without ever quite stopping it. Like the Shy Guys, it comes from Doki Doki Panic in 1987; its Japanese name, Sanbo, derives from “saboten”, the cactus. The series has since produced mummy, skeleton and snowman versions.

WigglerCalm until you stamp on it

A big yellow caterpillar that ambles peacefully through the Forest of Illusion in Super Mario World, a flower on its head, and that does nothing as long as you leave it alone. One jump on its back and it turns scarlet, then charges without stopping. It is one of the rare enemies whose aggression is triggered by the player themselves; the series has since used it as a boss, an ally, a mount, and has even given it an adult butterfly form.

Queen BeanA sovereign under influence

In Superstar Saga, Queen Bean is not a villain: she is the legitimate sovereign of the Beanbean Kingdom, turned into a monster by a parasitic worm planted there by Cackletta. The fight therefore consists in beating a victim, before curing her with generous quantities of cola. That reversal is typical of the Mario & Luigi writing, where bosses often have a very silly reason for being monstrous.

ThwompThe block that waits for its moment

A block of stone with a scowling face, suspended from the ceiling, which crashes to the ground as soon as Mario passes underneath then rises slowly. Its strength lies in the rise: that is what creates the window to pass through, and counting it is how you cross. Present since Super Mario Bros. 3, it has become the symbol of Koopa castles, to the point of having its own category of traps in Mario Maker.

WhompThe slab that lets itself drop

The 3D cousin of the Thwomp, introduced in Super Mario 64, the Whomp is a rectangular slab mounted on two feet, inspired by the nurikabe, that Japanese yōkai in the shape of a living wall. It throws itself flat on Mario, and its weakness is purely geometric: once down, it exposes its back, the only surface on which a jump has any effect. Super Mario 64 devotes a whole boss to it, the Whomp King, perched at the top of a fortress built out of his own kind.

Chain ChompThe cast-iron guard dog

A black iron ball, a mouth full of teeth and a chain riveted to a stake: the Chain Chomp barks, bites and pulls without ever being able to break free. Miyamoto says he was inspired by a dog from his childhood, held back by a chain that was too short — the Japanese name, Wanwan, is in fact the equivalent of “woof-woof”. Introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, it became a mythical guardian in Super Mario 64, where freeing it is a quest in its own right.

AmpThe current that goes round in circles

An electric sphere introduced in Super Mario 64, the Amp turns endlessly around its perch without ever leaving its trajectory. Its name comes from the ampere, and it inherits from the Spark of Super Mario Bros. 2. No ordinary attack makes a dent in it: only the invincibility of the Super Star lets you pass through it, which makes it a pure obstacle of positioning rather than an opponent.

Lava BubbleThe eruption on a fixed schedule

A ball of lava that leaps out of the magma, traces an arc and falls back. It dates from Super Mario Bros. and has never changed, because it never needed to: it is the metronome of castle levels. Some variants rise vertically, others cross the screen diagonally, but the contract stays the same — a regular cycle, a window to seize.

KnucklotecThe colossus with flying hands

Boss of the Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey, this stone giant attacks with hands detached from his body. The solution goes through capture: Cappy takes control of a fist, and Mario turns the colossus's weapon back against his own face. It is one of the fights that best shows what Odyssey's hat brought to the bestiary — the enemy literally becomes the controller.

Major BurrowsThe mole that digs in order to attack

In Super Mario Galaxy, Major Burrows chases a little star bunny beneath the surface of Gusty Garden and bursts out of the ground to strike. The fight is played by ear and by shadow: you have to guess where he is going to come out, wait for him, and flip him onto his back. He came back in Galaxy 2, proof that the underground boss pattern worked better than its reputation suggests.

Monty MoleHe comes out of where you walk

The Monty Mole applies the same idea on the scale of a minion: the ground trembles for a fraction of a second, then the mole bursts out — often right under Mario's feet — to chase him or bombard him with stones from its hole. Introduced in Super Mario World in 1990, it colonised the molehills of Moo Moo Farm in Mario Kart 64 before being promoted to a playable character in Super Mario Party.

