Birdo

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Birdo.jpg
Birdo as depicted in Mario Party 8.
Birdo
Voiced by Jen Taylor (2000-2001)
Kazumi Totaka (2003-Present)
Debut Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic

The Birdo is a type of pink dinosaur that appears as a recurring character in the Super Mario series. They have most commonly appeared as boss characters, but they have also had supporting roles and semi-regular appearances in the sports-oriented spin-off games.

Information[edit]

Birdo is a pink dinosaur that resembles the Yoshi but is pink and notably more feminine, usually wearing a bow of some sort. They also have wide mouths which can fire out eggs or fireballs at enemies. The Super Mario Bros. 2 instruction manual describes the Birdo as being a male who crossdressed and preferred to be called Birdetta, although it was unsure if this description applied to the entire species or just to one individual.

In the original game, there were three different varieties of Birdos, while Birdos of other colors have been seen in some games starting with audience members in Mario Power Tennis. The pink type could only spit out eggs, while green Birdos spit fireballs, and red Birdos spit out both eggs and fireballs. The usual method of defeating them usually involves some way of knocking their eggs back at them.

Appearances[edit]

Birdos of the three main colors first appeared in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2 as recurring mini-bosses at the end of each level. Pink and Red Birdos could be defeated by tossing their eggs back at them, while Red Birdos had to be have Mushroom Blocks thrown at them. Birdo made additional appearances in the BS Super Mario USA version, where she could appear randomly and fly invincibly on the screen, or she could appear on a card and cast a spell that could have effects such as turning enemies into bombs or changing the player character. The remake Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2 also added a boss called Robirdo, which was a large mechanical version of Birdo that appeared as the boss of the third world.

One Birdo also appeared in Wario's Woods, shown in a box at the top corner of the screen, from which she would toss a bomb to Wanda. This seemed to mark the first appearance of a Birdo as an ally rather than an enemy. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a Birdo appeared as a boss. This Birdo was housed within a giant egg in the Nimbus Palace and offered to give Mario and friends a key if they would play with her. In the first phase of the battle, the fighters had to attack Birdo's egg until it cracked. Birdo then battled Mario and his crew until meeting defeat, at which point she surrendered the key, but she warned Mario not to forget her.

A Birdo later appeared in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, acting as a decoy for Princess Peach and tricking Cackletta into taking the Birdo's voice rather than Peach's. Later in the game, a Birdo (whether or not it is the same Birdo as earlier is unspecified) fell in love with Popple the Thief, even though he didn't return her affection, and she became his second Rookie (following Bowser). Birdo helped Popple battle the Mario brothers with new team attacks. She also protected Popple by hiding him in eggs and setting up decoy eggs to trick the brothers. When they lost the battle, Popple blamed Birdo and fired her. Birdo then turned on Popple, sending him flying from her mouth, and decided to become a superstar on her own. In the 3DS remake, Birdo also appeared in a chapter that depicted her first meeting with Popple. She was first seen in line to audition as Popple's partner and was later deployed by him in battle, where she acted as a ranged fighter. After their defeat, Birdo ran off with Popple.

Birdo has also made appearances in the later Paper Mario games, where she was shown to have a singing career. In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, she appeared riding a large swing at Snow Rise, where she sang to Mario and gave him the Goat statue before departing. Her song spoke of love and came with the warning not to get egg on one's face. She also appeared in the game's ending parade near some Shy Guys and winked towards the player. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, she was shown holding a concert at Plum Park, where she rode a prop of a crescent moon and also had a presence in the ending parade. According to the announcer, Birdo was "a bit past her prime" but still had "the moves".

In Super Mario Maker, Birdo appeared as a potential Mystery Mushroom costume that Mario could transform into. Birdo's costume could be unlocked by clearing an Event Course based on NES Remix. Her sprite was based on her modern appearance, but she used sound effects from Super Mario Bros. 2. Pressing up on the control pad could also make her wink.

