Roy Koopa: Bowser's bruiser in pink shades

BossKoopalingsSuper Mario Bros. 3

Magenta shades, a purple shell and zero intention of thinking things through. Roy Koopa is the muscle of the family: a playground bully who climbs the walls just to come crashing back down on Mario. This portrait covers his pink-shades tough-guy look, his ground tremors, the Bullet Bill cannon from New Super Mario Bros. U and his heavyweight status on the tracks.

Every gang has its bruiser. Among the Koopalings, that would be Roy Koopa: a purple shell rimmed with magenta, a mauve head and above all those pink sunglasses clamped onto his face that he never takes off.

Roy goes in for neither cunning nor magic. He walks forward, he hits, he makes the scenery shake. A portrait of the most brutal lieutenant in the army of Bowser.

Contents

• The tough guy of the gang
• A name straight from the rock scene
• Sky Land, Forest of Illusion: his castles
• Tremors, ceilings and Bullet Bills
• Heavyweight on the starting grid
• Roy Koopa at a glance
• FAQ

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The tough guy of the gang

Roy cultivates a full thug's outfit: magenta sunglasses, purple shell, hunched shoulders. Here the accessory makes the character — without his pink shades, he would lose his visual identity on the spot.

The temperament matches the outfit. The series describes him as a playground bully: he prefers brute force to reasoning, enjoys pushing around minions weaker than himself and shows an arrogance that nothing can dent.

Like Morton, he drags around a reputation for being all muscle and no brain that recent entries sometimes take pleasure in contradicting: Roy occasionally turns out to be sharper than he lets on.

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A name straight from the rock scene

Roy belongs to the same naming tradition as his siblings: his Western first name points to a figure of American music, part of the wave of tributes orchestrated by Nintendo of America at the end of the 1980s.

It was that same team that slipped Trent Reznor's name into the game by christening the Reznor. The seven Koopalings and the fortress triceratops therefore share the same hidden signature.

The character's Japanese name, on the other hand, carries no musical reference at all: the rock pantheon of the siblings is a layer added in translation, and it has since become their worldwide calling card.

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Sky Land, Forest of Illusion: his castles

In Super Mario Bros. 3, Roy makes off with the royal wand of Sky Land, the world of floating platforms. The fight follows the house formula there — jump on his head, dodge the magic — but with a greater brutality.

In Super Mario World, he holds the castle of the Forest of Illusion. His arena there turns into a trap: the walls close in steadily, shrinking the available space with every jump the boss makes.

That is where the character finds his real mechanic: Roy does not win by hitting harder, he wins by shrinking the ground until the player has nowhere left to land.

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Tremors, ceilings and Bullet Bills

The modern era refines his repertoire as a bruiser. Roy hauls himself up the wall, grabs onto the ceiling and drops straight down onto Mario — an attack from above that few bosses use.

• Heavy ground pounds that set off real tremors across the whole arena.
• A wall climb followed by a crushing fall from the ceiling.
• In New Super Mario Bros. U, a cannon that he uses to riddle the arena with Bullet Bills.

That cannon is his great find: Roy becomes the only Koopaling to arm himself with artillery, which brings him closer to classic fortress guardians like Boom Boom while making him distinctly more aggressive.

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Heavyweight on the starting grid

No surprise, Mario Kart 8 files him among the heavyweights, alongside Donkey Kong and Waluigi. The game does grant him a slightly more nimble profile than the average of his class, in exchange for a little top speed.

From then on he becomes a regular of the expanded roster, where his look as a muscle man in shades works instantly, even for a player who has never touched a 2D Mario.

That may well be his finest feat: among seven bosses invented in 1988, Roy is the one whose look has weathered the decades best without ever needing an explanation.

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Roy Koopa at a glance

Name	Roy Koopa
Group	The seven Koopalings
Temperament	Brutal, arrogant, more force than finesse
Distinctive feature	Magenta sunglasses
Shell	Purple rimmed with magenta
World guarded (SMB3)	Sky Land
Castle (SMW)	Forest of Illusion
Signature attack	Ceiling drop and ground tremors
Mario Kart 8	Heavyweight

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FAQ

• Who is Roy Koopa?
  He is the muscle of the seven Koopalings, Bowser's lieutenants. You spot him by his magenta sunglasses and his purple shell rimmed with pink.
• What is Roy Koopa's signature attack?
  He grips the walls, then drops from the ceiling onto Mario, and pounds the ground to set off tremors. In New Super Mario Bros. U, he also uses a Bullet Bill cannon.
• Which worlds does Roy guard?
  Sky Land in Super Mario Bros. 3, then the Forest of Illusion castle in Super Mario World, where the arena walls close in as the fight goes on.
• Why do the Koopalings have musicians' names?
  It is a tradition set up by Nintendo of America at the end of the 1980s. The same team named the Reznor after Trent Reznor. The Japanese names, for their part, contain no musical reference.
• Is Roy playable in Mario Kart?
  Yes, since Mario Kart 8. He is classed as a heavyweight there, in the Donkey Kong and Waluigi bracket, with a profile a little more nimble than the group average.

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