Banzai BillThe same, only much bigger

A Bullet Bill that takes up almost the entire height of the screen: impossible to jump over, impossible to pass underneath. The Banzai Bill forces you to find shelter or to climb on top, and its arrival is announced by a rumble that marked Super Mario World players. It embodies the bestiary's escalation principle — same rule, same silhouette, size multiplied.

Bob-ombThe bomb that walks

A spherical black body, two mechanical feet and a sizzling fuse. The Bob-omb does not charge: it approaches, stops, flashes and explodes, which leaves a few seconds to decide. Arriving in the West with Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988, inherited from Doki Doki Panic, it could already be picked up and thrown there; Super Mario 64 carried the move into three dimensions and gave it a king.

King Bob-ombThe very first boss in 3D

At the top of Bob-omb Battlefield, the first boss of Super Mario 64 waits with a moustache, a crown and a speech about honour. The fight teaches the game's key mechanic: circle round, grab from behind, lift and throw. For many players, it is the exact moment when three-dimensional platforming started to make sense.

MouserThe mouse in dark glasses

A loyal general of Wart, Mouser is a large mouse in dark glasses who bombards Mario from a raised platform while waiting for his own bombs to be thrown back. The fight inverts the usual rule: it is not about dodging the projectiles but about catching them in time. Also coming from Doki Doki Panic in 1987, he has remained one of the most memorable silhouettes of that unusual episode.

The blue spiked shellThe weapon that targets the leader

It does not come from the platform games but it belongs to the bestiary: a winged shell that crosses the whole pack to strike whoever is in the lead. Introduced in Mario Kart 64, it solves a design problem — stopping an early lead from locking up the race — at the price of a frustration that has become legendary. The Super Horn is today the only reliable counter.

The POW BlockThe button that empties the screen

Inherited from Mario Bros. in 1983, the POW Block triggers a tremor that flips or eliminates everything touching the ground. It provides the emergency answer to situations the jump does not solve: Spinies, spiked shells, saturated screens. Its presence in a level is almost always a clue — if one is placed there, the screen is about to fill up.

Cheep CheepThe fish of every water level

Present since Super Mario Bros., the Cheep Cheep is the saga's generic fish, produced in red, green, giant and a flying version that leaps out of the water to cross the bridges. Its mechanic asks nothing more than reading a trajectory, which makes it the ideal companion for levels where the player is already losing movement precision.

BlooperThe squid that dives headlong

The Blooper does not swim straight: it rises, stops, then swoops on Mario in fits and starts. That saw-toothed movement is particularly annoying in narrow corridors, where it takes up the whole usable height. Present since Super Mario Bros. in 1985, produced in pink, black, giant and baby versions, it eventually changed jobs: in Mario Kart, it is the one that sprays ink over the competitors' windscreens.

Méga BloupsThe octopus of Ricco Harbour

Despite appearances, it is not an octopus but a giant Blooper, hooked beneath a jetty on Isle Delfino, a cork in its mouth. The fight consists in tearing off its tentacles one by one, then the cork itself. Everything is settled by water jet rather than by jumping, which sums up this tropical episode's proposition rather well — and it pollutes several areas of the game, not just the harbour.

CataquackThe bouncer who catapults Mario

A creature with a large beak from Isle Delfino, the Cataquack does not bite: it slides its beak under Mario and sends him flying. The blue version is harmless and even serves as a springboard, the red one does damage. It is a fine example of the way Sunshine filled its island with ambivalent creatures, neither quite enemies nor quite decorative.

The eel of Noki BayThe eel at the bottom of the bay

The sixth major level of Super Mario Sunshine, Noki Bay is a setting of cliffs, waterfall and sunken ruins — and the water there is poisoned. The culprit sleeps at the bottom: Eely-Mouth, a giant eel whose tooth decay is eating away at the whole bay. The fight consists in brushing its teeth with a water jet, which remains one of the strangest ideas ever handed to a Mario boss.

Shy GuyThe mask that made a career

A small hooded silhouette and a white mask pierced with three holes: the Shy Guy comes from Doki Doki Panic, in 1987, and joins the Mario universe with Super Mario Bros. 2 never to leave it again. Its behaviour is deliberately ordinary — it walks and it touches — but its design has made a career: it is today a driver, a tennis player, a playable character and one of the best-selling faces in Mario merchandising.