She appeared several times in Paper Mario: The Origami King. The first was an optional easter egg within the Whispering Woods. In one part of the woods, Mario could pull on the vine of a tree to launch something different into a nearby lake which had revitalizing properties. The last time that Mario could pull that vine, it would launch Birdo into the lake. Birdo's coloring was initially duller than usual, and she was restored to normal by the lake, at which point she blew several kisses and departed. Birdo later appeared at the Big Sho' Theater of Shogun Studios, where she acted in the second part of the play being put on by Rubber Band. Within the scene, two gangs of Paper Macho Koopa Troopas were vying for Birdo's affections, but she chose Mario. Mario then had to defeat all of the Koopas, at which point Birdo awarded him with a kiss. She was then puzzled at Mario's stunned reaction, as it was just a stage kiss. She reappeared for the show's curtain call and was later seen attending the Origami Festival in the game's ending.

Sports, Racing and Party Spin-Offs[edit]

Birdo has made frequent appearances in the Mario sports spin-offs, both as a singular character and occasionally as multiple representatives of a species, with the former usually being paired with Yoshi.

Birdo also appeared as a playable character in several games of the Mario Party games. She first appeared as a hidden playable character in Mario Party 7, where she had to be unlocked by purchasing her from the Duty Free Shop for 1,000 mileage points. Birdo made return playable appearances in Mario Party 8 and Mario Party 9. She then made non-playable appearances as a judge for the minigame "The Choicest Voice" in Mario Party: Island Tour and as a source of information and quizzes in Super Mario Party. In the latter game, she mentioned being playable when she was younger. Birdo returned as a playable character in Mario Party Superstars.

Other Appearances[edit]

Video Games[edit]

  • In Kirby Super Star, Birdo made a background appearance as a spectator for the Megaton Punch minigame.
  • In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a pink Birdo appeared in the Kingdom II stage, which was an homage to Super Mario Bros. 2. Depicted with its original 8-bit sprite, Birdo occasionally entered the screen and spat eggs as in the original game. Birdo has also been represented by a trophy in Melee, Brawl and the Wii U Smash Bros., and an Ace-rank Primary Spirit in Ultimate. The Melee trophy uses Birdo's 8-bit appearance as seen in the game, while the latter games use Birdo's appearance as rendered in recent games.
  • In Yakuman DS, Birdo appeared as an opponent on easy and normal difficulties.
  • Birdo has appeared as a playable character in the board game-themed games Itadaki Street DS (unlocked by defeating her in Level 1 of Luigi's Stage) and Fortune Street.
  • Birdo appears as one of the characters in Captain Rainbow, with the game addressing Birdo's gender controversy. She came to Mimin Island to become popular with the boys, but she was imprisoned for using a lady's restroom when Mappo believed Birdo was a man. Nick was able to liberate her by proving her to be a woman by presenting a censored vibrator found in her house, and after being freed, she claims Nick was her boyfriend. In this game, Birdo spoke with a deep voice to add to the gender ambiguity,
  • In Nintendo editions of Minecraft, Birdo was available as a playable skin through the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack.

Canceled Appearances[edit]

  • Birdo's Japanese name was found in files for Mario's Tennis, implying that she was intended to be playable at some point in the game's development.
  • Birdo was originally intended to appear as a playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, but was cut, although a seemingly unfinished model for Birdo was discovered in the game's data.

In Other Media[edit]

  • A near-sighted mother Birdo was featured in the first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, where she confused Toad with her son and captured him. Various Birdos also appeared as minions of Bowser later in the cartoon. Birdos could fly in this incarnation, and they were shown with more bird-like features, most likely due to Birdo's name.
  • Birdos also appeared in several Mario comics published by the Nintendo Comics System, where they were depicted as minions of Bowser and were defeated with similar methods as in the games.

Trivia[edit]

  • Birdo's Japanese name is Catherine.
  • A typo in the credits of Super Mario Bros. 2 caused Birdo and Ostro's names to be mixed.
  • Birdo is referenced in Super Paper Mario through a Sammer Guy known as the Squatting Birdo.
  • In Super Mario Maker 2, following the May 2020 update, Birdo's sprite could be seen flashing onscreen as an effect when a mini-boss trigger is activated while the SMB2 Mushroom power-up is in play, accompanied by the boss theme from Super Mario Bros. 2.
  • Her song in Sticker Star seems to refer to the gender confusion about Birdo with the lyric, "Heart of a woman, heart of a man...". The lyrics of her Color Splash song reference Doki Doki Panic and Yoshi's Flutter Jump.
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