SnifitThe Shy Guy that shoots

The same hooded silhouette, but the mask has become a gas mask topped with a barrel. The Snifit spits projectiles at regular intervals, which places it among the covering fire rather than the infantry — and, in the hierarchy of Subcon, it is an officer who commands the Shy Guys. The RPG episodes have made them guards, shopkeepers and game show hosts.

NinjiThe jumper from Subcon

A small black star disguised as a ninja, the Ninji bounces on the spot or climbs along walls. It was born in Doki Doki Panic in 1987 and joined the West with Super Mario Bros. 2 — an enemy literally out of a dream. Super Mario Bros. Wonder gave it its finest reappearance by having it dance in single file to the beat of the music, in one of the most discussed passages of the game.

RexThe dinosaur that flattens

A small purple dragon from the hills of Dinosaur Land, the Rex does not die from the first jump: it flattens, becomes half as tall and sets off faster. A second jump is needed to finish it. It is a clever variation on the Koopa principle — a two-stage enemy whose second stage is faster than the first. In France, it was long called “Drabon” before taking back its original name.

WartThe final boss people forget

Wart rules over Subcon and closes Super Mario Bros. 2: it is therefore not Bowser who waits at the end of that episode. His weakness has stayed famous for its absurdity — he hates vegetables, which you have to throw into his mouth while he spits bubbles. Rarely reused since, he is one of those bosses only NES players cite from memory.

BirdoFrom mini-boss to spin-off regular

Birdo appears in 1988 in Super Mario Bros. 2 as a recurring boss who spits eggs in a stream — eggs that have to be thrown back, once again. Catherine in Japan, Birdo in the West: it is also a textbook case of localisation, the question of her gender identity having been handled differently depending on the version. She has since moved into the regular spin-off cast, often in a double act with Yoshi.

NabbitThe thief you cannot beat

A purple rabbit with a sack on his back, Nabbit burgles the Toad Houses and takes flight the moment you spot him: he is not fought, he is chased. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe made him an invulnerable playable character, intended for beginners — an elegant piece of design, since it turns his thief's invincibility into an accessibility mode.

TatangaThe invader of Sarasaland

Final boss of Super Mario Land, Tatanga is a purple alien who invades Sarasaland and kidnaps Princess Daisy. The fight takes place at the controls of a plane, in a shoot-'em-up sequence that has never had an equivalent in the saga. Back once in Super Mario Land 2, he then disappeared — which makes him one of the great forgotten figures of the bestiary.

The Poison MushroomThe bonus that isn't one

A mushroom placed exactly where the player expects a Super Mushroom, and which hurts, shrinks or costs a life. Introduced in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in 1986, it was then brown and discreet; it turned purple with a skull over time, which finally makes it identifiable. Mario Maker made it an official trolling tool — the best possible end of career for an object designed to deceive.

The mini-bosses of New Super Mario Bros. UThe catalogue of modern mini-bosses

Boom Boom, Pom Pom, the Koopalings and the tower guardians: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe gathers almost all of Bowser's general staff in a single game, which makes it a good revision ground. This guide gives the strategy for each of them, castle by castle, and serves as a useful reminder before diving back into the individual profiles.

SmithyThe factory against wishes

Smithy does not belong to the Mushroom Kingdom: he comes from another world with a precise plan, replacing the inhabitants' wishes with mass-produced weapons. He is the first antagonist in the saga to carry an idea rather than a whim, and he completely eclipses Bowser, reduced from the start of the game to the rank of a companion dispossessed of his castle.

CrocoThe thief who always comes back

A small purple crocodile in a top hat, Croco steals Mallow's coin in the opening hours of the game and triggers the adventure's first chase. You fight him twice, and he ends up selling items to the people he used to fleece. He inaugurates a category the series has never abandoned: the recurring thief, neither quite an enemy nor quite an ally.

BoosterThe suitor in the tower

The eccentric heir to a tower full of traps, Booster kidnaps Peach because he wants to get married, without the faintest idea of what that involves. His wedding sequence, interrupted by a living cake, is one of the game's peaks of absurdity. He illustrates the tone of Super Mario RPG well, where the villains are first and foremost ridiculous characters.

ValentinaThe usurper of the cloud kingdom

Valentina seizes power over the cloud kingdom by passing herself off as the queen, with the help of a bird named Dodo. Her plan holds up until she decides to marry a prince who wants nothing to do with it. She is a mid-game boss, but her status as a crowned imposture has made her one of the most cited characters in the 2023 remake.

CulexA Final Fantasy boss in Mario

Behind a sealed door in a corner of Monstro Town waits a knight surrounded by four crystals, accompanied by battle music borrowed from Final Fantasy. Culex is a tribute from Square to its own series, slipped into a Nintendo game, and he hits far harder than the final boss. The 2023 Switch remake gave him a second version in three dimensions, renamed Cristax in French.

GrodusThe brain of the organisation

Chief of the X-Nauts, Grodus pursues the Crystal Stars with one goal: waking the Shadow Queen and ruling at her side. His mechanical coldness and his head under a dome cut against the humour of the rest of the game, and his fall is one of the cruellest in the series — he gets exactly what he wanted, and the demon has no use for him at all.

Lord CrumpThe number two who fails at everything

Lord Crump is the lieutenant Mario runs into most often, and who loses every time. Failed disguises, grandiloquent plans, screamed tantrums: he provides the comic relief for an otherwise sinister organisation. He crosses the game under the alias Four-Eyes, gets unmasked, comes back piloting a robot, then a bigger robot, and faces Mario four times in all — without forgetting to address the player over the characters' shoulders. His stubborn loyalty to Grodus, maintained right to the very end, paradoxically ends up making him endearing: he believes in that organisation more sincerely than its own chief does.

Magnus von GrappleThe lieutenant's mecha

When Lord Crump has had enough of losing bare-handed, he climbs into a mecha with detachable rocket fists. Magnus von Grapple is the only boss in the game to come back in a numbered version: model 1.0 guards the Great Tree in chapter 2, the 2.0 waits in the lunar fortress with more than twice the hit points. The gag lies in the disproportion — a war machine piloted by the least competent character in the organisation.

The Shadow QueenWhat sleeps behind the door

The Thousand-Year Door hides not a treasure but a prison. The Shadow Queen, a demon sealed for a thousand years, takes possession of Peach's body for the final battle, which forces Mario to fight the princess he came to save. The sequence, very dark for the saga, remains one of the reasons this game has the reputation it does.

BeldamThe witch who pulls the strings

Beldam leads the Shadow Sirens, three shadow witches apparently in the service of the X-Nauts. In reality, she is the one manoeuvring from the start to bring back the Shadow Queen, and she treats her own sisters with a cruelty the game makes no attempt to soften. Her relationship with the youngest of the trio is one of the most discussed subtexts of the episode.

HooktailThe game's first dragon

A glowing red dragon and a smooth talker, Hooktail guards the Diamond Star in her ruined castle, in chapter 1 of The Thousand-Year Door. The fight is won by learning her fear — of frogs — which opens the adventure on a clear lesson: in this series, you research bosses before you hit them. She belongs to a family of three dragons, the last of which waits at the bottom of the optional dungeon.

GrubbaThe promoter who was draining his champions

The jovial manager of the Glitzville Arena, Grubba organises the fights and secretly siphons off the life force of his own wrestlers, thanks to the Gold Star wired into his machine. The chapter is built like an investigation: Mario climbs the rankings under the pseudonym The Great Gonzales before understanding that the real opponent is holding the microphone. His Franglais speech has remained one of the game's localisation finds.

Gold HawkThe reigning champion, and a fake one

Rawk Hawk rules the Glitzville arena with a belt, a big mouth and a great deal of arrogance. To reach him, Mario has to climb the whole ranking under the name The Great Gonzales, match after match. What the champion is really carrying, hidden in that belt, is a fake Crystal Star: his title rests on a fix. He is the perfect mid-chapter boss — loud, pleased with himself, and far less dangerous than the man who made him champion.

Count BleckThe villain mourning a dead woman

Behind the name Count Bleck hides Blumiere, a young nobleman whose love was broken by his own family. His answer is out of all proportion: erasing every existing world. The series had never handed the role of great villain to a bereavement, and the game's epilogue, which grants him a form of redemption, remains one of the most discussed passages in the whole saga.

NastasiaThe secretary who hypnotises

Nastasia manages Count Bleck's diary, recruits his minions and hypnotises anyone who hesitates to follow him — she supplied half his army, and she is the one who puts Luigi under control. Horn-rimmed glasses, magenta bun, a secretary's tone: she is the only lieutenant in the game Mario never fights, and probably the most dangerous. Behind the loyalty, feelings she will not admit to.

Mc AstagneThe colossus with a big heart

A Scottish colossus in a kilt, red beard and a code of honour: O'Chunks is the muscle of the gang, a fallen general Count Bleck recruited in disgrace. He faces Mario four times — more than any other minion in the game — loses every time, apologises for it and comes back. His loyalty goes as far as sacrifice, which makes him an antagonist whose main flaw is having chosen the wrong person.

DimentioThe jester who betrays everyone

A masked jester able to fold space, Dimentio plays every side at once, helps Mario when it suits him and has been preparing his own seizure of power from the start. He is the only one in the group serving no cause at all, and that is precisely what makes him the game's real threat. Many players rank him among the best-written antagonists Nintendo has produced.

Mr. LThe Green Thunder

Hypnotised by Nastasia, Luigi becomes Mr. L, the Green Thunder: black mask, arrogance to spare and a combat mecha named Brobot. He faces his brother several times without recognising him, and nobody around him seems troubled by the resemblance. The character plays on Luigi's inferiority complex and gives him, for the space of a few fights, exactly the star billing he never gets in the series.

King OllyThe king of folded paper

In The Origami King, released in July 2020, King Olly folds the Mushroom Kingdom — Peach and Bowser included — and moors the princess's castle to five paper streamers. His grudge against his creator comes from a misunderstanding, not from cruelty: it is one of the saddest stories in the series. His sister Olivia, born from the same hand, accompanies Mario all the way, which turns the adventure into a family affair.

CacklettaThe voice thief

Cackletta opens Superstar Saga by stealing Princess Peach's voice: from then on, every word from the princess becomes an explosion of unreadable characters. The Beanish witch then goes after the Beanstar, dies along the way and comes back by taking possession of Bowser's body, under the name Bowletta. That fusion produces the final boss, and one of the trickiest fights in the game.

FawfulThe minion who made it

Small, green, a single tuft of hair and enormous glasses: Fawful starts out in 2003 as Cackletta's assistant, with broken syntax and an unsettling enthusiasm. Two episodes later, he is the great villain of Bowser's Inside Story, and he manipulated everyone to get there. His lines in wonky speech have become memes, and his trajectory remains the most improbable rise in the saga.

PoppleThe thief in search of a partner

A masked Beanish thief and self-proclaimed genius, Popple is mainly looking for a “Rookie” to give orders to — he first recruits an amnesiac Bowser, then Birdo. The pair haunt Superstar Saga, come back in the following episodes and lose absolutely every duel. Like Croco before him, he occupies the slot of the recurring thief, beaten without ever being eliminated and reappearing two chapters later as if nothing had happened.

Princess ShroobThe invasion from the past

Partners in Time sends Mario and Luigi into the past, where the Mushroom Kingdom has been invaded by an alien people. Princess Shroob leads the invasion, disguises herself as Peach and conceals the existence of her elder sister, who constitutes the real final battle. It is one of the darkest scenarios in the series, and one of the rare ones where the kingdom is genuinely conquered.

YoobThe living dungeon

Yoob is a mutant Yoshi manufactured by the invaders, who swallows the island's Yoshis and stores them in his own belly. The game takes the idea all the way: part of the level takes place inside the creature, between the eggs and the walls. It is the first draft of an idea the series would take up on a grand scale in Bowser's Inside Story.

AntasmaThe king of nightmares

Antasma rules over the dream world of Dream Team and allies himself with Bowser to capture Peach — an alliance that turns out exactly as you would imagine. His great merit is to give Luigi the central role: it is by sleeping that the younger brother opens the dream levels. The character made a strong impression for a simple reason: he is one of the rare Mario villains who is genuinely frightening.

The BroodalsBowser's wedding agency

Topper, Hariet, Spewart and Rango: four rabbits in suits, hired by Bowser to organise his wedding to Peach, who steal the dress, the cake, the flowers and the rings kingdom by kingdom. Each has his or her gadget — spiked top hats, bombs hidden under the hat, poisoned spittle, a hat thrown like a boomerang — and they all come back together at the controls of the RoboBrood. A gang of bosses handled in the register of professional seriousness.

Madame BroodeThe boss with a Chomp on a leash

A giant rabbit and boss of the Broodals, Madame Broode fights while holding Chain Chomplet, a golden Chomp the size of a wrecking ball, on the end of a chain — and treats it like a pet. The fight, which you have twice in the game, consists in turning the beast against its mistress, which sends her into a rage out of all proportion. She appears early in Odyssey and sets the tone of a game in which the bosses are first of all music hall turns.

WaluigiBorn to complete a team

Waluigi appeared in 2000 in Mario Tennis on Nintendo 64 for a purely practical reason: Wario needed a doubles partner. From that utilitarian origin, he has made a whole personality — jealousy, bad faith, theatrical gestures and a total absence of a main game of his own. His repeated absence from the major episodes has become one of the community's most persistent jokes.

Donkey KongThe very first opponent

In 1981, in the arcade cabinet that launched Mario's career, the enemy to beat is a gorilla who has kidnapped Pauline and throws barrels from the top of a building site. Donkey Kong is therefore the original opponent, before Bowser even existed. He has since crossed over to the heroes' side, with his own saga, his own family and his own crocodile king to fight.

King K. RoolThe crocodile of the Kong family

Pirate captain, mad scientist, self-proclaimed king: King K. Rool changes costume in every Donkey Kong Country, but keeps the same objective, stealing the banana hoard. He belongs to the Donkey Kong universe rather than to the Mushroom Kingdom, which explains why you rarely meet him facing Mario — but he is part of the same ecosystem of Nintendo opponents.

Metal MarioFrom power-up to driver

Metal Mario is born in 1996 as a temporary transformation in Super Mario 64: a cap that makes you invulnerable and lets you walk on the bottom of the water. Fifteen years later, Mario Kart makes him a distinct driver, with his own profile and his own weight class. It is a rare case — an opponent born from a power belonging to the player, promoted to the rank of character.

Il PiantissimoThe masked sprinter

In Super Mario Sunshine, this runner disguised as a Pianta challenges Mario to three races and stubbornly refuses to say who he is. The game never lifts the veil, which launched one of the most discussed theories in the saga. He never attacks: he is a pure sporting rival, and one of the rare purely competitive presences on Isle Delfino.

BoshiThe Yoshi who went wrong

A blue Yoshi in dark glasses, Boshi rules by speed over the Yoshi island of Super Mario RPG, until a race puts him back in his place. He is the only Yoshi in the series to display a frankly hostile personality — the playground bully slot rather than the villain slot. Introduced in 1996, he has never come back, which does not stop the community regularly demanding his return.

Captain SyrupThe pirate who outwits Wario

At the head of the Black Sugar Gang, Captain Syrup launches the Wario Land saga in 1994 by holding the treasure of Kitchen Island. Her rivalry with the glutton is played out between equals: she burgles his castle in the second episode, then relieves him of his bottomless Coin Sack in 2008. She belongs to that rare category of characters who have never crossed paths with Mario but are fully part of the bestiary of rivals.

LucienThe racket that possesses Luigi

Mario Tennis Aces adds an adventure mode to tennis and an unexpected antagonist: an evil racket named Lucien, which takes possession of Luigi and of Wario. Five Power Stones have to be recovered in order to neutralise it. Seeing a piece of sports equipment play the great villain says a great deal about the freedom the spin-offs allow themselves.